Why Pray and Fast for 40 Days?

1. To seek what's on God's heart for our city.Matt 13:14-17, Rev 2-3
2. To share Jesus' compassion for all people in Melbourne, their pain and potential.
3. Because Jesus calls us to pray for the future of our city.
4. Because Melbourne needs and deserves our prayer.

Opportunites for United Corporate Prayer:

• United Prayer in ALL 31 LOCAL CITES of Melbourne (Wednesday 25th Feb at 7.30pm - except at MELBOURNE CITY which will be on Tuesday 24th Feb) - see details here.
• Continuous prayer covering for 40 Days will be enhanced by night watches. If you can hold an all night prayer watch in your own setting during the 40 days contact sue@transformingmelbourne.org to register the date.
• United Prayer Vigil 8 pm Saturday 4th - dawn Sunday 5th April at Crossway Prayer Chapel, Vision Drive Burwood.

All Melbourne Matters - 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting for the Church & Future of our City

The first few words of the Australian National Anthem "Advance Australia Fair" say: "Australians all let us rejoice"….while that's wonderful, I'd add "Australians all let us REPENT". GOD CALLS FOR DEEP REPENTANCE through 2 Chronicles 7:13-15, "When I shut up the heavens and there is no rain…... If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from my heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place."

Our land is wrecked by fires and drought. We cry out to God acknowledging our need for radical healing and transformation across Australia and within our city. We believe the breaking of the physical drought is dependent on the breaking of the spiritual drought, which in turn is dependent on us humbling ourselves before the Almighty God and recommitting our ways back to Him. We need to wake up and change our self-centred lifestyle, repent, pray and fast intentionally!There are critical prayer needs in the city of Melbourne at this crucial time. Obviously our first priority is prayer regarding the fire disaster being fought in Victoria right now . We stand together in prayer and practical support at this time for the people, the fire fighters, the community workers and the future of these districts of Victoria.

The "ALL MELBOURNE MATTERS" research results show shocking findings for those of us who are concerned about the future of the Church and the future of society in Melbourne. The good news is this report provides Church leaders and others a basis for developing effective and strategic plans for collaborative mission and ministry across the City to reverse these trends. We pray that leaders will be convicted to work with God's Spirit to mobilize the Body (especially through discipleship) toward intentional mission to our city.

It is vital and urgent that we are willing to let God build His Church, so Jesus can use us to impact this city and subsequent generations. There are specific opportunities for us to be woven into a tapestry of prayer across Melbourne. One of which is through 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting (Ash Wednesday Feb 25- Palm Sunday April 5). The Prayer Guide brochure can be downloaded from the Transforming Melbourne website, or here. The focus is opening our hearts to God's call to the Great Commission, "Pray we see our city as Jesus sees it and love Melbourne as He does."

The brochures for the 40 days calendar can be collected at Koorong/Word bookshops from Friday 12th February, or you can contact the TM office on 95702534, or email: office@transformingmelbourne.org

Prepare Now For God To Fulfill His Purposes!

A PROPHECY OF GREATER THINGS IN MELBOURNE IN 2009

A quote from Graham Cooke’s powerful prophecy over Melbourne (Nov’08):

“We are going to see moves of God unprecedented throughout the earth, and we are seeing something begin in Melbourne. The awakening has begun! I believe it will get to a place in Melbourne when a window will open over Melbourne and we will start to pull down things out of heaven. It's happening right now! We are in the season! The water level’s up to our course!

We need to deliberately make decisions to walk deliberately forward into a move of the Spirit.
We need to start preparing for the way of the Lord right now.
We need to start getting together.
We need to start praying.
We need to start worshipping.
We need to start planning.
We need to start training people.
We need to come to a place where the Lord is speaking to us about things that are unprecedented and we are able to hear - outrageous things.

God is doing something here unprecedented in your history. It's simply your day and it's your time, and you must make the most of it.

We are in those times, a move of God, unprecedented in this city's history, churches coming together…
We are going to see the end of turf wars.
We are going to see unprecedented cooperation, and incredibly…
We are going to see leaders - men and women of God, just broken by the love, and the beauty and the joy of the Lord, open to the majesty and the sovereignty of heaven, coming and saying 'I want to give this up, I want to lay this down at the feet of Jesus. I want to give back to God that which belongs to Him.'
We are going to see the business community step up into a different anointing.
We are going to see the map of the city redrawn spiritually. We are going to see people who live in an area, evangelising that area. And it won't matter what church you come from. We are going to find house to house, street to street, moves of God. We are going to get Christian neighbours coming together and just moving down their street and seeing signs and wonders, it'll be unprecedented. It is not going to be a move of God that's led by superstars. It will be nameless, faceless generation of people getting out there on the street, and no one is able to highjack it. It's a move of God at grassroots' level.

There is a place of surrender in all of that - where we are surrendering to the love, and the majesty, to the beauty and sovereignty of God. So there is an intimacy that is going to come into the city; the love of God is shed on the streets; the peace of God coming on the city.

It's time to move out and go to a deeper place still. It's time to sit down before the Lord and just ask, 'What's the abundance that's beyond thinking?' God is doing something here unprecedented in your history. It's simply your day and it's your time, and you must make the most of it.
This is the day of the Lord. This is the season of God. We are in an outrageous time and the move of God. It's the stuff of dreams.

We are going to learn how to stand. We are going to learn how to fight for the city. We are going to fight in a new way. As we stand together, as we walk together, as we cooperate together in unprecedented ways, a window will open in heaven. When you pray that window will open. We are going to have permission. The Lord is going to say, "you are to come together with one heart and one voice in the city. We are going to see an eldership in the city raised up, with oversight.”

THE CHALLENGE: Make some deliberate decisions to commit to prayer, preparation and training so we are able to move forward together with God and each other in the imminent revival.

Peter Costello's Message On Australia Day

Following is the historic message given by the Hon. Peter Costello (former Federal Treasurer) for the Australia Day United Prayer Celebration, organized by CTFM at the Melbourne Town Hall, where more than 1500 Christians from many churches, denominations, and cultures came together as the Body of Christ from across our nation to declare Australia for Jesus!
Link to the Hon. Peter Costello’s Video Message: Peter Costello’s Message on Australia Day 2009

“Good morning to everybody that is meeting together in the Melbourne Town Hall on this Australia day. I can’t think of a more important thing to be doing than to Unite in Prayer on this, our National day for our nation. And I bring you special greetings to each and every one of you that is there today and is praying for our nation standing in prayer on its behalf for it and for all of our people.

Many Australians don’t know that shortly after the 1st Australia day January the 26th, the first sermon was ever preached on Australian soil by the chaplain that came out with the first fleet. The chaplain took as his text a verse from the Psalms, and he preached a sermon on these words. “What shall I render to the lord for all his benefits to me?” Course the benefits that he was preaching about was the coming of the First fleet to Australia, the landing and the establishment of the new country.

As we look back over hundreds of years of Australian history, we can still see the benefits of God to us in this country. A wonderful country, wonderful people that’s given a home to those that have come from all over the world, a country that has had a peaceful history and a prosperous history, a country that is now respected around the world. Of course the following verse of that psalm goes on to say, “what shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits to me” goes on to say “I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.” And of course, what greater gift is there than the gift that God has given us in Jesus Christ. The cup of salvation, and what more can we do than to take hold of it and call upon the name of the Lord, which is what you are doing today in the Melbourne Town Hall.

One of the things that has been absolutely central to the development of Australia and the foundation of our society is that Biblical heritage, the heritage that we have through the Scriptures, and through the Ten Commandments, respect for our Maker, respect for our fellow citizens, respect for property, respect for the laws that God has laid down. That’s been the foundation of our society. It’s been the basis of our peaceful tolerance of each other and of order. It has been the basis of creating opportunity for so many Australian’s. If we forget that tradition, if we walk away from those God given commandments, then we as a society will be threatened with the breakdown of that order, will be threatened with losing our heritage and loosing opportunity. So I want to say to you, those that are praying for Australia today, to pray that this nation will always remember its foundations, and always be true to them, and always live according to those laws. There are many people today that are telling us that religion is all a lot of superstition, that the laws that have been laid down, of respect for individuals, property and for our creator are all a load of nonsense, that don’t respect life. If we fall for that trap, if Australia falls for that trap then the very basis of our society and its order will be threatened. That’s why we need Christian people to pray for our country, we will never understand the way in which God moves. But we know that if his people pray, He will hear that they will be a light to the nation and the nation will be covered and protected by Godly people who are giving direction and standing for it in prayer. And I thank you for what you are doing today and can I encourage you to continue in it.

May God bless you and may God bless our country in this year 2009.”

I encourage you to pass on these details throughout your congregation, denomination, ministry, movement, and additional spheres of Kingdom influence as the Lord continues to unite the Body of Christ in corporately praying for Australia’s spiritual transformation in 2009!