Collegiate Day of Prayer Global: 40-Day Prayer GuideSample

Day 17: Prerequisite to Revival and Spiritual Awakening

By Dr. Bob Bakke (Bob is on the executive leadership team of OneCry. He is the producer of the Collegiate Day of Prayer broadcast, an author and speaker, and formerly senior pastor of three churches and an executive director of the Evangelical Free Church of America.)

“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the LORD Almighty.

– Zechariah 4:6

In the early 1830s, two loggers came to faith in Christ under Charles Finney’s preaching in Philadelphia. Unknown to Finney, the loggers returned home to the hills of Pennsylvania. Their region was without churches or believers, hardly a Bible, and, we suspect, very few who could read.

Two years later, as Finney traveled down the east side of the Delaware River and held meetings in the town of Camden, NJ, these two loggers came out of the hills to tell Finney the most remarkable story he had ever heard. Not knowing what to do with their new and simple faith, the loggers had returned to their logging camp and put into practice the basic things they learned from Finney. They read the Bible and prayed. As this little prayer group pursued God, the group grew as the presence of God grew. In the course of two years, covering an area of 80 square miles, 5,000 people came to Christ! So, when Finney returned to the region, the loggers left the woods to plead with Dr. Finney to send someone back with them to disciple the new Christians and plant churches.

This astonishing testimony reminds us of how the Kingdom works: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). It echoes the lessons of Ezekiel 37 when God illustrated His promise to bring revival of His captive people with a vision. Standing before a valley of dry bones, God commanded Ezekiel to prophesy His promise of revival to the bones: “‘I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life,’ He said” (vs. 5). But before the dead could live, God commanded Ezekiel a second time: “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live’” (vs. 9).

The result? “So I prophesied as he commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army” (vs. 10). Life is a work of the Spirit, and prayer summons the Spirit in for the glory of heaven.

So, as we pray for the campuses of today—whether we personally identify as manual laborers or prophets—our modus operandi is the same as it has always been. By the authority of our Resurrected Christ Himself, who commands us to “pray and not give up” and to “ask [and keep on asking],” we summon the wind—His Spirit of Life and Holiness—who alone can bring life where there is none and seasons of refreshing where they lack.

PRAYER POINTS:

• Confess your/our dependence on God. It is God alone who can rescue this generation (John 15:1-5).
• Humble yourself before God (Psalm 131; Romans 8:26).
• Summon the wind—the Holy Spirit—with expectation for a new Pentecost among college students. Pray for both Christians (for a Spirit-filled life) and the lost—that they may awaken to new life ( Ezekiel 36:1-14; Acts 2:1-4).