Imagine for a moment that you are a soldier in combat during wartime behind enemy lines. You’re lost from your unit, and you don’t know your exact location. Night is falling, and the enemy is surrounding you. It seems like there’s nowhere to turn. What should you do? At this point there is only one thing you can do — or continue to do. Call for help.
As Christians constantly engaged in warfare, there are times when we may feel deserted or surrounded by the enemy, but we often neglect what should be our greatest asset: communication with our leader. God has promised to deliver his people when they call upon him. He has promised to hear our prayers.
Each semester, the University sets aside one day to devote to prayer. On Tuesday, Feb. 26, the university family will begin the day by hearing a challenge from Dr. Bob Jones III. Then the student body will break into groups for a more focused time of prayer, first by society, and then by mission team interests.
To end the scheduled activities for the day, faculty and students will reconvene for a time of worship and praise. A half-day of rest will follow this last scheduled meeting.
Mr. Kyle Wilcox, special assistant to Dr. Stephen Jones and one of the coordinators of the day of prayer activities, said this day is important to the University’s mission and that prayer is important in every believer’s life.
“We’re training students to be disciples of Christ,” he said. “Having a day focused on [prayer] highlights the fact that as disciples, as followers of Christ, communication with our Father is critical. A disciple has to be in communication with his leader.”
The day’s theme, chosen by Dr. Jones, draws from Psalm 107:6: “Then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.”
“Prayer is a discipline,” Wilcox said. “It’s something you have to work at. You have to take [the] time, and I think that’s one of the [easiest] things to let slip in our spiritual walk.”
Though the practice of prayer is difficult at times, we are assured of the aid of him who “helpeth our infirmities” and “maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”