Let God Arise!

A SOBER CALL TO PREVAI L ING PRAYER

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This is not a call to repeat the “good old days” of the past (i.e., a nostalgic return to the glory days of the great awakening revival meetings, or any other revivals of history). Nor is this a call for the sleepy-headed to simply spend a few more hours in prayer over the unim- portant. Nor do we make any pleas here for simply a little more effort in prayer, a kind of seasonal emphasis in prayer for the cities that could be done leisurely and conveniently “every other quarter” or so. Rather, what we advocate is an entirely new vision of ourselves and the city as powerless without the Lord’s intervention. We are asking here for a radical reorientation of our lives toward prayer to God based on a rediscovery and reaffirmation that only God can change the inner cities of America. Frankly speaking, my deepest conviction continues to be that America’s inner cities are simply unwinnable without a new and fresh visitation from God. Nearly sixty million people live in our poorest urban com- munities, with more than 90% of these residents claiming no knowledge of or relationship to God in Jesus Christ. These tortured communities have been deeply scarred and marred by violence, are severely neglected and ex- ploited economically, and suffer from horrific and severe health-related problems. Our American inner cities are hazardous on a number of different points, and yet they