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Blogging… hmmmm… I remember blogs. My favorite two things about blogging are:
- To read my faraway (and nearer) friends’ blogs and feel that closeness and day to day journey again – something you just can’t have when you have four states in between you (or more) – and I really do miss you guys, just so you know… and that day to day glimpse into each other’s hearts and lives something that is even hard in the world of night and day prayer (even though we’re in the same city) for moms with little ones trying to spin so many plates at once in a world where nothing stops (24 hours a day, 7 days a week)
- I love writing and I love looking back and remembering what Noah did that day or how the Lord touched my heart during that particular time
Yet, sometimes, like the last however many months, you just don’t feel like blogging or at least I don’t. Anyone know what I mean? (Especially when you are an introvert like me — an INFJ for all you Meyers Briggs fans). I have to FEEL it to express it and I have to be a bit out of my cave. So what brought me out of my cave of late?
Simple. 10 YEARS of night and day prayer. I’m just a mess over it : )
Ten years… night and day and day and night, no matter the hour… or as my much more eloquent husband says in a yet-to-be-released publication (that he might not be so thrilled about me posting on the world wide web), “If you happened to wander in at 3am on a Sunday or 5pm on a Wednesday you would discover a room longer than it is wide, large enough to hold only several hundred grey chairs. At the front is a small platform where roughly ten souls, most of whom haven’t yet reached twenty-five years, play instruments and lift their voices in a flowing dance of structure and spontaneity mingled with interjections of spoken prayers. Before them an assembly of people that ebbs and flows in size sits not looking at them but beyond them, offering supplication and praise to the One who alone is worthy of this incessant attention.”
And the reason for this phenomenon? Well, I can tell you this… it’s not about a cool ministry or cool music (cuz ahem… we’re not that cool, people, trust me). It’s not about the right marketing strategy or big conferences (cuz um, well, I won’t say anything about that). Night and day prayer is about Heaven. It’s about wanting things on earth as they are in Heaven. And Heaven is a real place that is utterly centered around one Triune Person… the living God. Our beloved Jesus Christ, the Worthy One, preeminent and supreme in all things for all time, in Whom we live and breath and have our being, by Whom and for Whom all things that were made were made, He is before all things and in Him, all things hold together. “Night and day prayer is not a testimony to human dedication but rather to the power of the majesty of Jesus to ensnare weak hearts and hold them fast in unending preoccupation.” (Stephen Venable)
This is where my heart has been feasting these last few weeks… in not just Kansas City, but the many expressions and witnesses God has risen up all over the earth to declare one thing, “Jesus Christ is worthy.” More worthy than our wealth, more worthy than all the opportunities to ignore Him, more worthy than our ministries, more worthy than our egos, more worthy than the rulers of the earth… worthy, worthy, worthy is the Lamb, the One that was and is and is to come.
On September 19th, here in Kansas City, we celebrated 10 years of unceasing worship and prayer in our community. Of which, I have been blessed to be a part of 8 1/2 of them. I so remember first coming here… which is a crazy story that I won’t go into. But I came from a VERY nice church and let’s face it in Texas, we just do things… well, BIG. So I came with a certain “assumption” of what the International House of Prayer would look like. And well, let’s just say it was not what I expected. It was the “stable” as some like to call it… it was – well, it was a trailer. That’s it. I think I was like the 30-something’th person on staff. And now, ten years later, we are bursting at the seams (in thousands) with I don’t even know how many properties – all with crazy God stories as to why we even have them (like Harry Truman’s land that was sold to us by a Jewish man) and crazy stories like that. So much has changed in 10 years. But what brought me to tears as we celebrated these last 10 years were not all the changes and all the testimonies of how far God has brought us over a decade… but the flame. The fire in men and women and children’s hearts that brings them day after day after night after night back to the place of prayer and of worship… the testimony of Christ that is whispered in the walls of that building over on Red Bridge and the fragrance that rises toward Heaven… His gaze peering back at us, weak and broken and striving human beings that we are, yet He sees and knows and loves. That mighty flame… loving and being loved by God Himself… prayers offered by the saints in accordance with His will… it remains. That is simply stunning to me. Everything around us might be changing, but the reality that binds us together is unchanging, eternal, unfailing… Jesus Christ is worthy… He is supreme.
In addition, during this ten-year celebration, the Lord put on the hearts of the leadership team that this the time to start 24/7 works of Justice. Justice being outreach of all sorts – from simple evangelism to a Women’s Life Center to rescue, support and help victims of the sex-trafficking trade to Orphan Justice and adoption to an inner city mission center and prayer room as well as many other ministries flowing out of the place of night and day supplication for the mercy of God. The center and heartbeat of the International House of Prayer will always, always be night and day prayer and worship. All other realities flow out of that singular calling the Lord has put at the heart of this ministry. Yet, I so feel the answer and kindness of the Lord to us in this season to grow even deeper in the place of prayer and in the 1st commandment by diving deeper into the 2nd commandment. My heart has been really stirred by compassion and service flowing from the reality of night and day prayer… something I hope to write about a little more in the weeks ahead if I can find time. Aslan is on the move… : )
Here are a few fun videos remembering the last 10 years that were showed during the celebration services:
Stephen recently wrote this article for the Sacred Charge website giving a vision for prevailing faith, and it absolutely provoked my heart… so I wanted to share it with all of you. Enjoy and I pray it will exhort your hearts to believe as much as it did my own. — Karli
The body of Christ in every generation must stand at a similar crossroads. As we read of the power of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament and feel the painful disparity between what we find on those pages and what we have known in our experience, what will we do? This question confronts us both individually and corporately, and though we may evade its pursuit for a season, at some point we must turn and reckon with its probing force. While much could be written of the marvelous works Jesus performed in and through the apostolic church, only a cursory journey through the middle portion of the book of Acts is necessary to shine the light on the barrenness of Western Christianity in the 21st century.
In a mere five verses in the fifth chapter, we are informed that signs and wonders were so prevalent that those who were in need from the cities surrounding Jerusalem were brought to the feet of the apostles and the sick were even laid out in the streets in the hope that Peter’s shadow might fall upon them. The result was that multitudes of men and women were added to the Lord (v 14) and all who came found healing and deliverance in His precious name (v 16). In verse 19 of Acts 5, the apostles are miraculously freed from imprisonment by an angel. Acts 6:8 describes how Stephen, who was simply responsible for distributing food and not actually one of the apostles, “did great wonders and signs among the people.” After baptizing the Ethiopian convert, Philip was caught up by the Spirit and transported to a different city (8:39-40). In the next chapter a man who was paralyzed is healed through the ministry of Peter, followed by the remarkable account of the raising of a woman named Tabitha from the dead in the city of Joppa (9:36-43). The night before he was to be executed, an angel came to Peter in prison and escorted him out of bondage into safety (12:5-19). In a similar vein, Paul and Silas found themselves beaten and in shackles for the cause of Christ when suddenly a great earthquake shook the prison and released them from their chains (14:25-34). As the story continues to unfold we are told that “God worked unusual miracles by the hand of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them (19:11-12).”
Furthermore, Divine communication is riddled throughout the tale of the first generation of followers of Christ. Jesus appeared to Stephen at his death, to Paul at his conversion, and to Ananias with instructions to restore Paul’s sight (7:56; 9:5; 9:10 respectively). Cornelius the centurion was visited by an angel in an open vision, after which Peter was caught up in a trance while in prayer (10:3, 10). Agabus prophesied of a famine that would come upon the land, the apostolic mission to the gentiles was directed to go to Macedonia through a vision in the night, and the Lord Jesus appeared again to Paul in order to encourage his heart (11:28; 16:9; 18:9). The testimonies go on and on, and this is not even highlighting the astonishing power of the Holy Spirit present in the preaching of the early Church.
By contrast the sick in our midst almost always stay sick, regardless of whether one is ‘evangelical’ or ‘charismatic’. In other words, possessing a rhetoric which includes the power of the Spirit is not at all synonymous with the reality of it. Though profoundly grateful for what the Lord has done, at IHOP-KC alone over the last few years we have had the privilege of standing in prayer with four dear souls in their struggle against terminal cancer… each one of them glorified Jesus by loving Him well as they lost that battle and died. Not surprisingly we don’t find diseased and tormented unbelievers flocking to our churches as they did to the apostles and their followers. We don’t even have the opportunity to be miraculously delivered from prison because our witness is not powerful enough to evoke the resistance from the world to put us in fetters. While the diluted, culturally assimilated proclamation going forth from so many pulpits in the land may be effective at making ‘seekers’ feel comfortable, we know nothing of words so laden with heavenly power that thousands are cut to the soul and conquered by the glory of Christ (Acts 2:37). And though there seems to be more people than ever with the word ‘prophet’ in front of their name, few and far between are those men and women who truly stand in the counsel of the Lord and declare His word in truth.
This is not the context to develop either the biblical theology of healing or that of suffering (both of which we have the propensity to monumentally err on), or to try to unearth the causes of the absence of the Spirit in our utterance. Still from this juxtaposition at least one thing should be clear – we are missing something. And thus we arrive once more at the question posed at the outset: what will we do? Sadly the most common response throughout history has been the path of least resistance, accepting the way things are and explaining away the dissonance between the Bible and what we have known by putting the New Testament in a different category theologically. In effect this puts the book of Acts high on a shelf to be admired and applauded but never emulated or sought after. Yet as our generation stands at the crossroads there is another option. It is the difficult way, and surely the road less traveled, but the one we must embrace. In opting for this lonely path we are allowing our hearts to be torn over the vision for the fullness of the Spirit and daring to believe in what we have never seen. Instead of finding a shallow peace with the way things are, we elect instead to throw ourselves into the crushing tension of intercession where we contend in faith for the way God desires them to be. This posture is that which embodies and undergirds the fourth value of the IHOP heart-standards – Prophetic, or prevailing faith, as Mike Bickle has often said over the years. To prevail in our stand for the power of God does not mean that we are free from doubt, or that we do not grow weary, but simply that the slow passage of time without the answer we seek does not extinguish our tears and prayers for God to break through. In the end, our conviction in the mercy of Jesus and His passion to pour out His Spirit triumphs over the weakness of our own hearts and years of waiting.
For me the revelation of the Lord’s desire to release His power today and not just on the pages of history came like an avalanche as I discovered the writings of Smith Wigglesworth and John G. Lake during my college years. At the time I did not realize how deeply my heart was being marked by the vision for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, nor was I aware of how much my motivation for His power needed to be purified and how much the desire to see signs and wonders would be tested. Even in the ten short years that have intervened, I have found it increasingly difficult to avoid becoming calloused and to keep my heart soft and broken over our barrenness. Zeal is cheap, but endurance is costly. Yet through the pain of perseverance, I have gained clearer perspective on how we must contend for power from on high. Revival does not exist to cure the chronic boredom we wrestle with nor to enlarge our churches so we can finally feel a sense of significance in the landscape of ministry. In the Divine heart the unleashing of His miraculous might upon a city or nation is unto the glory of Christ and compassion for hurting people. Unless our hearts are aligned with these two purposes, we will likely not prevail in our faith and if revival does come we will almost certainly be crushed by the pressure that accompanies authentic power. God insisted upon this final heart standard in the DNA of this movement because He is so zealous for the exaltation of His Son and so filled with tenderness and mercy for the sick and the oppressed as they suffer. These currents in His heart are just as strong now as they were when the apostles turned the world upside down in the first-century. Let this be our confidence, and may His renown be our all-consuming aim as we stand at the crossroads. What will we do? We will take our stand and believe God for an unprecedented breakthrough of power and the full manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our generation.
May our faith prevail…
Well, as I write tonight I am sitting in the Prayer Room. We’ve just been praying for Egypt and now we’re moving into a time of Worship in the Word. It’s our date night… and Stephen and I are in the Prayer Room together. How stunning is that… that instead of dinner and a movie (and I’m a fan of both of those, believe me), we get to be in a place where worship and prayer has gone before the throne of God night and day for almost nine years without ceasing. I can’t express the gratitude that has been in my heart for the last two hours – for this place, this people, for my husband, and more than anything for a God that invites us into the place of fellowship through prayer. That we can talk to God… and hear from Him. Do you ever just think about that?
Forgive me for my lack of eloquence… need to include a disclaimer. We are in the midst of a 40 day fast – and really, what I want to write right now is: “PRAYER – COOL!… FASTING – COOOOL!” But I figured my two or three faithful friends that are nice enough to read this blog would want more information 
Don’t get me wrong. I’m hungry. And I am keenly aware of my INSANE addiction to sugar and meat mostly But in the weakness of my flesh and in setting my heart on a far Superior Pleasure than food, God has met me. And I LOVE meeting with God. Oh, the beauty of the knowledge of God.
I am without words… “PRAYER – COOL! FASTING – COOOOL!” That’s all I have tonight. So I’ll leave you with words that far surpass anything I could record – words that have been stirring in my heart today (thanks to my most faithful heart provoking friend, Dana):
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
For it is written:
”I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.
Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
May we all be fools for Love…
Hey all… if you have the subscription to watch the Prayer Room, I would recommend checking out the 10pm Worship with the Word set with Misty tonight. I’m in the midst of it (first hour gone by) as we speak, with tears before the Lord. Of course, I recommend the Prayer Room any time of day, any day of the week… but just wanted to throw this one out there.
If you don’t have a subscription, it’s really cheap and it’s 100% worth it. In the middle of the night or the middle of the day, where else can you go online where prayer is going before the throne 24/7… by the grace of God. What a gift! I heart the Prayer Room
Just click on WATCH THE PRAYER ROOM LIVE under websites on the side… you can go back to the 10pm set for 24 hours after it goes live (so until tomorrow, you can still check it out).
Love to you all and may Love abound in your hearts still more and more…
Stephen preached at the one of our services last weekend and simply put, it was the Gospel preached and it was amazing… so rich in Christ. I mean that in an objective, ‘even-if-he-wasn’t-my-husband-I’d-say-this’ way (if that’s possible). Even though he will hate that I put this on the blog, I wanted to, therefore I am
So here is a link to download the MP3 for really cheap if you have even the smallest inclination toward listening to it…
http://www.ihopmp3store.com/Shop/Sections/Items/Item.aspx?item_id=1000012148
