A Passion For Prayer
POSTED ON 13/07/10
One the ministries that has a massive impact on me and what I’m doing is an American movement called ‘The Ramp’, which is a youth gathering whose aim is to awaken a generation out of spiritual death and religious complacency (video).
The Ramp started out when Karen Wheaton met with a small group of teenagers to pray. This group has now turned into a regular gathering of hundreds of young people.
Karen Wheaton, who now heads up The Ramp’s team, came to Manchester, where I’m based, and was moved by what she saw: young people getting drunk and falling over in the street. She approached a group of girls and started talking to them. Intrigued by her American accent, they asked what she was doing here. Karen explained that she was attending a conference and singing. The girls asked her to sing, which she did, and the girls were reduced to tears. Karen left Manchester determined to keep praying for the city, saying that a piece of her heart had been left there.
I first heard about The Ramp in 2006 and, a year or so later, I emailed their team saying that I was thinking about going to one of their gatherings. They emailed back to say that she was really excited that I was going, as Karen had been praying for Manchester for years. The fact that I was coming from Manchester was almost like an answer to prayer.
While there, during one of the meetings she said, ‘There are some people here from England – why don’t you come up on stage?’. It wasn’t planned and I had no idea what to say! I just started speaking from my heart, saying that there was something at The Ramp that we needed in England: an expression of passion for God and a heart for revival. I began praying and the Holy Spirit moved so powerfully that everyone spent about 20 minutes praying for England and Manchester.
I came back excited about what I’d experienced there and just prayed for hours, crying out to God for Manchester. I was deeply impacted by their integrity. Prayer wasn’t just for the gathering, it was their life. I not only wanted the same for my life, but for Manchester and England…
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