Prayer Room

The Normandale students decided to participate in another "Twenty-Four". From 4:00 pm yesterday until 4:00 pm today students have been coming in and out of my basement (the sight of the prayer room) every hour to be alone with God. We even had 2-3 students pray through the night (midnight - 6:00 am) in here. Now I know there isn't anything extra special or significant in a prayer room. It isn't as if God exists solely in the cement walls of this prayer room. BUT (Abs) there is no denying that something special happens when people enter this set-apart kind of place. I'm not sure how to describe it but there is a sense of joy & contentment on people's faces when they leave. Last night I settled the all-night crew in at midnight (showed them where the bathroom is, reminded them I had three little girls upstairs sleeping and they better not think of being loud enough to wake them up, etc.). As I explained these little rules to them and prayed over them before I headed to bed you could just sense their excitement to get started. I took a 6:00 - 8:00 am shift this morning so I had the privilege of seeing them on the front and back end of their six hour shift. Two of the guys had to leave a little early so there was one guy in here when I walked in at 5:59. When I saw him I was moved. There he was on his knees...talking with God. I asked him how it was and although he looked beat-down tired he just smiled and said, "It was awesome". In Matthew 6 Jesus challenged his listeners to be careful concerning your motives in "practicing your righteousness". He then goes on to use three illustrations of righteousness-practicing (can I say that grammatically?) - giving, prayer, and fasting. Jesus says, when speaking of prayer and fasting,that if you pray and fast with the true desire to be heard & seen by Him rather than those that are watching -- "He will reward you". I really believe the "reward" is simply Him. God is the reward! In God is life, peace, joy, happiness, shelter, strength to endure, compassion to love, truth, contentment, grace, mercy, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and faithfulness. The prayer-room experience is not to replace the spontaneity of prayer by confining it to a room. It serves as a catalyst to remind us of our need of God so we can see & connect with Him all day long. Because if we are connected to Him, moment by moment, I have to believe we will live out our faith in Him in a more dynamic way.