30 HOUR FAMINE

students offer encouraging words on one of our prayer walls

A little before 6 o’clock on Saturday, after the 30 hour famine with World Vision that we did at NCA this weekend, we were asked to reflect on “What now?“

I want to share my reflections with you….

Let this not end here!!! We have come this far, let us continue on this path.

OK,
Well, allow me to start with a story: (some of you may have heard this before) a mouse looked out through a crack in a farmhouse wall and was distraught to discover a mousetrap. When he went to tell his buddies, the chicken said, “Sorry pal, not my problem.” The pig said, “I’ll pray for you.” The cow was busy and said, “Come back later.” Dejected, the mouse was left alone to handle his problem. That night a poisonous snake got caught in the mousetrap and when the farmer’s wife went to investigate she got bitten. She developed a raging fever, and everyone knows you treat a fever with chicken soup. So the farmer took his axe to the barn for the main ingredient! As his wife’s condition deteriorated and neighbors gathered, he had to butcher the pig to feed them. Finally she died. So many people came to the funeral that he ended up slaughtering the cow to make dinner for them all. In the end everybody lost!

The Bible says, “Encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” 1 Thes 5 v 14. It only takes one thing to be an encourager: a willingness to “bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves” (Ro 15:1 NAS). Before deciding somebody else’s problem has nothing to do with you, read 1Co 12:26 NKJV: “If one member suffers, all the members suffer” You can’t sit on the sidelines while someone’s hurting; tomorrow it may be you! We are told to “Share each other’s burdens” (Gal 6:2 NLT). When one of us is threatened we’re all at risk. Our lives are woven together for a reason; each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry.


Well, I certainly saw students sharing each others’ burdens this weekend. Bearing the weaknesses of those without strength, encouraging them and being patient with their friends.

One of my responsibilities for the event (30 hour famine) was to help set up a prayer room. I gathered many items and set about the task Friday afternoon. It was a beautiful experience, and we started prayer, praise and worship immediately. The fast was from 12 noon on Friday until 6 pm Saturday, and we had around the clock prayer coverage in our temporary sanctuary. The whole event was bathed in prayer as parents, teachers, students and I prayed before the event, during and after.

At the start of the event each student was given an index card to write out a prayer request. Most of them were anonymous, in fact only 2 or 3 were signed.
Then we posted the prayer requests and started praying.
Students and leaders were coming in and praying over the petitions, some written answers were displayed. I saw and felt a spirit of unity among the students that I had never seen before. (It may have been there, but this was the first time I had become aware of it.)

The more we prayed, the more I saw the freedom of The LORD. I realized that the enemy no longer had the right to be in any of these situations, not one of them! I saw healing begin as God took over. Strongholds were torn down, chains of injustice broken, freedom in Christ. The lies and schemes of the enemy are now in God’s hands. I saw students encouraging each other, lifting each other up with words of edification, hugs, tears, healing and hope. Amazing unity. Thank you LORD, Praise you Heavenly Father, Thank you!

When it was time to tear down the prayer room after the event on Sat night, I just couldn’t do it! I had seen so much healing and victory in that room over the weekend. I ended up leaving it there an extra night, promising to tear it down the next morning, Sunday, before church. Even then, it was so difficult for me, as I started to pack away the candles and curtains and get the room ready for business as usual Monday morning.

After the event I spoke with one of the high school students and we both felt that it shouldn’t end here, not like this. We could not bring ourselves to erase the prayers and toss the cards away.
It is time to walk out this healing, in Jesus name. We have to walk out this victory, claim it in Jesus name, for this generation and for generations to come.
Romans 8 v 37: “In ALL these things we are more than conquerors.” So how can we be MORE than conquerors? Well, we not only win, for now we have God on our side. (And “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Romans 8 v 31)
But we have also trapped the enemy in his own snares. He dished out pain, suffering, fear, shame and humiliation, and thought he could get away with it! But now he has it all back! He has to flee. He has been trapped in his own evil devices, they no longer have a hold over the lives of these young people and their families. And, now the battle is not ours, but His! Exodus 14 v 14 “The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
Once we know about a problem, an attack of the enemy, we can do something about it. We can unite and stand firm! The unity that we shared this weekend will not just end now that the 30 hour famine event is over, we will work at making it a way of life.

I spoke to our Principal Saturday night about having a prayer room somewhere on campus permanently, where the students can go to express their deepest fears, pain and intimate struggles. So we can unite and gather together and protect ourselves from the wiles of the enemy. As long as we hold each other up we can claim the victory in Jesus name, just as Moses did in Exodus 17 v 11-13: “As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired they (Aaron and Hur) took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up-one on one side, and one on the other – so that his hands remained steady until sunset,” until the battle was won. Let’s hold each other’s hands up!

Shackles were broken this weekend, prisoners were freed, from darkness and lies, God showed up in a mighty way, bringing the victory that comes with the blood of Jesus. As He promised us in Isaiah 58 v 6-8: “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break EVERY yoke.”

Almighty Father in Heaven, my heart is overflowing with gratitude for the wonderful works of your hand. I thank you that you will continue with the good works you have started here and see it through to completion. Phil 1 v 6: “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Help us to walk out this victory for these students, lead us and direct us LORD. Give us wisdom and discernment to know what the next step is so that our students can reap the harvest of the seeds that were sown this weekend, may they prosper not only now, but for generations to come.