The start of the semester is always an exciting time. College campuses that have been dormant over the break come to life again as students, administrators and faculty bustle about in a flurry of activity. Here at the Campus House of Prayer (CHOP) at The University of Texas at Austin, it is no exception, and it is something I look forward to because it means seeing the prayer room fill up again, and catching up with students who pop by my office for a visit.
Yesterday we held our first Fusion group for the semester. If you don’t know what Fusion is, it’s simply a group of students from different ministries, denominations and ethnic backgrounds coming together on a weekly basis to worship Jesus together and pray for their campus. It is not only a beautiful expression of the united body of Christ at UT, but also of the love they have for their campus.
What does Revival look like?
Amidst the usual prayer and worship, a small discussion had many of the students buzzing as we talked about what revival would look like on our campus.
Lots of great answers were thrown out: genuine love between Christians for one another, people encountering God on a daily basis, UT becoming known for the presence of God, people worshipping Jesus in every classroom and dorm. The list was endless, and got people more excited as we talked about it. But then came the question, what would it take for this to happen?
The answer was simple. We need to pray.
Before you do anything, pray and then obey
A lot of people connect revival with thousands upon thousands of people at giant worship gatherings and doing and seeing lots of amazing stuff like people being instantaneously healed and hundreds coming to Christ per meeting. But while these things sound amazing, people rarely ever feel like they would be able to start something like that. It’s too big, too overwhelming.
And they’re probably right. Trying to pull off something like that would be too far out of most people’s scopes. But what if, the key to seeing something like this happen is really more simple?
What a lot of people don’t realize sometimes is that most big things usually have small beginnings. And when it comes to God, everything and anything has to start with prayer. In fact, the great North American Missionary Movement started with just 5 young college guys praying together on a consistent basis. Two years later, 20,000 people had been sent across the world as missionaries! All from 5 people deciding to pray.
P.U.S.H
We’ve heard it time and time again and everything begins with prayer. And while sometimes it can feel like you’re not doing much, trust that God hears your prayers for your campus and then you are making a difference by choosing to pray!
As we begin a new semester, my encouragement to you is to Pray Until Something Happens – PUSH! God is definitely working something wherever you are, and the exciting thing is you get to be a part of it. So keep praying, and watch what He does!
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” – 2 Chronicles 7:14