Tag: missions

Holy Stubbornness: Don’t Quit on Your Calling

On 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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May the Lamb That Was Slain Receive the Reward of His Suffering

On By CaitlynIn Just Thoughts

On August 27, 1727, a prayer meeting started in Herrnhut, Germany, that lasted for over 100 years and went on the change the world.

Its story begins when Protestant refugees from the Catholic country of Moravia, the legacy of reformer John Hus, came to Germany and settled on the land of Count Zinzendorf. The community was soon attacked by division and disagreement, and the 27-year-old Zinzendorf cried out to God for reconciliation and revival. God spoke to him Leviticus 6:13:

“Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.”
(Leviticus 6:13)

Days later, on August 13, 1727, a wave of repentance and revival swept through the community. The Holy Spirit was dramatically poured out with signs and wonders and supernatural love for each other, for the Scriptures, and most supremely for Jesus. His glory became their urgent desire. The community adopted a radical new model for community life, which included a perpetual corporate prayer assembly in the spirit of Leviticus 6:13. They all committed to hourly “prayer watches” by which they arranged the community to cover the entire 24 hours in a day.

Let me say that again: as a result of this dramatic move of the Holy Spirit, this small refugee community started 24/7 prayer that lasted over 100 years.

The Moravian emblem, based on Revelation 5:5-6, 14:4. (stained glass window in the Rights Chapel at Trinity Moravian Church, Winston-Salem, NC)

The impact of this 100-year prayer meeting reached far beyond the small settlement of Herrnhut. The radical love for Jesus and fire of the Spirit that was rooted in them during those 24/7 prayer meetings gave birth to one of the most prolific missionary movements of history and became an inspiration and challenge to the modern missions movement that would soon be born. They sent out hundreds of missionaries to every corner of the globe and saw dramatic success. Their methods are not unlike the best of modern missionary strategies: they focussed pointedly on preaching the simple gospel of “Christ and Him crucified,” they learned the local language, won the respect of the people, and contextualized their preaching, they didn’t expect their converts to become Westernized, and they made prayer their foundation and relied on the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. (This is an incredible article about the Moravian mission strategy.)

William Carey, who is known as the father of modern missions, was deeply inspired by the example of the Moravians and took their prolific missions activity as a personal challenge: “See what the Moravians have done! Cannot we follow their example and in obedience to our Heavenly Master go out into the world, and preach the Gospel to the heathen?”

The Moravians had a powerful influence on the birth of the Great Awakening, too. John Wesley, one of the leaders of this revival that hit the UK and the American colonies in the 1730s and 40s, was shocked and marked by witnessing the faith of the Moravians amid a storm at sea, and went on to fully trust Christ for salvation under their preaching (when his heart was “strangely warmed,” if you’ve heard that story). He had already been a priest, but until his encounter with the genuine, personal faith of the Moravians, Wesley didn’t have his own personal relationship with Jesus. Wesley lived with the Moravians at Herrnhut for several months, and the impact they had on him was carried over into his leadership of the Methodist Revival and the Great Awakening alongside Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, in which tens of thousands were powerfully convicted of sin and surrendered to Jesus.

The Moravian mission ship Harmony

What was the source of the Moravians’ zeal?

What conviction had gripped their hearts? In a nutshell, it can be found in the story of the first two Moravian missionaries who were sent out from the Herrnhut community.

In 1732, five years after the initial outpouring of the Spirit, two Moravian tradesmen, 36-year-old David Nitschmann and 26-year-old Johann Leonhard Dober, became the first missionaries to leave Herrnhut. They heard of the plight of African slaves on the island of St. Thomas in the Caribbean, and how there was a spiritual hunger but they had no one to share the gospel with them. They determined to go by any means necessary, even when they were told they would have to sell themselves into slavery in order to minister among the slaves. (As it turns out, when they offered themselves as slaves in Copenhagen, they were laughed at because no one would buy white men as slaves, so they traveled to St. Thomas by working their trades.)

According to the story that has stirred missionary zeal the world over for the past near-300 years, as they stood on the ship departing from the wharf, looking for what they believed to be the last time of the faces of their loved ones, they raised their fists and cried, “MAY THE LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING.”

This is it. They were deeply in love with the slain Lamb, cherished the love He showed on the cross, thunderously affirmed His infinite worth, and passionately desired that He would have what He deserved– the reward of His suffering.

That cry, that burning desire for Jesus to have the full inheritance of everything He died for, has captivated me for a decade.

What is the “reward of His suffering”?

What does He deserve for His sacrifice on the cross?

He deserves the nations to the ends of the earth as His inheritance.

“You are my Son…Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” Psalm 2:7-8

He deserves the saints as His glorious inheritance.

“that you may know…what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints” Ephesians 1:18

He deserves to be preeminent (in first place) in everything.

“…He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Colossians 1:18

He deserves exaltation and the homage of every person.

“And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 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… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” Philippians 2:8-11

He deserves power, authority, glory, and worship.

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12
He deserves ultimate exaltation and glory. He deserves every person everywhere singing highest praises from hearts in love. He deserves to fully rule and reign over every single aspect of life.

The truth is, there is NO LIMIT to how much He deserves. Isaiah 9:7 says that His kingdom will continue to increase forever and ever.

What does that mean for us?

In light of the biblical testimony of the great worth of the Lamb, in light of the historical testimony of the saints and martyrs who laid down everything for Him, is there any limit to how much He deserves in our lives?

Is there any passion too extreme?

Is there any offering too extravagant?

Is there any commitment too radical?

Count Zinzendorf and the Moravians at Herrnhut, like King David and thousands of others throughout history, determined that 24/7 prayer and worship was not too much to respond to His glory.

Nitschmann and Dober determined that selling themselves into slavery was not too high a price to pay so that the Lamb would have His reward in the slaves of St. Thomas.

May we be driven by their example. May their cry be the great echoing anthem of the Church across the earth as we strive to lay down everything to see His glory have its full due:

MAY THE LAMB
THAT WAS SLAIN
RECEIVE THE REWARD
OF HIS SUFFERING.

 

If you’re hungry for more, I highly recommend the book Moravian Miracle by Dr. Jason Hubbard, director of International Prayer Connect, with forward by Dick Eastman. Fantastic book- so encouraging and stirring!

A few more goodies for you:

 

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Revive Texas Soft Launch & Other Updates

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

I’m a little late with getting this post out, but things have been super busy and exciting around here the past few weeks!

As I’ve shared before, Revive Texas is an unprecedented movement of unity within the Church in DFW to put on 50 days of evangelism, with daily gatherings for prayer, worship, testimonies, fellowship, etc. The Prayer Room is serving as a central 24/7 prayer hub for these 50 days, and our director Brad Stroup has been working closely with Time to Revive‘s director Kyle Martin. This means that The Prayer Room is getting a HUGE spike in exposure as Brad has had numerous opportunities, in partnership with Time to Revive, to speak to congregations and leaders about our involvement with Revive Texas and what we do as a house of prayer. (Years ago, God gave TPR a clear prophetic word that we would one day be “launched to the region” and our influence would suddenly increase dramatically, and we’re starting to see how Revive Texas might be a big part of that word’s fulfillment!)

Since we’ve been praying for more church involvement, over 300 local churches are now on board with Revive Texas, including ALL of the host locations we needed! Praise the Lord!

Last Saturday, Time to Revive did a soft launch of what the 50 days of outreaches will look like. All ten of our regional host churches opened their doors early in the morning for a time of worship, encouragement, prayer, and training before 500+ believers hit the streets to share the gospel. This is the biggest movement of unity in the church of DFW for the sake of the gospel that has EVER happened. Words like “historic” and “unprecedented” are not an exaggeration. And this was only the trial run! Once the 50 days starts, 500 is going to seem like a very small number. We’ll soon be gathering and going out by the thousands.

The Prayer Room had a very unique part to play on Saturday. Time to Revive asked Brad to lead the time of worship, encouragement, and prayer from our prayer room via live internet video streaming to all ten churches. This is a HUGE honour and responsibility. A few weeks ago, they donated thousands of dollars worth of cameras, lights, computers, and software to make streaming possible in our little prayer room. On Saturday’s live stream at 8am, a few worship leaders led a few familiar songs, Brad preached with 150% of his usual energy for about 15 minutes to the camera in an empty room, and then he talked the viewers through a few prayer topics and gave them time to gather in small groups to pray. The entire live stream took 45 minutes, and then at all ten of the locations people received a bit of further training and gathered in groups of 4 to hit the streets to share the gospel. This is going to be happening several days a week for the entire 50 days of Revive Texas.

You can watch the entire video at the link below. The first 30 minutes are set-up, so start around the 31 minute mark after the countdown.

Saturday morning devo/prayer for Revive Texas



Later that morning, while all 141 outreach teams were sharing the gospel all over DFW, some of the TPR staff gathered in the prayer room to pray through LIVE updates from the outreach as we received them. We were praying by name for people on the streets who were receiving prayer and hearing the gospel. Several of us felt that it was the most powerful and exciting prayer meeting we had ever been in! I had the privilege of leading worship for some of it while Luke and Lisa took turns praying through the live updates.
The stories we started hearing were incredible. One couple a team met in a parking lot said they were believers but got so excited hearing the gospel shared so clearly, and they were spontaneously convicted by the Holy Spirit of immorality and decided on the spot to get married. That’s revival. Teams shared the gospel with a father and son fishing, an entire Buddhist sports team, single moms out grocery shopping, and hundreds more. The night before the outreach, the Spanish translator at a church for the pre-launch rally got saved while translating!!

Here are some of the numbers Revive Texas reported in their recent email:

  • 549 people went out on Saturday morning throughout the 10 regions.
  • 141 teams went out to share the love of Jesus.
  • 37 people requested discipleship.
  • 12 people said YES to JESUS! 

Revive Texas made a video of the outreach that day. The video is 8 minutes long, but it’s SO worth it. Watching Kyle share the gospel in such a simple, biblical, relational way and watching people say YES to Jesus for the first time… that’s my favourite kind of thrill. Click HERE or on the picture below to see it on Revive Texas’ website.

We’re only at the beginning of hearing these testimonies. God is doing something huge in DFW, and I encourage you to pray with us for people to get involved and lives to be transformed.

One more thing: On Sunday night, Brad had the opportunity to be on an hour-long radio program for The Word 100.7 FM along with Kyle Martin talking about Revive Texas. I recorded the whole thing and you can click HERE to download and listen.

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Revive Texas: 50 Days of Prayer, Unity, Evangelism, and Discipleship

On By CaitlynIn Ministry Life3 Comments

First, quick update: I’m currently in Wisconsin visiting my dear friends Abigail and Rondale, whom I know from IHOPU and whose wedding I was privileged to be in last July. It’s been a lovely few days hanging out, watching LOTS of Netflix, and tagging along with their normal life stuff. I’ll be in Texas on Wednesday, January 18, and then my new life as a full-time intercessory missionary with The Prayer Room Missions Base will officially begin!

However, this post is mostly not about me. This post is about something EPICLY HUGE that God is doing in the DFW region. The Prayer Room is participating wholeheartedly, but it’s so much bigger than us.
revive_tx_banner2
Time to Revive is a ministry that tours the country mobilising dozens or hundreds of churches in a city to unite and strategically spread the gospel through their whole region. The focus is on awakening the church to pursue revival in their cities.

This spring, from April 16 through June 4, 2017, Time to Revive is launching a 50 day campaign in Dallas-Ft. Worth called Revive Texas.

 

Revive Texas will unite the church (hundreds of churches across many denominations) in an unprecedented way to come together in prayer and go out together to share the gospel. I’m so excited for what this will do for church unity in the region and also for the incredible testimonies we’re about to hear!
Check out this video to find out more about the vision and strategy behind this movement:

The DFW region has been divided into ten smaller regions, each of which will have its own host churches and outreach teams. To my understanding, having ten regions is something Time to Revive has never done before in any other city. We’re basically getting ten revival campaigns for the price of one! I will be in the green area centred around the city of Arlington.
dallas-mapEvery day for 50 days, local believers will come together at host churches for fellowship, prayer, and training, and then will be sent out in small teams to pray for people and share the gospel using a very simple evangelistic model. People are welcome to participate in as much or as little of the schedule as they are able.

  • 7-8am: corporate prayer
  • 8-9am: community breakfast
  • 9-10am: training
  • 10am – 12pm: outreach (go out in teams to pray for local churches)
  • 12-1pm: testimony time (share what God did during the outreach)
  • 1-2pm: community lunch
  • 2-3pm: training
  • 3-5pm: outreach (go out to pray for people and share the Gospel)
  • 5:30pm: community dinner
  • 7-9pm: evening service (teaching, testimonies, worship)

Each of the ten regions will have a prayer hub covering the outreach in prayer with worship for several hours each day. These ten prayer hubs will be existing local houses of prayer that are smaller than The Prayer Room but already have the vision and structure in place to lead the charge in intercession.

On top of these ten smaller prayer hubs, The Prayer Room will serve as a central prayer hub with 24/7 prayer and worship for all 50 days. This is huge for us. We already are doing 18 hours a day, and even outside of Revive Texas we’re just a few steps away from being able to launch a night watch that will make us continually 24/7. Since we already have the vision and structure in place, the extra people and motivational oomph of Revive Texas will enable us to carry the torch 24/7 for these 50 days. Hopefully, some of the people who join us and the other local houses of prayer for this campaign will stick around after June 4, and the entire prayer movement in DFW will be strengthened long-term.

Check out the video below, and also THIS LINK about The Prayer Room’s involvement in Revive Texas:

If you live in the DFW region, you can find out how to get involved at

ReviveTX.org.
I am so excited about all God is going to do during Revive Texas. I will keep you all updated as preparations unfold, and I will certainly share testimonies as the campaign gets underway.

In the meantime, here’s how you can pray:

  • Unity, vision, and hunger for revival in DFW churches
  • Wisdom and strength for the leaders
  • Necessary funding and logistics to land
  • Hearts to be prepared, both in believers and the unbelievers we will encounter

“And he said to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.
Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest
to send out laborers into his harvest.'”
(Luke 10:2)

unity-humility-hunger

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The Call: Azusa Now

On By CaitlynIn IHOPKC Life2 Comments

 

azusa now
(Credit: Luke18)

Earlier this month, I boarded a bus in Kansas City with 100 other IHOPU students (well, we had two buses) and drove 32 hours straight to Los Angeles, CA to participate in The Call: Azusa Now on April 9, and then re-boarded the bus again the next morning to drive 32 hours straight back to Kansas City. Talk about a whirlwind weekend!

Azusa Now is a massive prayer gathering organised by Lou Engle to rally this generation to cry out for revival like the Azusa Street revival of 1906. This was my first experience at one of The Call events, and I was blown away by the power and presence of God.

  • Racial reconciliation and church unity was a huge theme. Leaders from Native American, Hispanic, African American, Messianic, and Catholic communities were onstage publicly honouring each other and repenting for lack of unity.
  • Bethel, IHOPKC, Circuit Riders, and many others led worship.
  • So many leaders in the church and missions were on stage with Lou Engle – Heidi Baker, Bill Johnson, Loren Cunningham, Daniel Kolenda, Todd White, and many more, including my very own home pastor Danny Carroll from Water of Life!!
  • Gloria Engle and Andy Byrd both gave powerful calls to say “yes” to the call for missions.
  • People stood up from wheelchairs, hearing loss was restored, brain cancer was healed, and much more!
  • Shawn Bolz called out accurate prophetic words of knowledge from the stage to specific people in the stadium. Watch the video HERE.

We were all so stirred up on the way home. Tired as we were, we still evangelised at every gas station and held impromptu Bible studies, worship sessions, and prophetic ministry to each other in our vans. We touched God’s desire to sweep this nation with revival, and we actually started to believe it was possible.

Beyond the public move of God that we all experienced that day, the event touched me very personally. Some of these leaders and ministry styles were ones I first connected with years before I came to Kansas City, in my early days of learning to move with the Holy Spirit. I even got to see some of the California friends and leaders in my life who used to run with me in those days. In that stadium, I found myself stirred again to embrace a lifestyle of prayer for revival along with boldness in healing, prophecy, and evangelism. That passion is a precious gift that I cannot afford to let fade.

The first 12 hours of the 15 hour event are available to watch on Youtube if you missed the live stream:

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We got special passes down onto the field. (Credit: Luke18)
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IHOPU students crying out in the rain. (Credit: John DeBeeld)
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IHOPU students ministering to an attendee. (Credit: John DeBeeld)
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Todd White releasing faith and fire! (Credit: John DeBeeld)
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Native American believers prophetically playing traditional drums. (Credit: John DeBeeld)
azusa now leaders
National and global ministry leaders uniting around the cross. (Credit: AzusaNow2016)
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My home pastor Danny Carroll (white shirt) praying on stage with Jack Hayford and Lou Engle. (Credit: Me!)
Azusa Now Becca FB
Testimony from my new friend Rebekah.
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Chicago Bound!

On By CaitlynIn IHOPKC Life1 Comment

As soon as I finish this blog post, I have some packing to do. Why? Because tomorrow morning at 5:30 I am leaving for Chicago! I am so excited to do this ministry trip with my IHOPU brothers and sisters. We’re going to pray and worship with churches and prayer groups in the city, especially at Moody Bible Institute, and really just come alongside and encourage what the Lord is doing there. He has such a big place in His heart for that city, and such big plans for His church there… I can’t wait to tell you stories when I come back!

Our theme for all of the spring ministry teams this year is Malachi 1:11–

“For from the rising of the sun to its setting my name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering. For my name will be great among the nations, says the Lord of hosts.”
(Malachi 1:11)

On Friday/Saturday we’re going to do a 24 hour “Prayer Burn,” in which we will basically do a 24-hour slice of what we do in the IHOPKC prayer room, with rotating worship teams, prayer leaders, etc. I was asked to be part of the Night Watch team for that, so I’ll be praying through the wee early hours of the morning! I’m also going to be singing on a worship team during the 6:00 a.m. set on Saturday morning. I’ve never done night watch and I’ve only sung on a worship team a few times (and never for the full two hours), so much prayer for grace is appreciated!

Also, please pray for safety on the road and throughout the trip! Idris (my car) and I are going to be driving a carload of girls on the long road to and from Chicago and throughout the week to our ministry locations. God has such big plans for this week, as we go to cities across America. Let’s pray for His purposes to be accomplished in and through us!

All you hashtaggers on Facebook, Twitter, and especially Instagram can follow all the IHOPU teams on their trips with the hashtag #IHOPUGO2014.

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