Acts 1:14 NLT
'They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus.'
On Ascension Day you are invited to join thousands of others prepare for a Novena of prayer with Premier. Novena is from the Latin for ‘nine’ and describes those days when the disciples, together with Mary, Jesus’ mother, and around 120 believers waited in obedience to Jesus’ instruction, for the promised Holy Spirit. They were together in continuous prayer, as Luke records in Acts. This is the nine days from the ascension to Pentecost.
We know it was nine days, because the ascension happened 40 days after the resurrection (Acts 1:3), and Pentecost was always celebrated 50 days after the Passover. In this period, the fledgling Church called out to God for power from on high to fulfil Jesus’ command to witness to the “ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8). They had a specific focus given by Jesus and so these nine days are for intentional prayer. This year, in celebrating 25 years of Premier, we will focus upon giving thanks for the missional impact of this ministry and call out to God for the future missional effectiveness of Premier in an ever-changing world.
By committing to this Novena, each of us declares our intention to call on God’s missional mandate to be fulfilled throughout the earth, through Premier’s ministry in broadcasting, digital media, publishing, events and through Lifeline, the telephone helpline.
Many of us have been encouraged in our faith through Premier. It is God’s Church on the airwaves, and much more. So, I invite us to pray that Premier continues to enable people to put their faith at the heart of daily life and to bring Christ to their communities. Our prayers are focused on encouraging the active support of 1,000 local churches to communicate and promote the personal use of this Premier Novena to their members. We can start by asking one other friend to sign up and pray the Novena: visit premier.org.uk/novena
QUESTION: Who can you invite to sign up to this Novena?
PRAYER: Lord, we give you thanks for Premier’s 25th year, for the growth over those years and the fruitful ministry in worship, teaching, prayer and encouragement in the Christian faith. We give you thanks for the generous provision of prayerful and financial support from faithful Christians participating in your command to engage in mission.

Released on 21 May 2020