As we have remarked many times on Prophecy Today, our nation is at a pivotal juncture as important (or more so) than the juncture it faced during World War II. At stake today, more than 70 years on, are exactly the same things that were at stake then: our national liberty, our societal stability, our political system with its world-renowned checks and balances, our Gospel freedoms and our position before God.

It is not only our attempt to escape the stranglehold of the EU that has brought Britain to this point: our nation has long been poised to self-destruct from the inside out. Our social systems are all being pressured to the point of collapse. Our mental health crisis is soaring. Family life is falling apart. Confusion and despair are widespread.

We all know that believers have a vital, God-given responsibility at this time to ‘stand in the gap’ for our nation (Ezek 22:30). We know that only the Lord’s intervention will save us from utter disaster, and that he calls us to petition him to this end, just as Rees Howells and others did in World War II. But the question is, how should we pray?

Not Praying Against the Shaking

We know that the turmoil we are witnessing is part of the Lord’s allowed ‘shaking’ of our apostate nation, just as he is shaking Europe and indeed the whole world. As we have written on Prophecy Today before, we cannot pray against this and simply ask the Lord to make everything settle down and come right: this would be putting ourselves against God.

Instead, we must seek to pray in line with his will. We must indeed petition the Lord that the enemy’s plans to keep us shackled to the EU would fail, but we cannot pray this and expect victory without also praying for a spiritual sea-change in our nation. The Lord’s chief desire, as it has always been, is that we return to him. So, believing Christians must be discerning in how they pray and encourage others likewise.

Some Guidance

Below are some recommendations for your prayers gleaned from all the editorials and prophetic words that have been published on Prophecy Today since the 2016 Referendum.

Our hope is that these will help as prompts and encouragements. They are not exhaustive – and we are not saying that everybody must pray these things! More than anything, we hope that you will wait upon the Lord for his guidance. We are simply offering what wisdom we feel we have been given as a contribution at this grave time.

Much is now dependent on the small remnant of believing Christians in Britain and their heartfelt, persistent intercession. The future of the nation hangs in the balance. But be encouraged: God has not finished with Britain, nor is he dependent on large numbers to fulfil his purposes. He rejoices to answer our prayers and work salvation through those who are committed wholeheartedly to him.

In 2011, Lance Lambert was give the following apposite words as part of a prophecy about Britain:

It is time for you who love Me, who are faithful to Me, to take action! Stand before Me and plead The Finished Work of My Son. At least cry out to Me, that there will be those who turn from darkness, from sin, and be saved for whosoever shall call upon My Name in the midst of these judgements, l will save!

lt will cost you everything to stand in the gap, but you will enter into My heart, and know deep fellowship with Me. Such travail conceived in your heart by My Spirit will cost you deeply, but it will end in My Throne and Glory.

Seven Points for Your Prayers

Key scriptures: Isaiah 59:12; Isaiah 42:16; Jeremiah 18:7-8.

1. Pray for mercy in the midst of judgment (Hab 3:2).

• Thank the Lord for his faithfulness to Britain through the ages and his ongoing love for her today.
  

2. Pray that God would finish what he started with the 2016 Referendum and bring Britain out of the EU - by any means he deems necessary.

• That all attempts to keep us tied in, including through a second referendum, would be thwarted.
  
• That believing Christians would repent if they have not been faithful in prayer in the crucial months since the 2016 Referendum. For any attitude of complacency to be repented of and shed.
  
• That Britain would not only come out of the EU politically and economically, but also that she would separate herself spiritually and refuse to accept the EU’s declared rejection of God.
  
• That those politicians, civic leaders and media outlets whom the Lord would use to achieve his purposes would be strengthened, emboldened and their eyes upturned to him.
  
• For God to fulfil all the purposes he has for Britain. That the enemy’s attempts to bring our nation to nothing would be utterly destroyed.
  

3. Pray that the Lord’s shaking of our nation – from the turmoil in Westminster to the breakdown of our institutions and family life - would be effective and his purposes fulfilled:

• For the chaos and confusion to bring people to their knees, recognising their powerlessness, sinfulness and need of God, and crying out for his help.
  
• For everyone, from the most ordinary of British citizens up to politicians and Government ministers, to receive a spirit of repentance.
  
• For recognition that Britain is on course for disaster because we have abandoned God and his ways. For recognition that a generation of ‘liberation’ has only brought destruction and oppression, not true freedom.
  

4. Confess the unfaithfulness of Britain’s Church as well as the nation and our political leaders. Pray that a spirit of repentance would fall within the Church.

• That churches of all denominations would repent and grieve for the wider Church’s part in allowing the nation to decline, whether by actively promoting ungodliness or simply by failing to defend and uphold the truth.
  

5. Pray that the word of the Lord would be heard and proclaimed in the public square. Pray that God would raise up prophetic voices who will declare the truth courageously:

• That believers would not remain silent or inactive, but would stand up and proclaim biblical truth boldly in whichever arena the Lord places them – including within their churches. That they would be inspired by the Holy Spirit and given courage.
  
• That God would wake up Christians right across the nation and mobilise them to intercession and to evangelism, including to Europe.
  
• That believers would not only declare the importance of Brexit, but also the whole subject of national beliefs and values, Britain’s history and likely future, the ultimate truths of Scripture and the need for all to turn in repentance and faith.
  
• For faithful, fearless voices to emerge on the national stage who would declare the truth to this godless generation.
  

6. Pray for the true ekklesia of God (including all the small groups and ones-and-twos praying around the nation) to be strengthened, multiplied, equipped and united for participation in the spiritual battle.

• For the true ekklesia of God to seize the opportunities being afforded to it by the shaking of the nation, reaching out to bring truth, hope and understanding amidst the confusion. That they would not be deterred by opposition or the fear thereof.
  
• That believing Christians would not lose heart or become dismayed, depressed or fearful, but would look questioningly to the Lord, full of hope and faith. That they would hold fast to the Lord’s word.
  
• That God’s faithful remnant would be resourced and mobilised to do the work he has for them and to stand firm. That God would prepare his people by refreshing them by his Spirit and armouring them with his full body-armour (Ephesians 6:10-18).
  
• That God as our Good Shepherd would gather together his scattered sheep and forge bonds of true unity within his ekklesia that would be a powerful witness. That bonds of brotherly love would be strengthened.
  
• That the ekklesia of God would not be hypocritical, but would live the faith it professes, empowered by the Holy Spirit. That its light would shine like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.
  
• That the Lord would prosper and protect all fellowships, groups and ministries that preach/hold to the full counsel of God as revealed in Scripture. That these groups would grow in their watchfulness, wisdom and courage.
  

7. Pray that Britain would seek consistently to bless and support Israel and the Jewish people, that Britain too may be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

• That those such as Jeremy Corbyn who desire Israel’s destruction would be brought either to repentance or to ruin. That anti-Semitism in this nation would be quashed.
  
• That Britain would courageously abandon her long-standing tradition of Arab/Islamic appeasement.
  
• That believers would understand that a chief purpose of the Lord in shaking the nations today is to bring the rest of his diaspora people back to their Land. Pray that British Jews would make Aliyah.

A note about the end times: Sometimes it seems that the world is so far towards the situation described in Scripture that it is pointless praying for national revival. But since we do not know the times set by the Father, we cannot assume that things are ‘too far gone’ to pray for change and widespread repentance. We are simply called to work while it is day.

While we are exercised by David Noakes’ prophetic word that Britain will not turn completely back to the Lord, we recognise that there is still a big harvest to bring in, as ‘multitudes will be brought into the valley of decision’. God has not finished with Britain!