Across the nation (New people, new places)
“Let us go over to the other side of the lake.”
With these words of Jesus ringing through the minds of some people at Praxeis, we started to explore the possibilities of Prayerfest 21: Prayer at each of the cardinal points (North, South, East and West) of Australia on Resurrection Sunday, from sunrise to sunset.
The vision was big. If felt a little bit exciting. Maybe even adventurous. It also felt a little bit impossible. But we sensed God was calling us to go, step on the land and pray for breakthrough for the nation.
The idea of surrounding the nation with prayer appealed to us. It is in prayer that God aligns our hearts with His. He whispers His vision to us and we begin to catch His plans, putting aside our own. He increases our heart for those that don’t yet know Jesus. Australia needs breakthrough: People encountering Jesus. New places opening up to the gospel. By having people at the cardinal points we would embrace the land with the love of Jesus.
Our nation team caught the vision: a family in North Queensland put their hand up to travel to Thursday Island (Northern point). A family from Sydney with a prayer intercessor from Melbourne decided Byron Bay (Eastern point) was the place to be. Steep Point (Western point)was covered by our National leaders, excited by the idea of taking a 4-wheel drive camper van three days up the coast from Perth. Two Melbourne leaders planned to hike through Wilson’s Promontory to get to South Rocks (Southern point).
People started planning to cover other significant locations in the nation. By Resurrection Sunday we had more than 30 groups preparing to pray in every state and territory from Albany and the Wheatbelt in WA, to Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Ballarat in Victoria and Emerald in Queensland.
Teams would pray at other significant locations too. Canberra, our nation’s capital; multicultural Katanning in the Great Southern of Western Australia; the Gallipoli Mosque in Auburn, West Sydney and Mt Dandenong in Melbourne. One team planned to ‘prayer cycle’ many kilometres over the 12 hours between four key points across Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
People in Singapore, Hungary, Indonesia, Ukraine and New Zealand joined Prayerfest 21 by praying from significant places in their countries.
Despite a potential cyclone (Cyclone Seroja destroyed towns in WA a couple of days after Easter), COVID outbreaks and site closures due to floods, the adventure began. Team camped, hiked, 4W-drove and flew to reach their target areas.
It felt particularly symbolic praying as the sun rose across Byron Bay, thanking God for His Son’s resurrection on this day so many years ago. God spoke to us sharing his heart for this land and showing us ways that we could pray for those who are lost and hurting.
It was precious to know that there were more than 200 people from different nationalities, backgrounds and churches; Indigenous, young, old, rich and poor, all united praying for God’s Kingdom to come.
As the sun set across the land, our praying concluded and we returned to our cars, home and tents. We were exhausted but encouraged. Hopes were lifted and we knew that God had heard us. New connections were made, relationships had gone deeper. We rediscovered the significance of Resurrection Sunday through the adventure of sacrificial, persevering and harvest focused prayer.
What a day! Was it worth it? Would we do it again? …you betcha!
written by the Three Amigos (Andrew Pyman, Vicki Stokes, Jill Birt)