Asbury House of Prayer

4:2

devote yourselves to prayer being watchful and thankful.  (colossians)

join us in prayer

Asbury College, Asbury Seminary, University of Louisville, and University of Kentucky are joining together in UNITY WITH THE SPIRIT through 24-7 prayer during the week of April 13-20. Look for sign up sheets on your campus.

Closing service of worship and celebration:

April 20 / 4-6PM / Asbury Seminary / Estes Chapel

wildland

Every head bowed
Every heart opened
Coming together
Set apart

Hiding in the nooks and crannies of a holy place
Stretched all out
Tucked away
Proper pews become primal tents of meeting

No loaf to touch
No cup to pass
But the Bread is being broken, and souls are drenched in wine
A taste you can’t shake from your mouth

Canopies of praise
Cathedrals of worship
Cloaks and crowns of prayer
Falling over shoulders and brows with a perfect fit

Draw me in with you
This fertile wildland
Until I’m caught in the crossfire of the Love
Holdng the Three as One

by Matt LeRoy

Face Down

Asbury House of Prayer Face Down Prayer Gathering. Join us on Monday, February 11 at 8pm in the AHOP (front entrance of Larabee-Morris Residence Hall) for a time of worship and prayer to prepare for the way ahead for the coming semester.  Come and go as you are able.

This is a great CD....check it out....take one home today!

This CD has been produced in honor of Charles Wesley's 300th birthday celebration. Musicians and artists from Asbury College and Asbury Seminary (students and alumni) have come together to honor Wesley's music and heritage. 

Sixteen beloved hymns of Wesley have been adapted in a variety of contemporary tunes and styles, ranging from folk to rock, from "indie" to electronic. This collection features not only several of his biggest hits such as "And Can it Be" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing," but also a number of less familiar ones such as "Prisoners of Hope, Arise," from which the title comes.

CD's are $12.

If you're interested in a copy, email asburyhouseofprayer@gmail.com and we will connect you with a copy. 

A prayer from the walls of AHOP. Lord continue to pour out your Spirit of Prayer... 

 A Prayer of Morning

The sun’s first beams slip stealthily through the curtains like a thief in the night, exonerably penetrating the surreal veil of my dreams. Under the morning’s first rays incessant beating, my eyelids slowly open like a clam shell relinquishing its crystalline prize. Groggily, floating in that lucid yet cloudlike limbo between asleep and awake, my legs swing off the bed, driven by a deep seeded motivation that eludes my brain. One hand casually and languidly brushes the curtains open. GLORIOUS! My legs fold, all pretense of earthly power fading, and my knees hit the floor. My pupils dilate in excitement, and my breath raggedly climbs out of my chest. GOD, the tapestry before my eyes is exquisite, the palette of colors divine, the intricacy and attention to detail surreal. Lord, how is it that I forget on a daily basis how amazing your are? You who created the sunrise, with its hues of yellow, and orange, and red birthing against an azure sky. The crispness of the air the tantalizes the senses, and the fresh, sweet scent of morning dew that lingers like a fragrant perfume. GOD, thank you for mornings, for renewing the spirit of the world and the spirit within me on a daily basis. Lord, as I kneel here before you, soaking in Your love, the exquisite rhapsody of my dreams pail in comparison. Jesus, thank you for another day, for the privilege of walking with you. Whatever this day might hold, Lord it is enhanced by you. Colors are brighter, smiles more genuine, laughter a tinkling of crystal balls. Even valleys that we must walk through seem like mere dips in the road, girded in your armor and shielded by Your Grace. Thank you for calling out my name, to experience your full splendor through this world you have created. Thank you for allowing me to see you in all things, the infectious excitement of a child, the freshness of dancing in the rain, the intertwined hands of a couple married for 60 years. thank you for joy, for excitement, and joie de vivre in You. God, THANK YOU FOR MORNING!!!

AHOP Encouragement

Jason McAnally, a third year MDiv student at the seminary talks about his experience in AHOP:

"For me, I spent time in prayer, but it was always arranged around my class schedule, work schedule, intramural sports, times with friends.  I was still praying, but my time with the Lord was not the center of my day and therefore, my life. 

I decided to give it a try and set aside one hour each day, and commit to be praying in AHOP during that hour.  This has been one of the most formational and strengthening practices that I have ever been apart of.  I have walked in more freedom than ever before in my life, and it has been sustained, as the Lord renews my joy daily during the hour I give to Him.  I have also walked more in obedience than I ever remembering walking prior to this.  It’s as if the 1 hour with Him is just a starting place for the other 23 hours which are consequently His also.  I’ve begun to see Jesus in places and in faces I’ve never seen Him before.  I’ve been able to walk into Waffle House and see the face of Christ in a man who’s probably never met Him, or at least known that He met Him.  I’ve seen the face of Christ in my brother’s agnostic friend who couldn’t stop asking me questions about Jesus and communion and calling.  I haven’t really even tried to share the Gospel with people; I just haven’t been able to stop talking about Him.  I’ve sat in chapel through lunch because I really wanted to be with Jesus more than I wanted food.  I’ve been freed from trying to make perfect grades and have been freed to simply hearing the voice of Jesus in my classes and diving deeper into Him.  My classes are less about achieving and more about real hearing and real learning.  I’ve found that my relationships with people have grown deeper, that my time at home has been full of peace and joy.  I’m experiencing a new boldness and confidence and a new fear of God that is grounded in His love.  Worry has been almost non-existence.  Prayer is no longer a chore.  I even at times find myself staying past my hour.  There’s more freedom in worship.  There’s more joy in every little part of my life.  I’m praying for others and actually believing that God is hearing those prayers and even seeing the Lord at work in those prayers.

As I’ve centered each day around God in prayer, my life has followed.  As I’ve made space for God, He has filled it.  God is looking for watchmen and women.  If there were 23 other people who would commit to make space for God in their lives for 1 hour a day, we would have 24-7 prayer at Asbury.  We would see 24 peoples lives changed and 24 people part of changing the lives of others.  We have 24 people here who are called to do this.  I’ve seen you.  I’ve met you.  I’ve worshipped with you and prayed with you.  Hear the Lord calling you.  Commit to Him in this way.  Your life will be changed.  Your world will be change.  You will see the Kingdom coming.  The lame will walk, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, and good news will be preached to the poor.  Hear the Good News.  Jesus is here."

This thing called Intercessory Prayer

Today I was talking with Dr. Seamands about the nature of intercessory prayer.  He shared with me this quote from Watchman Nee that I thought was both encouraging and provoking:

"Indeed, prayer is to God’s will as rails are to a train. The locomotive is full of power: it is capable of running a thousand miles a day. But if there are no rails, it cannot move forward a single inch. If it dares to move without them, it will soon sink into the earl. It may be able to travel over great distances, yet it cannot go to any place where no rails have been laid. And such is the relation between prayer and God’s work…Without any doubt God is almighty and He works mightily, but He will not and cannot work if you and I do not labor together with Him in prayer, prepare the way for His will, and pray ‘with all prayer and supplication’ (Eph. 6:18)….He has the power, but He needs our prayers to lay the tracks down for the train of His will to run on."--Watchman Nee in Let Us Pray

It also reminds me of something that has stuck with me from Pete Greig's visit.  He said, and I am paraphrasing, that 'God calls us to pray because He wants to give us the dignity of causality'.  Dr. Seamands and I were talking about the power that is found within prayer when we lift up things and release them to the heavens.  Eventually, the Lord pours over us the intercession that we have lifted up and given to Him.  Eugene Peterson calls this "reverse thunder".  How cool is that?  These are just things that are on my mind that I wanted to share.  What do you think?  Is your experience with intercession similar, different...do you have anything you would add?

Pete Greig Teaching Sessions Now OnLine

Pete Greig, who helped to begin what is now a world-wide 24-7 Prayer Movement spent a few days on our campus back in September in an effort to encourage the Asbury House of Prayer.  He spoke in the seminary Chapel that morning.  That message may be heard  here on our OnLine Chapel by clicking onto Pete's message-- September 13.

Pete also taught on Thursday night and Friday morning.  Those messages may be accessed via our OnLine Chapel by clicking here.

Coming Soon we will feature an interview on this site between Pete Greig, David Blackwell and Wendy Andrews ( co-directors of 24-7 USA) with J.D. Walt, Dean of Chapel at Asbury Seminary. 

Stories Abound

As has been said, the Asbury House of Prayer is a fledgling and yet forceful movement of the Spirit in our midst.  The image of Ezekiel’s river fits perfectly.  A quarter mile from the temple the water is ankle deep.  Walk another quarter mile further and it rises to knee deep.  Keep walking and when you reach a full mile the river’s to deep to stand in.

These are the nature of the stories we keep hearing.  Here are a few snippets:

➢    For starters, this continues to be a really refreshing move of the Spirit to bring unity between Asbury College and Asbury Seminary, neighboring institutions who are moving from uneasy coexistence to collaborative friends.  Some of you will remember that the actual house of prayer is housed in a building long ago given by the college to the seminary—the place where the seminary was birthed from the college.  This Thursday night, college and seminary students will gather on the lawn of the AHOP for a pancake supper.  In John 17, Jesus prayed for unity among his people.  We are seeing tangible answers.

➢    We hear stories almost daily from students about how their lives are being radically changed from their meetings with Jesus in the AHOP.  One of our new students put it this way, “I keep a watch from 4-5 every morning in the AHOP.  It has changed the character of my relationship with God.  What before would have been an unthinkable chore for me has become something I can’t imagine missing.”

➢    One of our students who will graduate in May put it this way, “I’ve been waiting on this my entire time at the seminary and finally it happens at the end.  I’m thinking about postponing graduation.  I keep watch in AHOP one hour every day.  This has become the anchor hour around which I build my entire schedule.  Something profoundly new is unfolding in my spirit that I can hardly believe.” 

➢    This week a faculty member was heard around campus to say, “The Holy Spirit is moving on this campus in a way like I’ve never seen here before.  The only thing really different around here that can help explain the remarkable change is the presence of  AHOP.”