The Invitation to Pray

On February 8, 2023, students on the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, KY filed in for their regular Wednesday morning chapel service.  They sang, they prayed, the guest speaker gave a message from Romans 12 and they dismissed.  As students began leaving chapel, a few students felt compelled to stay and pray longer.  As the guest speaker was walking to his car, he said he felt the LORD speak to his heart and tell him to go back in because He wasn’t finished.  Before long, word started spreading around campus that students were still in the chapel worshiping and praying.  Soon the chapel was filled to capacity with students confessing sin, praying, testifying to the presence of God and worshiping in unison without the use of lights, production, lyrics ect.

As of the time of this writing, the revival is on day 10.  Ponder on this, students and guests from all around the world have been gathering on Asbury’s campus and filling three auditoriums for the past 240 straight hours. And it’s not just happening at Asbury.  Since the revival started in KY, revival has broken out on college campuses in Ohio, Alabama and in churches across the country. 

One thing is for sure, God responds when His people sincerely seek Him.

In a time when Jerusalem was being conquered by the Babylonians about 600 years before the birth of Christ, God gave a message of hope to the discouraged Jewish people through the prophet Jeremiah…

Jeremiah 29: 12-13, You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you”

Prayer has been called the Christian’s Greatest Privilege! 

Think about the power of prayer for a moment.  It was through prayer that God saw the loneliness of Adam and gave him his help-mate, Eve.  It was through prayer that God directed Noah to build the Ark.  It was through prayer that Abraham became the Father of many Nations.  It was through prayer that Enoch was raptured to Heaven without seeing death.  It was through prayer that Lot was saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.  It was through prayer that Jacob was blessed with twelve sons who became the twelve tribes of Israel.  O’ the power of prayer and I’ve only hit the highlights of Genesis!

We could go on, it was through prayer that God heard the cries of Israel in Egyptian bondage and called Moses to lead them out.  It was through prayer that the Red Sea divided.  It was through prayer that water came from the rock and manna came from Heaven and covered the ground.  It was through prayer that God sent His Ten Commandments to man.  It was through prayer that the Sun stood still.  It was through prayer that fire came from the sky on Elijah’s sacrifice.  It was through prayer that the sick were healed, the lame walked, the blind saw, the mute spoke and the dead lived again!  O’ the power of Prayer!

On the day of Pentecost, it was from a prayer meeting that the church was filled with the Holy Spirit and three thousand souls were saved!  O’ the power of Prayer! 

Here at Connection Point Church, we are embarking on 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting beginning this Sunday, February 19th.  May we all take advantage of the great opportunity that God has given us to enter into His presence through prayer.  Who knows what God will do next as we seek Him.

Matthew 7:7-11, (NKJV) – “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.  8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.  9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?  10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?  11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”