What is on your prayer list for Challenge? Here are some things to unify our hearts and desires for Challenge 2012:

1. Pray for some to come to trust Jesus as Savior and Lord.
2. Pray for youth groups to be equipped and better prepared to serve their cities and their churches.
3. Pray for a generation to be impassioned with the desire to be a part of a movement of God in their area.
4. Pray for spiritual protection over those going to New Orleans for Challenge.
5. Pray for an awakened soul to a vital relationship with Jesus.

Tullian Tchvidjian wrote a book titled “Jesus + Nothing = Everything”.

If I were to give the Bible a subtitle, it would be the same. Pray this week that each of us that are going to Challenge will be content with Jesus + Nothing.

Want more opportunities to pray with and for Challenge Conference? Subscribe to our feed!

Praying in groups isn’t necessarily more effective than praying alone. And having many people pray for something doesn’t mean that God hears those prayers more than if just one soul cries out to Him. That would infer that the power of prayer comes, in part, from us.

Guess what? It doesn’t. Not at all. Zilch. To think otherwise is like taking credit for a beautiful entree in front of you at a restaurant. All you did was order. You could give yourself a pat on the back for that. But you’re not really impressing anyone.

God loves to show off

The only reason prayer has any power is because of the One we pray to. The Glorious One is the power behind prayer and He is forever in the business of glorifying Himself.

He wants people to see what He does, and leave their mouths hanging open in amazement and awe. It is for this reason that God loves hearing many children praying to one end. Because, when He answers that prayer, many people see the result and it points to Him. His actions directly reflect who He is, and when we realize His perfect unfathomable character, our only reasonable response is to live a life of worship (and repeat).

Just watch

First: Pray big prayers; something so big that, if it happens, it could only point to God. Those are the prayers that He loves to answer.

Second: Start looking for answers to prayer. Too often we pray a prayer, forget about it and don’t realize when God answers.

Third: Share those answered prayers with others. Give God the glory that He deserves through your testimony.

God, give everyone going to Challenge a BIG prayer experience that clearly points back to Your glory. Amen.

Guest blogger: Dan Olson, Prayer Army Band Member

Do you have a blog or a website? Want an easy way to participate in the mission of the gospel through Challenge Conference? Put your site to use to help build up a prayer army for Challenge 2012. We’re expecting God to literally transform lives and forge deep relationships with students, volunteers, and New Orleans locals. It’s going to be huge.

What you can do

Add this super shnazzy button to your blog/website! That way, you can help stir up your own audience for prayer with Challenge conference. How nifty is that?

It’s simple!

1. Copy this piece of code:

2. Paste it in a text widget (WordPress) or just in html view while on your content management system

3. Share it with everyone you know on facebook/twitter!

Eusebius, an early church historian had this to say about James the brother of Jesus:

“And [James] was in the habit of entering alone into the temple, and was frequently found upon his knees begging forgiveness for the people, so that his knees became hard like those of a camel, in consequence of his constantly bending them in his worship of God, and asking forgiveness for the people.”

Why we bow

To bow before the Lord does not mean there is something wrong with us, it means that we clearly realize our identity. We bow down when we realize that we are not God, that we have no control. Our bowing down puts us and God in the right place.

In my own desire to grow in my prayer life, I am moved (and slightly amused) that James was given a nickname because of his prayer life. Wouldn’t you love to be known for how much time you spend on your knees in prayer?

Start now

Would you go to your knees right now and pray for the following three things?

1. That God would praised and glorified in all aspects of Challenge
2. That each person attending Challenge will spend time in prayer
3. That your generation would be known as the ‘camel knees generation’ because of their intense desire to know Jesus and make Him known to their friends

“Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.” (John 16:24)

Prayer is the most powerful thing we can do.

Prayer brings the power of God into the lives of the people of God.  It moves heaven and earth.  It changes the course of lives and the course of history.  It can soften hearts and move the Kingdom of Heaven forward.  It can thwart any plan of the enemy.  It is a power that cannot be stopped.

Unless we stop.

Have you forgotten?

It would seem, wouldn’t it, that if we really believed in the power of prayer, we would never cease to pray?  But how much of our day is spent in prayer…compared to what we spend in countless activities that will not impact eternity? Sadly, for me, prayer often gets postponed, rushed, or forgotten for most of the day. I’m guessing you might struggle with that, too.

When we fail to pray, it means that we have forgotten the power of coming before the throne of God.  When our prayers lack passion and consistency, it shows that the Kingdom and glory of God no longer has the biggest hold on our hearts.

Not just then, but now

It’s easy to get excited about prayer at big events like Challenge. And I hope you are excited to pray with thousands of your brothers and sisters in New Orleans.

But don’t wait until July.

Our Father is waiting for us now. We can begin now to impact the lives of those around us—and those we’ve never met—if we begin to make it a habit to lift up that time together and those we will share it with.

So simple it’s crazy

It begins pretty simply. It begins with stopping the noise in our lives right now, if even for a few minutes, to ask God to reveal Himself again to us and give us a heart to turn to Him. Prayer has to start with God revealing Himself to us and drawing our hearts closer. Then there’s no limit to the prayers we can pray—for ourselves, for our friends, for Challenge, for our generation, for the world. And there is no limit to the power at work in us when we do so—it’s the same power that raised Christ from the dead (Eph 1:19-20)! Crazy, isn’t it?

With so much at stake and so much God is waiting to do if we will only ask… Will you join me in praying?

This is a guest post from Jennifer Kvamme, who has served with Challenge for many years and is the youth ministries coordinator at Centennial Evangelical Free Church.

We need to realize that Jesus didn’t come to earth and conquer death so that we could be “good people.”

He came so that every heart could be close to him. I know it’s cliché but it is so imperative to understand that what God wants more than anything else is for us to be close to Him. Why do you think there were so many times God called His people out for honoring Him with their lips but having hearts that were far from Him? (Isaiah 29:13)

He called them out for doing and saying all the right things, but forgetting about the love they had at first? (Revelation 2:4)

God knows that true obedience comes from a love for Him. Anything else is just a front. Above everything else, God wants our hearts. He desires us to be close to Him; to know Him intimately, as He knows us. This is why prayer is so vital.

It’s a real relationship

Think about any relationship; maybe with a boyfriend or girlfriend, parents, siblings, a good friend. How would you get into a closer, deeper relationship with them? Probably by spending time and having conversations with them, right?

It’s the same with God.

There is a special intimacy reserved for those who really pray. And it makes sense doesn’t it? How could you be close to someone you never talk to? Reading Scripture without prayer is just head knowledge about who God is. It’s through prayer that we experience Him. And when we truly experience Him, we can’t help but fall in love.

Are you listening?

As you spend time in prayer, remember it’s a conversation. Allow time for God to speak back to you. Maybe He brings a scripture to mind, or a worship song that has a truth that He wants you to experience. Maybe you won’t “hear” anything. That’s okay. Sometimes the best thing you can do is just be still and allow Him to remind you that He is God and He knows what you need.

Challenge

Ask God to speak to the hearts and minds of all that will participate in Challenge 2012.

[This is a guest post from Dan Olson,  who is a student at Winona State University and is on the Prayer Army band.]

If you have ever been golfing before and tried to drive the ball off the tee, you know it is harder than it looks.

More often than not amateurs (like myself) will hit the ball into opposite fairways, trees, or some nearby water. This is certainly frustrating but there are those few times when all the right moves come together and you hit a ball that soars right down the center of the fairway. It is on those shots that you know you have hit what is called “The Sweet Spot” on the driver. The Sweet Spot is the place on the club that when it hits the ball at just the right angle, and in the right spot, you get a great shot!

It’s nice to hit the sweet spot

There are a lot of sweet spots in life. There are sweet spots in relationships, when communication is happening and you have bonded with friends. There are sweet spots in school when all your hard work and study pays off and you get the grade you were hoping for.

Fact is, we long to be in the sweet spot of whatever we are doing in our life.

In our relationship with Jesus we long to be in a sweet spot too. I know I do, and I know there are days, sometimes weeks, when I am not. I have often wondered what it is that puts us in a sweet spot with Christ.

The answer I have found to be true: PRAYER.

When we pray, we hit the sweet spot

I know that I am always in a sweet spot with Jesus. In a relationship with Him, I am forgiven and loved. But it never fails that at times, I just don’t feel it. Christ doesn’t move or change, but I do. It is in those times that I need to get back to the sweet spot of prayer. There is something powerful about prayer that connects us with Christ. When we pray we are doing what Paul writes for us in Colossians 3:1-2.

He writes “Since you have been raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”

What happens when we pray

• We set our minds on Christ (and off the worries, difficulties, and troubles that come at us in life)
• We talk to Jesus, seated at the right hand of God (who gave everything to be in relationship with us)
• We acknowledge that God is in control and we are not
• We give the God of the universe access to change us (healing our hurts, calming our fears, answering our questions and empowering us for life and ministry)

Feeling like you’re not in a sweet spot with Christ? Maybe it’s time to step up to the tee, by getting on your knees, and enjoy being in a sweet spot with Jesus.

Pray this week that those preparing for Challenge will make Jesus the central focus of their heart and mind.

This is a guest post from Jon Pausley of Liberty Evangelical Free in Pella, Iowa.

How often do you pray Scripture? When you pray Scripture back to God, you know it brings Him glory. One of my favorite prayers in Scripture to pray is one that Jesus Himself prayed the night before He was crucified.

I would encourage you to look up John 17 and pray the whole chapter but for now go ahead and pray these words from John 17:13-21.

Jesus prays for purity, unity, and mission

“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.

TODAY

Pray that your (and the next) generation will have a clear and restored picture of what it means to pray.

CHALLENGE

Pray that everyone at Challenge will demonstrate this kind of unity so that New Orleans will know that Jesus is the the true Son of God!

Live Sent… 

Nate “N8″ Stenholtz

He [Jesus] said to his disciples, “The harvest is great, but the workers are few,
So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.”
Matthew 9:37-38

I recently had the privilege to pray these words with a small group of students and God sent us out to our neighbors to see how we could pray for them.

We went door to door simply asking if there was anything we could be praying for. The results varied from slammed doors, to genuine shock, to real pain-filled needs for prayer. The longer we kept going, the more I wondered if this is how Jesus felt when He kept inviting people to come and follow Him.

TODAY

This week I would like to dare you to pray and ask God to send you out to your community and see what He decides to do. Post your adventure on the Challenge facebook page.

CHALLENGE

Ask God to set up hundreds of divine appointments for students to join God in the lives of friends and the people of  New Orleans this summer.

Praying WITH and for you!
Nate

I am the door…

I can’t even begin to count how many doors  I pass through in a single day! Every door I pass through gives me new opportunities to influence the space I’ve just entered into. Every door has two sides. When you pass through a door, you are leaving one place and stepping into another. So many today are yearning for a way out of the life they are in and hoping for a way to something more.

Jesus said that He is the Door (John 10:9). It is through Him that everyone must pass in order to be restored into communion with the Father. There is no other way.

Open late, but not forever

If you’ve ever really needed something at a store and gotten there too late, you’ve seen that terrible sign: Closed. The good news is that today, the Door is open for business.

There is a day coming when the door will close.

Do you remember when you first passed through from death to life…from darkness to light…from alienation to belonging…from guilt to forgiveness? Do you remember who showed you the Door?

Be a joyful, grateful sign holder

You and I are not the Door, we are merely signs that remind people the Door is open. Open to what? A church building? No…open to a whole new way of life in Christ. We have the privilege of pointing people to the Door. So many today are searching for the the Door.

They need some signs that remind them the Door is OPEN!

TODAY

Pray that both with your lips and with your life, you and your friends would be a great sign posts pointing all those God brings in your path to the open Door.

CHALLENGE

Pray for the new church plants in New Orleans to be be OPEN SIGNS that go out and point people to Jesus, the DOOR, so that they too be open signs for others.

Live Sent…
Nate “N8″ Stenholtz