Tag: joy

Tools for a Life of Prayer: God Delights in You

On By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship2 Comments

God delights in youPerhaps 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 thing that keeps us anchored in prayer is believing that God enjoys and delights in us

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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Choose Joy

On By CaitlynIn IHOPKC Life3 Comments

I hate to feel out of control.

I really, really hate to feel out of control.

I hate when “life happens” (why do people say that as though life is a bad thing?) and monkey wrenches get thrown into my plans. I hate when the carpet gets pulled out from under me and I’m faced with a situation completely outside of my power to fix.

I wish I could say my response to these kinds of situations is immediately godly. I wish I could say my heart is flooded with peace and I keep my eyes set on things above as I recall all the times Jesus has provided for me. Instead, I usually get incredibly frustrated, stressed, and unpleasant. I tend to complain loudly, listing life’s offenses against me as though preparing a legal case to vindicate my right to be frustrated. By the grace of God, though, I think over the years I’ve gradually gotten better at choosing peace and trust and joy more quickly.

This weekend my friend Peter visited Kansas City. We kind of grew up together and were very much in the same youth group cohort in high school. He goes to school three hours away from Kansas City and really wanted to visit the prayer room, so I drove out to pick him up and set him up in a friend’s house for a couple nights. Friday and Saturday were great. We hung out, got pizza, sat in the prayer room, went to service, and played games with some of my worship team.

Sunday I was already running a little late to pick Peter up for church, and I walked outside to icy roads and Idris‘ windows coated with ice. I set myself to the task of scraping, grumping all the way, and then my scraper head broke off from its cozy mitt. Not happy. It took about 15 minutes to scrape my windows, alternating hands while my fingers went numb. I quickly decided that I needed to rise above frustration and choose joy, but I wasn’t very awesome at it. Here’s how that went:

“I’m thankful I have a car. I’m thankful I’m in Kansas City at IHOPU. I’m thankful my scraper still works. I’m thankful there’s no wind. I’m thankful there’s no sign-in at service on Sunday so I won’t lose any attendance points. I’m thankful Peter is cool and won’t be mad if I’m late. (Oh Jesus, my fingers! How much more to scrape?) I’m thankful I have a car. I’m thankful the Holy Spirit lives inside of me and I get to live with Jesus forever. I’m thankful this is my last Missouri winter. Last Missouri winter. Last Missouri winter. Last Missouri winter.”

Church was great, we only missed a little bit of worship, and we were on the road to take Peter home in good time. Until…

Idris stopped accelerating. Being unable to push past 20 mph on the freeway is Not A Good Thing.
long walk and a taxi from good
We pulled over and Peter looked at my engine and walked to buy oil while I called my dad near tears. (As previously stated, I HATE to feel out of control.) I then called AAA for a tow, and we ended up leaving Idris at my mechanic’s shop (he’s an IHOPer I’ve used before and he’s awesome), getting picked up by my wonderful roommate, and borrowing her car to drive Peter back home.

The afternoon was crazy and I was all kinds of stressed, but through it all, I again tried to keep reminding myself of what I have to be thankful for.

I’m thankful I have a car.
I’m thankful Peter was with me when it happened.
I’m thankful my roommates were so encouraging and helpful.
I’m thankful Peter had enough wiggle room not to get in trouble with school.
I’m thankful the tow truck came quickly.
I’m thankful I have an awesome mechanic whom I know and trust.
I’m thankful the roads weren’t icy anymore and we had a safe drive.
I’m thankful my dad was able to talk to me and help me stay calm.
I’m thankful my tax refund just came in and I shouldn’t have trouble paying for repairs.
I’m thankful I live right by IHOPU and my roommate is in my classes so I won’t have trouble getting to school.

Even when crazy things happen, they’re not the end of the world. They are opportunities to choose joy and grow in love and trust for Jesus.

Maybe next time I’ll be even quicker to choose joy.

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Download: The Beauty of Jesus Teaching

On By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff

He is not glistening white marble. He is the playfulness of creation, scandal and utter goodness, the generosity of the ocean and the ferocity of a thunderstorm; he is cunning as a snake and gentle as a whisper; the gladness of sunshine and the humility of a thirty-mile walk by foot on a dirt road. Reclining at a meal, laughing with friends, and then going to the cross.

This is what we mean when we say Jesus is beautiful.

—Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge

A few weeks ago before I finished my externship at The Prayer Room DFW, I presented another short teaching to a few of the staff. I taught on the beauty of Jesus, and although I could never hope to encapsulate all that means in one 20 minute teaching, I simply wanted to invite us to gaze again on the brilliance of Jesus’ personality. I focussed on three specific aspects of His character: His justice, joy, and humility.

This is perhaps my favourite thing ever to talk about. Every aspect of who Jesus is is so perfect and incredible to me. Beautiful. I never want to stop being fascinated by this Man.

As with my previous teachings on Mary of Bethany and the Priesthood, I have both the audio and the notes available for download!

MP3 teaching – The Beauty of Jesus teaching at TPR 12-1-15
PDF notes – The Beauty of Jesus teaching notes 12-1-15

While you’re at it, listen to “Beauty Beauty” by David Brymer and “The Beauty of This Man” by Tim Reimherr!

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Dancers Who Dance Upon Injustice

On By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship12 Comments

I’ve always wondered about the line “dancers who dance upon injustice” in the song “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?” by Delirious?. As a dancer for most of my life, I’ve often asked, what does it mean to dance upon injustice? I understand dancing to express something, but how can dance actually trample something down?

A few days ago at IHOPU, we held a 24 hour “prayer burn.” Live student worship teams rotated around the clock for a full day of continuous worship and intercession for the church in the middle east. During the second set of the burn, at 6:00 pm on Thursday, I was in the room doing homework when my friend Deni asked me to pray. I agreed and she put my name on the board to be third in line to lead intercession on the mic. I closed my textbook and opened my Bible to find a verse to pray. I was going to pray the good ol’ Ephesians 3:16 “might in the inner man,” but before it was my turn someone started playing the old favourite “Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?”

I was already in the back of the room pacing with my Bible trying to get God’s heart for the church in the middle east, but for some reason I didn’t feel I was quite there yet. Then as the song progressed, something in the room started stirring. People started jumping. Eventually I set down my Bible, took off my boots and cardigan, and let loose in the back corner of the room.

About fifteen minutes later, while we were still dancing to the same song, I heard God speaking to me.

“This is what I want for My church in the middle east. Pray for joy out of Romans 15.”

Romans 15 is one of my favourite passages to pray for unity, but as I flipped to the page, I wondered, is Romans 15 even about joy? I couldn’t remember.

Found it.

“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ… May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
(Romans 15:5-6, 13)

When it was my turn to pray, I got on the mic, read this passage, then began asking God to give the church in the middle east a supernatural unity for His glory, and the joy and peace that comes from the hope of the gospel. Echoing the words of the song, I prayed, “Let their streets resound with singing, and let there be dancers who dance upon injustice, who prophetically proclaim victory over injustice!”

That’s it.

Dance is more than self-expression. It’s also prophecy. When I dance in intercession, I am prophetically proclaiming what God wants to do in a region or situation. Sometimes my movements express something pouring out or springing forth. Sometimes nothing specific is discernible, but when coupled with a heart of prayer, dance prophetically proclaims our victory in Christ (both in the already and not yet) over every form of injustice and every scheme of the evil one.

That’s what I want to see in the middle east. In the midst of oppression, persecution, and injustice, I want the dancers to arise who will declare the hope, joy, and peace found in the confidence of our victory in Christ.

Maybe you need victory in a certain situation in your life. Maybe you feel crushed by injustice. In fact, any form of oppression, be it emotional, spiritual, circumstantial, etc, is injustice, because you were not made to be kept down.

You want a breakthrough? Dance. Proclaim your victory in faith. Seize joy. Celebrate your hope with confidence in who Christ is.

Dance upon injustice.

NOTE June 15, 2018 – 3 years later, this is still the most popular post on my blog. Wow! My name is Caitlyn, and I am a full-time missionary at a house of prayer in Dallas. That means I raise support to worship and pray in a prayer room. (Well, I also run a ministry school and do a few other things, but it’s mostly all about prayer and worship!) Check out My Story to get to know me, and please feel free to browse and explore the rest of the blog! I’ve also written a more recent blog about prophetic dancing for justice that you may be interested in: Dancing Justice. Blessings!

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