After National Staff Conference in early January, I felt God pulling me towards more intentional and regular prayer. What that has turned into is prayer walks on campus each day that I go to campus. Here are some of the things that God has brought up on the prayer walks:
-A few times I have been drawn to the Administration Building. The first time the Scripture from Isaiah that says "The people walking in darkness have seen a great light" kept coming up, and it was clear that there is a lot of darkness among Cal Poly's administrators, particularly in regards to low income and minority students. It is clear that Cal Poly is far behind other state universities in regards to diversity and helping first generation or low income students succeed, and that Jesus' light needs to penetrate that area of darkness. At a seminar I attended at Staff Conference, the woman giving the seminar was a professor from Rice University, and she was listing the reasons why students stay or leave college. One of the indicators for whether or not students stay in college is if they have a minority professor within their first year or college, and this is true regardless of the students' ethnicity. There are very few minority professors at Cal Poly, and so I prayed that God would bring more diversity among the faculty.
-One day myself and another student, Matt, were praying for the Business Building, and the Business majors who have classes there. God kept bringing up the need for selflessness among business majors, and so we prayed that as business students graduate and begin making lots of money, we prayed that they would use the money for others, and not for themselves. We also prayed that God would protect the Christian business majors, and give them boldness and conversations that lead towards God with their classmates.
-I was walking and praying around the Architecture Building (and I prayed that God would give the overworked Architecture majors rest) and behind the building I was really drawn to some stone sculptures. The sculptures look like they were once beautiful and ornate, but now they are broken apart, dirty, and overgrown with plants. God said very clearly "these are the hearts of students on this campus. Pray that these stones would come alive." So I paced in front of them (I'm sure people walking by thought I was really strange) and prayed that God would bring to live the broken and overgrown hearts of Cal Poly students, so they could be beautiful as they were meant to be.
-A couple times I've been drawn to the Liberal Arts Faculty Office Building (maybe because I was a Liberal Arts major myself) and I have gotten a strong sense that there is a lot of spiritual warfare surrounding the Liberal Arts professors. Often, certain Liberal Arts classes and professors are the ones that can be very difficult for Christian students, as they openly attack Christianity. I myself have experienced this, and I have talked to a couple of students this year who are struggling in some of these classes. So I prayed that God would show Himself, and bring light to this place that can be dark.
-My fellow staff member and friend Sydney and I were praying one day and we prayed very hard that God would protect students in our fellowship from Academic Probation (AP). In talking with one of the faculty who I am closer with who works in student advising, she has been talking about how Cal Poly is beginning to really crack down on AP students, and is beginning to go as far as to kick students out if they are on AP for one quarter. Already AP has affected a few students in our fellowship, and so we prayed for God's protection.
-Yesterday myself and another student went to the room were a Black History Month event was to be held last night. We prayed over the room, and prayed that the place would be Holy Ground, and that Satan would have no place in the room. We prayed that the walls that a lot of black students at Cal Poly put up because of the difficult environment of the campus would come down that night. As we were leaving, the craziest thing happened! In the room there are these long curtains that cover the tall windows, and as we were about to walk out I saw these 4 legged creature looking things scurrying out the top of the curtains. It was clear that our prayers were driving out the things that aren't of God! I thought that was pretty awesome, because I had never seen anything like that before.
We then went to the Health and Counseling Service center and prayed for students struggling with depression. We prayed that they would not keep their struggles to themselves, but would seek out the help they need. We prayed that God would speak through the counselors, and that God would put people in their lives who love Him and can remind them of their worth.
So that is just a few of the things that God has brought up. Needless to say, He is moving, and it has been kind of amazing for me to see His movement, as well as to be more aware of spiritual warfare that goes on. I believe that it is strengthening my faith as well, and it has been a huge reminder of how little I do and how much God does.
