Tools for a Life of Prayer: Revelation Through Meditation

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!

The Call: Azusa Now

 

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.

YWAM Week of Prayer

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.

Bringing Jesus Home

The past few days have been wonderful, overwhelming, emotional… but it’s okay because I like crying. 🙂 God’s doing good things inside me, although I’m not entirely sure what yet.

On Friday night I attended a night of the Call2All congress hosted at FCF. It’s a gathering of church leaders from around the world to put together world evangelism strategies. (Check out Call2All on Facebook with pictures of the event.) At the service I was at, they talked about what was going on with world evangelism and told us about a meeting that happened at Amsterdam 2000 with a few hundred leaders of the world’s most influential ministries such as YWAM and Campus Crusade. They were presented with a list of a couple hundred of the world’s remaining unreached people groups and by the end of the day, they had divided up the list among them and committed together to reach them all. Ideas were flying, partnerships were formed and strategies were devised. The Body of Christ has been mobilised and no corner of the planet is safe.

Also, China is mobilising thousands of missionaries in a divinely inspired “back to Jerusalem” movement aimed at spreading the gospel throughout all the Buddhist, Hindu, and Muslim nations geographically located between China and Israel. I saw many prominent evangelism leaders on stage at FCF on Friday night (along with the governor of Kansas) joining hands with underground church leaders in China (although most of them couldn’t be on stage because being recorded on camera would endanger their lives) and committing together to do this thing. I watched spiritual history being made.

Let me slow down and explain what this means. This is not another “That’s cool, one more step forward.” This means that the finish line is in sight and the Great Commission is more than likely going to be FINISHED in our lifetime. These leaders are expecting it to be complete in their lifetimes, and they’re all 60-70 years old!

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
(Matthew 28:19)

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
(Matthew 24:14)

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne… crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'”
(Revelation 7:9)

One of the main things Jesus is waiting for before he returns is this completing of the Great Commission. And let me repeat—THE FINISH LINE IS IN SIGHT. We are no longer in the “drop in the bucket” stage. We are witnessing the beginnings of the final sweep of the gospel in the nations before Jesus returns. Very, very soon, we’ll be living in Revelation.

Jesus could very possibly, dare I say easily, be back on Earth before I have grandkids. That is not a joke or wishful thinking. That is the evidence of the signs of the times.

This is not the era of “someday he’ll return, won’t that be nice” like it’s a sweet fluffy little “happily ever after” in the vague future. No, one day SOON he’s going to SPLIT THE SKY and come with a roar and the sound of a trumpet. (Is 64:1, 1 Thes 4:16) All of creation groans for that day. This planet is on the edge of its seat, waiting for the revealing of the sons of God on the day when the Firstborn comes home. (Rom 8:19, 23)

This is what I’ve been freaking out about. I cannot possibly live a “normal life” in light of this. The only thing that matters anymore is preparing his bride, bringing him home, and seeing him face to face. What will he say to me on that day? Will he honour me by standing like he did for Stephen? (Acts 7:56) Will he give me the crown of righteousness for those who have loved his appearing? (2 Tim 4:8) Will he say “Well done, good and faithful servant”? (Matt 5:21) A thousand years for now, most of what I’m now filling my life with will not matter. What will stand when my life is tested by fire? (1 Cor 3:12-15)

Peter said we can “hasten the day.” (2 Peter 3:12) There are two specific ways I know of to do this: through prayer/ worship and fulfilling the great commission. He is raising up a 24/7 prayer movement of a lovesick bride crying “Come!” (Rev 22:17) and he is raising up a missions movement to carry his glory to the ends of the earth. (Hab 2:14) And now, he is joining them together.

“They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west. Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One.”
(Isaiah 24:14-16a)

What will that look like for me? Do I join IHOPKC? Do I join YWAM? Do I live as an ordinary radical SAHHM (Stay At Home Homeschool Mom)? I don’t know. And for the time being, I am okay with that. There are a few things I know about my destiny. God’s been revealing these to me one by one, uniquely tailored to me. I was made to:

  • Pour out my worship like Mary of Bethany. (First Commandment)
  • Cast vision for who God is and what he’s doing. (Second Commandment and Great Commission)
  • Live with the clear endgame of Jesus’ return to marry his Bride and establish his Kingdom.

That is what my life is about. I want to bring Jesus home. And that day is suddenly looking very, very close.

People, get ready.