Shakespeare’s Hamlet remarks ‘something is rotten in the state of Denmark’. I think the actions that have taken place on our streets in the last few days tell us ‘something is rotten in the state of England’. I am sure many of us have watched in horror as the events of the last few days have unfolded. What started as a protest against the police (and I am certainly not justifying that action) has accelerated into wanton destuction, looting and violence.

Somewhere within the mindset of many in the next generation there is a disconnect that has led to wholesale destruction and theft of other people’s property without thought for the victims. Many argue that it is down to bad parenting or it is just ‘wanton bums’ carrying out these actions. Last night we had the spectre of vigilante groups out on the streets protecting neighbourhoods where the police have been powerless to stop the youths. Whatever we think about such groups, the impact of warfare on the streets couold have lasting and destructive effects in our communities.

Brothers and sisters, it is time to pray! Whatever the causes are deemed to be by the ‘experts’, the real cause is a society that has laid aside God so that ‘each man is doing what is right in his own eyes’. What this country needs is revival – revival that will not stop within the four walls of our churches but will sweep out into our streets, schools, families and institutions. This is not a time for putting on our tin hats and waiting for the trouble to stop so that we can all go back to our normal lives. This is a time to be militant, not on the streets, but in our prayers, that God would intervene and heal our society by His Spirit.

‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’.