An international ministry that has mobilized 24-7 prayer in more than 100 countries has turned its focus to United States college and university campuses. Imagine what God would do if this group realizes their dream of establishing prayer on every single one of the more than 2,000 American campuses. Read the article here.

For more information about 24-7 houses of prayer, check out the Pray! archives: Youth Awakening to 24/7 Prayer and Historic Moravians Inspire Contemporary Prayer Movement

 Or to read an entire Pray! theme section about mobilizing youth to pray, get your hands on May/June 2008 issue entitled "Passing the Torch".

Does your college campus have a concerted prayer movement? Tell the rest of us about it.

I am currently part of one of the best adult Sunday school classes ever. At least I think so. There are about 20 of us who get together each week to do nothing more than meditate prayerfully on a few verses of Scripture, Lectio Divina style. Our method is simple. One person reads the passage aloud while the others of us simply listen. Then we wait in silence for three to five minutes allowing the Holy Spirit speak to us individually. When we've had time to reflect on our own, the leader calls us back together to share what we have been hearing from the Lord. Very often God's Spirit seems to pick out a single theme to share with us as a group, using each person's contribution to make up the big picture. We repeat the read, listen, wait in silence, come back together, share steps three or four times during the 75 minutes we typically meet.

Yesterday, the last Sunday of 2009, we altered the method slightly. We read Deuteronomy 8, a wonderful passage about not fogetting God's work in His people's lives, and then after the time of silence, reflection, and sharing, the leader asked us to spend more time with the Lord individually, asking Him to remind us times during the past year when we'd experienced consolation (a sense of God's presence and life) and desolation (a sense of God seeming far away and a feeling drained of life). His point was to encourage us to invite God into a prayerful contemplation of the previous year so He could help us recognize, savor, and learn from the ways He'd been working in us. With these things in mind, we will be in a better place to move more intentionally into the new year with the conscious awareness of His presence and purposes for us.

Needless to say, 75 minutes was not enough time for us to finish the exercise. In fact, we barely scratched the surface. But the time was meaningful to me, so I wanted to share it with you so that you might also try it, if you like. Or perhaps you have another way of prayerfully reflecting on the year past and moving prayerfully into the one to come. If you do, please share that with the rest of us. But whatever you do, find a way to reflect with and talk to the Lord about the year you've just finished and the one we're ushering in.

Remember Zechariah? Despite being a priest, his faith was sort of like mine--inconsistent. Unlike Mary who believed the angel when he told her she'd have a Son, Zechariah, when given a similar announcement, declared it basically impossible. And we know what happened. He got his son anyhow, though God struck him mute until the birth because of his unbelief.

But here's the part I missed until I read the story afresh this year: Zechariah's son was born in answer to his prayers! Yes, that's what the angel said. "Don't be afraid, Zechariah! For God has heard your prayer, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son!" (Luke 1:13, NLT).

Wait a minute! If Zechariah had been praying, how come he didn't believe when the answer to his prayer was announced? I have to assume it's because he'd prayed it years earlier, when he and Elizabeth were young enough to make childbearing seem like a reasonable possibility. I suppose when menopause set in, Zechariah  assumed that God wasn't going to come through for the so he gave up praying.

But even though on this point Zechariah may have given up on God, God didn't give up on Zechariah. He still counted Zechariah's prayer legitimate and answered it, albeit many years after he'd stopped praying.

In the end, it's God who gets glory, not the prayer warrior. "If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself" (2 Timothy 2:13).

Obviously that doesn't mean I want to have flimsy faith. But it does mean that it doesn't all depend on me. And that takes  a lot of pressure off. God is faithful even when I'm not! That's just one more piece of the good news we celebrate in this season of glad tidings.

If you read my November 30 blog, you know that this Advent I'm asking God each day if He has a gift He wants me to unwrap. He's a tremendous Giver, and loves to give generously to His kids. Almost every day there's been something, and it's always exactly what I need.  He's offered me wonderful things like peace, His presence, hope for a specific relationship, and other promises and graces--nothing terribly unexpected, but certainly things I want and deeply appreciate. The other day He caught me off guard, however. On that particular morning I sensed Him saying that His gift for the day was a smile.

Even though I was surprised, I was pretty sure I knew what He meant. I'd recently been reflecting on the power of a smile to encourage others--welcoming, assuring acceptance, affirming, lending courage, giving understanding, enjoying a mutual secret, and so on. If I'm confident that looking into a loved one's face will bring a smile in return, I'm eager to make that contact.

But if I think that looking into a person's face will indicate disapproval, rejection, disappointment, or something else I'd rather not see, I avoid making that contact. And sometimes, I'm sorry to say, I worry that God will look at me with similar discouraging glances. That's not who God really is--He always welcomes me with love--even though sometimes I forget that. So, on this particular morning He wanted me to "look full in His wonderful face" and see His smile for me. Whatever was happening in my day, I knew I could look at Him and know He would smile back.

It was an unusual day, as you might imagine. But it was more powerful than I could have ever imagined.  Whenever I needed encouragement or was lonely or stressed, I'd turn the eyes of my spirit toward His face and "see" His smile for me. I loved it! And by the end of the day, I was having so much fun that I found myself initiating smiles toward Him. One time, for example, I was working on a project I didn't enjoy at all. I admit it, I was grumbling. Then I remembered about smiling. I looked up at the ceiling of my cubicle and flashed my most endearing smile. If anyone had seen me they probably would have wondered if my combo platter was short a burrito. But I did it anyway. And I sensed God's presence and pleasure almost instantly. I was blown away by how a simple physical gesture--a smile directed God-ward--could change my attitude and usher in God's presence.

The next day I was reflecting on my unusual experience with God. To be honest, I was wondering if it might have been a little wacky. But just as I was wondering that, a friend sent me an email that included an essay by the 17th century Scottish theologian Samuel Rutherford. In it, Rutherford said "In God's book, a look toward heaven or an uplifting of the eyes is set down as prayer. 'In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up' (Ps. 5:3)."

I probably don't have to tell you that when I read that, I looked up at the ceiling of my bedroom and grinned. Just like I'm doing now.

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