Leslie Ludy’s Blog
The Power of a Praying Campus
Four years ago, God awakened Eric and I at a whole new level to the power of importunate praying - the kind of praying that doesn't give up after the first or second time; the kind of praying that continues to ask, seek and knock even when circumstances mock your faith; the kind of praying where you willingly sacrifice sleep, food, and trivial activities for the honor of communing with the King of the Universe. Nothing has been the same for us since we discovered that kind of prayer - and our Ellerslie students have caught hold of the same passion. Below is an article written by one of our summer students for a recent edition of the Ellerslie Post. I pray it will awaken you afresh to the possibilities and power of wrestling prayer!
Friday, August 6, 2010
Blog Entry #4
A MINISTRY OF ELLERSLIE MISSION SOCIETY
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by Amy Meyers
Prayer is a common thing at Ellerslie. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we have prayer with Eric at 5:30 in the morning. Eight rooms on campus are dedicated to prayer. We pray all the time, right? Well, maybe not all the time. Prayer has always been a vital part of this place, but on July 10, we, as a campus, became intimately connected to the concept of praying without ceasing.
On July 9, during family groups, it was laid on the hearts of many that we need to focus in on more specific prayer against enemy attacks. One student decided to take this ache in so many hearts and put legs to it. This would not just be something we wanted to do, but didn’t actually act upon. We needed to press in, so a plan of attack was devised, and a battle plan was set.
On Saturday night, the 11, all the Ellerslie girls were called together. An expectancy hung in the air. Penny Jones, a student staying for only one week, had arrived just a few hours before. As a rule, big things seem to happen whenever a new student joins us here. Remember our “revival” week? That began when Teresa Gonzales arrived. Needless to say, we were ready.
The staff laid the plan before us. We would pray in groups of two or three for one hour per day, every day for one week. All hours would be covered, including overnight, only excluding class hours and any mandatory activities. A schedule was passed around, and each girl made her pledge of what hour she would commit to for the week. This would mean forsaking free time, meals, or sleep, but we were all hungry, expectant, and excited to see what God would do in our midst.
At midnight on Saturday, the prayer began. My time slot was from 1-2 a.m. It was a complete reality shift to basically be taking two naps per night instead of sleeping straight through. But the expectancy overwhelmed any tiredness. Most mornings, my group was up and ready to hit the ground running. Others, I had to wake up the other members of my team. Often, we had to exchange kneeling for power walking around the room to keep ourselves awake and focused. Nothing would stop us, no matter how hard it tried. Some days, the words would flow from the Spirit like a flood and we couldn't stop ourselves from praying for longer than one hour. Other times, prayer seemed like the hardest thing in the world to do. We were in a battle and we felt every inch of it.
To hit the enemy exactly where he was hitting us, we had each student and staff member write down three specific prayer requests. Everyone received a copy. This would not only give us laser-like precision in our assault on the enemy, but it would also keep us focused. We — in the night watches — found this particularly helpful for staying awake. It also gave us a new level of understanding into the lives of our fellow students.
As this continued, night after night, getting up for a time then going back to sleep, I kept expecting to be exhausted. But here at Ellerslie, we trump natural law through the power of God. Many students, including myself, actually found they had more energy throughout the day even though they weren't getting a full night's rest. As we remained faithful to get up and keep our appointment with Him, He was faithful to supply our every need.
Penny, with the help of another student or two, took it upon herself to make posters with the word “Victory” written at the top. These would hang in our dining hall, ready to record all answered prayers. Day one of praying 24 hours a day, we had our first victory. Each subsequent day, more and more victories were added to the “Victory Board.” It was so encouraging and gave us all the push we needed to keep marching.
During class, Eric would often open the floor to anyone who wanted to testify to a victory in their life. It was incredible to hear the things God was doing in each life and in us as a body. By the end of the week, it was difficult to find someone on campus who had not been affected by this prayer.
Though the prayer week has now concluded, some of us have not been able to stop. We still get up in the wee hours of the morning or give up our free time to pray together. God wrought amazing victories during that week of powerful prayer. All of us here are confident that He who began this work in us will bring it to completion. In the meantime, we will pray.
