Spiritual Fabric Of Manchester
Transcript Of The Introduction Video
INTRO
Roughly a year ago, God placed on my heart to investigate the spiritual fabric of Manchester and report my findings. I convinced myself that I didn’t have the time or resources. I dropped it.
Then, just recently I was an hour north meeting with people from all over the UK to pray for the nation, for the whole day. I sat opposite a lady over lunch, who was... let’s say, certainly older than I, who it turned out was from Manchester, or Salford to be precise. In discussion with her I noted that Manchester was an incredible dark city, spiritually. She just stared at me. I wondered if I’d missed the mark in some way. But then she revealed to me insights… and my jaw hit the floor.
It was as though God was provoking me, saying do you want it on your plate in front of you. Go. Inquire of me. Get off your foolish backside.
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
The mission of the church in part is intercessory prayer. For our local areas, cities, and nations.
We do this right. I know there are people praying for church break through, for their local area, for their city.
As an observation in meetings, in conferences, we habitually pray baby prayers. It sounds eloquent, impressive, even scriptural. And they are good prayers. But generic they are. We have lines for this and that. We regurgitate and roll off the tongue familiar phrases. But If you removed the name of the city or nation, the church, whatever… If you removed the name, would you be able to recognise where/what you are praying for?
We’re praying to break strongholds, praying for mental health, praying to see God move. OK, good. What precisely are you calling on God to break? What specific strongholds are you praying to break? What cultural flows are you praying to reverse? Not just generic topics. Reaching outside your own life what are we praising the Lord for? Precisely, specifically?
For God to move powerfully in an area, I’m convinced we need more than just surface level prayer.
SPIRITUAL FABRIC
A city or nation has a spiritual fabric that has been woven since its inception.
Research into the spiritual fabric is instrumental of intercessory prayer. Co-labouring with the Lord we can develop informed prayer that calls upon the Lord to transform cities.
PROCESS BEGINS IN PRAYER
It begins with inquiring of the Lord.
As responsible stewards of the local church we are required to inquire of the Lord in patience and follow his orders. Our research (that will lead to informed prayer) beings with prayer.
Saul was anointed by God through Samuel to be the King of Israel. He was the one called to lead the people of God in the land. Facing a battle for the land, he inquired of the Lord. But because he didn’t get an immediate response, he sort guidance from the wrong sources. “So Saul died for his breach of faith.” (1 Chron 10:13). Not only was Saul removed from office, the battle was lost, and God “torn the kingdom” (1 Sam 31:17) out of his hand and gave it over to David.
This shepherd boy, now grown, regularly inquired of the Lord and asked to know the will and ways of God in the land.
We don’t want to be Saul’s who are removed from the office of the land because impatiently we sough man’s strategy and tradition. We want to David’s and Daniels and Joshua’s who sought council and direction from God because he is the one with the spiritual map.
So the question I’ve asked myself, and I am now asking you, is: Do we know the land we minister on?
PROPHETIC DITCH DIGGING
I attended a course co-lead by Alistair Petrie and appreciate his work on this. He calls its prophetic ditch digging drawing on 2 Kings 3.
The leaders of Israel had vision and strategy, but it led to marching in circles and they ran dry of water. They lacked the power of God. Elisha the prophet told them to dig ditches in the valley even though the ground dry and they saw no rain (2 Kings 3:16-17). But the miraculous rain then fell and the ditches were full of life-giving water and the ditches were instrumental in winning the battles against the invading army.
Sometimes we want to march with our own vision. But God requires us to sharpen the tools and dig down first, so that he can flow into it.
For informed prayer based on the spiritual fabric we do three things – uncover the challenges of the area, discover what is going on, which in turn enable us to recover what God’s plan is for our land, city, communities, churches etc.
We want to see the city, the church, the land, as God sees it.
EXAMPLE 1 - SPY OUT THE LAND
Take a look at these examples:
In numbers 13 we read, “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel”” (Num 13:1-2).
Notice first off, that Moses is in conversation with God. Which mean, prayer first. Secondly, God could have told them about the land. But he wanted them to witness things with their eyes open. It informed these men of the landscape of the land: were they strong or weak, few or many (Numbers 13:18); was the land was good or bad (Numbers 13:19); were the cities like camps or strongholds; was the land was rich or poor (Numbers 13:20); what was the landscape like.
This intel in turn gives rise to intercessory prayer. God, how do we go about it? What are you making us aware of?
EXAMPLE 2 - THE REVELATION
We see the example in Revelation. Jesus downloaded to John intel on the seven churches written in Revelation. He didn’t just give him words; he was told to “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches” (Rev 1:11). John’s eyes were opened from a distance to the brutally honest imagery of the spiritual fabric of those churches – John’s eyes were opened so he could communicate with the churches so they could be unblinded by their own issues, obstacles, and be encouraged.
EXAMPLE 3 – JESUS IN THE TEMPLE
We’re all familiar with Jesus flipping over the tables in the temple. We like that bit, don’t we. But what did Jesus do before he cleansed the temple? It is easy to miss, but it was the day before when he entered the temple on a donkey to much fanfare. What did he do when he entered? Mark records: “So Jesus came to Jerusalem and went into the Temple. After looking around carefully at everything, he left because it was late in the afternoon. Then he returned to Bethany with the twelve disciples” (Mark 11:11 NIV).
Jesus knew it was already late and going dark. But before he opened his mouth, before he acted, he took a good look around, the day before with his men, to carefully discern from the Father in heaven the spiritual fabric of Jerusalem. We like the flipping and the preaching. But what about the quiet discernment of the spiritual fabric of our city?
WHAT WILL WE DISCOVER?
Why are things the way they are? What are the obstacles to restoration? What were the pivotal points in the history of this city? What is the economic makeup of the city? What is the health of the body of the church? What are the prevailing spirits poisoning the roots of culture? How does the city sit with the nation and the nation with the world? And so forth.
PROPOSITION FOR MANCHESTER
So that is what we are going to do. We’re going to look outside of ourselves, outside our own bubble and discover some insights into the spiritual fabric of Manchester. The woven layers of history, culture, battles, altars, identity.
I will comment and make some connection but for the most part I’m not going to spell everything out. This is purposeful and intentional. We must be wise as serpents when addressing some things publicly. I’m going to ask questions and you can make most the connections. Because God may be revealing to you something that he isn’t to me dependent upon how he is positioning each of us.
And let’s ask God, what are you seeing that we are not seeing? What is hidden and invisible to the eye that is causing conflict, unnecessary division, holds, distortion of divine order and so forth.
If we are to ask God for his name to be remembered in our city, for a return of his presence to the land, then we are required to “worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23). According to his word alongside the spiritual aspect.
Lord, open our eyes to see it, help us to make the connections.
SPIRITUAL TOOLS
Result is, that we have a spiritual mapping tool to be used alongside the gifts of the spirits. A map or fabric that is forever changing and thickening as every second ticks. Therefore, we don’t just ask once to look behind the scenes of the stage, we continue to seek the Lord, asking to open our eyes to it.
We can then pray through the fabric – not just surface level stuff. Mature prayer.
What I mean by mature prayer by the way is not, speaking a little posher, with depth of vocabulary and soft spoken voice, or even shouty voice. I don’t want us to be confused, because we’re very good at confusing ourselves. Some of the most mature prayers I’ve heard have been said through a snotty nose, an annoying accent, perhaps saying very little – but their heart is aligned with God’s heart through investigative tools quickened by the Spirit.
When we pray through the fabric - We know what we are praying for, How to pray – not just mirroring the other guys in the room because that’s how they do it in this culture, no. Which chains to break. What to thank God for. What to ask forgiveness for.
When we do that, with this new insight, God enables us to naturally begin to express kingdom ethos; Demonstrations of the power of the kingdom touch down; And people begin to taste the kingdom.
It’s not about the works of God. We’re not using this spiritual tool to prod God to dance, so we gain attention. It’s likely, perhaps most desired, that it will be the hidden prayer warriors that walk the streets out of bright lights that will be used and rewarded in the age to come.
Signs, wonders, and displays of apostolic authority are previews of the coming kingdom that testify to the ways of God in his process to restore cites. And God gets the glory.
RULERS, PRINCIPALITIES, AND THE LAND
God wants to heal the people and the land.
When Solomon had finally built the Temple in Jerusalem and consecrated, and offered sacrifices to God upon it. Looking around at the impressive structure, and breathing in the sweet aromas from the altars, the priests and king dressed immaculately and firmly in charge of the city, you would think… that all was well. But that night after the fanfare of the opening of the Temple, the Lord appeared to Solomon. Here’s what he said:
“if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
Wait a minute. God had prospered them already. He granted them the temple and its service, stability etc. We can have a shiny church building planted in the city. But the people and the land needs dealing with spiritually. Humility and repentance will result in their sins forgiven but also, and it’s easy to miss, their land will be healed.
In the west we tend to think of our faith in terms of the individual. We need to remember that God deals with groups of people and their land, also.
Think about it. It seems strange to spiritually deliver people and then let them go live in a demonically infested, and defiled land again. What is the point of helping people be rescued out of a lion’s den to bandage them up and then throw them back into the same land? Ideally, we would rescue them, clear out the lions, and clean the place up, before they go back, right?
Even when Daniel was released from the lion’s den, he didn’t, say actually I’ll turn this into a nice apartment. He wanted to get out of their and return to his lodgings that was soaked in prayer.
God wants to forgive the sins of the people AND heal the land. Why, because that is the ultimate plan in returning to Eden. He’s not just going to heal the people, he will heal the entire earth we live on. So, we call for God to do that in part now, as a deposit of the future, within our communities.
DEMONS
Just to step back for a moment. The very nature of the land is defiled with sin, and it is that which needs cleansing. However, there is the demonic aspect.
We need to understand who is running the show.
God is sovereign over all. God is in control of the universe. However, Satan is temporarily in charge of the earth since Adam submitted to him. He has thousands and thousands of fallen angels and evil spirits organised and working for him.
There are demonic spiritual authoritative structures that all lead to Satan. It is likely, all cities and nations have powerful demons who are in charge, who are fed reports and who report to higher ranks etc.
For example, we see in Daniel 10 how the “prince”, the demon in charge of Persia resisted the angelic messenger visiting Daniel.
Think about that. That means Manchester will likely have a powerful and wicked demon in charge and many minions under him working to stain the fabric.
This isn’t something to be paranoid about or obsess over. We go about our daily business but with our eyes open to the reality.
So, there is a real spiritual aspect to a nation, to a city. I don’t say dimension because it’s not a parallel world, the natural and spiritual are entwined, there is visible and invisible, spiritual and natural and the two are woven together. For example, our person is spiritual, woven into the physical. We were knitted in the womb – God creates the spiritual and knits it to the natural (Psalm 139:13).
Also, God has an army of Angels to minister and intercede. We see that Michael who is high ranked angel over the nation of Israel (Dan 12:1). So, while there are demonic structures, there are also angelic structures that are fed the truth of what’s going on from HQ in heaven. God has infinitely more power to call upon and he has given us his Holy Spirit to operate within.
When we pray to be broken from demonic chains we need our eyes open as to what we are calling upon God to break.
We cannot free this world completely from demonic activity. God has handed it over to Satan until Jesus returns. We can’t always remove demons from their post. We should be careful that we don’t overstep our boundaries and coverings and each remain within our “sphere of service God himself has assigned to us” (1 Cor 10:13).
But evil spirits can be cast out and specific strong hold broken so that is where digging into the historic fabric AND inquiring of the Lord comes in.. to discern which chains can be broken, what forces can or cannot be cast out and then asking the Lord for wisdom to apply that discernment.
In Sum
So, God wants the people and the land to be cleansed. And so should we.
By the way, a city cannot humble itself and repent if it does not know what and who it is turning to, and, turning from.
A land can only be healed when the cause and consequence of sin has been identified and addressed under God’s direction. We are required to lead with humility, repentance, and fear of the Lord so that God responds to our prayers.
Often, we want revival to immediately come because we’ve held a conference, right. Everyone has paid there £30 to attend, and the lights are flashing and we’re praying as loud as we can. But land needs to be prepared, to receive cleansing and blessing.
To understand a land and its defilement, we must understand its history. Lord show us the land as you see it.
A CITY OF FIRSTS
Benjamin Disraeli, Jewish and former British Prime Minister said “What Manchester does today – the world does tomorrow”.
Manchester is known as the city of firsts. That’s its nickname – the city of firsts.
The first public library in the English-speaking world.
The first steamboats operated on the Bridgewater Canal the first totally artificial waterway.
The first mills to use steam power, paving the way for mass production techniques.
The world’s first passenger railways started operating from a purpose built station.
Birth place of the Industrial Revolution.
The birth place of the worldwide co-operative movement.
The first law in thermodynamics was discovered in Manchester.
The first professional permanent orchestra.
The first mechanically powered submarine.
Manchester is where the atom was first split.
The first artificially-induced nuclear reaction, initiating the field of nuclear physics.
It’s where Charles Rolls met Frederick Royce.
The first computer in the world with a stored program and memory was built in Manchester.
And there is way more.
I’ve ordered a stack of books. So, this what we are going to do – look at the history of Manchester, the pivotal decisions, activity, battles, appointments, cultural turning points, the corporate mindset.
This is what we’re going to look at:
The worst slum in Europe that inspired a few men that would have truly global implications.
What was Carl Marx and Friedrich Engels doing in a Manchester Library.
The Balfour agreement. Signed in London. What has that got to do with Manchester.
Manchester has been a battle ground, bombings, murder, rape.
We’re going reach back nearly two thousand years of history from the Romans and legends that followed.
In Modern times, the woke culture? Sex, identity, order.
Where was the church in all this?
When you watch each video, ask some questions:
How does what happened and what is happening alter the spiritual fabric. What links from the past or even other strands of the fabric do you see? What is God revealing and teaching you?
We’re going to start here. Angel Meadows. It gives me chills just standing here.