Thursday Morning Prayer Group

This morning at 9am I met with 13 Senior High students to spend an hour in prayer together. I've been asked several times what the goals are in doing this, so here are my thoughts behind it:

We're doing this...
1) to help students "get over the hump" in their prayer lives
2) to show students how to pray
3) to give students an arena for sharing their praises and petitions with their peers
4) to help students view and use prayer as the spiritual discipline that it is
5) to join together in holding one another, this student ministry, and its staff before the Lord

And though many people tried to warn me that this would be a bust (because there's just no way that a group of teenagers would get up early on their summer break to pray together) we did it (and we're going to continue doing it every week throughout the summer).

I've thought all day long as to how to capture with words just how awesome this morning's prayer experience was. Here's how one of the students described it.

There was a certain presence in the chapel that was felt by all...a presence that had even Pastor Chris near tears, and all he did was stop in to say hello. The experience began with each student praying over a list of prayer material regarding the student ministry, and it continued as students then shared their personal prayer lists and prayed for one another. It was stunning...stunning because of the vulnerability with which they shared their deepest prayer needs with one another; stunning because of the looks on their faces as they prayed for one another (their love for one another was almost heavy in those moments); stunning because of their focus on having a dialogue with God; stunning because they were all approaching this prayer time as one would approach the most important conversation of his entire life. It was holy...

I said it to the group this morning, and I'm going to type it again here. In all of my years in ministry, I've never been more proud of a group of students than I am of this one. Instead of choosing their pillows, their remote controls, their Wii's, their girlfriends, or anything else that their summer break could afford them, they're spending Thursday mornings choosing Jesus...I'm so humbled and excited about that...that I can't even describe it to you.

Here is our theme for our summer prayer efforts:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."
Matthew 7:6-8

One final thing: The first item of prayer that everyone lifted high unto God today was a prayer for revival. We long to see lives transformed for all eternity in our student ministry and for the lost sheep of God to be found. We're serious about this. We want revival to come, and we want it so badly that we are going to make this the first item prayed for every time we meet. Would you join us in calling for revival? For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door is opened.

Grace and Peace to you.