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At Awaken, we believe in genuine product that solve problems and issues we all face in our own walks of faith. It was this vision that sparked the birth of Awaken Prayer and the Awaken Movement.
I vividly remember the first time I walked into my high school youth group for the first time as a freshman. The Youth Group's name was called 217 (get it? to the age of seventeen?), and it lived up to its name. As a little kid in elementary and middle school, I remmeber when they used to do skits and plays in front of the whole congregation and me laughing and filled with pride because I played lego star wars with some of them the week before during a community group at my house. With all these expectations mounting up, I walked into the two double doors that led into the furnished basement of our church: this was to be my new home.
Despite growing up in a church, I didn't really know what to expect going into a youth group. all Was it supposed to be fun? Am I going to meet really good friends? Am I going to feel valued and cherished? I asked questions about my faith, "how do I know that I'm a Christian?" "What if I mess up in front of all of them." Yet in such a beautiful way, I was welcomed in with beautiful arms and loving friends. This was also the first time I was introduced to praying for one another.
I remember sitting down next to another group of 4 guys on a beanbag. We were in a little circular formation, and one of the youth pastors at the time asked me a simple question, "Brandon, how can I pray for you?" And those words stuck with me for a long time. It was one of the first times anyone had ever asked me that. 5 words that had never happened during conversation. And yet 5 words that would change so much of my life. It was the first time that I realized that prayer was personal and it was meant to be vulnerable. How amazing is it that we have a God who listens to each and every one of our concerns. I came up with a prayer item at the time, probably something related to school. He immediately took out his phone and began to write things down in his notes app. Item after item, request after request, he kept it in his notes app. At the time, I had just gotten a phone so I thought that this was the coolest thing, but I also realized the value: that someone truly cares about you enough to write it down and pray over you. There truly is power in prayer.
“There truly is power in prayer”
And so I left 217 that week feeling revived and rejuvenated, finding a community of fellow believers who shared a passion for Christ like no other. But also remembering that my youth pastor was thinking about me. And so the week went by. School came into full swing, people got busy, I was trying to figure out my class schedule, and yet that idea that someone was praying for me still stuck.
I went back to 217 the following week and I saw the youth pastor that prayed for me then. As a youth group, we were all playing ultimate frisbee in a little green field beyond our church parking lot. Afterwards, we sang worship and learned a little more about Christ. My youth pastor never mentioned the prayer request I asked for. I came back the following week. We had some more fun, played some more games. Still, my youth pastor never mentioned the prayer request. In fact, he never ever did remention the prayer request that I asked for prayer for. And even though it was menial and I didn't think anything of it at the time, that memory stuck in my head throughout high school.
Fast-forward to 2019 when I was beginning to learn how to drive. And as I drove myself to 217 to lead a worship practice, my mind began to race. I, just like my youth pastor, had asked how I could pray for a close friend of mine that week. And I realized that I never prayed for it. And then I thought, "How many times do people say that they're going to pray for someone, but then never do?" I slowly realized that I had failed myself and the number of times that I did that was too big to count.
And then I thought about my own prayer time. Staying up late nights finishing homework, never truly making the time for God. What happened to the idea that prayer was supposed to be personal and vulnerable? Prayer is supposed to be a conversation. A mutual dialogue, but it was very one-sided. My prayer time had become a routine. It was less of a desire, and more of an obligation. Less of a conversation, and more of a burden. I knew I needed to fix this. I needed to fix the 3:00AM "Dear God, thank you for this day, thank you for my family and for being so good, I pray that you'll give me strenght and wisdom. And yeah. Amen" kind of prayer and instead pray specifically, intentionally, and have a conversation with the omnipotent God we know. Christ wants us to come to him. Matthew 11:28-30, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest in your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." But how can I come to him if I didn't want to converse with him?
And that's where Awaken came in. I knew that I wasn't the only that was struggling with this problem. Millions upon millions of Christians were struggling with this exact same problem and there was no good way of fixing it. And so I thought, why not make an app? An app that empowers people to pray better. To have a better and more meaningful way of keeping track of prayer items and prayer requests. A place where you can be vulnerable and real with God. And a place where you can lay everything at its feet and lift up all burdens to him.
That's the mission of Awaken Prayer: To empower us to have more intentional, focused, and more genuine prayer than ever before. We are drawing closer to God and we are drawing closer to each other. And it's with this idea that Awaken Prayer was born.
At Awaken, we pride ourselves on being forward-looking, but we also want to be Bible-Centered. We want to live out the values that the Bible teaches and we hope that our faith is reflected in every story, product, and service that we make. With this in mind, and the story that you just read. We hope that Awaken Prayer can help reflect our solution to an age-old problem. We're excited and we hope that you are too. Welcome to the Awaken family.
We all struggle with prayer. Too often, we say that we're going to pray for someone but then never do. I had this experience the first time I went into high school. And it stuck with me ever since.
I also struggled with meaningful and intentional prayer time, sometimes becoming completely scripted and routine. It was with these realities that Awaken and Awaken Prayer came to life.
At Awaken, we are at the forefront of empowering Christians through our platforms and services and we hope that each product you read has a purpose behind it and a story that you can value and cherish. Welcome to the Awaken family.
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