House of Prayer Spotlight: Sarasota House of Prayer

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

Sarasota HOP spotlight Welcome to my favorite new feature of Fragrance Arise – House of Prayer Spotlight! Every other month will feature interviews with different houses of prayer, and the in-between months will 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 will shine a light on what it looks like in different places.

For my first House of Prayer Spotlight, I am featuring Sarasota House of Prayer in Sarasota, FL. I’ve had the opportunity to serve alongside some of their team when they came for a week to help us run 24/7 live prayer and worship during Revive Texas in 2017. Several of my friends from IHOPKC and DFW have also moved to Sarasota to be involved. They are a passionate, genuine community cultivating a culture of holiness and devotion to the glory of Jesus in night and day prayer. I am so glad that Katie Floyd, one of their full-time intercessory missionaries, took the time to answer my questions!

When and how did your HOP start?

Our house of prayer started in October 2013 after some time leading up to it. For years a house of prayer had been hidden inside the heart of our directors, Roger and Jennifer Lee, and many others as well. In the year leading up to the founding of our house of prayer, God began opening doors and setting things into motion. The summer before we opened we held our first annual Consecrate Conference for the youth in our region. This conference was held simply because Roger and Jennifer wanted to see a generation set apart unto holiness; they were not expecting that from this conference the house of prayer would be birthed. In the weeks leading up to the conference, prayer meetings were held nightly in different churches across the region. This began to create a unity in the body in Sarasota and many people began to get the vision of the house of prayer. It became clear to the Lees that now was the time establish the house of prayer.

Roger and Jennifer Lee, founders and directors of Sarasota House of Prayer

What does your weekly schedule look like?

Currently we are open from 8 a.m.- 10 p.m. Monday- Friday, with our worship school taking place on Saturday mornings and an internship beginning in the Spring on Saturdays as well. (On Wednesdays from 8- 10 a.m. we are closed for staff meeting.) In the mornings we have a devotional set followed by an intercession set at 10 a.m., in the evenings we have more devotional sets and open mic prayer times, and in the afternoon you can expect a mix of devotional sets and the IHOPKC web stream. We also have a service on Tuesday nights called Passion for Jesus, as well as a monthly outreach on Monday afternoons.

How many people do you have involved?

Currently, we have 23 full-time staff (six of them are involved in MAPS as well and are prepping for the Middle East), 2 part time staff, 12 students in our Voice Ministry School, and many different volunteers in our community that help in different areas whom we are very appreciative of.

What do you believe is your unique mandate and vision as a HOP?

There are many specific things we are called to as a HOP. We believe that God is looking for a unified bride and it is our desire to see that in our region and take part in it. We desire to see the generation of the youth committing to the way of the cross by denying themselves and choosing a life of holiness. We believe we are to train and equip this generation to be ones who can help prepare the way of the Lord’s coming. We also believe that God is doing something in the Middle East and that we are to partner with him by helping build the house of prayer in the Middle East.

What is something that you love about the culture of your HOP?

I love that our culture is established in purity and holiness. A big push for holiness is not something you see a lot in the church, but we are very serious about walking in holiness and keeping one another accountable. I have been able to grow and die to so many things because of it. I also love that we are family. You are seen and valued here. Everyone truly cares about one another and I truly feel that it is a place I can be vulnerable, and the person that God has made me to be.

What is something that God has taught you on this journey of HOP ministry?

Death is the only way. One of the things we say here a lot is, “Come and die.” Which basically means, come to the wilderness and let your flesh die. Let every prideful and vain dream that is not of God die until all that remains are the dreams and desires of God. Many times in my life I thought I had died to things only to realize there was still so much pride and vanity in me. My ways were not God’s ways, though I thought they were. At the Sarasota HOP I finally understood how much that was in me that still needed to die. As painful as it is to do, letting go of my dreams and taking hold of His has made my life so much better. And in the process, I realized one of the most important truths you’ll ever need to know- God is better than we think.

Follow Sarasota House of Prayer on Facebook and Instagram.

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What I’m Praying: Build His House

On January 30, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Praying2 Comments

Build His House

“Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”
(Psalm 127:1)

Continuing my What I’m Praying series, recently I’ve had it on my heart to pray for God to build specific houses of prayer.

A few weeks ago, a friend from Kansas City who now serves at a house of prayer in another state reached out to me to ask a few questions about how to logistically strengthen their house of prayer and how to impart vision for it. As we’ve been talking, I’ve begun carrying a prayer for that ministry to be strengthened and be renewed in fresh vision, with supernatural grace to move forward stronger than ever.

Yesterday, I heard from my director, Brad Stroup at The Prayer Room, who was leading a house of prayer leadership gathering in Orlando, that he met the directors of that house of prayer – the very one my friend and I have been praying for – and that they were so encouraged by the gathering and felt strengthened with fresh fire and vision! It looks like Brad might even travel there on a consulting trip to offer his expertise in the administrative logistics of building the house.

When I heard all this in our team meeting, and then heard the name of the house of prayer and realized it was the one my friend was at, I freaked out and started crying.

GOD IS BUILDING THE HOUSE. In one weekend, He broke in, sent fresh wind, and loudly affirmed His commitment to see that house of prayer thrive and be a beacon of His glory in that region.

Ever since I launched Fragrance Arise a few weeks ago, I’ve been privileged to connect with houses of prayer and Burn 24/7 groups all over the world (mostly on Instagram — follow me if you’re not!). I’ve loved praying for these houses of prayer, keeping in mind Psalm 127:1 – “Unless the Lord builds the house…”

It has to be Him. This whole movement is supernatural from beginning to end. The fuel in our tanks is completely Holy Spirit. We need Him to break in and give us grace to keep going, divine ideas to grow, and supernatural provision to sustain us. And every moment, we need more of His presence to move among us.

If you’re part of a house of prayer or a praying community, please leave a prayer request for it in the comments, and take a moment to pray for the other ministries represented. Leave comments encouraging and praying for others. Let’s lift each other up and ask the Lord to build His house all over the earth.

God, build Your house of prayer all over the earth! Impart vision, provide resources, and give grace to keep going. Let Jesus have His inheritance in us.

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Download: Mary of Bethany Teaching

On January 28, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff

Mary of Bethany teaching download Yesterday, I had the honor to teach the weekly Encounter service at the house of prayer where I’m on missionary staff, The Prayer Room Missions Base! I was asked to teach on Mary of Bethany–which is so perfect because ever since God dramatically called me to the Mary of Bethany lifestyle, just to “waste” my life sitting at the feet of Jesus, I’ve spent the past 12 years studying her life and praying through what makes her so unique. (She was even the inspiration behind the name of this blog!)

Mary appears in three scenes in Scripture:

She sits at His feet and listens to His word in Luke 10.
She falls at His feet and weeps in John 11.
She pours out her perfume at His feet in John 12.

In all three seasons, accusations come against her, saying this is a waste of time, waste of resources, and she needs to get back in her place. Mary consistently chooses to push past those accusations, set her eyes on Jesus, and give Him lavish worship.

In this message, I walk through all three chapters and the accusations in each, taking us on a journey of discovering the heart of a woman who radically loved Jesus and of whom He said:

“Wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
(Mark 14:9)

If you have the time to listen, I really think you’ll be blessed. One of my co-leaders at the house of prayer commented after the message, “She had so many insights to Mary that I think most people if not everyone did not know about – so helpful to understand her and her sacrifice!”

You can download or stream the message, and I also have a PDF of the notes available.

Download or stream audio (mp3)

Download notes (PDF)

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What I’m Reading: Longhairs Rising

On January 23, 2019February 19, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Reading2 Comments

(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!)

Continuing my What I’m Reading series, this week I’ve been getting into Longhairs Rising by Dean Briggs. I feel like God kind of dropped it into my lap when I was at the Onething conference in Kansas City in the last few days of December. I was browsing the bookstore when I heard two people behind me talking.

“Hmm, interesting, it looks like it’s about the Nazirites,” a guy said.

Immediately, my head whipped around to see him handing a thin book back to a woman, then he walked away.

“Excuse me,” I asked the woman. “Where did you pick up that book? I heard you guys talking about Nazirites and I had to find out.”

“Oh, it was on that table near the front,” she said, pointing. “But you know what? You take this one. I’ll grab another copy.”

I accepted the book from her and started flipping through it, getting more and more excited. It was only $9 and the only book I bought the entire conference.

If the word Nazirite is new to you, you’re probably very confused right now. The Nazirites were individuals in the Bible who had taken a vow of special consecration to the Lord. Anyone could do it, and it could be for a limited time or lifelong. Well-known Nazirites include Samson and John the Baptist. According to Numbers 6:1-21, Nazirites made three main vows:

Abstain from wine and all grape-derived foods
Abstain from cutting their hair
Abstain from going near a dead body, even that of a family member

This idea of the Nazirites means a lot to me because close to ten years ago, when I was in college, I first read a powerful booklet by Lou Engle called Nazirite DNA. (I did a What I’m Reading post on Nazirite DNA a year ago.) That little 38-page book stirred up a desire in me to be wholly set apart for God, even to the point of giving up “lesser pleasures” that might distract me from pursuing Him wholeheartedly.

Longhairs Rising reads like a sequel to Nazirite DNA, diving deep into more of the heart motivation behind making such a radical vow. Dean’s premise is that it’s all about LOVE. As simple and obvious as that claim might seem, I was surprised by how powerfully it caught my heart.

“Love ultimately originates with God, from God… love overcomes all, even the fear of death itself. This kind of love, not legalism, fuels the Nazirite vow, which is precisely what makes a young Nazirite so dangerous on the earth.”

Longhairs Rising by Dean Briggs, page 7, emphasis added

It’s so easy to see such radical vows as excessive, even legalistic. Why would God care if I cut my hair or not? But if it’s a lavish response to the lavish love of God– that changes the equation. Whether or not a modern Nazirite chooses to grow their hair, the heart is the same: desire to be completely set apart in culturally-conspicuous ways, to be wholly given over to the love and purposes of God.

Ultimately, a Nazirite is “someone willing to die for love.” The more we pursue God, the more we become transformed into His likeness, until the Lamb who was slain has an army of lion-hearted lambs bearing witness to His love in radical, costly ways, up to and including their own death.

That’s what the Nazirite vow is about. It’s right next door to what others have called the “fasted lifestyle”, living a radically Sermon on the Mount life and choosing to die to self so that Christ would be formed in us.

This short book, only slightly longer than Nazirite DNA at 57 pages, is written with teens in mind, but was a huge encouragement to me at 28 to say YES again to the vision that caught my heart when I was 18ish. The loud, bold call to “become love” resonated in me (partly because Holy Spirit, partly because Dean is a really poetic and captivating writer!) and stirred my desire to restart the conversation with God about what it looks like to live wholly consecrated for the sake of love.

Find Longhairs Rising on Amazon

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: Scheduling Time for Prayer

On January 20, 2019January 20, 2019 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship2 Comments

I’m going to say something fairly obvious, but super important: If you want to develop an actual prayer life, make time in your schedule to actually pray.

It’s the easiest thing in the world to just rush through life dominated by the “tyranny of the urgent” – giving priority to whatever pressing need or perceived need happens to be in front of you. That may be a work or school task, a family or relational obligation, or even simply, “I’m tired and what I need to do right now is watch five hours of Netflix.”

When we live like that, our times of prayer usually get crammed in around the edges, during car rides and in the shower, and at the end of the day, we realise we never gave God a real block of focussed attention.

It’s like when friends say “Let’s do coffee sometime!” and then “sometime” never comes because no one ever actually put it on the calendar. You want to be friends, and you certainly meant to do coffee… but at some point, someone has to actually initiate a time and a place or else it remains just a good intention, choked out by the million other demands on your time and attention.

There’s an old story that illustrates this point very well:

A professor of philosophy stood before his class with some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a large empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks about two inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was full.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly and watched as the pebbles rolled into the open areas between the rocks. The professor then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They chuckled and agreed that it was indeed full this time.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. The sand filled the remaining open areas of the jar.

“Now,” said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar signifies your life. The rocks are the truly important things, such as family, health and relationships. If all else was lost and only the rocks remained, your life would still be meaningful. The pebbles are the other things that matter in your life, such as work or school. The sand signifies the remaining ‘small stuff’ and material possessions. If you put sand into the jar first, there is no room for the rocks or the pebbles. The same can be applied to your lives. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are truly important.

(I borrowed this version from a short article by Julie Isphording, but it appears all over the internet in various forms.)

To me, the rocks are the core things I am called to: my relationship with God, growing in the callings and gifts He has given me, stewarding my relationships, etc. My default is usually to fill my jar with pebbles and sand, and over the months, I look back and wonder where my rocks went! Designated prayer time is usually the first rock to go, if we’re being honest. In fact, sometimes I think that God set me in the house of prayer so that I would be “forced” to talk to Him more!

If having an actual prayer life is a value to you, it’s vital to schedule it like an immovable boulder in your daily routine.

Even before I joined the house of prayer, the times my relationship with God was the strongest was when I had daily times set apart to meet with Him. For a while, it was every morning before class in my university prayer chapel. At home, it was often late at night after the rest of the family was in bed. I would sit on the floor with a mug of tea and my Bible and journal, and it was the highlight of my day.

Now, my scheduled times are mostly during my sacred trust times in the prayer room. I love the accountability and community of being part of a prayer room culture corporately.

Whatever it looks like for you, I highly encourage you to put those times in your schedule and treat it like an actual appointment. Give yourself enough time to slow down and not feel rushed, where you can quiet your mind and connect with the Holy Spirit. Keep that time sacred. Worship. Read a few Bible chapters, or maybe just one. Pray through a simple prayer list. As you develop a history of meeting Him in that secret place, it will become precious to you, and you’ll look forward to it and cherish those times with Him.

(Important note: To be realistic, you probably will not keep your schedule 100% of the time–but I guarantee that if you set a goal, you will keep it MORE than you would without a goal at all. Even keeping 70% or 80% of your prayer times is way better than not even trying and keeping 0%.)

Do you have a regular prayer schedule? What times work for you? Tell me in the comments!

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What I’m Praying: Night Watch

On January 16, 2019February 20, 2022 By CaitlynIn What I'm Praying

Today I’m continuing my every-other-Wednesday series What I’m Praying. (On the in between Wednesdays, expect to see posts on What I’m Reading.) The vision for this series is to share a peek into either the “prayer vibe” around our house of prayer, or what’s on my heart personally to pray.

Ever since a bunch of us got back from the Onething conference in Kansas City a few weeks ago, many of us have carried a stronger burden than usual for what we call the “night watch”. On the first evening of the conference, the session ended up being all about honouring those who serve the Lord as worshippers and intercessors in the night, literally flipping their schedule upside down for months or years at a time to keep the “fire on the altar” (Leviticus 6:13) in 24/7 prayer rooms while the rest of the world sleeps.

God began stirring up a holy jealousy in us that we would have a night watch in our city, and we carried that passion home and have made it a central prayer topic in many of our prayer meetings.

The foundation of night watch is found in the heavenly throne room scene in Revelation 4:

“And the four living creatures… day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!'”
(Revelation 4:8)

This is the picture that the tabernacle of David was patterned after, with priests on duty around the clock worshipping God. In fact, the second shortest chapter of the Bible, with only three verses, was written out of the place of David’s night watch:

“Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!
May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth!”
(Psam 134:1-3)

(Check out the video above at 30:50 for a prophetic song based on this passage!)

The reality is that Jesus is actually worthy of unceasing worship. For all of who He is and all that He’s done, as the Creator of the cosmos, the Lamb who was slain, the most beautiful Man to ever live, the infinitely good and kind Bridegroom, King, and Judge– He deeply, intrinsically deserves the fullest praise we can give Him.

Allen Hood likes to say that we give Him 24/7 because we can’t give Him 25/8.

Let’s be a people who continuously push the boundary, saying “How can I give you more of what You deserve? How can I love, serve, and worship you more?” Of course, this is never out of legalism, as though His love and favour depends on us trying as hard as we can– but once we catch a glimpse of His matchless beauty and feel the weight of his love and delight, our hearts overflow with love in return that expresses itself in increasingly radical ways. Like flipping our schedule upside down to praise Him all night long.

Here at The Prayer Room, we are all eager to launch our night watch, but we will only do it when we can do it sustainably. This has been our ministry model since day one: when we add a set to our schedule at a certain time, we add it on every day of the week, and we do not come off of it no matter what. Whenever we begin inching our way through the night toward 24/7 (first 11pm-1am, then 1-3am, then 3-5am), we will count the cost very soberly and make sure that our days are solid enough to survive some of us transitioning to the nights.

God, burn this passion on the hearts of Your people, to see Jesus be worshipped in our city literally day and night. Let us not rest until we give You what You deserve. Bring people to fill our prayer room during the daytime hours so that we can responsibly reassign people to carry the nights. Have Your glory here!

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: 5 Reasons to Cultivate a Prayer Life

On January 13, 2019January 17, 2019 By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship2 Comments

Welcome to my new series on Tools for a Life of Prayer! In this series, I hope to provide lots of practical tips and strategies to make your prayer life richer, as well as a few core theological perspectives about prayer.

We have to start with the most foundational question: WHY? What is the point of cultivating a rich, deep prayer life?

1. It’s supposed to be normal Christianity.

I’m not sure how we ended up with this version of Christianity where we talk to God less than we talk to Siri, but it’s not okay. The biblical picture of relationship with God includes LOTS of talking to Him… because that’s what relationship is. When we accepted Christ, we said yes to a lifestyle of relationship that starts now– not just someday in heaven.

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.”
(Luke 18:1)

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
(Acts 2:42)

“praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication…”
(Ephesians 6:18)

“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.”
(Colossians 2:2)

2. It’s the gateway to friendship with God.

Real friendship with God is a real thing that’s possible. Moses and Abraham were both called friends of God (Exodus 33:11, Isaiah 41:8), and through Jesus, we all have the opportunity to enter into this reality.

Just as there’s a vast difference between my Facebook “friends” and my actual BFF, there’s a spectrum of friendship with God that’s available. We’re all in the family if we’re saved, but God longs to share the deep things of His heart with those willing to linger with Him. He wants to be as close to us as we will let Him be. The deeper we go in prayer, the deeper our friendship with God will be.

“Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.”
(Exodus 33:11)

“This is my beloved and this is my friend…”
(Song of Solomon 5:16)

“The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice.”
(John 3:29)

“No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
(John 15:15)

3. It’s life for my soul.

We weren’t created to be always on the go, always busy, always flooding our neurons with stimulation and busyness and entertainment. We were created for intimacy with God. We were created to gaze into His eyes in the secret place and feel His heart bursting with love for us. When we slow down and fix our gaze on Him, we find peace and refreshing. Seeking Him is a lifelong journey of fascination–He really is better than anything else I could look to for satisfaction.

“He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters.”
(Psalm 23:2)

“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)

“Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.”
(Psalm 90:14)

4. It’s the fuel and foundation of ministry.

We can’t do the second commandment (love people) without the first commandment (love God), and we’re supposed to keep them in their proper order. (Matthew 22:37-40) The presence of God found in prayer is the fuel for everything else we do in serving God and loving people. We pour out in serving others from the overflow of what we experience with God secretly. In the early days of the church, the apostles considered their time in prayer so essential that they reorganised their ministry to delegate certain responsibilities to others so that they could spend more time in prayer! (Acts 6:2-4)

Jesus modeled this in His time on earth. He would frequently withdraw from public ministry to have time alone with God.

“But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.”
(Luke 5:15-16)

5. It’s the deep desire of Jesus’ heart.

This is the one that always gets me. Even when I feel like I’m okay skipping my prayer time for the day, Jesus longs for that connection time. I know He loves the sound of my voice, and He longs to share His heart with me in return. He died for real intimacy with me. How dare I cheat Him out of what He so deeply desires and deserves!

Sometimes we forget that Jesus is emotional–He misses us when we ignore Him. As if every way that prayer benefits me wasn’t enough, I want to give Jesus what HE wants, that precious gift that only I can bring: my time, my voice, my heart.

“O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
(Song of Solomon 2:14)

“Thus says the LORD, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness…”
(Jeremiah 2:2)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem… How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
(Matthew 23:37)

“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am…”
(John 17:24)

This is only the tip of the iceberg of reasons to pray! I’m excited to dive into this series and share some of the things I’ve learned that have taken me deeper into connecting with God–and hopefully learn a lot from YOU along the way!

What are the reasons you want to pursue a life of prayer? Tell me in the comments!

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Holy Stubbornness: Don’t Quit on Your Calling

On August 30, 2018February 20, 2022 By CaitlynIn Just Thoughts2 Comments

Building a house of prayer is NOT easy. I’ve heard multiple leaders say it’s the hardest thing they’ve ever done–way harder than planting a church, doing overseas missions, etc. Really, the only reason this place is still standing is that years ago, God graciously gave us a holy stubbornness to NOT QUIT NO MATTER WHAT.

There are so, so many reasons to quit. When the money falls apart, the people wander off, the building gets taken away, other important causes demand attention… there is every good and natural reason in the world to quit.

In the “world”.

But we are not of this world. We don’t think like this world. We are not slaves to things like practicality and pragmatism. We don’t make decisions based only on numbers and logic.

We make decisions on faith.

13 years ago, God called a guy named Brad to start a daily prayer meeting that was eventually supposed to become a 24/7 house of prayer (this is TPR’s origin story). And then one by one, over the years, God called each of us to be part of it. Occasionally, He calls someone out of it just as clearly as He called them in. But MOST of the time… He expects us to plant our feet and not walk away from the thing He called us to. No matter what.

Of course we look at the numbers and listen to reason. Sometimes God leads through reason. But there are times, especially about the big things, when we need to set our face like flint and refuse to back down.

“For the Lord GOD will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.”
(Isaiah 50:7)

For us at The Prayer Room, that means first and foremost day and night prayer, 5:00 am to 11:00 pm with live worship, every single day of the week. We don’t take a day off and we don’t cut corners. We don’t cut the schedule when we’re running low on people–by golly, we’d invent human cloning before we’d cancel a prayer meeting.

For me personally, holy stubbornness means I know I am called to be part of the house of prayer movement. I make decisions based on that calling. I have discouraged guys from pursuing me because of that calling. I arrange my finances and my schedule around that calling. For me, God has been clear that means full-time missionary staff at The Prayer Room. I do not have the right to decide to do something else with my life, no matter how convenient, attractive, logical, or even necessary other options may seem.

The pastor I grew up with, Pastor Danny at Water of Life, calls this “staying on your number”. Years ago, he used a sermon illustration of gym class at school where the coach would tell all the kids to stand on their assigned number on the gym floor. No matter how much you wanted to move or felt entitled to a more favourable number, you had to stay on your number. The phrase has become Water of Life shorthand for staying grounded where God has planted you.

Really what this comes down to is obedience and faith.

“And Samuel said, ‘Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.'”
(1 Samuel 15:22)

In the story of 1 Samuel 15, God told King Saul to completely destroy his enemies and all of their possessions and livestock. When the prophet Samuel showed up, he found that King Saul had done his idea of the right thing, which was to spare the best of the livestock for the purpose of sacrificing it to God. That sounds pretty holy, right? But God’s message to Saul was, “I told you what to do, and you didn’t do it. The excuse ‘I’m doing this for You!’ doesn’t cut it, because I TOLD YOU what to do, and this was not it. To obey is better than sacrifice.”

Obeying what God actually said is better than doing other good things for good reasons that are NOT actually what God said to do. God delights in obedience. It gives Him great pleasure when we trust Him enough to follow what He said to do no matter what, even if there are “good reasons” to do something different.

For us, that means we’re stubbornly going to keep building the house of prayer.
For you, it might be the house of prayer, or it might be something different. Maybe God has called you to overseas missions, or to a church ministry, or to a specific marketplace career. Maybe it’s your marriage, or homeschooling, or fostering/adoption.

DON’T QUIT.

God called you into this for a reason. You said yes for a reason. Remember what that reason was, and hold onto it. Unless He releases you as clearly as He called you… don’t walk away.

Get stubborn. Get iron in your soul. Get a flinty face like Isaiah. Get radically surrendered like Jesus in Gethsemane.

Walk by faith, not by sight.

When it gets hard, He will give you grace to walk through it. His grace is sufficient. He will not let you fall. He might let you come close, but His promise is that those who wait on Him will not be ashamed. I think that means that even if there are moments or seasons of pressure and even embarrassment, in the long run you will not regret choosing to trust Him. You will look back a thousand years from now and be so grateful you kept saying yes. Wisdom will be justified.

It’s worth it. Holy stubbornness that says YES to Jesus no matter what is worth it.

Don’t give up on Him.

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Testimony: My Sister Got HEALED of Scoliosis!

On July 27, 2018January 6, 2019 By CaitlynIn Ministry Life6 Comments

This past week, my sister Elise came to visit me at The Prayer Room for a few days. We had a great time in the prayer room together, going to small group and Encounter service, treasure hunting through Texas Thrift, making the world’s best and simplest marinated chicken, and even visiting the Fort Worth Water Gardens and Sundance Square.

Best of all, Elise got a few very special testimonies! On Wednesday night at a small group, she received a prophetic word that was partly related to her ministry being tied to kids, that they would be drawn to her like to the Pied Piper. The next day, two little girls in a store bathroom struck up a conversation with her through the stall door and created an open door for Elise to minister to their mom. It was such a fun confirmation!

The next day Elise asked Jeremy, the TPR leader who had given her the word the night before, to pray for her back. Her spine had been curved slightly to the left for years, was very sensitive to touch, and had been informally diagnosed with mild scoliosis. Related to that, when she sat with her knees pulled up in front of her, her right knee was noticeably higher. Jeremy and I prayed for healing, and Jeremy actually felt the muscles rippling and moving under his hand even as Elise swore she wasn’t budging. She asked me to press on her back to test it out because previously even the slightest touch would cause pain. I then gave her her first painless back massage in close to ten years! When she sat down to test the alignment of her knees, they were completely level and even! We’re all so amazed at what Jesus has done for her!

Check out the video below or click HERE to watch it on Youtube (click CC to view captions).

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Meet My “Chickens” – Interns and Externs!

On July 5, 2018January 6, 2019 By CaitlynIn Ministry Life1 Comment

It’s been too long since I posted an update here. A lot of things happened all at once, but I’ve finally caught my breath and can share some pics and news!

In my role as head of the Forerunner Equipping Center at The Prayer Room, I serve as “mother hen” over our Immerse Internship, School of Supernatural Ministry, and any other student programs we may be running at the time. Right now, I have a total of nine “chickens” in my programs!

On May 27, we launched another summer Immerse internship! (Check it out on our website HERE.) This one is special because we completely revamped the curriculum to make it even more dynamic and strengthening. We have seven interns, most of whom are very new to our community and the message of the house of prayer. They are already encountering God and getting their minds blown by what He’s doing in the earth! Immerse includes 8 hours a week in the prayer room, weekly Encounter service, monthly three-day Global Bridegroom Fast, and five hours of classroom time a week. Classroom sessions include theology on intimacy with Christ, the biblical foundation of the house of prayer, LOTS of end times, practical how-tos for developing and sustaining a life of prayer, Bible discussion night, and community night.

We do Immerse both to help anchor young adults in the message of intimacy with Jesus and the importance of night and day prayer, and also as an onramp for those who may feel called to join missionary staff with us. Two of these girls (the two immediately to my left) are already on volunteer staff with us after doing previous programs. We’re praying that God would capture the hearts of one or two more to radically uproot the lives they had planned and choose to give themselves full-time to the vision of night and day prayer unto Jesus’ return and a great end-time revival!

Over the years The Prayer Room has hosted a number of IHOPU students who come as externs to experience a few months of missionary life at a smaller house of prayer, and several of the externs have decided to join us long-term. We did not expect to have any externs this summer, but at the last minute a different externship location fell through, and we ended up receiving not one but TWO amazing young women who are serving with us for eight weeks this summer! In the wake of one of our leadership team recently transitioning off, I’ve inherited leadership of our externship program and it’s great! Their first day was officially June 4.

Jarah and Christi are incredible and have already been such a strength to our team. Both have a passion to devote themselves to lifestyles of prayer to serve what God is doing in our generation and to see Jesus have His inheritance in the adoration of the nations. They are helping sustain prayer and worship in the prayer room and are also serving as assistants to division heads in two of our busiest divisions.

Other recent happenings:

The Prayer Room hosted an IHOPU ministry trip of 20-some students for a week in April! I hosted three girls in my house, and they all served in the prayer room and around the city, leading worship, praying, prophesying, and ministering in the love of God. We love IHOPU!
Immediately after the IHOPU trip, I travelled home to California for a week to watch my sister graduate college and get engaged!! It was a very special and exciting week to spend with family and my spiritual community back home.
I joined a summer dance program at a local Christian dance studio! Every Monday evening (my ONLY day off), I’ve been dancing for four and a half hours in a rotating variety of styles with super kind and gifted teachers and students. Tap, ballet, lyrical, and jazz have been my favourites so far. I haven’t had a real dance class since high school, and it’s been such a gift to my heart to push my body to create in this way again.

Current resource recommendation:

A few weeks ago, Brad preached on “Awakening Our Hearts for Revival” and it was POWERFUL. We talked about some of the high points of revival history and cast a vision again for what it is exactly we’re praying for. It stirred something up in our community that we’re still figuring out how to ride the wave of… it really seems like God is calling us deeper in this area! Stream or download the session HERE.

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