The 40-Day University Daniel Fast

The 40-Day University Daniel Fast


March 1—April 9, 2010


There are moments in history when a door for massive change opens. Great revolutions for good or for evil occur in the vacuum created by these openings. It is in these times that key men and women, and even entire generations, risk everything to become the hinge of history—the pivotal point that determines which way the door will swing. We believe that America is in such a moment of history.

The 40-Day Fast

Four years ago, a profound movement of 40 day fasting and prayer chains spontaneously erupted on university campuses across America. God was breathing prayer for university awakenings. At the same time, Lou Engle joined with the Justice House of Prayer in Boston for 40 days of prayer and fasting from March 1st to April 9th. Hundreds of young people gathered to pray and fast, day and night, for breakthrough at Harvard and for the Ivy League schools.

During that 40 day season a trusted godly man had the following dream: “I saw masses of young people with welts on the temples of their head. I then asked, ‘What are those welts on the temples of their head?’ I heard a voice answer; ‘It’s poison ivy on the mind of a generation. The Ivy League universities were intended to be the leaves of healing and to bring the light and the glory of God to the nations of the earth. Instead, they have poisoned the mind of a generation.’” This dream is profound as it speaks to the ideological strongholds we face, but also to the intended purpose of these schools and what could be if we pray.

Now four years later it seems the wind of God is blowing again. Bethany Temple, the leader of JHOP Boston, felt an urgency once again to call all of New England universities to 40 days of fasting, but she needed confirmation. A young man gave her the following dream: Lou Engle was on a stage praying with a drummer behind him. The prayer that was being prayed was “Beseech the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest field.” Suddenly, the drummer interrupted Lou with what sounded like the voice of the Lord, declaring, “Now has come the salvation of God! And it will begin on April 9th, 2010.”

Obviously, such a dream with a date must be carefully weighed before the Lord, but April 9th is the same day that the 40day fast ended four years ago and it is also the anniversary of the Azusa Street outpouring. Could it be that Lou Engle praying represents the 40 day fast that God wants to interrupt and answer with a new move of evangelism and a new breed of spiritual awakeners stirring the universities of New England and the nation? Even now, reports of outpourings of the spirit are being heard on scattered universities.

The students of IHOPU in Kansas City, MO have been experiencing an extraordinary move of the Holy Spirit marked by salvation, physical/emotional healing and deliverance. We believe this is only a foretaste of what is about to be released upon our nations campuses. Knowing nothing of the previous dream, the leaders of IHOPU were stirred to launch 40 days of prayer, fasting and evangelism targeting Boston and the Ivy League schools of New England during these very dates – March 1st through April 9th.

On the weekend of April 9th, not coincidentally, Awakening America is gathering students from across the land to Oral Roberts University with an expectation of imminent spiritual visitation in the nation. On April 9th as well, Jeremy Story with One Cry, will be gathering in New York City at Times Square Church and they are expecting hundreds of university students to cry out for campus awakenings in America. Also on February 25th, the Collegiate Day of Prayer is being resurrected after nearly 100 years of silence. Many other prayer initiatives are taking place in our universities. What is going on? Prayer is being breathed for university awakenings and all of this coincides with a prophetic word given by William Seymour, the Azusa Street pioneer, that in 100 years (prophecy given in 1909 by William Seymour) another great outpouring of the Holy Spirit would take place. If we are in such a moment where a door for great change is opening, then by all means we must become the generation that risks everything to become the hinge of history. Let us follow in the path of our Master who fasted 40 days preparing for his apostolic gospel to be unleashed in the earth.

With this faith in our hearts, we are calling all of those whose hearts are stirred in colleges and universities across America to engage March 1st through April 9th in a 40-day Daniel fast (no meats, no sweets and limited intake) March 1st through April 9th releasing one great cry, one dominating prayer, “Lord of the harvest thrust forth laborers into the harvest field. Give us a third great awakening in the universities of America!”

40 years ago a great spiritual rebellion and revolution took place on the campuses of America and now we are reaping the fruit of that 40-year rebellion. But, 40 years are up and we are believing that a new generation will arise with the flaming tongue of the gospel and launch a spiritual revolution that could shake humanism and false ideologies through a mass harvest of souls coming to Christ. Shall we not dare to believe that giants were meant to fall and that God is greater than the boasting spiritual powers that dominate our universities today? Let us go up and possess the land for the sake of Christ.


Lou Engle, TheCall, Inc.


Please visit TheCall.com for more details.