Next Monday is our Youth for Christ Global Day of Prayer and Fasting.
It is with a sober heart I remind you all that without prayer and fasting there is no power. Prayer is not another Christian activity, but communion with God Himself. Those who commune with God find themselves hidden in Christ. There has never been a Christian who prayed and sought God, who did not impact their community. In prayer and fasting, God reveals Christ and reveals that we are hidden in Christ (Colossians 3:3). When Paul wrote the words hidden in Christ, he was revealing that those who receive Jesus are covered and transformed by the intense power of the resurrection and Christ-life provided by the cross. Our hidden-ness leads to Christ’s demonstration! Dwight L. Moody’s life disclosed this when sharing after the 1871 Chicago fire how prayer and the Holy Spirit changed His life and ministry:
“I was crying all the time that God would fill me with His Spirit. Well, one day, in the city of New York – oh, what a day! I cannot describe it, I seldom refer to it; it is almost too sacred an experience for me to name. Paul had an experience of which he never spoke of for fourteen years. I can only say that God revealed Himself to me, and I had such an experience of His love that I had to ask Him to stay His hand. I went to preaching again. The sermons were not different; I did not present any new truths, and yet hundreds were converted. I would not now be placed back where I was before that blessed experience if you should give me all the world – it would be as the small dust in the balance.”
Oh, the deep truths revealed in D.L. Moody’s words above! Moody’s life was one that modeled a life hidden in Christ. For Dwight, it was not new sermons or truths that converted others, but the presence of the Holy Spirit that called men and women to obey Christ. Moody’s life is an example of how one man hid himself in Christ and the Holy Spirit then displayed Jesus for others! May this be true of us also.
Again, with our upcoming Global Day of Prayer and Fasting (next Monday) there is an opportunity to pray, fast, and hide ourselves in Christ so that the Holy Spirit displays Him openly. Like with Moody, the Holy Spirit wants to cloth you with power so that others will know Christ. Join the family of Youth for Christ next Monday in prayer and fasting that every young person would be transformed by Jesus.
We have developed some simple resources to help your team pray and fast next Monday.
Yours in prayer,
Adam Shepski
YFCI Global Prayer Catalyst