Tools for a Life of Prayer: Praying in Tongues – part 2

On January 26, 2020February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff, Prayer and Worship

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

In my last post, I shared my personal story with the gift of tongues as well as three basic forms of tongues we see in Scripture. In this post, I’m highlighting a few key nuggets on tongues from 1 Corinthians 14.

Paul’s Teaching on Tongues

1 Corinthians 14 is a gold mine of Paul’s teaching on tongues. Let’s look at this chapter and dig out some of the nuggets that can strengthen your prayer life as you engage in the gift of tongues. (In this section I’m going to focus mostly on private tongues, although these certainly apply to public tongues as well.)

1. Tongues is speaking mysteries in the Spirit.

“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God, for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit… For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful.”
(1 Corinthians 14:2, 14)

Tongues is an intimate and precious way to cut through the mental traffic and connect directly with God. It’s speaking past our minds, directly from our spirits, which is filled with the Holy Spirit. Our mind/flesh/soul is still in the messy sanctification process, but our spirits have been fully justified and made holy and righteous before God. Tongues is a pure overflow of that deep and sacred place inside you where the fullness of the Holy Spirit lives.

One of the questions I want to ask God someday is, “What on earth was I saying all those times?” I really hope He has it written in a book somewhere. Paul says I am uttering “mysteries in the Spirit,” probably even things that with my conscious understanding I would never know or think to say.

2. Tongues builds up the speaker.

“The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself…”
(1 Corinthians 14:4)

The spiritual gifts are for the building up of the church. Guess what–you’re part of the church! When you pray in tongues, you’re encouraging and strengthening your own heart. I don’t know how often I’ve been in a funk and started praying in tongues, and within a few minutes, I’m feeling much better. It’s like activating a spiritual muscle that stirs up my spirit to take precedence over my mind and emotions. Whatever “mysteries” I’m declaring in the Spirit, they’re pulling me right out of my funk as I declare truth and come into alignment with God.

To say it another way, tongues is sometimes like a lubricant on my heart. It’s like my heart is a rusty gear mechanism, and tongues is the oil that gets worked into the joints and helps it work smoothly. After a while, I feel much more tender and connected and ready to pray for whatever’s next.

Corey Russell likes to get a room praying in tongues together and always says, “Press in! Just a few more minutes!” and is famous for his “few more minutes” meaning anything from two to twenty minutes. He likes to say, “The breakthrough comes at twenty minutes!” I don’t know if I want to be so scientific about it, but I know the Spirit usually touches my heart far more after twenty minutes of tongues than after two!

3. Tongues is a gift to be grateful for.

Tongues is not any kind of elitist benchmark to prove your spirituality. The fruit of the Spirit is far more important than the gifts of the Spirit. (Why do you think 1 Corinthians 13, the love chapter, is right smack dab in between 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, the spiritual gifts chapters?)

But it is indeed a gift, and God only gives good gifts. It’s okay to want His gifts. It’s good and right to desire the gift of tongues, and to be grateful for its activity in the Body.

“Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy… I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.”
(1 Corinthians 14:5, 18)

This is remarkable! Tongues isn’t just a side curiosity within the Body. Even as he’s emphasizing the gift of prophecy as superior to tongues (because prophecy strengthens many, while private tongues strengthens only the individual), Paul is not shy about saying that he wants everyone to speak in tongues. Even more radically, he claims to speak in tongues more than anyone, and he’s glad of it!

Don’t miss this: this is Paul, the humble apostle, who was determined to boast in nothing except the cross of Christ (Gal. 6:14), borderline boasting about how much he speaks in tongues. Wow! He must have really thought it was something powerful.

4. Tongues can be sung as praise.

“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.”
(1 Corinthians 14:15)

Paul says that he sometimes sings praise with his spirit, which is contrasted with singing with his mind and is a direct reference to singing in tongues. I often include singing in tongues as part of my own private worship expression, interspersed with singing words I understand.

I love that God invites us to worship Him through the mysterious gift of tongues. Some of my most precious and intimate times of fellowship with the Holy Spirit come when I sing in tongues.

5. Tongues must not be forbidden.

“So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But all things should be done decently and in order.”
(1 Corinthians 14:39-40)

Paul summarizes his teaching on tongues by reminding the church that prophecy and tongues are both incredibly valuable, and so is order. He knows that some people will want to react to the weirdness of tongues by banning the whole thing. Rather than going to that extreme, he encourages the church to establish healthy culture and boundaries that allow all of the gifts to flourish in a way that brings strengthening and encouragement to all.

I hope you have a spiritual community that makes room for the gift of tongues! If you don’t, it’s okay; choose humility and honor for your leaders and practice praying in tongues on your own or with like-minded friends. Remember, “the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13)

If You Don’t Pray in Tongues

Paul, who said “I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you,” (1 Cor. 14:18), also said that he would only boast in the things that show his weakness (2 Cor. 11:30). Tongues really is the simplest and weakest of the gifts. It’s something that you either have or you don’t, and you can’t work up in any way. It doesn’t really take any maturity or wisdom, just an initial spark to get you going and then a little bit of faith to believe that this gibberish is actually of God.

So if you don’t pray in tongues, don’t look down on yourself and don’t look up to those who do. God gives gifts according to His sovereignty, although He encourages us to ask Him for His good gifts. By all means, ask Him for this gift, ask others to pray for you, and put yourself in places where it’s flowing freely.

Remember, God is probably not going to force your jaw open and yank the words out of your mouth. You don’t become a puppet when you start speaking in tongues. It does take active partnership; at some point, you gotta open your mouth and let it out! As I shared before, in my first experience, I was praying gentle words of love to God in English, not really thinking about what I was saying, and the tongue just came.

That’s my primary practical tip if you’re pursuing the gift of tongues: relax, set your gaze on Him, and open up your heart by praising Him with whatever language you have. If He releases the gift of tongues, great! If not, you’re not any less spiritual. Focus on loving Him with whatever gifts He’s given you, and continue to ask Him for more of Himself in any and every way.

Book: The Glory Within

Personally, no one has impacted me more on the subject of tongues than Corey Russell, whose ministry I had the privilege to be in close proximity to for four years in Kansas City. His book The Glory Within is all about the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the deep things that are accessible to us through the gift of tongues.

The Glory Within resources:
First three chapters free
Amazon
CoreyRussell.org (also find study guide, video series, and other related resources)
Short teaching videos from Corey on Youtube

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: Praying in Tongues – part 1

On January 12, 2020January 26, 2020 By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff, Prayer and Worship

I admit, it took me a while to decide to add this one to the series. Speaking in tongues is kind of a loaded topic in many circles. However, it is an important and powerful “tool for a life of prayer,” and at this point I can’t imagine my prayer life without it. So here we go!

This will be part 1 of a two-parter. In this first post, I’ll share the story of my own experience and briefly describe different kinds of tongues found in Scripture.

My Story with Tongues

I grew up in an environment where tongues were acknowledged but rarely practiced. When I started hearing tongues, I was really intrigued, but also scared. I imagined that if I started speaking in tongues it would mean losing control and acting like a person possessed or in a trance. And of course, my insecure control-freak self was terrified of anything “weird”. However, I was still hungry for more of God so I couldn’t reject tongues completely. After all, it’s a GIFT of the Spirit, and God only gives good gifts, so it’s a good thing and it’s right for me to desire it.

One night I was in a ministry service at a house of prayer and the one leading it, Jake Hamilton, announced that the entire room was going to pray in tongues, and everyone who didn’t already have the gift of tongues was going to get it. I thought that would be great, but I honestly didn’t have much faith for it so I decided not to focus on tongues and just speak worship to God under my breath.

For a couple minutes, English words of praise and love were pouring out of me… then it was suddenly Something Else. The best way I can describe it is that it felt like my words were unraveling and something else was pouring out of me, just as fluidly as the English had been.

Jake asked the room how they were doing, and the girl next to me told him excitedly, “I don’t know what I’m saying!” He said, “Great, let’s ask now for interpretation.”

Immediately what popped into my mind was that I was just saying “I love You,” but I dismissed that thought as obviously too simplistic. At that moment Jake said, “It can even be as simple as ‘I love You’!”

Okay. Sold. This is real.

As I began to study the topic of tongues in Scripture, especially 1 Corinthians 14 (nearly the whole thing is about tongues–this is practically your “one stop shop” on the subject) I grew in confidence that this is a beautiful gift that the Holy Spirit gives to strengthen His church.

Three Kinds of Tongues

In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul refers to “various kinds of tongues” (verses 10 and 28). We can see several different kinds of tongues in Scripture and our own experience today confirms this. You could probably make a case for more, but for now I’ll break it down into three categories:

1. Foreign tongue (another human language)

This is when God gives a person the supernatural ability to speak a human language they have never learned. This seems to be the first expression of tongues we see in Scripture. At Pentecost in Acts 2:1-13, those gathered in the upper room are filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in “other tongues,” such that the crowds gathered in Jerusalem from many different nations can all hear them preaching the gospel in their own native language.

“And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance… And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.”
(Acts 2:4, 6)

I’ve known people today who have ministered in this form of tongues. It’s great for evangelism! One woman I know speaks many languages fluently, and a number of them she learned spontaneously through the Holy Spirit when she needed them.

2. Public tongue (needs interpretation)

Public tongues is a bit of a combination between the gift of prophecy and the gift of tongues, when the Lord gives an individual a message in a tongue to deliver to a group. The group is then to wait for someone to have the interpretation of the tongue, so that everyone may hear what God is saying and be encouraged.

“When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God.”
(1 Corinthians 14:26-28, see also 1 Cor. 12:7-10, 12:30, 14:5)

The first time I heard tongues, I was a child in church with my parents. Someone in the congregation stood up during worship and loudly said something I couldn’t understand. The room got quiet, and the worship leader said calmly on the mic, “If you’re wondering what’s happening, that was a tongue, and we’re waiting for the interpretation.” After a few seconds, someone else in the room stood and gave an interpretation. It was simple, encouraging, and biblical, and the room went back into worship.

Recently, one of the young moms in our midst has been getting more and more interpretations of tongues. She sees visions of words clearly in the air as someone is praying in tongues. This gift has so encouraged and strengthened our community!

This isn’t the only kind of tongues, or even the most common, but Paul spends a lot of time emphasizing it because, like prophecy, it builds up the Body, and that is a chief goal of all the spiritual gifts. Paul certainly loved and valued tongues as a personal prayer language (“private tongues” below), but urged the church to ask God for interpretations so that they could all be strengthened (1 Cor. 14:6-19). I look forward to the day that this is all the more common in our church gatherings!

3. Private tongue (personal prayer language)

This is the form of tongues that is most common. You may hear it called a “prayer language” or “praying in the Spirit”. This is what Paul says to do when there is no interpreter: “speak to himself and to God” (1 Cor. 14:28). It’s not a public proclamation, but just between you and God.

“For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit… The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself…”
(1 Corinthians 14:2-4)

That doesn’t mean it’s wrong to let other people hear you! In some contexts, especially in a setting where it’s accepted for people to all pray out loud or under their breath and not really listen to each other (like in a prayer room), it’s totally fine for you to pray in tongues “privately” in public!

In the next post, I’ll cover a few points of Paul’s teaching on tongues in 1 Corinthians 14 and how to use the gift of tongues in your prayer time.

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8 Things I Learned in My First Year of (More Serious) Blogging

On January 8, 2020February 18, 2022 By CaitlynIn Just Thoughts

We made it through year one! Fragrancearise.com launched in January, 2019. I had big dreams and stars in my eyes– anyone who knows me could tell you that whenever I start a project I’m excited about I aim for the clouds. It’s been an exciting year, and I’ve learned a lot about myself and about running a blog.

I’ve been writing Fragrance Arise since December 2011, but most of that time was sporadic, didn’t really have a target audience, and wasn’t well promoted. Plus, I wasn’t on my own domain. 2019 was my first “official” year trying to take blogging more seriously. I’m still a baby blogger in many ways, but having come through my first year I think I’ve definitely learned a few things and can go into year two a little wiser and more well balanced.

So since you’re on this journey with me, here are a few things I’ve learned and would want to tell another baby blogger (or myself a year ago).

1. Know Why You’re Writing

When I started to take Fragrance Arise a little more seriously around 2017 or so, my desire was for it to be a resource to strengthen the prayer movement. Phrased more fully, the mission of this blog is:

To equip and invite the church into the great Story that God is telling in the final chapter of history before Jesus’ return, especially as it relates to the global prayer movement.

Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” Having this clear vision in front of me allows me to run in a focused direction. It informs my content choices, and it reminds me why this matters on days I feel unmotivated.

For more about the vision of Fragrance Arise, especially the tagline “Jesus is beautiful. Love Him. Join Him,” check out my Behind the Blog page.

2. Know What’s Important to You

Some things are important to me; some are not. The vision is of utmost importance. Other things, like monetizing, are much less important. I won’t promise never to use affiliate links [update from 2022, I just became an Amazon affiliate], but so far I haven’t, because that’s not a priority to me. Nothing on this blog is making any money at all, and I’m not looking for ways to turn it into a cash cow. (I do have a Partner With Me page for anyone who wants to donate, though!)

Is that because I’m independently wealthy? Ha, NOPE! I’m a missionary who lives on whatever support I can raise, and side income is always welcome. But in keeping with #1, the vision of this blog to grow the prayer movement is paramount to me. The last thing I want is to clutter it up with ads, sponsored posts, and affiliate links. I want to maintain the purity of the message and the trust of my community.

3. Have a Plan, But Give Yourself Grace

When I launched last January, I had a pretty aggressive plan in place of posting twice a week with carefully planned series. I’ve done that properly only a few months since then. I definitely want to be more consistent, but I also need to recognize where my boundaries need to be. A while ago, God started speaking to me about guarding my prayer room time and not using so much of it to work on the blog. Yep, I probably lost face a bit with some of my readers, but connecting with Jesus is more important. I’m Mary of Bethany first before I’m a blogger.

Now, I’m experimenting with moving some of my content to my social media, which is easier to prep and publish (and might get more engagement anyway) and posting slightly less frequently on the blog. We’ll see what 2020 ends up looking like exactly… a solid content calendar is great, but I need to find a balance that keeps my heart healthy while still upholding the vision. I’m giving myself grace to find that balance. 🙂

4. Be Who You Are

Once upon a time, I would make sure my makeup was perfect before snapping a selfie or filming a quick promo for my blog insta. However, my daily makeup look is little-to-none, so why not just be authentic? The same philosophy holds true for how I write. I don’t want to try to be artificially polished or present myself as more spiritual than I am. I’m not afraid to be raw, because I believe that’s important.

5. Write What’s Burning

If something is burning on my heart, I need to write it! Usually these posts end up being the most powerful, even if they’re outside of the carefully structured content calendar. I can always save them for when I have a hole in my schedule.

6. Write What’s Not Burning

On the flip side, if I ONLY wait till I’m passionately motivated to write what’s “burning”, I will rarely write! I need to make lists, give myself assignments, and write what needs to be written. Usually I end up getting into a flow and find my passion along the way.

7. Connect With Readers

My favorite part of writing/promoting Fragrance Arise has been connecting with readers. I LOVE when people respond to my emails, and I love chatting with people on Instagram and Facebook too. It’s such a joy to see the same people regularly interact with my posts. I’ve discovered and started following different kinds of prayer ministries all over the world, and share their posts occasionally, so that I and the rest of my followers are all encouraged together!

8. Know Your Tools, But Don’t Do EVERYTHING

There are So. Many. Tools. available to help take your blog to the next level. I discovered a bunch in my research process, and I’ve spent the past year sorting through what would actually be helpful to me, and putting a few others on the back burner to use later once I grow into them a bit.

Awesome tools I use:

Facebook
Instagram
Canva for creating all my images (Seriously, I CANNOT believe I went several months into doing this WITHOUT using Canva. I was an idiot. Now creating images takes all of about 5 minutes, and I can edit them anytime.)
Unsplash for sourcing all my stock images (All 100% free and supplied by brilliant amateur photographers!)
Hootsuite for scheduling social media posts (so far– I might switch to Later)
Mailchimp for sending emails
Linktree for my Instagram link in bio

Awesome tools I’m not currently using (or using to their full potential):

Twitter
Youtube
Pinterest
Tailwind for scheduling Pinterest posts
KingSumo for giveaways
Trello for planning my content calendar
Amazon Influencer or other affiliate programs [like I said above, I finally started doing this in 2022!]
The premium version of anything
An online store
Online courses I could sell or provide for free

In Year Two..

In 2020, #3 especially is a goal in every area of my life. I want to be faithful and a good steward without allowing myself to fall into discouragement when I don’t meet my high ideals. So pray for me as I seek to find wisdom and balance in setting and meeting goals!

I have several fun things cooked up for this year on Fragrance Arise. A few more Tools for a Life of Prayer posts are on their way, and then after that I’ll be going into a completely different kind of series walking through the story of the Song of Solomon! Join my email list for freebies and updates as we go further up and further in!

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Ministry Update: 2019 Year in Review

On January 1, 2020February 18, 2022 By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

This year was rich with excitement and growth, and also with the faithfulness of God in the smallness and the mundane.

In 2019, I continued serving on the senior leadership team of The Prayer Room and providing administrative leadership to and teaching in all of our schools and programs (including our music school, two internships, and seven IHOPU externs). I also continued to serve and grow as a worship leader, leading 12-16 hours/week.

TPR continued our close relationship with IHOPKC and traveled there for several trips, plus hosted many of their staff and students on various trips to Texas. Most spectacularly, in 2019 we gained four new Kansas City transplants as staff members, with two more in January and another six-ish making plans to move here within a year or so!

2019 was also the Year of Life Events for the Lutz family, so I traveled for a college graduation, a wedding, and a new baby. I also came home for partnership development and Christmas, for a total of five family trips in 2019. I love my family, but I’m aiming to travel a little less in 2020!

January

I launched Fragrancearise.com with a big giveaway and my Tools for a Life of Prayer series.
I continued taking Adult Beginning Ballet at a local Christian dance studio. Having a creative outlet that didn’t involve sitting on my butt was so healthy for my body and my soul.
I started leading a small group through my church, Forerunner Fellowship. Discipling these girls has been one of the hardest and most rewarding things I’ve ever done.
I taught on Mary of Bethany at The Prayer Room’s Encounter service.
TPR launched “TPR 2.0” – a new vision for our house of prayer with renewed emphasis on 1) praying for revival, 2) teaching on the book of Revelation, and 3) strengthening community.
TPR launched a part-time worship school with 20 students in partnership with IHOPU.
Two awesome guys came to serve as externs from IHOPU for the semester to run the worship school. They both fell in love with our community and felt the call to join full-time staff long-term!

February

I, along with several of our leadership team, traveled to Kansas City on a recruiting trip to have coffee with dozens upon dozens of IHOPU students to build/strengthen/maintain relationships with these fiery young people… in the hopes that some of them will eventually move to join us!
My sister Elise visited me in Texas for a couple days… and surprised my socks off by bringing along our cousin Carly!! The three of us had the best time ever enjoying the prayer room, eating tacos, and seeing the touring Broadway production of Anastasia.

March

The senior staff of TPR went out of town together to spend two days sitting around a living room with laptops dreaming up ways to strengthen our house of prayer and hammering out plans for the year. Many great ideas were forged in these meetings.

April

I flew home to California to celebrate my sister Elise’s wedding! My new brother-in-law Jackson is wonderful and they are a true Kingdom power couple.
TPR hosted 10 IHOPU students on a weeklong ministry trip–except this trip was different from anything IHOPU had ever done. Instead of merely using our base as a headquarters from which to do a dozen different things in the city, they focused their energy on serving in our prayer room, getting to know our community, and connecting with our heart and vision for the house of prayer. It was fantastically strengthening to everyone involved!

Thursday night of the IHOPU trip, something special broke out. The Holy Spirit was touching every single heart, and everyone was crying and praying for each other and we closed 30 minutes late.

May

I flew home to watch my youngest sister Christen graduate from college with her B.S. in Exercise Science! She is brilliant and passionate and I love watching her thrive.
We launched our summer Immerse internship with 5 interns! All 5 grew by leaps and bounds, fell more in love with Jesus in the prayer room, and have stayed involved ever since. (One of them, also in my small group, got radically hijacked and is in process to be our newest full-time intercessory missionary!)

Read the blog about this crew of fine people.

June

I moved out of the house I had been living in for two and a half years (I was the only TPR person left in the house and it wasn’t the right fit anymore) and moved in with my dear friends/small group leaders/fellow TPR leaders Luke and Caslin.
TPR got not two, not three, nay, not even four, but a record-breaking FIVE incredible externs to serve with us for the summer!! These five IHOPU seniors (well, four plus a spouse) served so faithfully and blessed us in countless ways.

July

I celebrated my 29th birthday with my beloved TPR family!
I flew to Washington state to visit my brother and sister-in-law and meet my nephew, the first of a new generation, Noah.
I taught on the Song of Solomon at The Prayer Room’s Encounter service.

August

On a word from the Lord, TPR planned a small conference called Passion for Jesus almost overnight and rallied our community to renew our vision to love Jesus wholeheartedly. The ripples of the Spirit impacted all of us long after.

September

TPR LAUNCHED NIGHT WATCH!!! This is the biggest thing we’ve done in six years, or possibly ever. We extended our hours permanently from 5am-11pm daily to 5am-1am daily. Only four more hours to go until we are fully 24/7!!
At the same time, we launched our first Fire in the Night internship with five fiery interns, envisioning them to take their stand as worshippers and intercessors in the night.
We also celebrated our 14 year anniversary! God gave us a word in 2005 to “Start a daily prayer meeting tomorrow morning at 5am and don’t stop until I come back,” and we haven’t missed a day since.

FITN intern shenanigans at 1am after our first prayer room night

The Prayer Room’s 14th anniversary celebration

October

I moved again, this time moving in with a different young TPR/church couple. Several young women are praying for God to give us a house we can rent together, but in the meanwhile, I love living with Joseph and Jireh!
We visited Kansas City again to continue getting to know (and hopefully recruiting) IHOPU students. We must be doing something right– 10+ IHOPers have either recently moved to join us or are planning to in the next year!

November

All of TPR’s staff went out of town for our annual staff retreat weekend. It was such an incredible time of bonding and refreshing–and IHOPU graciously sent us their best worship team to hold down our prayer room while we were gone!
I traveled home to California for 10 days of partnership development, inviting people to join the story of night and day prayer and worship by partnering with me financially. I also had the opportunity to speak at three different churches and a small group, teaching on Song of Solomon and the end times and even doing some prophetic worship/intercession (harp and bowl) training!
We hosted another group of IHOPU students, seniors on their senior trip. We loved spending such a special time with them!

Teaching intro to the harp and bowl model at a church in California

Annual staff retreat silly picture, featuring most of our 25ish staff members

December

We wrapped up our Fire in the Night internship with an all-night burn! My interns did their usual 9pm-1am prayer room time and then kept going till 5am when the morning crew took over! All four sets were intercession for houses of prayer, human trafficking, night watch, and Israel, respectively. My interns rallied around this long night of ministering to the Lord with such zeal!
The day after the burn, I traveled to California to spend Christmas with my family, and then spent New Year’s Eve in Dallas at a worship night with Upper Room!

Fire in the Night internship proud, tired, and happy at 5am after our all-night burn!

Onward…

I’m so grateful for all that God did this year. There were highs, as you see above, but there were a good amount of lows too, the same old battles in new packages, plus a couple new ones, and many opportunities to love and trust Jesus through every storm.

Early in 2019, God gave me this verse as a specific answer to prayer, and it has been following me ever since:

“I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living!”
(Psalm 27:13)

This is the confidence I’m carrying as we move forward into 2020. I will see the goodness of the Lord in this life. Not only will God be abundantly faithful and generous to me when I stand before Him on the other side (and yes, that is mostly the point), but He also has good things stored up for me now, in this life. It’s okay to trust my Father to be kind, generous, and faithful to me right now, in the midst of all of my circumstances and emotions.

Happy New Year. May you experience the faithful love of the Father in 2020.

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What Jesus’ First Coming Says About His Second Coming

On December 25, 2019December 7, 2022 By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff, End Times

Merry Christmas! Two years ago during the Christmas season I wrote a post called Incarnation: The Humility of Jesus. It’s still one of my favorite posts I’ve ever written, so I haven’t much wanted to try to top it, but this year I do have something specific on my heart to share.

I was listening a recent episode of the CBETS podcast featuring Pastor Isaac Bennett on the topic of how the first coming of Jesus points to the second. I listened to it at least three times, feeling my heart awaken to these ideas, and I feel this is a post worth sharing this year.

During the Christmas season, the church excels at focusing on the first coming of Jesus. We rightfully celebrate the story of God becoming flesh, being born in a humble manger, to live and die as a flesh-and-blood human. We meditate on the wonder of light breaking into darkness, God dwelling with man, Emmanuel, God with us. We imagine the world holding its breath, the silent night, midnight clear shattered by angel armies heralding the arriving King with songs of “Glory”. We enter into the anticipation and experience the profound joy of the Son of God entering into His creation, inaugurating a new era, a new kind of kingdom the world has never seen. It’s a beautiful season of anticipation, joy, and hope.

But it’s only the beginning of the story.

He didn’t come as a baby only to live, die, resurrect, and give us spiritual new life now, and the promise of heaven when we die. All of that is amazing enough, but the Christmas story (and even the Easter story) lays the groundwork for the ultimate climax of the story: the Day He comes back to rule and reign forever.

In fact, there are so many references to His second coming and Millennial rule hidden in plain sight right in our favorite Christmas passages.

“‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
(Matthew 2:6, cf Micah 5:2-4)

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days… And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.”
(Micah 5:2-4)

Micah 5 promises that from Bethlehem will come a ruler and shepherd over Israel who will be great to the ends of the earth (see also Mal. 1:11) and will give Israel secure dwelling in the land. This has not happened yet; although Jesus is a spiritual King who gives spiritual peace now, the fullness of this is a promise for the Millennium.

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
(Luke 1:31-33)

Again, Jesus is not currently ruling and reigning on the throne of David, and He didn’t do that in His first coming. This will happen when He comes back.

“And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord…He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.'”
(Luke 1:46-56)

Mary’s prophetic song celebrating God’s faithfulness is very eschatological. She celebrates His upturning the world’s power structures and fulfilling His promises to Abraham. Her praise isn’t necessarily about spiritual salvation for the whole world but about the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant and the Messiah who would establish the kingdom of Israel in its rightful place.

(For more about the Abrahamic covenant and its fulfillment when Jesus returns, read my post “What Are God’s Promises to Israel?“)

“And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying, ‘Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has visited and redeemed his people and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David, as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us; to show the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant, the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.”
(Luke 1:67-75)

Zechariah declared that Jesus would be the Son of David who would deliver Israel from her enemies and fulfill the Abrahamic covenant. Again, this hasn’t happened yet. Both Zechariah and Mary were inspired by the Holy Spirit; they weren’t just confused about Jesus’ purpose. In the heart of God, the first coming is intrinsically connected to the second coming.

So as we meditate on Jesus’ first coming in the Christmas story, what insights can we glean to prepare our hearts to anticipate His future, final coming?

1. Jesus is human.

In our celebration of the Christmas season, one of the things we celebrate is the humanity of Jesus—the fleshliness of the babe lying in a manger. His newborn cry strikes our hearts, and His tiny feet with real baby toenails move us to awe. God took on flesh. This was the biggest change that had ever happened to the Godhead; God had never been human before. He had appeared in physical shape now and then, perhaps, in what we call the theophanies of the Old Testament, but in the incarnation, Jesus became human… forever.

Forever.

Ever since the Holy Spirit touched Mary’s womb and Jesus was conceived, He has been truly, fully human. He has DNA. He didn’t stop being human when He ascended, even as you and I won’t stop being human and turn into angels or some other species when we pass into the presence of God. Jesus is human— right now, at the right hand of the Father, a Jewish man with skin and arm hair is sitting in a throne. He is radiant in glory, to be sure—but human, nonetheless.

“This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”
(Acts 1:11)

When He comes, He will be a real, physical, human King. His actual feet will kick up dust on the Mount of Olives (Zec. 14:4). His holy, glorified butt will sit on the real throne of David in Jerusalem (Ps. 132:11, Is. 9:7, Is. 16:5, Mt.19:28, Lk. 1:32).

When we meditate on the incarnation of Jesus as a baby, let’s also meditate on how that same human will one day descend from the sky to rule the earth as a real, human king.

2. The prophecies are trustworthy.

Defending on how you count it, there are somewhere around 300 prophecies in the Old Testament about the Messiah. (This list from Bible.org is a good starter.) When we study His life in the gospels, we are in awe at how precisely the prophecies were fulfilled. He really was born of a virgin (Is. 7:14). He really did enter Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Zec. 9:9). He really was offered sour wine to drink on the cross (Ps. 69:9).

In the first coming of Jesus, God proved that He was serious about fulfilling His Word very specifically and literally. Zechariah 9:9 (“Behold, your king is coming to you… humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”) wasn’t written just to give us the general truth that the Messiah would be humble. Of course, a whole point can be made about the humility of a king who rides on a donkey rather than a war horse, but the donkey wasn’t only symbolic. It was a was specific, literal detail that Jesus fulfilled in a specific, literal way.

In the second coming of Jesus, there are specific, literal details to be fulfilled. Jesus really will come riding on a white horse carrying a sword and wearing a robe spattered with the blood of His enemies (Re. 19:11-15, Ps. 45:3-5, Is. 63:1-6). His actual feet really will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will split in half (Zec. 14:4). He really will reign on the earth for an actual, literal 1000 years (Re. 20:2-7).

God always fulfills His promises precisely and completely. We can take His Word at face value and put our hope in it.

3. Prophetic information is given.

It’s fascinating to look at the Christmas story and see how individuals responded to the prophetic information about Jesus’ coming.

Mary saw an angel and believed and acted according to its message.
Joseph had a dream and believed and acted according to its message.
Zachariah saw an angel and first doubted, was disciplined, and then believed and acted on its message.
Elizabeth (and the baby inside her) recognized Mary’s child and believed and acted on this recognition.
The shepherds saw angels and believed and acted according to their message, even preaching the news far and wide.
Simeon received a prophetic promise and believed and acted on its message
Anna recognized Mary’s child and believed and acted on this recognition, even preaching the news far and wide.
The magi saw a star, understood its reference to prophecy, and believed and acted on its message.
Herod heard of the prophecy and believed and acted on its message (less positively!).

“For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.”
(Amos 3:7)

Not only was there abundant prophetic information already available in the Scripture about the birth of the Messiah, but God gave clear and specific prophetic information to a number of people. He wanted His Son to be recognized, even though His goal at the time was still relative anonymity compared to the global drama of the second coming!

God loves partnership. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees in their day for missing the signs of what God was doing in their generation (Mt. 16:2-3). God really, really wants people to recognize what generation they’re living in and respond accordingly.

4. Preparation is necessary.

A few people played preparation roles in Jesus’ first coming, including John the Baptist, Simeon, and Anna. John the Baptist was born roughly the same time as Jesus, and while Jesus was in Nazareth learning to be a carpenter, John was out in the desert being prepared to be “the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord.'” (Mt. 3:3) He lived a lifestyle of prayer, fasting, and no doubt study of the Scriptures and learning to hear God’s voice. He served very clearly as a forerunner for Jesus’ ministry, calling the people of Israel to repent and receive Him.

Simeon and Anna did not live to see Jesus’ ministry as an adult, but they were among the few to recognize Him as a baby. Simeon had received a promise from the Lord that He would not die before he saw the Messiah, and he lived in faith and anticipation. He isn’t described as a priest, but was merely an ordinary man “righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” (Lk. 2:25) He had prepared his heart for the coming of the Messiah, and God gave him the great gift of seeing it with his own eyes and prophesying over His family.

Anna’s life is even more extraordinary. She was married (likely as a young woman) for only seven years before her husband died, and she spent the rest of her life single, completely focused on God.

“She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.”
(Luke 2:37)

Because she had cultivated a lifestyle of prayer and fasting in the house of the Lord, she was also prepared to meet and recognize the Messiah, and she then became a messenger, spreading His name to anyone who would listen.

In the drama of the second coming, too, God is raising up those who will live with intentionality and focus, prepared to prepare the way. He is coming soon, and He is looking for those who live with prayer and fasting in His house like Anna, set their hearts on the consolation of Israel like Simeon, and be bold messengers prepared in the wilderness like John.

5. He comes in an unexpected way.

Though some did recognize and agree with what God was doing in their generation, many missed it because they didn’t know what to expect. Jesus visited His own hometown and was rejected because they were incapable of reconciling the boy they had watched grow up with their vision of a conquering warrior Messiah. (Mt. 13:53-58) There was a certain level of pride and confidence in their own expectation that didn’t allow them to see the unexpected thing God was doing right under their noses.

From our 21st century perspective, we shake our heads at their short-sightedness because we can clearly see the kid from Nazareth as the Son of God. We have acclimated to the gentle, lowly picture of Jesus, the exact picture Israel was not expecting. We see Him more as the meek and lowly lamb rather than the mighty warrior king… and therefore we run the risk of missing Him the second time.

Israel’s expectation of a mighty, delivering warrior wasn’t wrong; they just didn’t understand the timing. He had to come first as a sacrificial lamb. But if we forget that the warrior really is who Jesus is, and see Him only as “so lowly, meek, and mild”, we may find ourselves making the exact reverse of the mistake that Israel made the first time.

In any generation, we don’t want to be those who are out of alignment with His plans. Let us be like Simeon, Anna, John, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Mary, who had tender hearts open to agree with what God was doing. This is why preparation in a lifestyle of prayer, fasting, and the Word is so crucial.

6. God desires nearness.

Ever since the Garden, the heartbeat of God has been for nearness with us. He has longed for no separation. The incarnation was dramatic proof of that– Emmanuel, God with us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. He lived a lifetime among us, a pure representation of the heart of the Father. He got close, broke bread with us, had friends and best friends, and opened His arms to all who would come.

In His second coming, again His deep heart cry is for intimate nearness. He wants to be back on the ground here with us. When God created the earth, His desire was to dwell on it with us, forever. Sin interrupted that plan. The incarnation was a foretaste, paving the way. The second coming is the fulfillment of His dearest dream.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…”
(John 17:24)
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'”
(Revelation 21:3)

This is what He wants.

The incarnation–Christmas, the first coming–was Phase I. Phase II will be more glorious than we can imagine.

As we celebrate and meditate on the Messiah born for us, let us celebrate and meditate also on the same Messiah coming for us, to make all the wrong things right, fulfill every promise, and to be with us forever.

Emmanuel.

Come, Lord Jesus.

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: Praying for Your Soul

On December 8, 2019February 18, 2022 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship

A few years ago during my senior year at IHOPU, one of my teachers gave us an assignment to only pray for our own souls for three full days. No praying for other people or outside circumstances at all. That’s not an easy assignment to give a community of intercessors! I don’t think I realised when I started how hard it would be. When a major piece of a ministry trip I was leading fell through and I started freaking out, I had to force myself to pray for peace instead of immediately asking God to fix it.

Those three days taught me a lot about myself. Even though I had a pretty active prayer life, I quickly realised how much of my prayer life was based on asking God to fix external problems, rather than asking Him to grow my heart.

Your soul, heart, inner man – choose your descriptor – is the center of your being and the place the rest of your life flows out of. (Proverbs 4:23) Paul prayed that the church would be “strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man” (Ephesians 3:16 NKJV). Scripture also often paints our heart as a garden or vineyard, describing a place that needs to be tended and cultivated. (Song of Solomon 1:6; 4:12-16; Isaiah 5:7; 58:11; Jeremiah 31:12; Matthew 13:19-23) We want our hearts to be prepared as a dwelling place for God, like the Garden of Eden, where the fruits of the Spirit can grow.

In praying for our souls, we are asking God, the gardener (John 15:1), to help grow those good fruits in us. Using Paul’s language, we are asking Him to help us strengthen our inner man (Ephesians 3:16). (Yes, you can still pray this if you’re a woman!) As we pray for our own hearts, the inner storm of worry, distraction, and wrong priorities will gradually calm as we are transformed more and more into the image of Jesus.

So what are specific ways we can pray for our souls? As always, I’m going to recommend we start by praying directly from the Word.

1. Pray the First Commandment

The first commandment is a tall order and one we will forever be growing in–but we will grow more if we ask God to help us give attention to each of these four areas.

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
(Mark 12:30)

2. Pray to Know and Experience God’s Love

God already loves us fully without us asking Him to, but we live so far below the actual understanding and experience of that love. As we encounter His love more, He empowers us to love Him in return!

“…that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge…”
(Ephesians 3:17-19)

3. Pray for the Fruit of the Spirit

Go through the list in Galatians 5 and ask God to grow these fruits in the garden of your heart.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…”
(Galations 5:22)

4. Pray the Apostolic Prayers

The actual prayers of the apostles in the New Testament are a gold mine of ways to pray for your own heart! Check out my post on praying apostolic prayers, and instead of praying them as intercession for others, apply them to yourself!

“…that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy;”
(Colossians 1:9-11)

5. Pray for a Focussed Life After God

David set the most incredible example in Psalm 27:4 – he said that his number one life focus was simply to be with God, look at God, and talk to God. Even if we aren’t there yet, we can certainly ask God to help us make Him our “one thing”.

“One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.”
(Psalm 27:4)

As we set out to practice praying for our souls, this can become a daily practice and even a minute-by-minute habit.

Practical tips:

As my teacher assigned my class, try to go three days, or even just one, seeking to focus your prayers on praying for your own soul.
Practice holding a phrase or verse in your mind and coming back to it often throughout the day: “God, help me love You with my all heart soul, mind, and strength.” “Root me and ground me in Your love.” “Be my one thing.“
Make a prayer list to incorporate into your scheduled prayer time that’s specifically focussed on how you want to grow internally.

Do you spend time praying for your own heart? What are some other ways or verses we can practice praying for our souls? Tell me in the comments!

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: Paraphrasing Scripture as Meditation

On September 29, 2019 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship

I’ve always been a writer. For me, writing is how I best process and share ideas. It should come as no surprise that writing is one of the ways I study and meditate on Scripture!

One of the ways that I use writing to interact with Scripture is paraphrasing chapters. Whenever I find myself in a funk in engaging with the Word, paraphrasing is one of my top go-to tools to help me focus and talk to God through a passage. (My other go-to is singing the Word… I will post about that in a few weeks!)

Paraphrasing is a powerful way to digest Scripture. It forces you to take the verses in, mull them over, and understand them well enough to put them in your own words. You may have heard that the best way to learn something is to teach it; paraphrasing is like teaching yourself.

One of the most beautiful encounters I’ve ever had with God came through paraphrasing. God had been telling me that I was in a “Song of Solomon 2 season”, and I had an idea of what that meant, but as I started paraphrasing the words of the King to the Bride in that chapter, it became so personal. Layer after layer started unfolding, and as I wrote, it began to feel as if I was simply transcribing what the Spirit was whispering in my ear. The structure was still loosely Song of Solomon 2, but so many more images and references and Narnia quotes and poetic descriptions of literal things I had been going through started pouring out. That journal page is so precious to me, because as I wrote, the Word came alive.

When you paraphrase, it’s okay to highlight one layer of truth more than another. Scripture is so rich with meaning in every word; when we change the words, we are almost certainly going to lose some of the meaning. That’s okay! You can paraphrase it again with a different slant later if you want.

I asked some of my Facebook friends to paraphrase Psalm 23:1-2, and I got quite a range of responses! Below is just a sampling of some of them.

Psalm 23:1-2 ESV
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me beside still waters.

Yahweh is my caretaker. He provides for me. He teaches me to rest. He keeps me safe. (Josh)

The Lord is my bro. He gives me everything I need. I find safety and peace when I’m with him. (Cherish)

The Lord sustains me. He calls me to rest in the finished works of the Cross. In His sovereignty, there is the peace of wholeness. (Bryce)

The Lord has all that I need and knows where I need to go to get it. He leads me there! He makes me rest and he refreshes me. (Christine)

God is my best friend, my confidant and my guide. He makes sure I have the best and safest place to rest. He always makes sure I have what I need. (Gregg)

God delights in taking care of me, and He is diligent in His care. I have everything I need to do His will. He gives me rest when he knows I need it, even when I might not want to. He brings me peace. (Marta)

These paraphrases all have some similarities, but I love how each one brings out a slightly different dimension of the verses! God’s word is like a thousand-sided gem, and every time you look at it, you’ll see something new.

Of course, your paraphrase is NOT Scripture itself, so it is still subject to the “test everything; hold fast what is good” rule of 1 Thessalonians 5:21. There have been times I paraphrased something only to revisit it later and realize that a few things were a little off. Don’t let the fear of missing it keep you from diving in, though. As long as you don’t treat your paraphrase like the direct, unquestionable Word of God, this can be a powerful tool to help you engage with the Holy Spirit as you dig into Scripture!

Let’s try this with the first four Beatitudes in Matthew 5. This is a great chapter to practice paraphrasing, because some of the phrases can become a bit overly familiar and merely poetic to our ears until we really try to dig into them.

Matthew 5:3-6

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

God blesses those who recognise their spiritual lack, and He will give them royal access into His kingdom.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

God blesses those who are grieved over their sin, and He will give them peace.

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

God blesses those who choose humility, and they will be trusted with rulership alongside Jesus over the earth.

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”

God blesses those who deeply long for holiness and the things of God. He won’t leave them empty, but will give them what they seek.

As I did this just now, it forced me to really consider what each phrase means, and find my own words to make it “real” and help it strike my heart. I also found that I was drawing on other Bible knowledge. How do I know that “mourn” relates to grieving in repentance over sin? Because of passages I’ve previously studied such as 2 Corinthians 7:10 – “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation…” Paraphrasing is an opportunity to weave these truths together. Often, I’ll think of different verses and find connections I never would have otherwise!

Occasionally, I’ve set out to paraphrase entire chapters. Certain friends of mine have even paraphrased entire books of the Bible. Often, though, I’ll take a chunk that I feel the Holy Spirit is highlighting to me and work through it slowly, asking Him for insight to help me catch a fresh glimpse of each verse. He loves to speak, especially about His word! Paraphrasing is a practical, precious way I can begin the conversation with Him.

Check out my paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13!

Have you ever paraphrased scripture as a way to meditate on it? What part of the Bible is your favorite to paraphrase? Tell me in the comments!

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4 Keys to a Successful Prayer Meeting

On September 22, 2019September 21, 2019 By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

After I lead a prayer meeting with a worship team, prayer team, or both, I always take some time to debrief with them– to encourage each other, clarify confusion, etc. I always like to be able to tell my team that we did it; we had a successful prayer meeting.

So what makes a prayer meeting successful?

There are definitely some things that make a prayer meeting easier or more enjoyable, such as:

Skilled singers and musicians
Articulate prayer leaders
A decent sound system
A streamlined communication model
Songs that people like
Catchy choruses

But from God’s perspective, at the end of the day, those things don’t define success. In my opinion, there are a handful of things that are characteristic of a successful prayer meeting that have nothing to do with any of the externals like talent or room setup.

“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”
(1 Samuel 16:7)

1. Hearts Devoted to Worship

First and foremost, we want to bring God a pure offering of worship. This includes doing our best to fight against distraction to set our focus completely on Him. It’s the easiest thing in the world to lift our hands and close our eyes with our minds and hearts still whirling with a hundred other thoughts and emotions that are not helping us love Jesus. Until we see Jesus face to face, we will always have some degree of distraction and mixed motives, but our desire must always be to set our hearts completely on Him.

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
(John 4:23-24)

2. Hunger and Reach

God is mostly just looking for a genuine reach. He’s not interested in performance; He just wants a humble heart that earnestly longs for Him. No matter how weak it is, as long as we’re reaching in our spirits for Him, we’re doing it right.

In the Song of Solomon, the King tells the bride, “You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes.” (Song 4:9) His heart is so moved by even just one glance in His direction. Even on days when I don’t feel like I have much to give, I always have enough strength for one weak glance.

“For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
(Psalm 51:16-17)

3. Agreement with God

Worship and intercession are both about agreeing with God. Worship is agreeing with who God is, and intercession is agreeing with what He wants to do. Then when we add the prophetic dimension, we’re agreeing with what the Holy Spirit wants to do in the moment!

When we gather in corporate prayer and worship, we want to agree with what’s on God’s heart. This doesn’t mean we always need some huge prophetic revelation (although we always want to ask for more), but we want to be reaching to come into alignment with what we already know God wants to do.

The simplest way to do this is to pray Scripture. Check out my blog on praying the apostolic prayers.

4. Love. Unity. HUMILITY.

One of the quickest ways to make a prayer meeting unsuccessful is for the people serving to lose their love for each other. One of Jesus’ final prayers before He went to the cross was that we would walk in unity (John 17:21-23).

With a worship team serving on a prayer meeting together, we always want to start with a briefing to get on the same page about the direction of the worship and prayers. Then during the flow of the meeting, we need to be aware of preferring each other in the midst of whatever moments happen. It might be a worship leader who takes a nervous singer’s antiphonal phrase and encourages them to develop it into a chorus. It might be a prayer leader who lets the enthusiastic visitor pray on the mic in an unusual style. We listen to each other, support and encourage what each other brings to the table, and at times choose to go low and restrain our own ideas to lift up someone else.

TIP: Sometimes love and humility looks like what we call “serving the room”– thinking about how your leading will help those in the room to engage. Especially in a small prayer room, it can be fun to tailor your songs and prayers to the people in the room! If there’s a mom in the room, pray for moms. If you have an older couple who don’t seem to be connecting with your newer songs, try pulling out a few oldies.

“complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.”
(Philippians 2:2-3)

“…walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
(Ephesians 4:1-3)

When I asked this question on Instagram, my friend Alexus (currently a missionary at Sarasota House of Prayer, which I spotlighted in February) had my favorite answer.

A yes in your heart. Did you pray? Did you exalt Jesus? Success! — Follow me on Instagram! @fragrancearise

Success is so simple. It’s within reach for every single person. We say “yes” to Jesus, we talk to Him, and we exalt His name. And we do it in love and humility toward one another. It doesn’t have to be the most musically stunning or most articulate set ever– if the hearts are genuine, Jesus loves it.

More favorite responses from Instagram:

[Responses have been edited for clarity.]

“What makes a prayer meeting successful?”

@inspiringpassionforjesus – That we prayed/sang what God led us to and not just our own ideas or agenda. That we exalted Him and His working above praying from a tilt toward what the enemy was/is doing.

@asanchezmama: SHOWING UP!!

@jeremy.jarvis2019: I think success is everyone genuinely coming with a heart that is hungry for his presence and then reaching and engaging with God from the heart together, regardless of circumstances or if there is a “good team” etc…

@carmel_ella: Knowing that we prayed the heart of God and touched His heart in that place of divine partnership (like Mary of Bethany) …our weak “Yes” even the tiniest whisper is heard by God – so our prayer may be weak/not so fancy/we may not have the proper language/words for it but if our hearts are sincere and open, it counts.

@sanchandygrams – Hearts in pursuit. Agreenment with who He is and what He wants to do.

@jacksonbrown – When someone shares their heart with the Lord unashamedly

@acker.jayden – When there’s unity of heart in the room and greater grace to reach

@ms.adriana.galvan – When our hearts connect with the Father

“What makes a prayer meeting UNsuccessful?”

@inspiringpassionforjesus – Preaching at people (or God!) instead of actually praying to God. Not actually engaging in prayer during the prayer time.

@asanchezmama – Oh man, not showing up…

@jacksonbrown – praying with a hidden bias unaligned with His heart or desires

@sanchandygrams – staying unrepentant. Stewing with offence or unforgiveness toward someone

@dbensosa – Disagreement or discord, we gotta be in one accord

@cinorya – distraction in the mind

@mac_maddi – NOT GIVING YOUR ANXIETY AND STRESS TO JESUS

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: Praying the Apostolic Prayers

On September 15, 2019June 21, 2024 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship

If you’ve been tracking with this series for a while now, you know that I wholeheartedly encourage praying the Word–actually turning the words of Scripture into your own prayers. Many verses can become powerful, intimate prayers, but there is one particular set of verses that is especially useful. We call them the apostolic prayers. Apostolic prayers are prayers that were prayed in the New Testament by Jesus and the apostles.

Here’s a sampling of some of the key themes from the apostolic prayers:

For wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God (Eph. 1:17)
For strengthening with might in the inner being (Eph. 3:16, Col. 1:11)
For love to abound (Phil. 1:9, 1 Thes. 3:12)
For the knowledge of God’s will (Col. 1:9)
That the Word of the Lord would run swiftly [rapidly spread and powerfully take hold] (2 Thes. 3:1)
To glorify God in unity, with joy, peace, and hope (Rom. 15:5-6, 13)
To preach with boldness and power (Acts 4:29-30)

I have a list of these verses printed out and always with me in my Bible. You can check out this list of apostolic prayers compiled by The Prayer Room.

Why Pray the Apostolic Prayers

1. They’re inspired by the Holy Spirit.

There are about 40 apostolic prayers in the New Testament, and these are the ones that burn in the heart of God enough for Him to put them in the Bible forever. The Holy Spirit put these prayers in the mouths of the apostles, and they give us a glimpse of what God desires to do in and through His people. We can think of them as checks already signed by God, just waiting to be cashed–these are prayers that we KNOW God already wants to answer!

2. They’re God-centered.

All of these prayers are directed to God, not Satan. This is God’s model of spiritual warfare. Following this pattern, we learn to spend way more time talking to God than rebuking the enemy.

3. They’re positive, not negative.

These prayers teach us to pray for good things, not against bad things. For example, Philippians 1:9 says, “And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more…” rather than praying for hatred to be removed. Praying positively guards us against growing frustrated and angry, and instead we get to grow in love for the people we’re praying for. Plus, if a member of a certain group is in the room, they would certainly be hurt and not in unity with me if I pray that that group would “stop being hateful/sinful/etc,” but they could much more easily agree and pray along with me if I pray for an INCREASE in love, righteousness, etc!

4. They’re for the church.

Most of the time, God’s answer to a crisis will be to empower His church to be light in the darkness. Accordingly, these prayers are mostly focussed on the church (the only exception is Romans 10:1 for the salvation of Israel). Paul prays for things like love, strengthening, hope, holiness, and boldness to increase in the church, and the effect would be that the unbelievers in a city would be greatly impacted and brought to salvation.

5. They’re super flexible!

I’ve never found a topic I couldn’t pray with an apostolic prayer. My favourite one is Ephesians 1:17 — “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him”. In my experience, deeper knowledge of God is the starting point of the solution to every problem. I also love to pray 2 Thessalonians 3:1 — “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run swiftly and be glorified…” (NKJV) and imagine the gospel spreading like wildfire through a region.

How to Pray an Apostolic Prayer

Each prayer is so rich with multiple key phrases that can be used as launchpads for intercession! When I pray with one of these verses, I usually choose one phrase at a time to focus on. Here’s an example of praying for my family using my favorite, Ephesians 1:17-19. (Most of the time, I end up using other cross-references that come to mind as well.):

^“that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened”
(Ephesians 1:17-18)

Father of glory, I ask that You would give my family the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of You. Open their eyes to know You more. Let them see You for who You are, as beautiful and glorious (Isaiah 4:2). Let the knowledge of Your character permeate their hearts, affecting every situation and bringing hope and life into every area.

“that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you”
(Ephesians 1:18)

God, I ask that my family would know the hope to which You have called them. Even in hard times, give them a clear vision of the hope You have in store for them (Colossians 1:5).

“what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,”
(Ephesians 1:18)

Jesus, my family is Your inheritance. You died to win their hearts forever as Your bride. I ask that You would reveal to them how much You love them and how You desire them as Your glorious inheritance.

“and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might.”
(Ephesians 1:19)

God, reveal Your immeasurably great power to my family! I ask that You would encourage them that nothing is impossible for You (Luke 1:37) and You would work powerfully on their behalf in every situation they need breakthrough.

Did you check out The Prayer Room’s list of apostolic prayers? Which one is your favorite?

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House of Prayer Spotlight: Vence Gardner, Volunteer Staff

On September 8, 2019February 18, 2022 By CaitlynIn House of Prayer Spotlight

House of Prayer Spotlight is a monthly feature of Fragrance Arise (and honestly, probably my favorite series)! Every other month features interviews with different houses of prayer, and the in-between months feature interviews with my fellow staff members at The Prayer Room. God is doing so much in the house of prayer globally and this series aims to shine a light on what it looks like in different places.

This month I get to highlight one of my wonderful friends and co-laborers at TPR. Vence has been a core part of our community for about two years, and I got to know him when he did our School of Supernatural Ministry and jumped on volunteer staff. He also did our Immerse internship and is currently in our Fire in the Night internship!

I blogged obliquely about him a while ago when I wrote about 6 Things I’ve Learned About Praying for Justice, because Vence has been my prayer leader on that intercession set for most of the year– except for a couple of months when he left to train as a parole officer to make justice literally his full-time career. This guy seeks the heart of God in a rare and wonderful way, and I’m honored to call him a friend and delighted to share him with you today!

Vence prayer leading our Saturday 11am intercession set for the American Justice System.

What do you do at The Prayer Room?

I am currently on volunteer staff at The Prayer Room. I have the amazing job as the Encounter Service Usher for our Encounter services on Saturday Nights. I get to greet guests and share the vision of The Prayer Room. I enjoy reaching out to the guests that come and building relationships.

Along with our other volunteer staff members, Vence also participates in our weekly staff meeting and serves on at least two prayer meetings. Right now, he is also an intern in our Fire in the Night internship, taking classes and serving in the prayer room 9pm-1am three nights a week!

Spontaneous lobby Bible study (with Jade, my spotlighted staff member from May)

How did God lead you into being involved?

After I graduated from college, I felt the Lord telling me to come home (Fort Worth, TX). I did not know why nor did I want to come back. When I came back, I stepped into a dry season; I felt nothing was going right and I felt like my walk with God was becoming static. I asked the Lord to help me find a place that would help me grow in Him like a plant in the right soil. A week later God gave me a vision of The Prayer Room, when it was still on Pioneer Parkway (the location we used to have about 6 years ago). Benjamin (my mentor) would take me there sometimes when I was younger. When I got the vision I asked Benjamin, “Where is The Prayer Room?” He gave me the address of the new location and I have been here since. I am a plant that has found its soil.

Being way too cool modeling our TPR t-shirt!

What is meaningful to you about being on staff?

I think the meaningful thing about being on staff here at The Prayer Room is friendships. I have been on staff a little over a year now, and I have been engulfed into a loving community. I don’t feel like just a name on a roll sheet, but I feel that I’m a part of a family that really cares for each other. I get to serve alongside friends that want God’s heart and want to see God move in our midst in incredible ways.

Hyper, spazzy 1am prayer room selfie after our first night watch!

What has been the greatest difficulty and the greatest joy of being part of The Prayer Room?

The greatest difficulty of being on staff for me is sacrificing. When I joined staff I had to sacrifice many things that I thought mattered to me, like my time or my wants, but even though I’m sacrificing myself I’m also gaining Christ. I am learning that when I’m sacrificing myself I can see more Christ in the mirror than me.

The greatest joy of being on staff is the investment from others. The leadership here doesn’t just want me to serve, but to be transformed by the one I serve. I have been invested into by so many people on staff, whether it’s answering a question I have, teaching me to play keys, or helping me in something I need. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by people who are willing to invest in me and see me do well in Jesus.

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