In September 2024, Jake, a student worker in Bristol, asked the students at his church about what they’d like to do that coming academic year: any dreams they had, any fun stuff they wanted to do as a student group… The most resounding answer that came back was: Pray!
These students were hungry to pray together and to see what Jesus would do, so they booked out a regular slot in the church’s 24/7 pray room to pray together. While many of their Uni mates were still in bed, not sure if they’d make it to morning lectures, every Thursday morning, 7-8am, these students would be there praying. Sometimes there’d be more of them, sometimes less, but a core group of four students and their student worker were committed to cry out to God to see the things that they longed to see him do. They’d read Psalms and Bible passages together and pray that God would speak to them through it. They’d pray for their days and their weeks, all the normal stuff - but they’d also pray boldly for God to do miraculous things. They prayed for their friends to come to know Jesus, they prayed for unwell family members to be healed. As they prayed, coincidences started to happen…
They prayed for someone’s family member who had cancer, and they made a full recovery. The friends and family they’d been praying for started coming to church. Families that had grown distant started becoming reconnected as they prayed. They began to be able to share testimonies of students finding Jesus in their church and joining their student group, and they prayed for more.
They didn’t see 100% of their prayers answered in the way they’d hoped but it was clear that when they prayed, something changed.
Jake and the students in his church are excited to continue praying together every Thursday morning this year and see what more God will do.
Matthew 7:7-9 - ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened...’
Are you hungry to pray and see what God will do? Are there things you’d love to see God do in your life and the lives of those around you? Do you have friends and family you’d love to see come to know Jesus? Why don’t you gather a few friends - put a regular slot in the diary - and begin to pray?
