Prayer is unavoidable. We are always praying. We are always giving expression to spoken or unspoken, conscious or sub-conscious hopes, longings, hurts or questions.

Specifically, prayer is the essential, basic and transformative practice that followers of Jesus the King must engage in if they are to even begin to truly participate in the life of the kingdom. There seem to be different levels or modes for this.

• At one level, prayer is all about personal sustenance and devotion. Whether this looks like a desperate plea for God’s presence, power, transformation, rescue, and deliverance, or a disciplined habit that trains and forms me in the shape of Jesus.
• At another level, prayer is about communal development and formation. This could look like a simple shared practice where we support one another on the road of discipleship, or like an intensive and rigorous programme of activity to collaboratively pursue dynamic change in a community.
• At another level, prayer is about societal transformation and revival. This could look like quiet, gentle and empathetic longing for the local and global state of affairs to shift in God’s time, or a public protest march calling on God to judge, heal & revive society.

All three of these modes of kingdom prayer ask for, plead for, work for, long for, seek for the transformative presence of God. In my personal space. In a shared community space. In my neighbourhood, city, nation or indeed the world.

All three modes of prayer pray the same three words over hearts, communities and societies: Come. Lord. Jesus.