Continuing my What I’m Praying series, this week we at The Prayer Room have been praying for our ministry trip team from IHOPU in Kansas City! Every year, IHOPU sends out hundreds of their students to houses of prayer all across the country to serve the city for a week. Usually, they spend some time in a prayer room, then spend a lot of time ministering at different churches and ministries, as well as a lot of time evangelizing in the city.

We’re hosting a trip again this year, but this trip is special. Instead of 30ish students, we capped it at 10 (which filled up FAST!) and instead of doing all of the usual activities, we have them focused almost exclusively on The Prayer Room. They’re in a morning set and an afternoon set every day, they’re serving in some very specific and needed ways (spreadsheets and spring cleaning!), and we also have them spending lots of time with our community and leadership team– learning, connecting, and trying to get a feel for life at our house of prayer.

As we have them here this week, we’re praying three things for them, that God would:

1. mark them in a deeper way with vision for the house of prayer,
2. strengthen them in their individual callings, and
3. give them grace to forge deep friendships with each other and with us.

I’ve especially been praying for #1, vision for the house of prayer. Especially for those who are here as underclassmen or who haven’t had much opportunity to experience what the house of prayer looks like outside of Kansas City, I’m asking God to mark them with His heart for smaller prayer rooms, where there are only a few faithful worshippers and intercessors in the room, where things are weak but vibrant.

There’s a commonly cited statistic in the prayer movement that on average, people stick around for about five years before they get burned out and leave. I think there are a lot of dynamics to why that is, but a big one is VISION. I’m going on year 7 (although the first four were within the safety net of IHOPU, so we can call it two and a half if you want) and I know for me, the staying power isn’t in the hype and the “glory”. It’s in the why–the deep desire in the heart of God to have a resting place among us, for Jesus get the adoration He’s due, and for the church to partner with Him to bring His kingdom to earth (especially in the ultimate sense of the return of Jesus to the planet).

“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint…”
(Proverbs 29:18)

I know it’s more popular to quote this verse as “…the people perish” (KJV), but I really like the “cast off restraint” translation because it means the inverse is also true: where there is vision, the people are empowered to embrace restraint.

In the house of prayer, restraint often looks like the frustration and tedium of long hours in an empty room, delayed promises, saying no to more exciting opportunities, the discomfort of fasting, the emotional labor of prayer, the reproach of embracing such a “foolish” calling… if we aren’t continually growing in vision, we will struggle to embrace these restraints with joy.

Our prayer for these students is that they will see more clearly God’s heart for the house of prayer and grow in conviction and vision for partnering with Him in this story. They all will be in Kansas City for at least a while longer, and some of them will feel called to serve in houses of prayer afterward–maybe even The Prayer Room!

God, give these students a deeper vision for Your house. Mark their hearts with Your desire to have a resting place, and stir in them a desire to lay down their lives to see that dream come true.