DAY 21: Fully Surrendered Hearts

By Ross Queener (Cru)

“For the eyes of the Lord roam throughout the earth, so that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” - 2 Chronicles 16:9a (NASB)

When you stand at the top of the Empire State Building and look out at the surrounding city, you see buildings, parks, and landmarks (natural and man-made). It can all seem cold and hard and impersonal. But as you look around, what you’re really seeing is life; you’re seeing people and the things that people make to live. The buildings aren’t really the city, they’re evidence of the city. The people are the city. And in the five boroughs of New York, there are 8.5 million of them. Living, breathing, hoping, striving, failing, suffering, succeeding, creating, hating, loving people.

Among this population, a significant number of these people are followers of Jesus, and a significant number of these people are college students. It is estimated that over 1.8 million people in the city are Christians, and about 600,000 are college students. Without a doubt, there are tens of thousands of believers on the campuses in NYC.

In this one place, what would the campus environment be like if every one of those Christian college students was living as they’re called to live among their peers? What would change on campus? Would Christian parents fear for the faith of their college-bound children? Would churches wonder if their graduating high school seniors will follow Christ in college? Would we see thousands of people coming to faith in Christ on the campuses of NYC? What would it be like if this happened where you live?

The Lord calls all of us to be His ambassadors where we are right now, and so in the lives of college students, He’s calling them to represent Him on their campuses. But to do that, Christian college students need to fully surrender their hearts to Him. As they do so, He will strongly support them; He will encourage their faith through His Holy Spirit and use them to build His kingdom on their campuses and in their communities.

PRAYER POINTS:

• Please pray for the Christian college students that you know. Pray that their hearts would be fully surrendered to the Lord. What are some obstacles to this? (Pray into this)
• Pray that the Lord would increase their faith so that they live the lives they were created for. What challenges do they face in pursuing this? (Pray into this)
• Pray that the Holy Spirit would empower them to be His witnesses among their peers. What would it look like for this generation to be faithful witnesses to their fellow students? (Pray into this)