A Prayer For Manchester
Transcript
I offer up a simple prayer to you O Father in heaven, received by your Son, seasoned with incense by the angels on the altar of the heavenly temple. Through the Spirit, Hear this prayer.
Father, forgive us. For we have sinned.
Forgive us for the slums, such as Angel Meadow and the conditions of the Workhouses. Forgive us Father, that children lived short lives among filth and violence.
Forgive us for oppressing and scapegoating ethnic groups like the Victorian Irish.
Forgive us for the maltreatment of people such as the LGBT community.
Forgive us of the abuse, the rape, the grooming, human trafficking, murder, gang warfare.
Forgive us of the bombings, the massacre.
Forgive us of the erecting of altars, idols, and sacrificing unto false Gods.
Forgive us of the usurping of Authority, of the distortion of divine order, of the perversion of what is Holy.
Forgive us for the mistreatment of your brethren, the Jewish people of Manchester.
Forgive us for the words written here, political and otherwise that have caused much conflict and loss of life around the world.
Forgive the church of flowing with the culture rather than standing firm on your Word.
Forgive us for butchering your gospel down to an incomplete westernised version of it.
We have not loved the LORD our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our might.
I ask that you not allow us to mirror Saul whose fallen body was sent out as good news to the idols.
Father, forgive us. Have mercy upon us. For we have sinned.
Lord we ask that you cut out any threads of connection from the historical spiritual fabric that binds the people of the city by wicked demons.
That the spirits of Tarquin that link to Abortion would be cast out.
I pray that spirits who were worshipped upon the Roman Altars, cast them.
If possible, Lord, the spirits linked to the ancient goddesses, remove them from their post.
The spirits of confusion, the spirits that terrorise, and would possess a man to use explosive devices, the spirits that elevate man’s word above yours heavenly Father – cast them out.
The spirits of protest, the spirits of disorder, the spirits of radical feminism, the spirits of witchcraft, the spirits of Jezebel – cast her out.
May her power be diminished. And may the order of the city be restored. Family. Identity. The Church body.
Protect our children.
I ask that our city will not stay angry and it will not stay blind.
I pray that you will open our eyes to see the obstacles that are blinding the people of the city to the gospel and the glory and the beauty of Christ Jesus.
We ask that you guard our city with your heavenly angels, and that you restrict the movements of the dark forces.
We petition you for transformation Holy God.
That we will not just be a city of firsts, but a city of first fruits. A city that finishes first and finishes well.
If transport and technology were invented here, may our innovations facilitate the sending out the good news of Jesus Christ.
If compassion motivated social justice movements and the woke culture, I pray our compassion will be rooted in the name of Jesus, aligned with his purposes and will, not a humanistic version of it.
May the words of Abraham Lincoln regarding the working men and women of Manchester be true once more, that under crises we will express “sublime Christian heroism that has not been surpassed in any age or in any country.”
May the Words of Mark Twain be reversed, that Manchester be synonymous not with death, but with life.
May the words of Friedrich Engels be reversed, that Manchester be not described as “hell upon earth” but “your kingdom come on earth”.
As the words written here, of the Communist manifesto stormed the world, so I pray the words of the Bible written in the Middle East would be the manifesto to storm Manchester and become foundational in regeneration.
O Lord, Manchester was the city that was home to the Jewish men conceiving the Balfour declaration, resulting in a blessing to the state of Israel, so too I ask for a multiplication of those blessings from Jew and gentile from Manchester to Israel.
If the words of Benjamin Disraeli remain for a future time, may Manchester’s wise men bare gifts before the Davidic throne today, so the world will follow tomorrow.
As the unity and fellowship and breaking of bread around the table began the Zionist movement in Manchester, so I ask that you will stir the hearts of Christians to reflect in this time of lockdown, about the unity and the health of body, the unnecessary garments or steroid injections that bloat and clothe her, so that we may become one, just as you are one.
May the increasing population of Muslims of Arab descent come to know the promises you gave to Ishmael, that a great multitude of his descendants will participate in the kingdom, and will feast alongside Jacob and their father Abraham.
As the Romans built in their name, a stronghold for their Kingdom. May Manchester be a fort built in your name, for your coming kingdom. A stronghold of the nation.
I pray the competing of altars would cease. That no competition would exist for the altar of the Lord. That only the inscriptions of the lord would stand.
As the Victorian missionaries positioned the spiritual before the natural, may our mission organisations become gospel first.
I pray that the lands of the slums will become Edenic once again. Not in a masking of evil with technology, but a beauty descended from upon high, with cleansing, as opposed to man’s crude covering. Purify the blood-stained fabric with your precious sprinkles of blood.
Do not sift us like wheat, but when we have turned, strengthen us that our faith may not fail.
My desire is that body of the church in Manchester would fear the Lord. If the tables in our own house need flipping, then flip them Lord.
Draw your bride to you.. Prepare your bride.
May we set our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Cleanse this land. Heal this land.
Do in part now that what you will perfect then, we cry.
We give thanks that your people can worship relatively freely in our city. That living conditions are vastly improved upon.
We give thanks that your words Jesus have been buried in the ground for 1800 years. And it was your prayer to the Father. Our Father, In Heaven. Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven and your will be done, extending your rule and reign across Manchester.
We groan for the day when you give our city a new name that honours you King Jesus.
Cause your name to be remembered in Manchester.
It is in your name, Jesus, Yeshua of Nazareth, that we pray.