Pete Interview Edit_1

I do believe that when we pray for the Kingdom of Jesus to come that his rule and reign does come. And we often see the good news of that, we see the blessings, the answers to prayer, the encouragement. But sometimes you're right, it can be really tricky can't it, we can wrestle with the fact that we want God to airlift us out of our problems and he more often parachutes in and joins us in the midst of them and so the world is full of problems. And we try to work out, what does the reign of Jesus look like when he's a servant king? When he has all the authority in the world but doesn't seem to use his power in the way that our world systems use power? So yes, I believe in miracles, I believe that things change when we pray for the kingdom to come, but I suppose the greatest miracle is the presence of Jesus with us in the midst of whatever we're going through. What do you say to people when you know they get to the Psalmist in Psalm 88, of just the bleakest, most hopeless depression. And you've got people who are struggling to pray this prayer and they're thinking, the whole world's praying this prayer and they're believing it and they've got these great expectations – what's the Spirit saying to them? I think I see prayer as about the asking and not just the answering. And when we went through our hardest times I found that I couldn't help but pray. I mean I went through a really embarrassing time in my life when I tried to be an atheist for a while. I found out I was terrible at atheism because I kept talking to God about the fact that he didn't exist and wondering who I was talking to. And so – and all the latest research shows people do pray, especially in crises. And so I think for people to gather especially at a time when the world has got significant problems politically, economically, socially and culturally and so on, and cry out to God, is incredibly – it's not just a meaningful thing to do, it's a very natural thing for people to do, in the midst of any kind of crisis. I think people appreciate the honesty of someone like you who's very honest about the struggles and the pain how it's not easy and yet maintains faith within that. So when we're praying Thy Kingdom Come and we've got people in mind, what are the key things you'd say to people as they pray that prayer? You know, you've got a bunch of folk, perhaps somewhere overseas in an area where they're being persecuted and they're just gritting their teeth and thinking, I don't know, but we're going to pray this, we're going to join in or you've got people and – you'll have been to places like this – in some parts of England where it's just really hard going, the church is small, the building is large – and you just feel, we must be on the losing side here – what do you say to that? Either of those groups? The first thing is, how wonderful to come together as part of something bigger. One of the great things about Thy Kingdom Come is we actually see, we feel that we are part of a 2 billion-strong revolutionary army. Wherever you go in the world we are conspiring together in the name of Jesus against injustice, against oppression and seeking to bind up the broken hearts. And so we get a little snapshot of that with Thy Kingdom Come, all these people coming together. And especially – I mean I actually find the most moving stories from Thy Kingdom Come in previous years have been the tiny rural churches that maybe manage to do 24/1, and they're in shock that they've managed to pray all night and all day, and it's the most wonderful encouragement, and they know that they're part of this amazing great world-wide momentum. And I think the second thing is that when we pray for the Kingdom to come we have to remember that that is all about Jesus. And so it's about his death and it's about his resurrection. So of course there's the power of answered prayer, about the things we long to see in our world, in our families, in our workplaces, but there is also that aspect of prayer that is identifying with the cross and the suffering of Christ, who is the God who comes and identifies with us in our pain and our struggle. So this is lament and its intercession, it's petition and spiritual warfare all happening as part of a global movement – it's a wonderful thing.