This week, Alayna Wood shares about her squad’s week of 24/7 prayer and worship in the desert of Kyrgyzstan, accompanied by Jacken Holland’s photos. The squad sought to bring honor and glory to God through Scripture, stillness, worship, and whatever else the Lord asked of them, and the fruit of their obedience and faithfulness is incredible. Check it out!
We just returned from a week spent in the desert of Kyrgyzstan that we called the Burn. The vision was to pray and worship God for 24 hours a day, for 7 days straight. So, we packed up our packs and ended up at a yurt camp out in the middle of nowhere. It was like God was waiting to meet with us out in the desert away from all distractions.
Our first day was a day of silence. We didn’t talk to each other at all, but spent the day focusing on God alone. We also divided the days into hour slots and assigned someone to be praying at all times. They would go into our designated prayer yurt to spend time glorifying God through prayer, scripture, song, stillness, or whatever God asked of them. These slots went all through the night, too, so we had what we liked to call our night watch. We didn’t have service so we didn’t use our phones, which meant we had to wake up the next person for their time with the Lord.
The difference between this week of ministering to God and a normal Sabbath/ministry week was that we didn’t come to God with our questions, concerns, or agendas. The goal was to bring honor and glory to God. It was a new concept for me since I usually had things in mind when I would sit down to pray, I would have plans for my Sabbaths, or I would spend my days ministering to other people. This was totally focused on God and what it meant to serve and minister to Him.
Our days were filled with ministering to God through teachings/studying the Word together, hours of squad worship, meals together (feasting!), and time to wander through nature basking in His creation. We were right by a beautiful lake with snow capped mountains in the distance, and a dried up river bed nearby. The stars were breathtaking, and it was peacefully silent with only the sound of the waves or the wind rustling the coverings on our yurts. Being out in the middle of nowhere meant it was just us and the camp staff around, so no other people for miles.
God spoke to me out there in the desert, and He revealed some new things to me. Here are a few of my take-aways from this week:
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I don’t need to show up in God’s presence with songs on a queue or verses ready to read. God wants me to find joy and peace simply sitting and resting in His presence. In Him, I find full joy and contentment!
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At first, an hour spent alone ministering to God felt long and awkward, but by the end of the week an hour wasn’t long enough! 24/7 prayer felt like a big undertaking, but we were all left wanting more.
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Holy Spirit is working! I’m realizing that God is all, literally ALL, I need. No books, music, or media is worth space in my life if it is keeping me from being 100% sold out to God. I guess that makes me a Jesus freak in some people’s eyes. Well, honestly, it’s about time I got to that point. It’s so freeing!
I believe that this was hands down the most important and impactful week of the Race for me and my whole squad. This has set the tone for how we will minister to and serve God for the rest of our lives.
If you’ve never done something like this before, I highly recommend it. Maybe start small, like spending an hour a day in prayer and worshiping God. Dig into the Word everyday, building up the habit. It’s crazy the things I’m reading now that I am taking the time to study it daily. Do your own version of the Burn where you are now. Get alone with God, minister to Him, and see what happens.
If you want to grow more in your ability to hear God’s voice in your daily life, we’d love to be part of that journey with you.
