In the least likely of places, God loves to make His power and presence known! On a college campus known as the #1 party school in the nation, students have been filled with a new kind of joy. In a place where the devil is paraded as the official mascot, Jesus has been openly worshipped on the middle of campus! In a place known as a pastors’ graveyard, resurrection power has broken forth.
I remember how hard this ground was, as a freshman at Arizona State University. For the first three years, I was constantly bombarded by thoughts of temptation, literally overwhelmed by the heaviness over the atmosphere. I remember continually feeling like I was the only Christian on campus, though I had many friends who were believers. When I would visit other ministries on campus, there was this sense of isolation and disconnect, that ministries were laboring alone and didn’t really know one another.
During these years, I often walked into the chapel to pray alone, on the middle of campus. I would cry out to God to send revival to ASU. For three years I did this, knowing God wanted to move, but having no idea how he could possibly move in such a dark place.
Then, God began to set things into motion. I was invited to a gathering where I met other students from around the nation who had a heart to unite the Body of Christ and see a movement of revival on their campus. One thing led to another, as God began to commission us for revival on each of our campuses.
The first semester, student leaders at ASU were led to do 24 hours of prayer. I’ll never forget that first day – a random intercessor walked up to me and said, “God showed me you have a key over the city of Tempe.” She had no idea what we were about to launch into! We began to declare there would be streams in the desert and rain in the dry land. This seemed to be the theme of our prayer time.
The next day, as we continued into the second-half of the 24 hours of prayer, we were led to sing the song “Let it Rain” on the middle of campus. As we did, a torrential downpour of rain began to fall over us – the heaviest rainfall I had ever experienced in Arizona!! The wind was so strong that our Tent almost blew away! We were in awe, and took this as a sign from God that He was hearing our prayers and beginning to answer.
The next semester, we hosted three days of 24-hour prayer, in which someone gave their life to Jesus for the first time simply from a prayer meeting. That same semester, we hosted another seven days of prayer, and a girl was instantly healed of skin cancer!
By the second year, we were led to host 40 days of 24-hour prayer. That first week was significant. A man walked in and asked to talk with a counselor. My sister and I were the only students present, and said we would talk with him. The very first thing he shares is that he was planning on committing suicide that very day! As we listened to his story in tears, we knew God wanted to do something. We asked if we could pray for him, and instantly as we prayed, God lifted off all the heaviness and the sadness, and he was suddenly filled with joy!
Two weeks into the 40 days of prayer, something amazing happened. As we began to cry out for an outpouring of God’s Spirit, the presence of God took over our prayer meeting. A girl fell on her knees and began to tremble and weep. The same thing happened to another girl. Others began to cry out fervently for revival in this generation, with a new passion. At one point, without anyone planning to do so, we all began to shout at the top of our lungs, declaring “Jesus is Lord! Jesus is victorious over ASU! Jesus is Lord!!” We continued for about 15-20 minutes, until something broke open in the heavens.
Suddenly, a shift took place over the atmosphere of our campus. Students began to stop dead in their tracks and stare at us – longing for what we had. From that moment on, amazing things began to happen: students began giving their hearts to Jesus for the first time, others coming back to the Lord, people were being healed and no longer needed crutches, and believers encountering Jesus and falling in love with Him all over again. Students who had never prayed more than 10-15 minutes were getting lost for hours in prayer. Ever since that outpouring of the Spirit of God, we have continued to host 20-40 days of 24-hour prayer on campus every semester.
We have discovered that it is true: every person is only one encounter away from following Jesus. It doesn’t matter if they’re atheist, Muslim, Hindu, agnostic or have been hurt by the Church – every heart is hungry for a real encounter with the living God! We have seen fraternity guys walk into 24-Hour Prayer and begin weeping over their sins. We have seen atheists encounter the presence of God and have their lives completely transformed!
I believe this outpouring of the Spirit of God was only a firstfruits of what we are about to experience on the college campuses of America, if students, leaders and believers will unite in fervent prayer and expectation for another move of God in our day. Will you be among those who will believe anddesperately cry out for an outpouring of God’s Spirit over your campus?
Chris Ngai has been part of a united movement of prayer and love at Arizona State University known as LoveASU. His book, A Vision of Revival for College Campuses, will be released in March. You can support the release of this book through Kickstarter (begins Feb. 8th):www.visionofrevival.com/kickstarter .