Tag: meditation

Tools for a Life of Prayer: Paraphrasing Scripture as Meditation

On By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matthew 5:3-6

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Check out my paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13!

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

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Tools for a Life of Prayer: Revelation Through Meditation

On By CaitlynIn Prayer and Worship1 Comment

Revelation Through Meditation 1Recently, I blogged about WHY to meditate on the Word. Today, I want to talk about HOW!

One of the first tools I learned that helped launch me into a life of prayer was something called Revelation Through Meditation. The way I’m going to present it is borrowed and tweaked from Jake Hamilton, who borrowed and tweaked it from Kirk Bennett. (If you want to listen to 18 minutes of Jake teaching the process for a YWAM group in 2010, it’s an absolute goldmine and highly engaging.)

The goal is to focus on one Bible verse and soak yourself in it as deeply as you can through several different creative means. This model is not law, but it is a helpful tool for you to use as a launching pad, and it’s an easy way to teach others to meditate on Scripture. Use it and adapt it as you like.

I recommend setting aside 30 minutes to an hour to do this. When it begins to feel long–and it will, because the spirit is willing but the flesh is super weak–embrace the tension and resist the urge to call it quits. Let yourself get to the point that you’re not operating out of the strength of your own flesh but rather the grace of the Holy Spirit.

1. Divide Your Paper Into Four Sections

Revelation Through Meditation 21. Bible Verse:

At the top of the page, copy one verse from your Bible. If you don’t know where to start, almost any verse from Psalms will do. Read the passage through once to get an idea of the context, then set your Bible aside. The goal is to interact with just this one verse without distraction for a good length of time.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
(Psalm 19:1).

2. Doodle Zone:

This section should take up the majority of your paper. It will be a blank canvas for writing and/or drawing as you interact with this verse.

3. Brain Dump:

This is where you will “take every thought captive” (1 Corinthians 10:5) by writing down all the to-do list items that suddenly pop into your mind to distract you while you are meditating. Suddenly remember you need to send an email, do laundry, and go shopping? Write it down and do it later.

4. Study Later:

Often, you will find yourself distracted by curiosity about the verse.  “What’s the Hebrew word for ‘work’? How many times is the word ‘glory’ in the Bible? What was the original context of this Psalm?” These are great questions, but they are not the focus right now. Write them down and look them up later.

2. Read It, Write It, Say It, Sing It, Pray It

Revelation Through Meditation 4

Now that your paper is prepared, it’s time use several different approaches to soak in this verse as thoroughly as possible.  As you dive deep, remember that no matter how familiar you may already be with this verse, there is always more to encounter through it.  The Word of God is like a thousand sided gem, and every time the light refracts from it, you see something you never saw before.

1. Read It:

First, simply read the verse. Read it over and over.

2. Write It:

This is the time to use your doodle zone. Some people like to use this space to simply write the verse over and over. Repetitive writing helps reinforce memory. Another great idea is to journal your thoughts about the verse, phrase by phrase. I have a lot of fun creatively interpreting the verse through doodling and drawing. Even if you’re not an artist, you can write big letters and small letters, with underlining here and there and stars and “glory” lines doodled around the words. Give the verse a form to take on paper.

Revelation Through Meditation 3

3. Say It:

Say the verse over and over. Whisper it to yourself. Emphasize different words. Taste the phrases. Let them wash over you. This is how you memorize Scripture and get it written on your heart.

4. Sing It:

This may be the most powerful part of this meditation model. Make up your own song using the verse. You might start word-for-word, and then put the ideas of the verse in your own words. It doesn’t matter how you sound, and you can sing quietly if you want to. Singing a verse or an idea will burn it into your heart like nothing else, and it will be so precious to the Lord.

“I know what you’re thinking; you’re thinking, ‘Well, I don’t sing.’ Even better. You know why that’s even better? Because it doesn’t cost me anything to sing a song because I know I can sing. When you sing, and you don’t know how to sing, it becomes a sacrifice only you can give to God… A year from now, you’ll have hundreds of songs that only you and God know. You ever heard anybody talk about a secret history with God? You’re building one. You won’t even remember the song tomorrow, but guess Who will. You’re gonna get to heaven one day, and God’s gonna say to you, ‘I loved your song about John 3:16.’ And you’re gonna go, ‘…how’d that go again?’ And He’s going to remember it. And you’re gonna have hundreds and thousands of little songs just like a child sings.”

(Jake Hamilton, YWAM Kona, 9-18-10)

5. Pray It:

Hopefully, you’ve already been talking to God through this verse this whole time, but now try using this verse to pray over specific areas in your heart or specific situations in your life or in the world.

“God, help me understand this. Help me live in light of this truth. Reveal this to others. Do what You promised.”

It’s as simple as that! Happy meditating!

Have you ever used this model before, or any pieces of it? Which piece sounds the most fun or helpful? Tell me in the comments!

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Tools For a Life of Prayer: Asking God Questions

On 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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Incarnation: The Humility of Jesus

On By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff1 Comment


When we celebrate the Christmas story, there is a reality deeper than the quaint images of sheep in a stable and swaddling clothes in a manger. It’s the reality of the incarnation – that God, the Creator, the infinitely eternal Dreamer of Genesis 1, freely chose to become one of His creation. The Creator created Himself into a fragile body of flesh, and in doing so He proved Himself worthy of the highest exaltation.

To catch the wonder of this, we have to back up…. waaaay up.

HIGH

.     “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?…
.        when the morning stars sang together
.         and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
.     Or who shut in the sea with doors
.         when it burst out from the womb,
.     when I made clouds its garment
.         and thick darkness its swaddling band,
.     and prescribed limits for it
.         and set bars and doors,
.     and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
.         and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
.     Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
.         and caused the dawn to know its place…?
.     Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
.        or walked in the recesses of the deep?
.     Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
.         or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?”
.                    (Job 38:4-17)

In Job 38, God puts Job’s life in perspective by giving him a glimpse of what it’s like to be GOD, the eternal, sovereign Creator. He remembers the day when He created the universe out of nothing. He controls all the forces of nature like a puppet master. He is sovereign over it all.

Low

Psalm 113 shows the first step in the humility of God:

.     “The LORD is high above all nations;
.         His glory is above the heavens.
.     Who is like the LORD our God,
.         Who is enthroned on high,
.     Who humbles Himself to behold
.         The things that are in heaven and in the earth?”
.                    (Psalm 113:4-6 NASB)

God has to humble Himself to even LOOK at the things He has created! The universe itself is so far beneath Him that it’s as if He has to bend over and squint to even see it.

But He does.

He bends down to look

.     at the universe…

.          at the Milky Way…

.               at our solar system…

.                    at Earth…

.                         at each nation…

.                              at each individual human heart.

The fact that He would even acknowledge your existence, the speck within a speck within a speck within a speck, is huge. It takes fathomless humility to even know your name.

Take three minutes and watch this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfSNxVqprvM

lower

Then came the incarnation. The Word made flesh. God not only looks at and interacts with Earth from His distant throne… He chose to step off His throne above the edge of the universe and become one of us.

Breakable, squishy, ugly-bags-of-mostly-water, time-locked, skin-locked, needy, temporary, finite little humanity.

In my opinion, no passage in Scripture captures this descent as well as Philippians 2:5-11.

“…Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
(Philippians 2:5-8)

It begins with Jesus in the form of God. In Greek, this word for “form” doesn’t mean appearance or shape. It means His very essence, His very nature. At His core, to His DNA, Jesus WAS God. He had equality with God; not that He was equivalent to God, but He was equal to God. From the beginning, Jesus = God.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
(John 1:1-3)

Yet, He didn’t choose to grasp tightly onto His status as God. He willingly let go of His position and rights as God. In the NIV, “something to be grasped” is translated “something to be used to his own advantage”. He had every right to simply rest on His own divinity, but He chose to forsake His own rights and empty Himself.

So He was born in the likeness of men… in human form. He who was in the form of God took on human form. God-nature took on human nature. Deity became humanity. The infinite became finite.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…”
(John 1:14)

This is a staggering descent. It’s literally immeasurable. If you or I became an ant, it would be a huge downgrade, but it would be theoretically possible to measure the differences between a human and an ant. God is so completely Other that it is impossible to measure just how different He is. For God to become human is an infinite descent.

In being born, Jesus had to first be in the womb of Mary for 9 months. GOD was once the size of a grapefruit… and an apple… and a paperclip… and microscopic. When the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, the Son of God was conceived as a single cell.

God was once a single-celled organism. Fully God, fully human… microscopic in the womb of a young woman.

lower

Of course, the most powerful men on Earth started as only one cell. Jesus went lower even than that.

He took the form of a servant.

“…the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…”
(Matthew 20:28)

ludoproject.com
He could have come as a great human king, and even that would have been infinitely beneath Him! Instead, He chose to be born in the most humble of ways– to a poor couple from a disreputable town, largely uncelebrated in a stable, then worked as an unassuming carpenter until He was released into ministry… when He set the example by washing His disciples’ feet.

.     “For he grew up before him like a young plant,
.         and like a root out of dry ground;
.     he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
.         and no beauty that we should desire him.”
.                   (Isaiah 53:2)

But then…

lowest.

He came lower still.

He became obedient to the point of death.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
(Luke 22:42)


The Author of life… died. More than that, He didn’t peacefully pass away quietly, but He was executed in the most gruesome form of torture ever devised.

The Author of life, clothed in light, who from the dawn of creation has had ceaseless adoration rising around His throne…

…died on a tree, naked, with blood and spit dripping down His body, with angry insults and blasphemies clamouring around Him.

.     “He was despised and rejected by men,
.         a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;
.     and as one from whom men hide their faces
.         he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
.     Surely he has borne our griefs
.         and carried our sorrows;
.     yet we esteemed him stricken,
.         smitten by God, and afflicted.”
.                   (Isaiah 53:3-4)

Despised and rejected.

Despised by the ones He knew and loved so deeply.

Rejected by the very ones He came so infinitely low to rescue.

This is the crux of the incarnation. This is Jesus, the King of Glory, at His lowest.

The ultimate, deepest humility.

BUT.

H I G H E S T

Philippians 2 turns a sharp 180° on one word–

“THEREFORE.”

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:9-11)


As quickly as Jesus came so low, He shoots up again to be “highly exalted”. There’s something unique about this exaltation, though. It’s not just the glory He had with the Father before the incarnation; this is exaltation as a human. This is the promise of His future exaltation as the Son of David, the prophesied Davidic King of the earth. One Day (capitalisation intended) He will be publicly and fully recognised as the sovereign authority of the planet, when He returns and establishes His Kingdom from Jerusalem.

Don’t miss this– the Davidic King has to be actually human. Jesus didn’t just temporarily put on a human costume and shed it when He ascended. He became permanently, irrevocably human forever. In heaven now, He has a glorified human body, similar to the glorified human bodies believers will have one day. When He sits on the throne in Jerusalem forever, He will do so as a human King: a literal, physical descendant of David.

What stunning humility.

To me, the most fascinating part of this Philippians 2 passage is in the THEREFORE. He is exalted because He was obedient to the point of death. His extravagant humility which led Him all the way to the cross is directly why He is worthy to rule as King.

This THEREFORE is all over Scripture.

.     “Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
.         and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
.     because he poured out his soul to death
.         and was numbered with the transgressors…”
.                   (Isaiah 53:12)

.     “Worthy are you to take the scroll
.         and to open its seals,
.     for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God…”
.                   (Revelation 5:9)

He is worthy to open the scroll, release the plans of God, and rule the earth because He was slain.

Because of His great humility, He has proven His worthiness.

This is a King we can fully trust– the one who came so low for us. He has proven His love.

This is how we can trust that He won’t be a cruel or selfish or distant dictator. He has withstood every test and temptation. He has proven His love, humility, and commitment to us by His birth, life, and death. And God has vindicated and affirmed Him by His resurrection.

When we look at the baby in a manger, we can see the God who came so, so low to demonstrate His love by taking on flesh and dying on a tree, and the coming King who proved His trustworthiness to rule.

To me, that is breathtakingly beautiful.

God, You became a man
You took on flesh
You’re so beautiful

“One Found Worthy” by Justin Rizzo

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What I’m Praying: Lift Up Your Heads, O Gates

On By CaitlynIn What I'm Praying

Continuing my semi-regular/whenever-I-get-around-to-it series on What I’m Praying: the past few weeks, I’ve been singing through Psalm 24:7-10. A couple of months ago I was praying this chapter from a different angle, focussing mostly on verse 1, “The earth is the Lord‘s and the fullness thereof,” and the reign of the King of glory in supersession of the kings of the earth, in conjunction with Psalm 2:6’s proclamation “I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” While I was singing that, a part of me kept getting distracted by this theme of opening the gates in Psalm 24:7-10.

“Lift up your heads, O gates!
    And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord, strong and mighty,
    the Lord, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
    And lift them up, O ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord of hosts,
    he is the King of glory!”
(Psalm 24:7-10)

One of my favourite things about studying the Bible is getting a little bit familiar with the whole story so when I read a passage, my brain can automatically fill in imagery from other passages and I get a bigger picture of what’s happening. So when I read this passage, I immediately think of Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem when He returns to earth and comes to claim His throne.

I’m not going to cite all the references for this, but here’s the scenario in my head: Jesus has come in the clouds at the 7th trumpet and “raptured” the saints, then marched through the land setting captives free (mostly unsaved Jews who were being persecuted by the antichrist) and releasing the final bowl judgments of Revelation 15-16. (Isaiah 63:1-6, Revelation 19:11-16, Habakkuk 3:3-16) He comes to the eastern gate of Jerusalem with an army of resurrected saints behind Him, at which point the remaining Jewish leaders in Jerusalem actually recognise who He is and welcome Him in as King. That’s the moment that Psalm 24 finds us in.

So as I’ve been singing this in my sets, I’ve been meditating on the glory of Jesus as the conquering King, and also on the prophecy that Israel WILL welcome Him as King.

Jesus Himself prophesied that He would not return to Jerusalem until its leaders recognised and welcomed Him. Every time I read it, I can feel the yearning in Jesus’ heart for His people to know Him:

“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! …For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'”
(Matthew 23:37-39)

This same longing in Jesus’ heart is so clear also in Zechariah:

“Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”
(Zechariah 2:10-12)

That phrase “and you shall know” gets me every time. “At last, you’ll believe. At last, you’ll accept Me.”

Later, Zechariah prophesies of the repentance that will grip Israel when they see Jesus on that Day:

“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”
(Zechariah 12:10)

That Day when Israel–and specifically Jerusalem, the Holy City, the City of the Great King– finally, FINALLY accepts Him as their own Messiah is so near and dear to Jesus’ heart. Every time I sing these verses I feel my heart get so tender and I end up just prophesying over Jerusalem and praying for them to recieve their Messiah.

Jerusalem, open up your gates, and welcome your King! Who is this King of glory? Who is this warrior coming up with bloodstained garments? He is YHWH, your Messiah, the Son of David. Welcome Him as a firstborn son. Weep over the wounds in His hands and feet. He’s here to establish His kingdom and fulfill every promise. Invite Him in.

Jesus, thank You for Your faithfulness to all of Your promises. Come quickly and establish Your kingdom from Jerusalem. Save Your people Israel. Let them know You. Even now, would You bring many Jewish people to repentance. Remove the veil from their hearts and let them see You as You are– their King, their Messiah, their God. Come quickly, Lord Jesus, and do everything You want to do.

“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they [Israel] may be saved.”
(Romans 10:1)

Rapid Fire Prayer Topic

At the end of every set, everyone in the room lines up at the mic to pray short “rapid fire” prayers on a certain topic, usually related to something happening within the ministry. Right now, our topic is:

For Revive Texas to get $290,000 to pay for all the volunteers’ meals during the 50 days of outreach.

Every day for 50 days, tens of thousands of believers across DFW are going to gather at ten host churches to get equipped and fellowship together, and from there they will go out to the streets to share the gospel. Revive Texas plans to feed everyone at these host locations every day, but they need financial breakthrough to make that happen. We’ve been praying that God would in a moment put it on someone’s heart to write a check for $290,000!

God, provide for Revive Texas. You’ve been so faithful to meet every need thus far– do it again! Break in and give us this $290,000 for the meals.

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What I’m Praying: Psalm 37

On By CaitlynIn What I'm Praying5 Comments

I’d like to kick off a regular series on my blog called What I’m Praying. I spend 30 hours a week in the prayer room, and most of the daily testimonies I’m experiencing are prayer-related. I want to bring you into the journey of what God is speaking to me and putting on my heart to speak back to Him, as well as the intercessory burdens that we’re carrying corporately as a ministry.

This week, I’ve often been singing through Psalm 37:4-6 when I lead my devotional worship sets.

“Delight yourself in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.”
(Psalm 37:4-6)

The context of this passage is basically the frustration of the righteous living in a generation of the wicked, and the psalmist’s encouragement to trust in God because He will one day turn the tables and set everything right. There’s a lot to be said eschatologically about promises like “The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever” (v 29) when the wicked are permanently cut off (both ideas are repeated several times in this one passage), but for the purpose of my devos I’ve been singing these verses with a much more personal application.

God, I choose to delight myself in You. I choose to make You my joy. You are my greatest treasure and highest pleasure. I intentionally turn my gaze and choose to rejoice in You and simply enjoy You.

I believe You will fulfill the desires of my heart that You’ve placed in me. If You’ve put them there, You care about them even more than I do. You are always faithful to Your promises, no matter how long it takes.

I commit my way to You; I acknowledge You in all my ways. (Prov 3:6) I surrender the right to control my own life. I want You to direct my steps. I trust that You will act. Your plans and Your timing always work out better than me trying to make things happen on my own, anyway.

As I wait, as I stay in the tension of trusting You even when I can’t see what You’re doing, You’re making my righteousness shine. You’re making me look like You. Even as Jerusalem’s righteousness will one day shine with Your glory, (Is 62:1) You are literally preparing me for an eternal weight of glory (2 Cor 4:17) in a resurrected body that will shine like the stars to one degree or another depending on how I live in this age. (Dan 12:3, Matt 13:43, 1 Cor 15:35-49) Every little moment by moment choice I make to trust You and delight myself in You will be rewarded, and I will shine.

Rapid Fire Prayer Topic

At the end of every set, everyone in the room lines up at the mic to pray short “rapid fire” prayers on a certain topic, usually related to something happening within the ministry. Right now, our topic is:

For the Lord to move on people’s hearts to join Sacred Trust and that it would grow back to 100 before Revive Texas.

Our Sacred Trust is the commitment that people make to join at least one two-hour prayer meeting a week. We’re asking God that more people would make such a commitment, so that when we’re doing 24/7 prayer and worship for the 50 days of Revive Texas, we would have enough people to sustain that schedule. We currently have just over 75 people on the Sacred Trust, so we’re praying for at least around 25 more over the next few months!

God, bring people who would commit to pray with us weekly! Put the vision for 24/7 prayer on many hearts and strengthen Your house of prayer.

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The Earth is the Lord’s, and the King of Glory is Set on Zion.

On By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff, Ministry Life1 Comment
Worship leading today. Photo: Brad Stroup

I’m here in Texas! I arrived Wednesday night and have spent the past couple days getting settled in. Today, I was asked to come help fill in for a few hours at The Prayer Room, and so I ushered the 3-5pm and led worship for the 5-7pm.
While I was ushering, God put a verse fragment on my heart: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” I looked it up and found it in Psalm 24. I was familiar with the last stanza of this Psalm but forgot how it started.

“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein…
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle!”
(Psalm 24:1, 7-8)

This was exactly what my heart needed to hear today, on inauguration day of all days. I had spent some time in the morning sharing some thoughts on Facebook regarding President Trump, but on the whole I think praying through this passage today was far more productive.

Whenever I worship lead, I always take around 15 minutes in the middle of my set to sing through a passage and spontaneously sing some devotional thoughts on it. This is a normal part of the harp and bowl model that I learned at IHOPKC and which we use at The Prayer Room. Today, I felt God leading me to sing these verses from Psalm 24.

I had a few cross-references in mind as a backdrop, especially Colossians 1:15-18:

“[Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together… He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.”
(Colossians 1:15-18)

God owns everything. He created everything. He is sovereign over everything. Everything exists FOR Him, for His glory. He will be preeminent – in first place, front and centre, completely.

In one sense, this is already true; right now, heaven is His throne and earth is His footstool, and He is absolutely sovereign. But there is coming a Day when His throne will come to Earth–to the city of Jerusalem, to be precise–and He will be fully, actively engaged in personally ruling the nations in perfect righteousness and justice.

The gates and “ancient doors” of Jerusalem will open and the King of Glory will ride in on a white horse and begin to reign like never before.

I couldn’t help also singing a bit of Psalm 2. I only sang a couple of phrases from it, but this was the whole context I had in mind:

“Why do the nations rage
and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
‘Let us burst their bonds apart
and cast away their cords from us.’
He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.
Then he will speak to them in his wrath,
and terrify them in his fury, saying,
‘As for me, I have set my King
on Zion, my holy hill.’
I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
and the ends of the earth your possession.
You shall break them with a rod of iron
and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.'”
(Psalm 2:1-9)

As I sang, “You have set the King on Zion, You have set the King on Zion, He will reign” over and over, I could feel the prophetic declaration going out into the atmosphere. No matter how unrighteous the ruler–no matter how the nations rage–God’s answer is to set Jesus as the King of Glory in Jerusalem. The nations belong to Him. He won’t tolerate injustice forever. Even as we fight to advance to Kingdom inch by inch now, it will one day be absolutely complete and Jesus will rule in perfect righteousness on earth forever. I believe that Day is right around the corner.

I don’t think this means God says, “Oh well, I’ll fix it all eventually, guess it can all just fall to pieces in the meantime.” Oh no! If a man is engaged to be married, he’s not going to just ignore his bride until the wedding day. What’s in his heart for that day very much affects how he treats her on this day. When I get frustrated with the state of our world and feel tempted to say, “God, are you seeing this? Do something!”, He would say, “Don’t ever think I don’t care. I have far more zeal for righteousness than you do. I am doing something in response to the prayers of my people, in many ways you don’t even see, and there will be a Day when I stage the ultimate intervention. Keep the faith.”

I’m not swearing off political Facebook posts. I want to continue having these conversations online and in person; I believe keeping our government accountable is important. I don’t want to use “Jesus is still on the throne” as an excuse to sit on my butt the next four years. But on days like today when I feel overwhelmed by how far we have to go, I remember:

The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

He has set the King of Glory on Zion.

He will reign.

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Better Than a Thousand Elsewhere

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life7 Comments

This was my first week at The Prayer Room in Arlington, Texas, and I hit the ground running. I have already led four two-hour solo worship sets on piano, section led twice (a section leader is the main point person in charge of the prayer room for a six-hour block of time), and ushered once. Yesterday I was at the prayer room for fourteen hours because I was filling in as a section leader on top of my regular prayer room hours and worship leading. In total, I count 26 hours I’ve spent in the prayer room in the last five days- and Wednesday was a day off.

Worship leading is still rather new to me, as is playing piano in general, so of course I’ve encountered glitches like hitting the wrong buttons on the keyboard (that was NOT the sound I wanted!) and fumbling the chords plenty of times. I love it, though, because every time I lead worship I get to:

  1. serve the prayer movement by keeping the fire on the altar (Leviticus 6:13),
  2. worship God through my songs, and
  3. encounter Jesus by singing Scripture.

Every day this week as I’ve been worship leading, I’ve been singing and meditating on Psalm 84. This is the famous passage from which we get the song “Better Is One Day,” and my heart has been eating it up every time I sing through it.

“How lovely is your dwelling place,
O LORD of hosts!
My soul longs, yes, faints
for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and flesh sing for joy
to the living God…
Blessed are those who dwell in your house,
ever singing your praise!…
For a day in your courts is better
than a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
(Psalm 84:1-2, 4, 10)

I’ve been in this passage for a few months now, and it hasn’t gotten old yet.
I want to feel the psalmist’s longing for the presence of God. I want to taste the blessing of taking up residence in His presence and constantly singing praise to Him, just like the angels in the throne room who “never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy…'” (Revelation 4:8)

I want to be able to truthfully say that I consider a single day spent in His presence to be more pleasurable and more valuable than a thousand days spent anywhere else on earth.

After all, “in [His] presence there is fullness of joy; at [His] right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)

Every time I sing and declare this truth to God and to myself, I remind my spirit that He truly is the ultimate pleasure, and His presence, specifically in this context His house of prayer, is the best place in the world I could choose to be.

Bonus just for fun picture: me and my new friend Nichole trying on a giant pair of "wings" in downtown Fort Worth.
Bonus just for fun picture: me and my new friend Nichole trying on a giant pair of “wings” in downtown Fort Worth.
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True Love Is…

On By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff

A personal paraphrase of 1 Corinthians 13.

If I speak eloquently in English or in tongues,
but don’t saturate my speech with LOVE,
I’m just so much noise.
If I have a powerful prophetic gifting and can read everyone’s mail,
if I have all the right theology
with perfect chapter-and-verse understanding,
if I even have revelations that no one else does,
if I have powerful faith and see miracles regularly–
but don’t act in LOVE,
all my knowledge is useless and my life is meaningless.

If I give everything away in pursuit of radical simplicity and generosity,
if I even volunteer for persecution and martyrdom–
but do it all from wrong motivation outside of LOVE,
it’s a meaningless gesture and I gain no reward.

True love is always patient and kind.
True love doesn’t resent another’s success
or brag about its own.
True love doesn’t think too much of itself
or put others down.
True love doesn’t insist on its right to be right,
but goes low to honour others.
True love never resents others.
True love doesn’t celebrate sin,
but celebrates the truth.

True love stands strong under pressure,
embraces childlike faith,
clings to vivid hope,
and presses on through every obstacle.

True love never ends.

The gifts of prophecy and tongues will one day become unnecessary,
and human knowledge will one day be obsolete.
Right now, our knowledge and prophetic understanding is limited,
but when the fullness without limits comes,
that which was limited will no longer be needed.

When I was a child, all of my thought processes were immature.
Now that I am an adult and can think maturely,
I no longer think like I used to.
Our life now is like looking in a foggy mirror,
but one day we will have perfect clarity,
like seeing face to face.
Now I can know only in a limited way,
but one day the limits will be removed and I will know fully,
even as God has always known me fully.

Faith,
hope,
love—
these are the three things that last,
but the greatest of the three is
always
LOVE.

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A New Semester and the Harp and Bowl Model

On By CaitlynIn IHOPKC Life, Prayer and Worship7 Comments

My second semester at IHOPU began on Monday. This quarter I’m taking Foundations of Biblical Eschatology, New Testament Survey, and Forerunner Messenger Practicum. The Practicum is broken up into three rotations, one of which is Harp and Bowl (the model for combining prayer and worship that we use in the prayer room). For my other two rotations I chose Preaching and Teaching, and Writing, out of options including Social Media, Creative Media, and Drama. I know, I know, Drama would be right up my alley, but I already spent four years developing my personal philosophy of Christians in the arts. I would not be able to come into that class with an open mind. Besides, drama is already something I know I have. Preaching and teaching is almost completely new to me, and both that and writing are things I’m feeling called to step into more.

Also, as part of the practicum, I’ll be placed as a singer on a student harp and bowl team. I was on an intern worship team for about three weeks during my internship, but other than that (and one Sunday morning singing at The Refuge) I’ve never been on a worship team before. I am SO excited for this!

For those not familiar with the harp and bowl model, it’s drawn from Revelation 5:8.

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
(Revelation 5:8)

Anything that combines prayer and worship (specifically of the musical variety) can be considered “harp and bowl,” but the way we do harp and bowl is a whole structure that is designed to provide an atmosphere for maximum engagement in the room. Singing brings unity, and singing the Word and singing prayers from the Word–WOW!!

At IHOPKC, we mostly do two kinds of harp and bowl sets: worship with the Word, and intercession. Both are structured essentially the same, with times of corporate worship interspersed with times of spoken prayer developed by spontaneous singing. Here’s what your standard two-hour harp and bowl intercession set looks like:

Intercession set several years ago (old stage design). See that far right seat in the front row? That’s my seat. Every time.
  • The worship team consists of a worship leader on (usually) guitar or keys, at least three prophetic singers, musicians, and a prayer leader. At the start of the set, the worship leader will begin leading a familiar worship song as the rest of the team is transitioning onto the stage. We’ll have a time of corporate worship for 20-40 minutes, mostly consisting of worship songs that everyone already knows with maybe a bit of spontaneous singing sprinkled in as the Spirit leads.
  • When it’s time to transition into the prayer time, the worship leader will initiate several minutes of singing in the Spirit. (“What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also.” 1 Corinthians 14:15) At this time, everyone will sing at the same time, either in tongues or with whatever words of praise are on their hearts.
  • Then, the prayer leader will start leading intercession from the podium just off stage right. The musicians will usually start playing something with a more driving beat, and many people in the room will stand up if they’re not already to help themselves engage more fully. The prayer leader will choose a verse, preferably an apostolic prayer, and pray from that for 2-3 minutes. It may go something like this:
    • “Praying for the ending of sex trafficking in Thailand from Ephesians 1:17-19. ‘That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.’ So God, I pray that You would break into Thailand with the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Open up their eyes to see You rightly. Let the traffickers see who You are and be transformed, and let those trafficked see You and be filled with hope…”
  • After the prayer leader finishes “in the name of Jesus,” the singers will one by one sing spontaneous phrases inspired by the verse and the prayer. The prayer leader may interject phrases of spoken prayers to help guide the singers. It may sound like this:
    • “Oh, God, bring wisdom and revelation to Thailand…”
      “Wisdom and revelation…”
      — “Open up their eyes!”
      “Open up their eyes and let them see You…”
      — “Bring deliverance!”
      “Great Deliverer, bring deliverance…”
  • After a minute or two, the chorus leader (the first singer) will launch a short, simple chorus that the whole room can jump in on, and then will end with a name of God. Maybe something like:
    • “You are the God of justice
      You are the God of deliverance
      Open up their eyes
      Open up their eyes
      [repeat]
      Open up their eyes, oh God”
      [Note: I just made up all of these prayers and choruses off the top of my head, so what you’d actually hear in the prayer room may be quite a bit better.]
  • After the chorus, the prayer leader will either pray again, or another person will come up to pray, and the process will repeat.
  • At some point during the intercession cycle, the prayer leader will invite a time of rapid fire prayer. At this time, anyone in the room can come line up behind the podium to pray a short 5-10 second prayer on the chosen topic. Every ten or so people, the chorus leader will interrupt with a chorus the whole room can sing together for a minute, then the prayer line will continue.
  • After the line ends, the worship team may continue with a chorus, someone may feel inspired to sing a solo prophetic oracle for a few minutes on the intercession topic, or the worship leader may take the room back into corporate worship.
  • After another 20 minutes or so of worship, another intercession cycle will commence.

A worship with the Word set is essentially the same, except that instead of a prayer leader leading intercession, there will be a prayer leader guiding the team through meditation on a short passage of the Bible. Phrase by phrase, the singers will develop the verse (paraphrase, interpret, and expand it). One person’s insight will spark another’s, and as a corporate body we will go somewhere in the Spirit we couldn’t go alone. Singing the Word, whether in intercession or meditation, is the best way I know of to make it a part of you. You may forget the verse you heard in a sermon, or even the verse you read in your own Bible, but you’ll find it difficult to forget the verse you sang. The centrality of the Word is of primary importance in every harp and bowl set.

This model is incredibly flexible and is easily adapted to any culture or context. It fosters unity and an atmosphere of enjoyable prayer–and enjoyable prayer is sustainable prayer.

“These I will bring to my holy mountain,
and make them joyful in my house of prayer;
their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
will be accepted on my altar;
for my house shall be called a house of prayer
for all peoples.”
(Isaiah 56:7)

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