Author: Ards & North Down Christian Community Hub

Much thanks

May I take this opportunity to thank everyone of the Ards & North Down Christian Community that took part in and availed of the opportunity to pray at the 24-7 Prayer rooms. What an amazing time of blessing and refreshing in the Lord. Many of you have expressed a desire for there to be a continual prayer space in the town and for a continuation of united fellowship in prayer with each other.

That is what we see God’s will being and would invite any of you to contact me on 07799929131 to share your thoughts on how we could do that together.

Thank you and the Lord continue to bless us all.

Yours sincerely,

David Gourley

Come and Celebrate what the Lord has done

Arise! Shine! For your light has come! And the Glory of the Lord has risen upon you!

Surely we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good this week of prayer. We have been witness to God’s mercy, forgiveness, love, compassion, peace, comfort, restoration and grace and so much more.

We have seen the unifying force of the Holy Spirit at work in people and a refocusing and renewal of the high calling of God in their lives.

We rejoice in the Lord that he has heard the prayers of his people for our Town, our Borough and our Country. He has gone before us breaking the yoke of bondage in lives, casting out the darkness and bringing livery to the captives.

Rejoice in the Lord! Again, I say, Rejoice!

Let us gather this afternoon in unity and purpose at 3pm in Conway Square and raise shouts of praise and adoration to our great God and King, our Emmanuel, our God who is with us.

Let us praise the name of the only Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and lift him high for he shall draw all people unto himself and we shall see the salvation of the Lord.

Let God arise and his enemies be scattered.

The Lord bless us all.

A Prayer of Repentance for Ireland

Heavenly Father, we thank You for our Christian heritage from Patrick and the Celtic church until now.  We thank You for our history as a ‘land of saints and scholars’, spreading the Gospel to the world.  However, today we acknowledge that for many years the world has known our land as a place of hatred and bloodshed. Throughout our history, the name of Your Son Jesus Christ has been used to justify many things that have brought dishonour to You.  Our bitter disputes and hard hearts have driven Your Kingdom from us and we have served the idols of national identity and tribal fears.  We confess that we have taken Your Holy name in vain.  

We gather together today to own our sins and the sins of our fathers which have stained our land. We are truly sorry and we earnestly repent.  Please have mercy on us and forgive us for what we have done against You, what we have done to this land and what we have done to one another.  Together we come to the foot of the cross declaring that only Jesus can take away our sins and heal our land. 

We recognise that along with the heritage that we have received from You there are weeds and snares of compromise and untruth.  We confess fear, mistrust, hatred, violence, negativity, judgementalism, entitlement and complacency.  We ask you to release us from all unhealthy bondages of culture, wrong covenants and the unhelpful mindsets of our history and bring us into the righteousness, peace, and joy of the kingdom of God.

Father, Lord of heaven and of every tribe, tongue, and nation on Earth. We as Your church affirm that ‘All authority in heaven and on earth’ belongs to Jesus and He has commissioned us to ‘Go make disciples of all nations’. 

Today we speak into existence a new mindset in the heavenly realms over our land, that will allow our politicians and all our people to move forward into a peaceful and harmonious future together where there is room for all. 

We declare, we will have King Jesus to rule over us, as our only Saviour and Lord, we will serve His Kingdom above all other earthly Kingdoms and we will choose to walk in His footsteps, loving and serving one another – to the glory of God the Father, in the name of Jesus the Son, and in the power of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.