What I’m Reading: Unceasing

On March 20, 2019February 10, 2024 By CaitlynIn What I'm Reading

(Full disclosure: I love to recommend resources to help you in your journey, and when I do I use Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase something through my links, I may receive a small commission. But if there’s a resource you want, I encourage you to get it wherever works best for you!)

As I’ve mentioned several times on this blog (HERE and then HERE), The Prayer Room is currently running a part-time worship school. One of the students’ assignments is to read Unceasing by Billy Humphrey, the director of the International House of Prayer Atlanta. It was really important to us that in addition to their music training, our students were also getting the DNA of the house of prayer and we couldn’t think of a better book to assign than Unceasing. Today, continuing my What I’m Reading series, this is the book I want to talk about.

IHOP-Atlanta is the only place on the continent outside of IHOPKC running 24/7 live prayer and worship. They’ve been doing this since 2006 and have a strong and fervent vision for the worth of Jesus and the importance of night and day prayer in this generation.

I’ve skimmed through Unceasing before (or at least the old edition entitled Until He Comes) but today during my prayer meetings I took some time to read through it thoroughly. It’s a pretty quick read at only 137 pages, and it clearly lays out the theological and historical foundation of the house of prayer from several different angles.

The first chapter is called “It’s Happening!” which I love because that’s exactly what comes out of my mouth every time I start gushing excitedly about the prayer movement. “It’s happening! GOD is DOING it! Everywhere, all at once, in our generation!”

When we talk about the 24/7 prayer movement, we first must realize that this is a sovereign move of God that is actually occurring right underneath our noses. There are houses of prayer and praying communities pursuing 24/7 springing up all over the world, and although some of them were influenced by IHOPKC, many have never heard of it, and even the ones who are familiar all have their own stories of how God called them into this. (At The Prayer Room, God clearly spoke to our director, “Start a daily prayer meeting tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. and don’t stop until I come back!” and we started the next day in his living room, only later realizing that we had been commissioned to be a house of prayer not unlike IHOPKC.)

In the 1980s there were only a handful of ministries in the world pursuing night and day prayer. Today there are close to 20,000. (He’s said this in the book Growing in Prayer as well as many other times.)

GOD. IS. DOING. THIS.

When we discussed chapter 1 in the school the first week, our students were enthralled by the story of the 24 houses of prayer within one Chinese house church network, all going 24/7 (yes– to my knowledge we’ve got exactly two in the US, and this one corner of China has 24). These Chinese house churches had never heard of any Western expressions of 24/7 prayer, and simply attributed their vision to their desire to see the gospel spread through the nations and go back to Jerusalem. They knew if they wanted to see a move of God that massive, they had better throw all of their energy into as much prayer as possible. The Holy Spirit stirred in their hearts that 24/7 prayer was a logical, rational act of partnership with the Kingdom of God.

Chapters 2-7 walk through the biblical and historical origins of the house of prayer, from the tabernacle of David that was birthed in the lovesick heart of a shepherd, to the cycle of Old Testament revivals that happened every time the Davidic order was reinstated, to Jesus’ zealous declaration that “My house shall be called a house of prayer!”, to various historical monastic expressions of unceasing prayer, to the state of the global prayer movement today. The weight of the biblical and historical evidence is staggering: God deeply desires 24/7 intercession and adoration, and there are certain things in His heart He will not release until His people pray night and day.

The second half of the book develops the core theological reasons for unceasing prayer, if the example of the tabernacle of David wasn’t already enough. These reasons include:

speedy justice as promised in Luke 18:6-7 (fun fact, this verse was the dramatic marking moment for me to devote my life to the prayer movement)
the salvation of Israel and watchmen set on the wall to see God’s purposes for her fulfilled (Isaiah 62:6-7)
ushering in the Kingdom of God (specifically the “not yet” of the Kingdom– yes, 24/7 prayer and worship is a key part of the drama of ushering in the return of Jesus and the dawn of the next age!)
the Joel 2 mandate for prayer and fasting in the face of impending judgment.

In my opinion, the heart and soul of the book is chapter 8, “The Single Most Compelling Reason”. That reason is simple: JESUS IS WORTHY.

“What is Jesus worth to you? How can His worth be measured? …How can we attribute a price to Him who is matchless, without comparison, without equal, the very definition of beauty and rarity?

…He is worthy of worship every second of every minute of every hour of every day. When I’m asked why we do night-and-day prayer, the answer is simple: Jesus is worthy of it. When the question comes, ‘How can you worship Him twenty-four hours a day?’ the simple answer is, ‘How can we not worship Him twenty-four hours a day?'”

Billy Humphrey, “Unceasing,” p 77, 79

This is it right here.

If every other reason fell away–if David never built his tabernacle, if there was no global prayer movement, if the return of Jesus was still a thousand years off–He would still be worthy of 24/7 worship.

I love the way Unceasing tells the story of Jesus’ humility, that great Philippians 2 descent from the highest heights all the way to become “obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:6-11) Jesus’ humility is one of my favorite things to write about because I see the crux of His beauty right there in His radical love. His worth and His beauty is directly tied to what He has done. “Worthy are You… for You were slain.” (Revelation 5:9)

In response to all He has done and the beauty of all He is, is there any offering too extravagant? Is there any passion too extreme? Is there any commitment too radical?

In light of Jesus’ great beauty and worth, 24/7 prayer and worship just makes sense.

It’s the only thing that makes sense.

Find Unceasing on Amazon.

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Ministry Update: Growing in Musical Strength

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

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

A few weeks ago, I shared a huge need/prayer request in my post “What I’m Praying: Crazy Supernatural Provision for a Dorm and Finances“. We’re still praying for God to break in and supply monthly partners as well as a dorm building where we can house some of the single young adult members of our community. I encourage you to check out that post and join us in prayer!

In other news, our part-time Forerunner Music Academy is at its halfway mark! I’m so proud of these 21 students as they are falling more in love with Jesus, being stretched in boldness, and gaining music skills both vocally and on instruments.

The past few weeks, our IHOPU externs/teachers Daniel and Tyler have become very intentional about bringing FMA students to join their worship sets, and a few of the students have even started leading their own sets. The explosion of new singers and musicians on stage makes me SO happy! These students are falling in love with the prayer room and learning to encounter God in a deeper way through their new skills. I love watching God woo their hearts into His story and His zeal for His house.

Here’s a short clip of Daniel leading four of our FMA students in a set! It’s unusual to have one instrument and five voices on stage, but these guys just went for it and it was wonderful. The whole room was getting blessed!

Here’s another FMA clip– students practicing developing spontaneous choruses for intercession in harp and bowl class!

I’ve been inspired by the musical swirl that’s happening around the base to learn more as well! I’m now playing keys on the Wednesday 5-7pm set led by Daniel. It’s my first time learning to follow someone else’s leadership as a musician, but Daniel is very patient and encouraging and I’m really excited to grow in this area. I’ve also started trying to learn guitar again with teaching from Chris, one of my fellow missionaries—mostly because I want to be able to keep the fire on the altar if the power ever goes out. It’s happened before, and I’ll be ready!

I’m learning guitar– follow my Instagram to see the journey!

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

On February 23, 2018February 10, 2024 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.

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:

Video – Just How Worthy is the Lamb? by Revenue of Glory
Spotify playlist of worship songs directly inspired by the Moravian cry, “May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of His suffering.”

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LIVE Worship Video from The Prayer Room – "Beautiful"

On October 1, 2017January 6, 2019 By CaitlynIn Ministry Life

The past few months, there’s been a trend of worship leaders at The Prayer Room making a Facebook Live video as they play. I was super nervous at first, but I finally did a few myself. (If you’re my Facebook friend, feel free to look them up!) One day we hope to be able to stream all our prayer room hours on our website, but in the meantime, Facebook Live is a really fun way to share a glimpse into the atmosphere of prayer and worship we’re cultivating.

I’d like to share a video with you, but I need to tell you a little bit about it first.
This video has a special place in my heart because the song I’m playing, “Beautiful” by Sam Lane, was introduced to me by Ted Dekker. He used the chorus of it in his book Green, the fourth book released in the Circle Series. In this scene, the spiritual community called The Circle is ceremonially reenacting our “Great Wedding” with Elyon — God.

“Six maidens in white faced Thomas and Chelise on their knees and sang the Great Wedding’s song. Their sweet, yearning voices filled the valley as they cried the refrain in melodic unison, faces bright with an eager desperation.

“You are beautiful… so Beautiful… Beautiful… Beautiful…

“…And in many ways they were all perfectly beautiful as Elyon was beautiful. Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful.”

(Green, Ted Dekker, Thomas Nelson 2009)

Shortly before Green was released in 2009, I attended a Ted Dekker fan event near Nashville at which Ted went all out to bring us into the world of his stories. He gave us an exclusive cd which included the original recording of the song (you can find it on youtube) as well as a message from himself describing his heart for Green and this song. In Ted’s own words:

“I have to say that this song has always exemplified the heart of the Circle Series, of God’s creation calling out to Him, ‘You are beautiful,’ but also God, Elyon, saying to his creation ‘You are beautiful’–the Lover and the Beloved crying to each other, singing to each other, ‘You are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.’ When I first heard this song many years ago, you know, it brought me to tears. It was an incredible touching experience, where I thought, ‘This is what it’s really all about.’ In the end, everything distills down to this moment, this song, a song like this. And I knew I had to write about it…

“Really, at the heart of this whole series is this song, ‘You are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.’… think of the people on the edge of the lake singing this song to Elyon over and over and over again… It’s all about this yearning that we have to be reunited once again–on the lake, on the shores of the lake, in the bowels of the lake, deep in the lake–to go back and be with God, with Elyon (in this story), in the same way we once were. It’s an irresistible calling to us. My hope and prayer is that this song would work its way into your spirit.”

(Ted Dekker, The Gathering 2009 cd)

This is what it’s all about. This is actually my third time this week blogging about the beauty of Jesus, and I didn’t even plan it that way. The purpose of all existence is anchored in the beauty of Jesus. He is so deserving of all of our obsession and adoration, and this is our truest and deepest life’s calling–to sing this song to Him and to hear Him singing back to us. To love and to be loved.

In this recording, in between choruses of the song, I also started singing spontaneously some scriptural phrases from Song of Solomon and other passages about His beauty to us and our beauty to Him. Below you can listen to the song on Youtube (it’s unlisted, so you won’t find it if you try searching Youtube itself), and below that you can read the verses that I was singing from. (The song “Beautiful” in the video is only about the first 11 minutes, and the rest of the video segues into “Jesus, You’re Beautiful” by Jon Thurlow.)

“Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
(Hosea 6:3)

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
(Zephaniah 3:17)

“Let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”
(Song of Solomon 2:14)

“Behold, you are beautiful, my love; behold, you are beautiful; your eyes are doves.”
(Song of Solomon 1:15, also 4:1)

“Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me.”
(Song of Solomon 6:5)

“You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you… 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.”
(Song of Solomon 4:7, 9)

“You are fairer than the sons of men”
(Psalm 45:2 NKJV)

“My beloved is white and ruddy, chief among ten thousand.”
(Song of Solomon 5:10 NKJV)

“In that day the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious,”
(Isaiah 4:2)

“Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”
(Psalm 29:2, also 69:9 NKJV)

“There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you;”
(1 Samuel 2:2)

“…so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God.”
(Exodus 8:10)

“The LORD is my light and my salvation;”
(Psalm 27:1)

“even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you.”
(Psalm 39:12)

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Revive Texas Soft Launch & Other Updates

On March 25, 2017January 6, 2019 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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The Earth is the Lord’s, and the King of Glory is Set on Zion.

On January 20, 2017January 6, 2019 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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Revive Texas: 50 Days of Prayer, Unity, Evangelism, and Discipleship

On January 14, 2017January 6, 2019 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.

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.
Every 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)

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7 Simple Things I Learned At IHOPKC

On August 29, 2016May 16, 2024 By CaitlynIn Bible Stuff, IHOPKC Life

Every time I come home from studying at IHOPU in Kansas City, and especially now that I’ve graduated, I am frequently asked about what I’ve learned. I’ve started realising that the question sort of makes me feel a little awkward because I’m not really sure how to answer. On the one hand, my whole life has changed and I know I understand things now that I didn’t before, but on the other hand, they’re really not deep, massive, mystically profound things. They’re just the same old simple things that have been in the Bible this whole time, and you’ve probably heard them a hundred times before.

It’s like when you grow up hearing “Jesus loves me” and then one day you find yourself on the floor weeping caught up in the realisation that “JESUS! LOVES!! ME!!!”

I didn’t learn a new gospel. Maybe I just saw the gospel a little bit more clearly.

So here are 7 simple things I learned at IHOPKC:

1. Jesus really likes me.

Not only does Jesus love me because “God is love” and He loves everyone, but He actually enjoys me and my personality. He loves that I’m a sci-fi geek. He loves the way I dance, differently than He loves anyone else’s dance. He enjoys my sense of humour. He gets a kick out of the way I talk to Him! He thinks about me all the time. He enjoys surprising me, making me smile, and providing for me. He wants me to be with Him all the time, and He wants to share the things that are on His heart with me. There are things that He urgently cares about, and He wants me to feel the same way He does, because that’s what friends do.

2. I don’t have to be awesome for God to like me or use me.

(This is kind of an extension of #1, but it’s huge so it gets its own point.) All of the above is still true when I screw up. I may get distracted or stubborn and wander off the path pretty frequently, but I still want to follow Him and I still let Him lead me back every time. That counts. He knows my heart better than I do. I learned that there’s a difference between weakness and rebellion, and weak love is still real love.

3. The Bible is good stuff.

I mean, duh, but my enjoyment of the Bible grew like crazy when I was eating it up, searching it out, praying it, and singing it in the context of prayer and worship where my only priority was to love Jesus. I fell in love with stories I’d known since kindergarten and passages I could never make sense of in high school. The Bible is fun and super interesting when you read it with the Holy Spirit.

4. Jesus is worthy of everything.

“Worthy” just means “deserving.” Jesus deserves the full love and worship of every person, and He deserves to rule the earth forever. Everything that exists is meant to be in submission to Him– not only because He’s Creator GOD, but He actually deserves it because He is the most kind, humble, just, and wise person to ever exist. He proved it on the cross. We can confidently invite Him to rule this earth and our hearts because we trust that He can do a really, really good job.

5. Worship and intercession are a big deal and they go really well together.

Worship is super important because it’s the 24/7 activity of heaven and God fully deserves it (see #4). Intercession is super important because that’s step 1 in how we partner with God to make the things that He wants to happen happen. Combined, worship and prayer support each other and help our hearts stay connected to what we’re doing– and this effect, like, quintuples when we put the Word smack dab in the middle of everything we pray and sing. Hence, the 24/7 prayer (and worship) room.

6. God really loves Israel, like, a lot.

I’m not even sure what my theology of Israel was before IHOPU. I understood some things and had other things a little mixed up, but I had certainly never wept over Jesus’ heart for His people before. Praying through passages like Zechariah 2 pierced me. Jesus REALLY, REALLY loves and is COMMITTED to the people He originally chose as His bride. He’s really, really faithful–all His promises are yes and amen (2 Corinthians 1:20)–and He will fulfill every word He ever spoke.

7. Jesus is coming soon and we are part of the story.

He promised He would come, and by all indications, this era of history is nearing a climax. There will be a pretty dramatic series of events leading up to Jesus standing on the earth again, and we’re not supposed to be on the sidelines or swept out of the way. Jesus wants us awake, informed, and involved in what He’s doing. That starts now, because Jesus is looking for a global Church that is fully mature and aligned with Him when He comes. A major way we grow into that is by giving ourselves wholeheartedly to prayer and worship (see #5). Another major way is through evangelism and missions. Jesus said that the gospel will be preached to all nations before the end. There are actually a number of passages that talk about 24/7 prayer and worship arising from all over the earth in the final generation of history (some of my favourites are Isaiah 24, Isaiah 42, Malachi 1:11, and Luke 18:1-8)… so worship, prayer, and missions together are HUGE elements in the story of Jesus’ return.

I would have agreed with these points even before IHOPU, but while I was there, spending hours nearly every day in the prayer room, they were driven much more deeply into my heart. Of course they’re profound truths, and I am so grateful that I now have conviction, passion, and personal heart experience with each of them, but they’re so simple!

I admit, in my first few months I walked around with my head spinning thinking “WHOA, I HAD NO IDEA! THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE HAVE BEEN REVEALED TO ME!”, and yeah, I was studying areas of the Bible I hadn’t before and hearing a wider range of opinions on a few details, but by my senior year I realised that none of what I was learning was dramatically new revelation. The leaders aren’t prophets or theological pioneers, and IHOPKC reads the same Bible as everyone else. (We just sometimes preach it a little more dramatically!) Besides, at the end of the day, the more intriguing and debatable theories aren’t what I cherish. It’s simple truths like these.

I found that as I gave my time and attention to prayer and worship, simple truths came alive to me. Jesus loves me, He wants me to talk to Him, and He wants me to be part of His story.

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YWAM Week of Prayer

On February 13, 2016January 5, 2019 By CaitlynIn IHOPKC Life

YWAM prayer week 2 — IHOPU students praying in the YWAM Kansas City chapel!

During our monthly Global Bridegroom Fast (GBF) week February 1-5, IHOPU continued a tradition we started last semester: the YWAM week of prayer, in which IHOPU partnered with the local YWAM base to keep a prayer room running with live worship and intercession all day long for five days. All of our JPR (the student-led Justice Prayer Room) activities were moved to YWAM Kansas City, and being in that prayer room counted for our regular prayer room hours. Classes were cancelled for GBF, so I got to spend hours every day at the YWAM base. On Tuesday I ended up being there for 8 hours straight, and Wednesday night I ended up leading a devotional worship set 11pm-midnight with only one other person in the room. It felt like I was back in my little prayer room in Dallas!

This was a really special and refreshing time for me. Especially on Tuesday when I left my phone at home, I was completely locked into the worship and intercession with no distractions. I really, really love smaller prayer rooms, especially when I know almost everyone in the room. During the times I was there, most of the people in the room were IHOPU students while the YWAM students had other activities scheduled, and almost all of them were actively engaged nearly the whole time. It felt very much like praying with family. This is why I love our JPR sets, and getting to do this in partnership with YWAM was incredibly precious.

We spent the week praying for YWAM’s mission team being sent to the island of St. Vincent. As part of a 7+ year plan to reevangelise and disciple the nations of the Caribbean, they are aiming at preaching the gospel to 50,000 people (half the island’s population) during the month of February with 21 evangelistic event nights. It was such a privilege to join with YWAM and see yet another beautiful collision of the missions movement and the prayer movement.

This is what Jesus said is supposed to happen. “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.” (Matthew 9:37-38) The praying and the sending were never supposed to be separated.

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