CFOT participates in 24/7 prayer

The cadets and officers of the College for Officer Training (CFOT) recently participated in the territory’s 24/7 prayer campaign by spending 40 consecutive hours in prayer, from 8:00 Friday evening to 12:00 noon on Sunday.

Majors Vickie Shiroma and Julie Garcia set up one of the college’s boardrooms as a prayer room, with several stations for reflection and prayer. In one corner a full-length mirror encouraged seekers to look at themselves and pray for personal cleansing and healing. The large boardroom table, covered with a lace prayer cloth and candles, held devotional material to inspire prayer and meditation. On one wall was a 25-foot long mural of the Jerusalem temple’s west wall. Cadets and officers could write prayer requests and stick them on the wall.

One by one officers and cadets came to the room and spent an hour in prayer. Many expressed the same sentiment, thinking that an hour would be a long time to spend in prayer, but finding that it was easy to spend an hour in the presence of the Almighty. Cadet Loreen Petzing said, “One hour was not enough—I stayed in there three hours.”

The weekend concluded with a corporate worship meeting and prayer walk coordinated by Captains Nigel and Stacy Cross. The prayer walk allowed cadets the opportunity to carry a large wood cross for a few steps, to kneel in humility before God, to shout praise out loud to him, to pray for our country and our Army, or simply to be still before God.

Cadet Emmanuel Masango summed up the weekend in these words, “I am glad to say that we have taken part in this endeavor—prayer is often read, talked and taught about but rarely or minimally practiced. It was great to hear testimonies in chapel and I am confident many more will be on the way, for our God is an awesome God.”