DAY 15: Will You Watch & Pray?

By Nathan Cole (Chi Alpha)

“Therefore, we are ambassadors of Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:20 (ESV)

Awakening is not a new and novel idea. Throughout history, there have been Spirit-led seasons of prodigious kingdom expansion, which can only be explained in retrospect by the sovereign moves of God. These movements were not orchestrated by feeble attempts of men to stir up religious fervor or grow any single organization; instead, they superseded the scope of any one group in influence and expansion, to fulfill an urgent need in the heart of God for rapid kingdom growth.

From the days of Jonah, hesitantly ushering in a city-wide awakening in Nineveh, to the birth of the first-century church in Acts – there are distinct historical moments in which heaven and earth collide for a cataclysmic coming of the kingdom of God, to fulfill heaven’s agenda for a generation.

Salvation is personal. Revival is family. Awakening is generational.

From the 18th century onward, students have often been at the center of historic awakenings. In the early 1700s, twenty-something Ludwig Von Zinzendorf started a 24-hour prayer vigil that spanned an entire century and led to the pioneering of an unprecedented missions movement.

Samuel Mills and the Haystack Five famously gathered on a rainy afternoon in August 1806 to pray for the unreached, which led to a nationwide student awakening and the spawning of the first six mission agencies from North America.

Toward the end of the 19th century, C.T. Studd and six other Cambridge students gave up their prominence and position to thrust their lives into foreign missionary service and mobilization of their peers. By the turn of the 20th century, their recruitment efforts and inspiring sacrifices had multiplied into an unthinkable eight hundred missionaries, which represented one-third of the protestant missionary force at that time!

History shows this was only the beginning of another student awakening which culminated in over 100,000 students committing themselves to the evangelization of the world, through what became known as the Student Volunteer Movement. Over the course of four decades, 20,000 of these students went overseas, while the remaining 80,000 stayed behind to generously support this student awakening.

For more inspiring history, check out this speech given in 1898 entitled, “Spiritual Awakening in a University.” The text reads as if it was written for today.

It is time for America to experience another great student awakening. In fact, God has promised through multiple credible sources that we are in the nascent stages of another student awakening. It’s time for us to not only talk about awakenings but to contend for them.

In Matthew 26 during one of the most critical hours in history, Jesus calls his closest friends with him in the garden of Gethsemane to watch and pray, and yet they are found sleeping three times. We must be aware of this critical hour we are living in!

There is no doubt that Jesus is also calling us near, asking if we will watch and pray. Our spirit is willing, but our flesh is also weak.

Will you watch and pray? Will you contend for another student awakening in our generation?

PRAYER POINTS:

• Pray for the Awakening
• Pray for college students
• Pray for college professors