Students Pray, Fast 21 Days to Return to Christ
Christian students worldwide kicked off on Friday a 21-day initiative to pray and fast for the emerging generation to return to Christ.
Under the theme of "Return to the Fountain," students will focus on repentance, personal holiness, finding joy, healing and satisfaction in Christ from Feb. 15 to Mar. 6.
"Our conviction is that empowerment to proclaim the gospel to the nations comes from personal holiness. And personal holiness comes from diligently seeking the face of God, abandoned devotion to Jesus Christ," stated Student Volunteer Movement 2 (SVM2), which is organizing the event, on its Web site.
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The young participants will choose their own fast, but SVM2 encourages the students to take part in a food fast of some form. The movement noted that when the Bible refers to fasting, it is almost always referring to a fasting of food.
"There is a powerful spiritual release when we deny ourselves in this fundamental way," SVM2 noted.
A "Daniel" or partial fast is highly recommended, where participants do not engage in a complete abstaining from all foods, but just a restriction of their diet. Generally, people on a "Daniel" fast abstain from meat and eat a fruit and vegetable heavy diet.
Another form of the partial fast is refusing a particular meal each day, thus limiting the quantity of food consumed.
In regards to prayer, the network asked participants to pray for six key points during the 21 days:
• God to raise up thousands of new global prayer teams
• God to prepare thousands of people who will preach the Gospel message to the nations
• Increase giving of the church to those working among the most unreached areas of the world
• Stimulate momentum and activities on campuses for a student mission movement
• Soften unreached areas of the world to be able to receive the truth of Jesus' love and message.
There is a guide available with daily prayer points at www.svm2.net.
The Student Volunteer Movement 2 is an international network of students, leaders, churches, and organizations working together in a grassroots mission movement among the emerging generation with the goal of the fulfillment of the great commission in this lifetime.
SVM2 helps to organize prayer movements, equip students and leaders with practical resources to facilitate a student mission movement on their campus, and network like-minded young Christians around mission.
The number "2" indicates it seeks to be the second movement among college students committing themselves as workers for Christ. The first Student Volunteer Movement occurred around a hundred years ago when there was an uncommon outpouring of mission workers among college students.
