Prayer

I'm sure if I asked you the question "how important is prayer in ministry", the answer you'd give would be "very important". But if I asked you to examine how that is reflected in your ministry, you'd probably end up at the honest conclusion that it isn't. We all know how important prayer is, we can't change people's lives on our campuses and we don't have the wisdom and insight to make all the right decisions on how to minister to others - we desperately need for God to guide us and to do His work. But prayer is something we easily neglect and fail to emphasize. We forget to pray, we find it boring, we'd rather "do" than stop and pray, etc, etc. There are lots of excuses, and at one time or another I've been guilty of them all.

I want to take this time to briefly introduce you to a book that I think every Christian college student should read, called Fireseeds of Spiritual Awakening, by Dan Hayes. You can find it for a few bucks here. 

I've read this book twice now, once as a student and again about 2 years ago. Both times it inspired my prayer life and desire to see student-led prayer movements take root. That's why I want to point it to you. Chances are you could list off many reasons why prayer is so vital, but sometimes we need to be reminded of those reasons and inspired at a heart level to actually get down to business and pray.

The book basically chronicles various revivals and awakenings (revival meaning a dramatic transformation of faith in the church; awakening meaning a dramatic outpouring of salvation among the unsaved) throughout the last 300 years or so. It shares story after story of these revivals and examines the consequences surrounding their beginnings. And time after time it's college students or college student aged people who are the sparks, and their persistent prayers that precede these events. It also looks at some biblical revivals, like that of Josiah in 2 Chronicles 33 and 34 (good story, it's worth a look).

What the author finds in his study on revivals and examination of Scripture, is that there are 5 "prerequisites" that are our part in seeing revival happen. God ultimately is the only one who brings revival, it's a move of His Spirit in power and only He can make that happen. But He often waits for faith and obedience to be present among His people before bringing revival. It's a bit of a mystery, how and why He chooses to act in the way He does, but we can play our part by seeking to meet the 5 prerequisites. Then maybe He'll choose to move in an amazing way in our midst. Here's what they are, my comments in italics:

1) God's people must recognize that there is a desperate need for spiritual awakening. Any objective look at culture or your campus would drive that point home - the things people say, do, and believe, and the emptiness and brokenness so many live in, all show the simple truth that people need Jesus desperately.

2) God's people must humble themselves before Him. God is God, and we are not. How often we fail to recognize that fact! We need to see ourselves rightly before Him - broken and deeply sinful and flawed, but dearly loved, forgiven, and empowered because of Christ.

3) God's people must confess their sin and repent. Sin not only hinders our fellowship with God, but also short circuits our effectiveness in ministry. Confession and repentance allow us to experience the forgiveness and freedom we already have in Christ.

4) God's people must continually and earnestly pray. Jesus taught the value of persistent prayer in Luke 11:1-13. We're invited to keep knocking on the door of Heaven until God gives an answer. In prayer we plead for God to intervene, knowing He's the only one who can change lives.

5) God's people must call others to join them to meet these prerequisites. There's something special about people joining together in Jesus' Name; in Matthew 18:19-20 Jesus says, "...if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them".

All these prerequisites are found in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14, a passage you've probably heard many times before: 

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

There are some of you who already have a passion for prayer and want to see a prayer movement take off on your campus. Maybe this book can fuel that passion and encourage you in spurring on others. For those who struggle with your prayer life, whether it be with motivation, persistence, consistency, or whatever - maybe this book can give you a jump start. For all of you, I think God can use it to cause you to dream about what He can do on your campus, and spur you to pray expectantly for it to happen. Prayer needs to be the backbone of our ministries, and we as a staff team want to help you develop movements of prayer on your campus. Without it, we won't have more than just fleeting ministry success.

So I strongly encourage you to pick this book up and read it - it's short and you can read it in one or two days, and it's under 10 bucks, definitely worth the cost. Make it a summertime read.

Also - if you read this in time, tonight (Friday) at 8pm, there is an event called "One Cry", a gathering of college students to seek God for forgiveness, revival, and renewal on the college campus. It's held at Times Square Church in NYC, and you can link in via video to join in the event. Click here to sign up, get a password to link to the event, and participate. Gather some friends together and join in the evening! Sorry it's so late in inviting to this event, I just found out about it yesterday!

--Jason