Pray 40

READ:  Matthew 9:36 – 38

Former President of the United Nations General Assembly Charles Habib Malik, “The University is a clear – cut fulcrum with which to move the world…..More potently than by any other means, change the University and you change the world.”

PRAY:  “Jesus you taught your disciples in the midst of throngs of people to pray for laborers!  Because the “Harvest is plentiful” your desire is to raise up leaders for the Harvest.  Send us “laborers for the harvest” from the the masses of students to carry out your work on the campus!

ACT:

• How many in your ministry, in your leadership structure have come from the Harvest while on your campus?
•  What are the entry points for Non-believers in your campus ministry?
• You are in the midst of a great Harvest, pray daily for laborers with a simple prayer:  God send laborers into the Harvest!
• Engage your ministry in the Harvest:  not as a side bar but a vital part of your campus ministry culture!  God gives laborers to those involved in the Harvest!
• Keep praying, do not give up!  Luke 18:1-8

AUTHOR:  Bruce McGowan is the Director for the Center For Collegiate Ministry of the Texas Baptist Convention.

READ:  Joshua 1:1-9

PRAY:  God of Moses, give our students courage for the days ahead.  Raise up the next generation of Christian leaders to serve their campuses, the church, and the world around them.

Give them courage by your presence.  Be faithful to them even when others fail them.  Let them know your sustaining Spirit through in all that they do.  Let them grow in their ability to hear the quiet whispers and gentle leadings of your Spirit.  Fulfill your promise to never fail or forsake them.

Give them courage through your word.  Draw them to your commands.  Let them taste and see that you are good.  Write your commands on their hearts so that they may teach others.  Guide their choices by the light of  word.  Give them wisdom through your law.

We ask that your establish their paths and make their ways prosperous.  Guard and keep them letting nothing stand in the way of all they will accomplish for your kingdom.  We pray that you would make them successful in all that they put their hands and hearts to.  Prosper them in their relationships, in their studies, and in their future callings.  Remove any fear that would choke out your dreams for their life.

God of Moses, give them your courage for the days ahead.  In the name of Jesus we pray.  Amen.

ACT:  Find a student leader to mentor this upcoming year.  Spend one hour a week investing in them.  Create opportunities for them to develop, learn, and serve with you.  Model what it means to live your faith out in practical, day to day ways.

AUTHOR:  Creighton Alexander is the campus pastor for the Bama Wesley Foundation and Director of Refresh Conferences.

READ:  Romans 15:20

PRAY:  Lord Jesus,

Again the academic year begins and millions of college students are heading to campus.  We want to welcome them and to introduce them to you!  You are the source of life and joy and offer them salvation and eternal life.  Guide seekers to believers on campus;  help believers to find believing groups on campus where their faith can be deepened as they prepare for their life’s vocation.

Jesus, would you be light in the places on campus where there is great darkness.  Bring redemption and healing to students and faculty  on campuses across America and around the world.

Jesus, you are the truth!  May students and faculty represent you well in classrooms, dorm rooms and the many places where discussions are help on campus.

Bless those who proclaim your Name on campus.  Amen.

AUTHOR:  Roger Anderson, National Field Director, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA

READ: Genesis 1:26–27

PRAY:  Creator God, we and our students are surrounded by images—on billboards, in magazines, catching our gaze on countless glowing rectangles in every nook and cranny of our campuses, dorms, and homes.  Every one of these images tells us something about who we believe we are and can be—and who we believe you are.

These images do not tell the truth. At best they tell only part of the truth. At worst they are idols, false images leading to the worship of false gods.

Only embodied image bearers, not disembodied images, can tell the full truth. Yet even your own image bearers have turned from you and become makers and bearers of falsehood. All of us have borne false witness by imaging ourselves as gods who are not God. Rather than image-bearers, we have become image-breakers.

Have mercy upon us in our image-breaking. Restore us in the image of your Son, the one true Image Bearer. Make us icons of your reality in a universe of unreality—in our universities of unreality.

For the sake of your Son, the icon of the invisible God. Amen.

ACT:  Walk across your campus three times. Each time, try to contemplate the face of each person you pass (in a non-creepy manner ). The first time, as you look at each person you pass, say to yourself, “Image bearer.” The second time, say to yourself, “Image breaker.” The third time, pray for each one using these words: “Restore your image in this person, Lord Jesus.”

AUTHOR:  Andy Crouch is the author of Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling and executive producer of This Is Our City at Christianity Today.

READ:  Ephesians 3:14-21

PRAY:  God of wonders, near and far,

Thank you that you love college students!

Thank you for loving them more than their campus staffers, workers and ministers and even more than those long gazes and hugs embody from best friends, family and parents who just dropped off their freshmen with “see you later,” not wanting to say goodbye.

Thank you that you lovingly orchestrated their year ahead, stretching them individually and corporately to embrace the life you offer and that you anticipate and desire to hear every heartfelt prayer of hope, challenge, and even defeat.

Thanks that you will respond by lavishing upon them your deep love that is real not only for them, but their hard-to-love roommates, professors, etc.  Reveal yourself to them in even greater ways through your word.

Thank you that Jesus’ love allows significant connections that will bring hope to those around them, be it in relationships with family, strangers, or the love of their life.  May they see that because of your love in them, they can be participate significantly in your work, and that what they are training for via college will be transformed into the continuation of life you have ahead of them. Reveal each step in your timing and not theirs.

Thank you God for the ways you will love them, in some cases, tough love, but always loving them back into your presence when they drift and momentarily lose sight of what it means to carry your love in their lives wherever they go.  May they praise you for how vast your love is in order that they may reach their passions and dreams – overseas or just outside the campus; formed and held long or just being imagined; theirs alone or the worlds.

In loving anticipation, we pray, with thanksgiving, amen.

ACT:  When is the last time you “imagined and dreamed big”?

1.     Write down one thing you want to be “Ephesian” for, having God work “immeasurably more than you can imagine”?

2.     Write the one “love” that impedes God’s love for you.

3.  Finally, write the names of 2 people you will share one of the above with and ask them the same then commit to pray these into action this coming year.

Await to be amazed and give praise.

AUTHOR:  Melanie Mar Chow has been believing for 25 years that God’s love is real and works on the campus primarily for Asian American college students through Asian American Christian Fellowship (www.aacf.org).  She, husband Bruce, and daughter Chloe can testify to seeing God work imaginably more than they could ever imagine.

READ:   John 1:1-9

PRAY:  Father we ask for a movement of your Spirit.

We acknowledge that your Holy Spirit, your ruah, your nooma, your wind, your breath, and your air is in us and all around us. Please forgive us for being too full of plans, preparations, and preoccupations to center ourselves on your life-giving breath and life-directing wind.

We ask that the Spirit of God, or the Storm of God that brooded over the chaotic waters of creation, would brood over the turbulent waters of our campus. We ask that your Spirit would recreate our dorms, our classrooms, our ministries, our marriages, our families, and our churches in your image—into vibrant communities bursting at the seams with faith, hope, and love.

We ask the Spirit of God, or Breath of God, that you breathed into Adams nostrils, would once again fill our lungs to proclaim your gospel, fill our sails to live your gospel, and fill our praise to sing your gospel.

We bravely ask that our ministry and message, like that of Paul, would not solely be marked not by persuasive speech or attractive rhetoric, but rather a demonstration of Spirit and power. We humbly ask that our prayers, like that of John, would constantly turn to your return:  Come Lord Jesus, Come.  And we ask that our testimony and our evangelism would simply echo that of the Samaritan Woman: Come and see.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

AUTHOR:  Chris Brooks is the college pastor of The Well at Calvary Tuscaloosa.

READ:  Psalm 68:1-10

PRAY:  Holy God,

You love this world. You love the humans who do good. You love the humans who behave terribly. You love those who have plenty. You love those who are in need. You love desperate college students. You love all of them. And you love each of us.

We can sit in the awe of wonder of your love, basking in the reality of that love for each of us. We can know your grace and the power of forgiveness that it provides. Yet that love reveals who we really are. All of our shortcomings. All of our self-seeking. All of “my kingdom come,” instead of “your kingdom come.” All of our doubts and fears that we aren’t, we can’t be, we never will be enough to care for students who need to know you. Too often, the reaction to all of these realizations in our lives is nothing. Apathy. Inactivity.

God, we pray against the strength of oblivion. We pray against taking the easy path of ignorance that students need to know you. In the face of doing nothing, we pray that we would be reminded of the blood of Jesus. We pray to be overwhelmed by your love that we would be put into a place of action. As the day stretches out before us, and the easy way out is to claim doubt and fear, we ask that you would encourage our souls through the power of your love in every day life and activity. When we begin to imagine our lives would be easier and simpler if only we were doing something else, somewhere else, keep us where we are by trusting you are also present with us in this place, using us to share your love. As judgment and impatience creep into our attitudes and activities, remind us that you have laid down your life for us. Remind us that wherever we are, whatever we are doing, because your love is in us, that place is holy ground.

Teach us to love this world. Teach us to love the humans who do good. Teach us to love the humans who behave terribly. Teach us to love those who have plenty. Teach us to love those who are in need. Teach us to truly show your love to college students. Teach us to love all. Teach us to love you.

In your holy, loving name, Amen

AUTHOR:  Janie Stuart is the Associate Director of University Ministries (The Inn) at University Presbyterian Church in Seattle, WA. Ministers to students at The University of Washington.

READ: Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

PRAY:  “Gracious and loving God, thank you for creating me for wholeness and life. Forgive me for the ways that I short circuit your goodness for me by choices that steer me away from you. Give me the desire and power to make the daily, small choices that lead me to become who you created me to be.”

ACT:  We sometimes think that our spiritual life is determined by big moments or big events—an experience at camp, a passionate praise concert, an inspiring sermon, or such.

But in reality, being a follower of Christ is more about the daily, ordinary choices we make that add up to be huge.

A leader of the United Nations, Dag Hammerskjold, was a committed Christian, who, in one of his writings, said, “You cannot play with the animal in you without becoming wholly animal, play with the falsehood without forfeiting your right to truth, play with cruelty without losing your sensitivity of mind. The person who wants to keep his garden tidy doesn’t reserve a plot for weeds.”

This day choose to make choices throughout all of your activities that reflect the kind of person Jesus is calling you to be. At the end of the day, take a moment to reflect, give thanks, and recognize the ways God’s way of living has taken hold of your attitudes, actions, heart, and mind and pray that God will nurture the good “in the garden of your life” and prepare you for a fruitful tomorrow!

AUTHOR:  Steve came to the Trust in 2006 from a distinguished career in higher education. Most recently he served as the Senior Vice President of Asbury Theological Seminary and the President of the Asbury Foundation.  Prior to that he served as Vice President of Student Life at Baylor University, Vice President of Campus Life at Seattle Pacific University, and Executive Director of the Texas Tech University Wesley Foundation, where he also served on faculty. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. He is a widely published author and frequent speaker at colleges, universities, and conferences. He and his wife, Thanne, have three children.

READ:  2 Corinthians 3.18

PRAY:  Father, we’re so grateful for your Son – the crucified and resurrected King! – and for your Holy Spirit – our comforter, enabler and friend – who makes us more like Jesus.

In our prayers, Lord, make us more like Jesus.

In our studies, Lord, make us more like Jesus.

In our careers, Lord, make us more like Jesus.

Jesus, you’re remarkable, mind-blowing, brilliant and mesmerizing!

(Pause and consider one simple story from the gospel narratives about Jesus – i.e. like when he cooked breakfast on the beach for his disciples after he had been raised again from the dead in John 21.)

In our choices, Lord, make us more like Jesus.

In our service of others, Lord, make us more like Jesus.

In our holy risk-taking, Lord, make us more like Jesus.

Father, we’re so grateful for your Son – the crucified and resurrected King! – and for your Holy Spirit – our comforter, enabler and friend – who makes us more like Jesus.

Amen.

ACT:  When you have a moment, make some space to imaginatively explore one story from the gospel narratives about Jesus.  Consider him with the woman at the well in John 4, or perhaps ponder when he first called Simon Peter to follow him in Luke 5.  Imagine the look in his eyes, listen for the tone of his voice, consider the expression on his face.

Immersing ourselves in the stories of Jesus in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is one of the primary ways Holy Spirit transforms us into the likeness of Christ.  The more clearly we see Jesus, the more clearly we will know what it means to follow him in our various fields of study and areas of work.

Just take one simple story from the gospels and imagine what Jesus is really like.

AUTHOR:  Trent Sheppard lives in Boston, Massachusetts, and is the author of God on Campus (IVP).  He worked with YWAM in the UK for eight years and he presently serves as Alpha New England’s Collegiate Chaplain.

READ:  Ephesians 5:14

PRAY:  Father,

We lift up college students across the world today, even across the nations, and we declare, “Wake up O sleeper and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” Ephesians 5:14.

We lift up campus pastors. Embolden them to sow seeds of awakening with extravagance across their campuses. Give them a holy audacity to sow with ridiculous faith and to know in the deepest way that you will bring harvest. Grace them to harvest in this season where they have not sown and to sow in this season in ways future generations will harvest.

And we pray for the many churches within earshot of the campus. Open their ears to hear and their eyes to see these students in ways they have not perceived them before. Awaken them to the unparalleled possibilities held in the lives of each student.

Finally, we lift up the denominations and church movements. Unstop their ears to hear the cries of students and open their eyes to see the Kingdom of God strategy of campus ministry and to open their hearts and their coffers to make provision for this most essential work.

We pray in the name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

ACT:  Walk about your campus in a prayerful fashion, whispering and where possible, shouting the word from Ephesians, “Wake up O sleepers and rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you.” Be conscious that as you speak these words over the campus you are sowing them into the very ground beneath your feet.

AUTHOR:  John David (J.D.) Walt serves as the Sower in Chief for Seedbed, an online electronic and print publishing platform designed to develop and deliver theological and ministry training resources to the local church. A sought after speaker and conference leader, a published author and songwriter, J.D. has served as mentor to dozens of pastors and worship leaders around the world both well known and unknown. He has served as a pastor and teacher in the Passion movement and with Worship Central, the worship equipping ministry of Tim Hughes and Al Gordon of the United Kingdom. He writes regularly online at www.jdwalt.com. Follow him on twitter @jdwalt. He hails from Dumas, Arkansas, and is married to Tiffani, also an Asbury Seminary graduate. They reside at the Walt Farm in Wilmore, Kentucky, with their four children David, Mary Kathryn, Lily and Samuel.