Beginning Year 2026

287 years ago January 1st, at around 3 in the morning in an all-night prayer meeting, on Fetter Lane in London England, John Wesley said that “the power of God came mightly upon us, insomuch that many cried out for exceeding joy and many fell to the ground.”

From this small group, John Wesley in his preaching, travelled on horseback over 125,000 miles, his brother Charles composed some 6,000 hymns, and a young man at the prayer meeting, George Whitefield, left for America, triggering a major spiritual revolution in the new country.

Today, early in January 2026, I join Methodists world-wide, in the Covenant Prayer of consecration, who on the first day of each year, pray this prayer of John Wesley:

This all night prayer meeting is

reminiscent of the Old Testament

Joel who wrote:

And afterwards, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will dream dreams,

your young men will see visions.

Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days. Joel 2:28/29

The Covenant Prayer

I am no longer my own, but yours.

Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;

put me to doing, put me to suffering;

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you;

exalted for you, or brought low for you;

let me be full, let me be empty;

let me have all things, let me have nothing.

I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things

to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, O glorious and blessed God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

you are mine, and I am yours.

So be it.

And the covenant now made on earth,

let it be ratified in heaven.

Amen.

Brian Stiller
Global Ambassador, World Evangelical Alliance
January 2026

(*This story suggested by Lectio 365)