What I’m Praying: Jesus is Better

On March 13, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Praying

Two weeks ago on my What I’m Praying series, I shared an update about what The Prayer Room is currently praying as a community. We’re in a spot where we desperately, urgently need God to break in with provision in a couple of different areas. Today, the senior staff of The Prayer Room is out of town on a prayer/work retreat to get a bunch of planning done and also to pray our guts out for God to break in. I invite you to read the “What I’m Praying: Crazy Supernatural Provision for a Dorm and Finances” post and intercede for us! We need it!

In the midst of this, life and emotions go on, and my own heart has been fighting to rest in the truth that Jesus is better. No matter what emotions or desires are swirling within me, no matter what distractions (even good things!) threaten to interrupt my devotion – JESUS IS BETTER.

I’m convinced that this is the foundation of discipleship. Sanctification is futile unless it’s an overflow of encountering the beauty of Jesus.

A couple of years ago, I blogged about an article written by a woman named Rachel who is attracted to other women and came out of the lesbian lifestyle because of a deep conviction that Jesus is better. (Jackie Hill Perry shared a similar testimony in her book Gay Girl, Good God, which I also blogged about.) One quote from Rachel’s article has stuck with me ever since I first read it:

“We can’t say no to something good unless we’re saying yes to something even better.”

(Rachel Gilson, “I Never Became Striaght. Perhaps That Was Never God’s Goal.”)

Whatever the “something good” is, whether it’s something wrong that only looks good, or something neutral or even actually good–JESUS IS BETTER.

This can’t be an abstract theological statement, though. I have to continually remind my heart what about Him is so much better. I have to remember why He is beautiful. I love to sing through chapters like Psalm 23, Psalm 45, Revelation 1, Philippians 2, Colossians 1, anything from Song of Solomon, to remember who He is.

When I see Him clearly, I can say with the Bride in the Song of Solomon:

“For your love is better than wine; your anointing oils are fragrant; your name is oil poured out; therefore virgins love you.”
(Song of Solomon 1:2-3)

Jesus’ love is better than wine, better than anything I could ever want or have.

When my heart is gripped by longing for relationships, whether the marriage God hasn’t given me yet or the family He called me to move away from–JESUS IS BETTER.

When the seduction of Netflix and endless, mindless scrolling lure me to waste hour after hour–JESUS IS BETTER.

When I’m discipling a young believer who is struggling to walk away from their old life and choose Jesus, this is the core truth they need to believe–JESUS IS BETTER.

Gritting my teeth and trying harder will fail. That will very quickly feel like bondage. Saying yes to something vast, stunning, infinitely more beautiful–this is freedom. This is joy.

We can overcome anything if we are confident that Jesus is better.

His love is better than wine. (Song 1:2)
His love is better than life. (Psalm 63:3)
He is fairer than the sons of man. (Psalm 45:2)
He is chief among ten thousand. (Song 5:10)
He is the pearl of great price. (Matthew 13:46)
He is the only one found worthy. (Revelation 5:3-5)
One day with Him is better than a thousand days without Him. (Psalm 84:10)

This is my prayer today, and I invite you to pray it for yourself:

Jesus, You are better. You are more beautiful than anything I could ever desire. Anchor my heart in this truth and help me believe it when other desires tug at me. You are better.

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: Using a Prayer List

On March 10, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship2 Comments

One of the simplest things you can do to strengthen your prayer life is simply to make a list of things you want to pray about. Many of us have experienced coming into a prayer time with great intentions, and then running out of things to say in about a minute and a half. A simple list, however short or long, can be extremely helpful in focussing your prayer time.

As with all of these tools, think of the prayer list as a launchpad, but it never needs to become a “law”! On some days, you may pray through your list quickly, and on others, the Holy Spirit may really catch your attention on one point in particular and you may just camp out there in a while. Some days you may have something else completely on your heart and never even get to the list. That’s okay! The goal is to connect with God.

As we talked about with scheduling time for prayer, even getting through your prayer list 70% or 80% of the time is way better than not even trying and doing 0%. I promise, if you make a list you WILL pray for those things more than if they weren’t written down anywhere at all.

What should be on your list? Broadly speaking, you might think about three categories:

Personal

spiritual growth
needs
future
ministry

People and places

family and friends
leaders in your life
people you lead
cities
churches/ministries
missions

Justice

government
abortion
racial issues
human trafficking
current events

What should you pray for these topics? The best advice is to pray biblically. Pray some of the key prayers of the Bible over these people, groups, and situations. A great resource is this list of apostolic prayers found in Scripture. I have a tattered copy of this sheet from 2012 always in my Bible. You can also check out this longer list of apostolic prayers.

Here’s a taste of the key themes and phrases of these 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)

These prayers can easily be adapted to any context, but sometimes for justice issues, I like to dig into the Psalms and prophetic scriptures:

“The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed…” (Ps. 9:9)
“O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will… do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed…” (Ps. 10:17-18)
“The LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives…” (Is. 61:1)

You can use my lists as a starting point, but as praying Scripture becomes a habit you will quickly discover your own favorite verses! I promise, using the language of Scripture will make praying through your prayer list come so much more alive.

I need to say this one more time… DON’T LET THIS OVERWHELM YOU!

Again, your list is a launching pad, not law. You do not have to limit your prayers to the topics you write down, and more importantly, you do NOT have to pray for all of it every single day! It may help to break your list into mini daily lists, so that you’re praying for just a handful of things each day. Praying Bible verses is a great idea, but again, don’t become so tied to it that you’re crippled if you can’t think of just the right verse.

Finally, find a way to work your prayer list into your daily routine. Use it as a bookmark and pray through it for ten minutes before you read your Bible, or tape it to your steering wheel and pray on your way to work. The goal of this tool, and in fact of all of the tools in this series, is to find what works for YOU to help YOU pray more. Adapt these ideas as you see fit, and happy praying!

Do you use a prayer list? What’s on yours, or what would be if you started doing this? Tell me in the comments!

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What I’m Reading: Epic

On March 6, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Reading

(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!)

“What if all the great stories that have ever moved you, brought you joy or tears–what if they are telling you something about the true Story into which you were born, the Epic into which you have been cast?”
Epic by John Eldredge, page 15

Continuing my What I’m Reading series, today I want to talk about one of my all-time favorites. There are few books on my shelf I’ve reread as many times as Epic by John Eldredge. I first read it in high school, and it has become one of the books I most love to recommend and give away. (Luckily, it’s super cheap on Amazon! You can stock up and pass them out like candy!) This small book feels like a tiny treasure, the secret story of the universe wrapped in poetry and movie references. It has captured my imagination and given me a framework for life, theology, and Story in so many ways.

The premise of Epic is two-fold: 1) all of history is a Story told by God, a sweeping epic of eternal proportions, and 2) this Story is reflected and illuminated by the stories we love.

From the time before time, the eternal fellowship of the Trinity before creation, to the roller coaster of humanity’s fall and redemption, to the future restoration of all things, our great “happily ever after”–the gospel is a story, a sweeping epic of love, loss, war, sacrifice, betrayal, romance, homecoming, and adventure. The trouble is that most of us don’t realize “what sort of tale we’ve fallen into”, to borrow a phrase from Samwise Gamgee, as John Eldredge does. Epic says that for most of us, life feels like a movie we’ve arrived to 45 minutes late. We feel a bit lost and confused. We missed the opening exposition and never saw the trailer. What is happening and what kind of story should I expect?

We need to know the Story.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God has planted eternity in the human heart. He’s given us an instinctive sense of the story of the ages, longings that point to the truth, and it comes out in the books we write and the movies we film. The Story of the ages is retelling itself in our stories.

Epic draws on familiar imagery from some of the most beloved stories of our culture, from The Lord of the Rings to Titanic, to paint a vivid and living picture in the reader’s mind. I love this approach because it brings the emotions of the gospel to life, which may be dull in us due to overfamiliarity or total unfamiliarity. We may not always weep over the gospel or feel the surging longing for Kingdom adventure, but we sure do for our favorite movies!

After the prologue sets up this premise of Story, the rest of the chapters go through Act One, Act Two, etc of the gospel, beginning with the fellowship of the Trinity in the time before time…

the devastating betrayal of the fall of Lucifer…

the breathtaking dawn of creation…

the war for the human soul and the victory of redemption…

and the future, final restoration of all things, our great and glorious “happily ever after” for all eternity.

This is the sort of tale we’ve fallen into, an Epic more brilliant and breathtaking than the greatest our imaginations have ever produced.

I can’t recommend Epic enough. It’s always super cheap on Amazon and about 100 pages… really, you have no excuse NOT to read this book!

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House of Prayer Spotlight: Andy Sanchez, Intercessory Missionary

On March 3, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn House of Prayer Spotlight

Andy and Vina Sanchez with their daughters (oldest to youngest, from left) Ava, Ana, Abigail, Adalie

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 (check out my House of Prayer FAQ for more info) and this series aims to shine a light on what it looks like in different places.

This month, I am featuring Andy Sanchez, who serves with me at The Prayer Room Missions Base. He’s an intercessory missionary who raises support to do this full-time, and he’s also a family man with a wife and four beautiful little daughters. Andy was a full-time public school teacher simultaneously serving on volunteer staff at The Prayer Room for years, holding onto a promise that God would one day transition him into full-time ministry at The Prayer Room. That moment came in early 2018, and it is a joy to run alongside him as he serves the Lord and this house so excellently and faithfully!

What is your role at The Prayer Room?

I am a full-time missionary at TPR and serve on the Senior Staff. I am the Director of Staff and I oversee part- and full-time missionary staff and volunteer staff. I get to teach theology in our Immerse Internship, School of Supernatural Ministry, Forerunner Music Academy, and in our Daniel Academy, which my four daughters are a part of, I teach 1st and 2nd grade.

Currently, I am managing our Base Operations Department and I also handle the audio/video recording, editing, and online posting. I am also the unofficial tech support guy.

[He also serves at least 30 hours every week in the prayer room, including shifts as a section leader, prayer leader, and worship leader. He taught himself to play keys so he could serve musically!]

How did God lead you into being involved?

In 2006, I was starting a lunch-break Bible study at work and inviting a co-worker. He countered my invitation and asked me to come check out his friend’s morning prayer time that had started in his living room. I stuck around and got to see that 1-hour daily prayer meeting evolve into The Prayer Room Missions Base.

In 2007, during one of the early prayer meetings, I remember developing a prayer from the Bible asking the Lord to restore the Priesthood. Suddenly, I heard the response, “I am so glad it only took you ten years to answer the call.” The Lord had been leading me to minister to Him and I had just now come to realize and agree with His plan for my life. I knew from that moment, I was to be a modern day priest and serve in His house for the rest of my life.

The Sanchezes holding down the prayer room on Thanksgiving!

What is meaningful to you about being on staff?

Being a missionary at The Prayer Room makes me feel like I am best friends with someone like a Bill Gates or a Jeff Bezos in their early days of talking about this idea they have that will one day change the world. I get to be in on God’s best-kept secret: the house of prayer!

It is special to me that I get to raise my kids in a godly community that is always talking to God and about God. I spent my 20’s establishing a root system for my family so that together, we can live our lives as an offering of worship. I am really excited to see how my kids will outrun me and surpass anything I was ever able to do.

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

The greatest difficulty for me is managing the mental and soul traffic that is constantly going on inside me. I am thankful that I get blocks of hours to be in prayer meetings because some days it takes a lot longer than I would like to quiet myself and engage with the Lord.

A big joy for me has been watching people transform in the prayer room. Over the past 13 years, I have seen so many people encounter the One True Living God in a prayer meeting. Some come in with hurts and burdens and they just melt when they get before Him. Others come in numb and become awakened. It is so fun to watch Jesus do His thing in real time.

Andy’s website, with blogs, teachings, and testimonies, is andysanchez.us. He also sends out monthly email updates with glimpses of family life and ministry life — sign up for Andy’s newsletters here!

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What I’m Praying: Crazy Supernatural Provision for a Dorm and Finances

On February 27, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Praying

Continuing my What I’m Praying series, here’s the story on the current prayer topic at The Prayer Room, where I serve on full-time missionary staff.

A year and a half ago, we sold the dorm house that had been housing some of our community. The foundation was bad, among other issues, and it was desperately time for a new building. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get a loan to purchase a new dorm (such as a duplex or quadplex), so the money from the sale sat in savings.

As time went on, and our finances got worse and worse, we kept needing to dip into our dorm savings to keep afloat. We were going into “debt” to ourselves as we borrowed from the dorm fund. We were also in substantial credit card debt.

Throughout our history our finances have never been normal; God doesn’t let our money operate by normal financial wisdom principles. (Dave Ramsey would be so confused!) God seems to like to let us get in a hole and then He will suddenly, miraculously bail us out. It’s happened over and over and has been part of how He has built faith into our DNA. So as a community, we began pressing in for God to give us $25,000 to get us out of debt, but months passed and breakthrough didn’t come.

As the leadership team talked and prayed, we came to feel that maybe God wasn’t planning to bail us out of debt with a large chunk of money this time, as He’s done before. There was, however, some prophetic swirl on the idea of God outright giving us a dorm building. We began feeling stirred to do something ridiculous, radical, and upside-down… instead of continuing to pray for God to give us $25,000, we would GIVE away $25,000.

We wrote a check to some dear friends of ours who have been pioneering a house of prayer in Galveston, TX, for a couple of years. This drained what we had left in savings and basically accelerated the process of us being backed into a corner. No cushion. All faith. We are officially left with only one option… God’s deliverance.

So as of this past Saturday, our rapid fire topic which we pray in the prayer room every two hours is this: for God to give us a dorm building by June 1 (in time for our summer IHOPU externs) and also to give us additional monthly partners to build our finances. We are consistently in the hole financially, and this $25,000 gift to our friends left us with NO backup plan. We really need people to step up to commit to give to TPR monthly, even $5 or $10.

This dorm will be such a huge blessing. It has been such a pain in our hearts these past two years that when one of the single young adults in our community wants to be more involved at TPR and needs housing, we don’t have anything to offer them. Also, when we try to recruit students from IHOPU to come serve with us, we don’t know what kind of housing to promise them and must have faith that God will provide for those who say yes. He always has, but many of our families who could possibly squeeze an extra person into their house have already done so.

When we get the dorm, be it a duplex, quadplex, or even a small apartment building, I plan to move in and serve as the house leader. As much as I love my home and roommates now, I’m looking forward to living with younger ones who are committed to pursuing Jesus together, linking arms to build His house. We are going to build an AWESOME culture of community and prayer from the ground up and it’s going to be glorious.

The past few days, as we’ve been praying for God to give us a dorm and more monthly partners, there’s been a real stirring of fresh faith. We’re praying with more boldness and strength, with confidence that God loves our hearts to give generously and rely completely on Him. There’s something about radical trust that moves His heart! At this point, He’s literally our only hope, so we’re going to keep pressing in until He meets us with a breakthrough.

God, please provide a dorm and monthly partners for The Prayer Room. These are things we really need, and we know You will be faithful to take care of us and build Your house. All our trust is in You.

If you want to be part of the answer to this prayer, you can set up a recurring gift (seriously, $5 monthly gifts add up!!) at tprdfw.com

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: God Delights in You

On February 24, 2019February 10, 2024 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship2 Comments

God delights in you Perhaps the most important component of growing in prayer is cultivating a right view of God. If we believe that God is mostly sad or mostly mad, no wonder we don’t want to talk to Him! If we can reorient our perspective to see God as mostly happy and thoroughly in love with us, it gives us confidence to “boldly approach the throne of grace” (Hebrews 4:16). When we come before God in prayer, we can be confident that He has a big smile on His face welcoming us into His presence.

Put simply, He likes us.

“…you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah;
For the Lord delights in you,
And your land shall be married…
And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
So shall your God rejoice over you.
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
They shall never hold their peace day or night…”
(Isaiah 62:4-6)

Isaiah 62 is stunning beginning to end. In this prophetic passage that ultimately proclaims the restoration of Jerusalem, God proclaims both His delight in His people as a bridegroom delighting in His bride, and His sovereign setting of watchmen– prophetic intercessors. These two realities are not separate. If we want to be prophetic intercessors–those who hear God’s voice and pray what’s on His heart–we must be rooted and grounded in the revelation of God’s love and delight in us.

Prayer is hard! We lose motivation and vision so quickly. The thing that keeps us anchored in prayer is actually connecting to the heart of God and feeling His emotions, believing that He actually enjoys and delights in us. He loves our weak prayers. He loves our gaze fixed on Him. It moves His heart so much!

The Song of Solomon gives us many intimate glimpses into God’s heart for us. In this poetic allegory of a Bride growing into mature love for her King, we see the King’s overwhelming joy and passion for His beloved. In a few of my favourite verses in the Song, we catch a glimpse of how Jesus feels about His Bride’s attention turned toward Him:

“O my dove… let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely…

“You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace…

“You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love… Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me…”

(Song of Solomon 2:14; 4:9; 6:4-6)

This is astonishing to me. The eternal Creator, high above everything, is so tender and emotional toward His beloved. He longs to see my face and hear my voice. He says that I have captivated His heart with even one glance–one short prayer, one moment of leaning into His presence, is enough to overwhelm His heart with swelling emotion.

If this is how He feels every single time I come into His presence– that should fuel my desire and confidence to come eagerly into my prayer times, and to seek out every chance I get to be with Him!

David made a stunning statement– “…He rescued me, because he delighted in me.” (2 Samuel 2:20, Psalm 18:19) He said this at a time when he was just coming back into obedience after a season of compromise, and yet he had full confidence that God delighted in him and wasn’t holding his sin against him. David’s life was a roller coaster of extreme highs and lows; he had some major sins, but always came back even stronger into the love of God. I think it was this confidence in God’s delight in him that allowed him to press in instead of pull back after his sin.

God enjoys His relationship with all those who set their hearts to seek Him. We make Him happy. He likes us! Even when our love is weak and flickering, He knows that it’s real, and He’s overwhelmed by even one glance.

I encourage you to spend some time meditating on some of these verses. Pray them, journal them, ask God to write them on your heart. This is absolutely key for pursuing a stronger prayer life. He enjoys you, He delights in you, and He is smiling brightly at you with His heart bursting with love today!

“The LORD… will rejoice over you with gladness;
he will quiet you by his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing.”
(Zephaniah 3:17)

Is it hard for you to imagine God’s delight in you? What verses do you use to encourage yourself? Tell me in the comments!

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Ministry Update: Forerunner Music Academy and TPR 2.0

On February 17, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

Once a month, I send newsletters to my ministry partners (learn how to partner with me here!) about my life as a full-time intercessory missionary at The Prayer Room Missions Base, and I’ll be posting a few highlights from these letters on Fragrance Arise.

February feels like the month 2019 really got into full swing. We launched our part-time Forerunner Music Academy (FMA) and at the same time launched a massive ministry reset dubbed TPR 2.0!

Forerunner Music Academy at TPR

The Prayer Room has the distinction of being the first IHOPU FMA partner school in the United States! We are using IHOPU curriculum and have been trained in the teaching methods of IHOPU. To spearhead this school, we currently have two IHOPU externs, Tyler and Daniel! Tyler is a current senior in IHOPU’s full-time FMA in Kansas City, and Daniel is an IHOPU FMA 2018 graduate. Both of them are incredible and have stepped so beautifully into serving and doing life with this community. They have been leading, administrating, and teaching like pros and we are so grateful for them.

The school runs on Saturdays for 14 weeks and includes training in piano, guitar, voice, harp and bowl, and theology, as well as Encounter service and 6 hours in the prayer room. We have 22 students, and all of them are so hungry and excited to encounter God and strengthen their skills. Most of them have little to no previous music experience, but they’re going to be able to play worship songs by the end of this semester!

Two of our students in particular came to us in the craziest ways. Brie was in Orlando when she met Brad at a conference. He mentioned our FMA, God gripped her heart, and within a WEEK, she uprooted her entire life and moved here. Sebastian is a freshman at Texas A&M in College Station — about 3 hours south of Dallas. He drives up every weekend to attend our church and take this school. I’m so excited for how both of them, as well as our other students, are saying yes to the call of God on their hearts!

TPR 2.0

The Prayer Room is also launching a fresh re-emphasis on our core mandates with several new components to our weekly activities. We’re calling it “TPR 2.0.” Interestingly, this coincided with similar shifts throughout the prayer movement. IHOPKC’s “Reset” for many of the same reasons is the most well-known, but as we’ve heard from house of prayer leaders throughout the nation we’ve found that God is doing the same thing everywhere. He’s refocussing us on keeping the “first things first” and stirring up a deeper sense of family. In most places, this shift started independently, without talking to other ministries.

At The Prayer Room, we have launched:

PRAYER FOR REVIVAL – We believe that God wants to do more in our region than He is currently doing, and in part that’s because He’s waiting for the intercessors to cry out to Him for revival. Accordingly, we’ve added a cycle of intercession for revival to around 30 devotional (worship only) prayer meetings from 9am-5pm every day. That’s a LOT more intercession happening on a weekly basis!* I blogged on Wednesday about praying for leaders to be aligned with God for revival during this intercession time.

REVELATION TEACHING – When The Prayer Room began, God gave us a clear word about focussing on Jesus’ return, and we want our community to get firmly grounded in the study of the end times all over again. We’re taking 2 years to go through the book of Revelation in our weekly services, with discussion groups immediately after each teaching, and we’re being very intentional about engaging and following up with visitors in the groups. You can follow along with us on our Facebook page or on our recent messages page.

CONNECT NIGHTS – To break up the intensity of the Revelation study and to help our community thrive, we’re going to have a community “connect night” every two months in place of our Saturday night service. Next week, we’re watching The LEGO Movie with “extreme popcorn”!

To hear our director Brad Stroup cast vision for TPR 2.0, check out the Facebook video of Encounter service that night.

I am so excited about all three of these components. I love the added energy of the revival intercession times, and I love the format of the Revelation teaching. It’s so much fun to see eschatological newbies become encouraged that Revelation isn’t meant to be scary and they really can study it and discover the beauty of Jesus in the climax of history. Breakthroughs of fresh clarity are already occurring; this is going to strengthen our community so much these next two years!

*I bet some of you harp and bowl junkies are really curious as to how we’re doing cycles of revival prayer during devotionals in a simple and sustainable way! Here’s what it looks like in our prayer room:

At the midpoint of the set, the usher chooses a prayer topic related to revival. We have about 20 options preset on slides that the usher can choose from. They announce the topic on the mic and invite anyone who wants to sit in the open mic seats to pray for this topic. (Staff are required to pray.)
The usher prays for the topic. They can pray a short rapid fire prayer, a longer apostolic prayer, or anything in between. The worship leader sings a chorus based on their prayer.
Anyone else may pray on the mic next. Again, they may pray long or short, with or without a verse. This sets the bar low and makes it easy for anyone to engage.
After ALL the people have prayed, the worship leader sings a chorus, usually the same chorus again.
That’s it! Usually it takes 5-10 minutes. It requires very little training, and it can be done even if there are only a worship leader and an usher in the room. This is how we are following the Spirit’s nudge to be more intentional about daily praying for revival in our region.

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What I’m Praying: Leaders Aligned with God for Revival

On February 13, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Praying

Thirty seconds before sitting down to write this, I was on the mic in our prayer room praying for leaders in our region (Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas) to know how to partner with the Holy Spirit in revival. God has so many things He wants to do in this region, but there are some things He will not do unless His church, led by her leaders, partner with Him in ushering it in.

I was praying a specific passage for these leaders:

“…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)

It takes a sovereign gripping for the church to catch the vision for what God is up to and decide to fully throw their lot in with it. We need to pray for our leaders, both directly above us and in our region and nation as a whole, that they would be supernaturally able to discern which way the Spirit is moving and would increase in the knowledge of God–not just general theology, but specific insight into what He’s doing now. We need God to give our leaders clear vision and strategy to partner with Him.

What a loss it would be to miss a move of God because we didn’t recognize a divine moment in history.

At The Prayer Room, we launched a new initiative a couple weeks ago of adding more times of prayer for revival into our schedule. We have prayer meetings 5am-11pm every single day, and we decided that for the foreseeable future we will add a brief cycle of intercession for revival into the midpoint of every devotional set 9am-7pm every single day. That gets us praying for revival 30+ more times a week than we had been previously. (EDIT: A few weeks later, we decided to add this prayer time to EVERY devo in the schedule.)

The thing is, God has set us as watchmen on the wall in our region–and probably you in your region. It’s a hugely central part of why our prayer room exists. If we want to see revival–real revival, capital R Revival–it’s on us to be faithful in intercession to call it in. Specifically, if we recognise that that church in our region isn’t spiritually prepared for revival, we need to spend significant focus praying for God to prepare the soil of our hearts, like fuel waiting for Him to send the spark.

We have about 20 different prayer topics related to revival that we may pray from during these intercession times during our devotionals. Praying for leaders is just one of them. I’m sure other revival topics will make an appearance as What I’m Praying posts in the coming months and maybe even years.

God, fill leaders in our region with the knowledge of Your will. Give clear vision and specific divine strategies for how to partner with You in everything You want to do.

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Tools For a Life of Prayer: Asking God Questions

On February 10, 2019February 9, 2019 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship4 Comments

For all those who want to hear God speak to them, I have good news. It’s actually really simple. In my experience, there’s a major key that unlocks the door to hearing His voice.

Ask Him questions.

Asking Him specific questions helps narrow your focus and puts you in a posture of listening. Sit down, get quiet, close your eyes (or whatever your best listening posture is), and ask questions and follow-up questions— He is so eager and willing to speak when we take the time to let Him!

King David did this. Asking God questions was part of David’s all-consuming “one thing” desire:

“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)

God has a LOT of thoughts and emotions, and He longs to share them with us. We could ask Him questions for the rest of eternity, and He would never run out of things to say.

“How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.”
(Psalm 139:17-18)

So as we venture into asking God specific questions, here are a few different ways to begin the conversation:

1. Ask God about yourself.

This is maybe the most fun kind of question to ask. You probably have heard so many things from other people about how God sees you, and even read lots of Bible verses (which is great!) but there’s something powerful about just letting the Holy Spirit speak directly to your heart in the silence. Doing this has reshaped my perspective, brought me to tears, and caused me to fall more in love countless times. (I especially recommend asking God for a Bible verse, because we KNOW that’s truth no matter what!)

How do You see me?
What are You doing in my life right now?
What do You say about the pain in my past?
What do You want me to know about my future?
What Bible verse do You have for me right now?

2. Ask God about other people.

If you can do it for yourself, you can do it for other people; there’s no difference! Sometimes this is even easier than hearing God for yourself. God loves to use His church to encourage each other! You can do this while you’re praying for or talking to someone, or you can do it ahead of time and write a note for the person. Ask all of the exact same questions as above for them, and watch what God does! Seeing someone else through God’s eyes will give you an increased love for them, and hearing God’s thoughts spoken through you will touch and encourage them powerfully.

(Note: Often the word He gives you will be meant to be shared to encourage them, but sometimes God will want you to keep it private and just let it inform your prayers. Be sure to ask Him what to do with it, especially if it sounds sensitive.)

3. Ask God about God.

I love to ask God questions as I read the Bible. He was there for all of it! He remembers what light looked like the first time dawn broke over the waters. He remembers the exact expression on His face when the disciples asked Him who was the greatest. He remembers what His first thought was when He woke up alive in the tomb. I also love to ask Him the tough questions… about the intersection of justice and mercy, about how the Father feels about the Son, or about His greatest desires. Often, He will give me a peek behind the curtain and let me catch a glimpse of the deep places in His heart. This is exactly what the Holy Spirit loves to do:

“These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God… Now we have received… the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.”
(2 Corinthians 2:10-12)

One more thing…

You may be wondering if it’s a little sketchy to just close your eyes and take whatever comes into your mind as the word of God. That’s a healthy concern! Of course we recognise that all of this is very subjective. It does NOT merit the same weight as the authoritative, inspired word of God, but we still want to make room for subjective impressions like this, especially if they line up with Scripture.

“We know in part and we prophesy in part”
(2 Corinthians 13:9)

“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good.”
(1 Thessalonians 5:19-21)

For me, the breakthrough in hearing God’s voice came when I learned to silence the voice of doubt and receive in faith. I had to trust that I really do have the mind of Christ (2 Corinthians 2:16) and that His sheep really do hear His voice (John 10:27). Plus, the Holy Spirit often works by reminding us of what we already know (John 14:26), so His voice will often sound like my own voice inside my head. In time, we will learn to recognise the internal “still, small voice” (1 Kings 19:12) of His whisper to our hearts.

Do you ask God questions? What’s your favourite question to ask Him? Tell me in the comments!

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What I’m Reading: Gay Girl, Good God

On February 6, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Reading

I’ve been following Jackie Hill Perry on social media (Twitter, Instagram) for about a year and have fallen in love with her boldness, zeal for holiness, awe at the gospel, and all-consuming love for Jesus. She’s a rapper and spoken word artist (her album Crescendo came out last year and is straight FIRE) as well as an author and speaker.

Part of her testimony is that she used to identify as a lesbian and pursue same-sex relationships. I’ve heard pieces of her story before in various videos, and she has earned my respect enough that I was eager to pick up her first book, Gay Girl, Good God. (I actually put it on my Christmas list and then broke down and bought it on Kindle early!)

In addition to my respect for Jackie, I knew I needed to read this because I have LGBTQ-identifying friends, both those who call themselves Christian and those who do not, and I also have SSA (Same-Sex Attracted) Christian friends who love Jesus and are saying no to that aspect of their sexuality. Plus, I know that there will be a time when the issue becomes even more personal. When will a family member come out as gay? When will I find myself discipling a new believer wrestling with SSA or gender identity? I can’t avoid this. I need to be listening to the stories of those who have lived those experiences and come out making Jesus supreme over their temptations, with a fierce love for Him and a robust theology of gender, sexuality, and most importantly, the simple gospel. This book is all of that and more.

The first thing I was struck by is how dang poetic this book was. Clearly, Jackie’s wordsmithery and penchant for descriptors that captivate the imagination aren’t confined to performance poetry. 50 pages in, I texted a friend that it was probably the most the most poetic non-fiction book I had ever read. (The style reminded me a bit of Tosca Lee’s Havah, easily the most poetic fiction I have ever read.) I also loved the frequent quotations of C. S. Lewis. Never a bad choice.

“Who I was made more sense when I was with him. He was a different mirror. With him, I could see where I’d gotten things my mama didn’t own. I enjoyed every minute with this inconsistent relative I called ‘Daddy,’ until he started using words that I didn’t believe belonged to him, like, ‘I love you.’ That sentence was too big to fit in his mouth.”

Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry, chapter 4

Jackie is transparently honest about her history of hurt from men, her early discovery of her same-sex attraction, her love for her girlfriend, her surrender to God’s relentless pursuit, and the struggles and temptations she has faced on the journey of the renewal of her mind–aka, the same sanctification process we must all go through.

I especially loved the final chapter, “The Heterosexual Gospel”. It reminded me a lot of the thoughts in an article I wrote about a while ago. (What I’m Reading: “I Never Became Straight. Perhaps That Was Never God’s Goal.”)

“The ‘heterosexual gospel’ is one that encourages SSA men and women to come to Jesus so that they can be straight or that coming to Jesus ensures that they will be sexually attracted to the opposite sex…

“What could be implied from those who preach the ‘heterosexual gospel’ is that our sexuality is all that God cares about. I am convinced that this thinking has kept many SSA men and women from experiencing the beauty of true repentance…

“For the unbeliever that is SSA, God is not mainly calling them to be straight; He’s calling them to Himself. To know Christ, love Christ, serve Christ, honor Christ, and exalt Christ, forever.”

Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry, chapter 17

To me, this is not mostly a book about sexuality. It’s a story of transformation, not from gay to straight, but from enemy of God to lover of God. It’s a story of the goodness of God and the radical, jealous love of Jesus that envelops, consumes, and reworks everything for His glory. Jackie celebrates Jesus in every syllable and loves Him in every line.

“In my becoming Holy as He is, I would not be miraculously made into a woman that didn’t like women; I’d be made into a woman that loved God more than anything.”

Gay Girl, Good God by Jackie Hill Perry, chapter 8

As I read Gay Girl, Good God in the prayer room, I was swept up into the glory of what God has done in her life. In the afterward, Jackie said it was an act of worship to write this book, and it felt like an act of worship to read it.

You can pick up Gay Girl, Good God on Amazon.

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