Paul urged the Ephesians to pray for him to be able to declare God’s word fearlessly (Eph 6:18-20) and we all need to pray for those in authority and leadership over us (see 1 Tim 2:1-2). Many of you will have heard about the Ashers’ court case this week, when the Supreme Court ruled that the McArthur family in Northern Ireland were not guilty of sexual discrimination by refusing to bake a cake with the slogan ‘Support Gay Marriage’ because it conflicted with their beliefs about the Biblical nature of marriage. This is an important step in the protection of free speech and the right to act according to conscience, but this is only one of many issues when we need to pray for Christians in all walks of life who are standing up for their beliefs in ways that may well seem incompatible to the laws of the land.
The Christian Institute (which seeks to be a Christian influence in a secular world and which supported the McArthur family financially in this protracted legal battle) is holding a ‘Week of Prayer’ for our nation from 21-27 October. They urge us to pray for different areas where the Christian voice needs to be heard:
1. for our schools, where Christian teachers, parents and pupils are on the front line of a secular onslaught as new proposals on ‘Relationships Education’ in England promote the LGBT agenda and will sideline parents.
2. for our society, that Christian values may be upheld (thinking especially of abortion laws, gender issues, ‘hate speech’ laws which can be used against Christians and so on)
3. for our children, to be protected from an increasingly sexualised culture, with pornography, gender issues, gambling and other ‘adult’ issues increasingly finding their way into children’s lives
4. for our leaders to have wisdom and to legislate according to God’s truth, not political ideology or secularised ideas
Please do join in prayer over these important issues, asking God to heal our land and revive us again.
