Over the past two months, we have experienced intense spiritual warfare at ASU, but extraordinary victories. The Lord has allowed us to begin to open and shut doors on the campus unlike anything we have experienced before.
We have had united seasons of 24-hour prayer at Arizona State University since Fall 2005. In this last semester, we’ve seen a spirit of repentance released over the prayer tent in a way that has impacted our whole season of prayer! Students, normally afraid of being judged by others, were no longer afraid to confess their sins openly to others. Some students confessed deeply personal sins to people they had never met! For the first time we’ve seen students enter into a heart of JOYFUL repentance – wanting to get rid of the things that are in the way of being wholehearted in our love for Jesus!! This focus on “returning to our First Love” has infused SO MUCH LIFE into our season of prayer – it’s been one of the best from start to finish!!! Chris Ngai, Love ASU
The Prayer Tent for 40 days of night and day prayer!
“The times felt so powerful because I really sensed that the things people were confessing and repenting of we’re having ripple effects into their sphere of influence. It was like their spirit of confession was so counter to the spirit of the age, that it was having huge impact.””One day I remember in particular…the reading was about having belief in God to do the impossible, that if we aren’t praying for things with faith, we’re really trusting in ourselves. It turned out that every person there that day was facing an impossible situation: one had a friend who was a Christian but was very sick with terminal cancer. The girl was feeling so bitter at God. Another had a boyfriend who had been deeply wounded by Christians and wouldn’t go to church. Still another had a brother who had strayed from The Lord and she didn’t see him coming back. Another girl’s parents were on the brink of divorce. Something just came over the tent as we started praying for each situation & confessing that it was not in our power to do something-there was just a hope, a peace that passed understanding. We were believing for big things- things we could not see accomplished on our own. I was calling it “impossible situations day.” I felt like Oprah or something on her favorite things show- I was just like full of hope and faith and ready to dish it out! A guy wandered into the tent- his dad was very ill. I said, “we’ll it’s your lucky day! It’s impossible situation day in the prayer tent! Lets believe!” That guy was filled with so much hope! There was just such a shift that day- confessing that we could not do what only God can do. Wow!”
There were about 120 students attending the opening night, as a senior from Texas A&M shared the testimony of how the they had done the “Face to Face” consecration and were experiencing repentance and an outpouring of God’s Spirit. Stefan Quartemont, a student who has helped lead the move of God in Texas A&M, shared with such a genuine heart and power of the Spirit! When the altar call was given, about 40-50 students came to their knees at the front of the room. People were repenting before the Lord, joyfully giving up the things that were keeping them from wholeheartedness toward Jesus!!
Since that night, we’ve been having daily times of open repentance in the mornings! It has impacted the rest of 24-hour prayer, and we are seeing a grace for repentance even outside of those morning times. People are being led by the Spirit to confess their sins openly to others in the Prayer Tent! Please pray with us that God would bring about a full breakthrough surrender in the heart of every person who participate!
“There was repentance, holiness, righteousness – but there was JOY! People were saying, “God, I would gladly give up facebook and youtube for You!” Usually…it’s a very sobering time – and it was a sobering time, but there was joy in it!”
A girl walked into the Prayer Tent on a Friday to write a prayer request on the white board. We found out her name was Krystal and that she is a senior in Business Marketing school. She asked the question, “How do you pray?” My friend Kendra began to explain that it’s conversation with God – simply telling Him whatever is on your heart. She then asked, “How do you hear God’s voice? I need direction in my life right now.” We shared some different ways that God speaks and that one of the primary ways God speaks is through the Bible – because our hearts fluctuate back and forth, but His Word stands firm for all eternity. Her response was, “I need to get a bible!” I gave her my bible right away!
I then asked her, “Have you ever asked Jesus into your life – to be your Lord and Savior, and forgive your sins?” She said, “No, I don’t think I ever have.” I awkwardly shared the gospel with her and she attentively listened. When I asked if she would like to receive Christ, she responded, “Yes, I would.” She prayed to accept Jesus into her life and to be filled with the Holy Spirit!
Afterwards, she told us that she could feel God’s presence pouring out over her like a “really intense heat on the top of my head, and I feel it pouring down over me! I feel a lot of joy in my heart!!” She couldn’t stop smiling!
Before she left the prayer tent, she said “Hey, I wanted to tell you – when you talked about how our hearts fluctuate this way and that, I saw a picture of waves crashing back and forth.” I remembered that the main reason she came was to ask direction for her life, so I told her, “Did you know that you just heard God’s voice? And did you know that it’s directly from the bible?!” Amazed, she read the verse in her new bible: “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:5-6).
It was the anniversary of a friend’s death who overdosed on drugs. She was broken – we prayed for her. Kent had an amazing word that God spoke to him at his Chi Alpha fusion group, and he spoke it to her about peace. She was really emotionally guarded – she’s not an emotional girl. She had a couple of tears come down, and said, “oh my gosh, I’m crying like a baby.” We asked her if she wanted to experience this kind of peace, but eternally. I told her how God can use awful things for His glory – how He doesn’t want people to overdose on drugs – but He can use it for good for her life right now.
I shared the gospel and asked if she wanted to accept Jesus. I said, “You have to give up your old life – you can’t do the old things you did before.” She said, “Yeah, ok, I want that – I want that peace.”