All Night Prayer

Real Life hosted its second all night prayer last night, from midnight until six o'clock this morning. Having also attended last time, I knew what to expect...or so I thought. Last time I had been a bit pre-occupied. I couldn't let my mind be completely free and open to the Spirit. Don't get me wrong--it still went well, but this time was even better.

I went into the prayer meeting expecting to be filled with the Spirit to help me stay awake. Despite the lack of sleep through the week, God had already prepared for this. Even though I stayed up late Wednesday night (c. 5:00am), Thursday's morning class was cancelled so I slept until noon, thusly putting me into a better position to stay up late!

To start the meeting, Catarina shared a bit before we started praying; she mentioned how no revival has ever started without large quantities of prayer. We introduced ourselves; there were several new faces in the room, fifteen people total. Catarina also explained how the evening would work: We would break into groups of 3 and pray with a specific focus for 30 minutes, take about 5 minutes to eat and mingle, then repeat with a new group and new focus area. The first group session focused on preparing our hearts for the evening.

My group consisted of Christophoros, Basileios, and myself. I got on my knees, Christophoros began praying. The Spirit was moving in Basileios as he began to speak words of affirmation during Christophoros’ prayer. Almost immediately I also was filled with the Spirit to do likewise. After Christophoros and Basileios lifted up prayers I began to pray without premeditated words, led by the Spirit. The words came quickly and boldly; God prepared my heart. I could not stop moving, in a slow shaking manner. As we arrived at each between-group interval, it seemed like time was flying—I did not want to stop praying; I could not stop moving.

Prayer with each group was a blessing. At 3am, we paused from prayer to spend what amounted to an hour singing praises and reading scripture to glory of God. I did not feel faint or tired but was thrilled to be in the presence of God.

The remaining prayer sessions also went remarkably well, with the last 45 minutes spent in a group prayer. Though I felt less of the Spirit’s presence within me during this time, He kept me awake and spoke through others in the group. Alalcomeneus prayed for a revival, as Catarina had mentioned at the beginning of the meeting.

I returned home to finish my homework before class, still filled with the Spirit. He gave me full awareness as I focused on my work; the problem set I had was completed before 7:30!