what we learned in 12 hours of prayer

What does prayer mean to you?

What does it LOOK like for you? 

Here is something Jesus tells us about prayer:

“Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Mark 11:23-24

 

Prayer is an act of faith. It’s believing in the impossible (because it’s always possible for God). Stepping out and trusting that He can do a miracle. 

This something that has been on my heart for a while now, and the Lord has really been pushing and challenging me in my prayer life. This looks like dedicating more time to intercede for my family, friends, squad, and ministry! Whether it’s for salvation, healings, comfort, or just clear paths, I’ve already seen the fruit of these prayers – God is on the move!

On the bus home from ministry I was looking out the window and talking to Jesus. Thinking about life and all the things I’ve been learning. In that moment I felt a tug form the Holy Spirit to spend the next night in prayer. The WHOLE night. 

But I knew this wasn’t just for me, this was a challenge for the squad.

SO, that’s just what we did. Friday night through Saturday morning my squad spent time in prayer, worship, and fellowship. 

7:30 PM – 7:30 AM

Prayer schedule

7:30PM-9:00PM : Squad time // Worship

9:00PM-10PM : Read through book of Revelations OUTLOUD

10PM-10:30PM : Prayers over the families and friends of Gap D

10:30-11:30PM : Prayers over ministry, pastors, salvation, and stories

11:30PM-12:30AM : Prayers for the Persecuted Church

12:30AM-1:00AM : Jericho Walk around the rooms we sleep in!

1:00 AM-1:30AM : Continued prayers over sleep and dreams

1:30AM-2:30AM :Prayers over sickness and injury in the squad

2:30AM-3:30AM : Worship

3:30AM-4:30AM : Sharing our future plans and praying over each person for clarity and direction

4:30AM-5:30AM : Personal time with the Lord. Washing the feet of two of our squadmates (Nicole and Ben)

5:30AM-6:30AM : Prayers over each squadmate and team

6:30AM-7:30 AM : Time to share what we learned through the night, worship, and jumping in the pool!

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This is a night I’ll never forget. 

We truly reclaimed the space and gave God room to move and speak. The squad has been struggling with the spiritual atmosphere for a while now – whether it’s dreams, exhaustion, or frustration. We’ve been feeling heavy. 

In this time we got to take a stand against the enemy and say yes to Jesus. 

Here are a few testimonies from squadmates who participated:

“I came into the prayer burn expecting to stay for just the first hour of all squad prayer and worship, but as I sat there worshiping I asked the Lord what He wanted me to do. He basically told me that there was no right or wrong answer–I could either stay or I could go to bed. But, He invited me into pushing myself to learn more about self discipline and to just take advantage of the opportunity to spend time with Him. I had two really big takeaways. The first is that I am passionate about intercession; standing in the gap for people and fighting on their behalf. I want to start incorporating intentional intercession time into my lifestyle. The other takeaway is that I don’t spend enough time with the Lord. I spent twelve hours in constant communion with Him and it honestly left me feeling more rested than I usually feel after a full night of sleep. I gave up my sleep, and He is so worthy of that. He is worthy of so much more than I could ever give to Him out of my own capacity, but that doesn’t mean that I should shrug my shoulders if I miss my morning quiet time. I should be bending over backwards to give Him even a small portion of my time. The prayer burn was so eye opening and it was such a privilege to spend such sacred time with the squad, fighting for unity and peace in the Spirit. I pray that we all begin to ask the Lord more where we can step out in discomfort for the glory of our King and His Kingdom.”

Nicole Stepp // Squad Leader

 

“Throughout the whole prayer burn my physical limitations were tested. I think it was a really humbling experience because if I wasn’t asking the Lord to give me the strength the whole time, I wouldn’t have been able to stay awake. The Lord was truly my only desire for staying awake. In this experience I realized even more that the Lord doesn’t just deserve an hour of time with Him. He deserves ALL our time. He is worthy of it! He gives me the ability to sit with him and pray for a reason. This tested my love for him. You don’t have to spend 12 hours in prayer to prove anything to anyone, we just wanted to fight for each other and seek him because we love Him.” 

Kailey Grueser // Gap D Racer 

 

“Sometimes you come into a space with expectations on your heart. But suddenly, after the Lord continuously tugged on my heart in the night, I knew He was asking me to just simply join this time of prayer. Laying down expectations but remaining expectant of how He can move. I’ve always heard when you join prayer burns it will be heavy. If I’m honest I went into this space thinking it would feel heavy and difficult. But the Lord will always surprise you in big ways. That’s exactly what He did. In the morning when we were wrapping up I couldn’t help but think how much Jesus truly goes before us. He will stand before us securing each of us within His hands. This night I experienced the power of the unity of the body and the comfort of Christ. His presence was evident in every moment.”

Angelina Torres // Gap D Racer

 

What did I learn?

There is power in the presence of Jesus.

Every hour of every day. I want to be at the feet of Jesus.

I want my every move to be a reflection and reaction to His voice.

 

What is He speaking to you?