Dear friends and prayer partners,
Here is my general email update of last week's events (Editor’s
note: read about the riots here.
I waited a few days 'after the fact,' for I had understood from the Lord that I
was to 'wait as many days as the rioting lasted' to respond. So I waited four
days after the four days of rioting (I wrote this Saturday night of 13 Aug 2011). I would like to describe the
picture and the response the Lord had given me. I had shared this briefly with
my fellowship on the immediate Sunday (7/8), as well as to a few close
intercessory friends.
During the evening of the initial riots on 6 Aug, I hadn't
been watching the news that day and only found out about the rioting in
Tottenham about mid-night on Saturday. I was up much of the night interceding
and praying. I was disturbed but
realized that we have seen other riots in London, and as vicious and ugly as
they may have been, there was always order within a day. Almost immediately
this time, I knew there was something different about these riots.
Through the course of the night I kept experiencing a deep
and growing burden and the impression upon my heart to keep praying. At the
very end of my time with the Lord, He gave me a very clear and lasting picture
/ impression that disturbed me very much. I saw not only Tottenham being devastated, but soon after I witnessed
these riots spreading into other boroughs and eventually into other cities,
Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool being prominent. Then what I saw disturbed my spirit even more
as I saw major European cities and
capitals burning, especially Paris, and cities in The Netherlands, Italy, Spain
and Germany. Right after that I saw the same thing appearing in America: Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Detroit, Chicago,
Boston and Atlanta. I saw in succession, like
a pot of boiling water over-flowing, a stack of dominoes falling down and the
spreading of a forest fire, as if one city after another would be inflamed with
violence and destruction.
Still in prayer, I was so shaken after these impressions and pictures, I kept asking the Lord if these were the events that WERE going to happen or events that COULD happen. As I kept asking and seeking, there seemed to be no answer at all, although throughout the night the Word of the Lord was becoming clearer and two scriptures kept coming back into my mind, stirring me into deeper prayer: Genesis 18:16-33 and 2 Chronicles 7:14.
The next night, the rioting spread into the neighboring
boroughs, and the night after that they sprang up in the other cities exactly
the way I had seen them in the picture / impression. We saw the riots spreading, just as I
perceived them, beyond Tottenham, beyond London and spreading throughout
England, and I began to understand that
it was through prayer alone that these riots could be stopped. I resolved to dedicate most of last week to
intense sessions of prayer, rearranging major portions of my schedule, even
leaving London for a day in solitude, just to seek and petition the Lord. The scriptures from Genesis 18 and 2
Chronicles 7, revealed to me earlier, began to take on deeper meanings of
trust, assurance and power. In Genesis 18, Abraham is pleading unrelentingly
with God to spare a city, and in 2 Chronicles 7, God is calling His people to a
place of repentance, petition and authority. This last verse (2 Chronicles 7) was truly confirmed as I began to hear
of prayer meetings breaking out all over this city (and country), in large and small
fellowships, joint prayer meetings and individuals joining together using this
verse as a banner and promise. By Tuesday night, still deep in prayer and
hearing of many other impromptu prayer meetings all over London and the UK, I
felt a deep sense that the Lord was answering the cries of His children. The verse 2 Chronicles 7:14 became a promise
that many churches and groups were simultaneously using as they pleaded with
God to intervene. The strong response to
the Biblical obedience of calling out to Him, humbling ourselves, acknowledging
that He is the only one who would control this situation and believing that our
prayers would be heard and calmness would be restored.
By Wednesday as the rioting stopped, it was apparent that the
impression/picture I saw days earlier was a prophetic picture of what COULD
happen and not what WOULD happen in our Western society at this time.
What is clear is God's clarion call to his people to pray. This last week proved to be an example and a warning. We have had a clear and painful wake-up call to pray without ceasing for our nations, cities, communities and families.
Kurt Erickson, London
