Tuesday, 24 November 2009 03:32 PM EST Karen Tom

Thousands of Christians from across the U.S. have been flocking to Kansas City, Mo., where a Bible college class at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) has sparked nightly revival services.

More than 1,600 people have been packing into IHOP’s ministry school auditorium to pray, worship and experience what many are describing as spiritual renewal.

(Photo: Scott Townsley, courtesy of the IHOP–KC Missions Base)

At services held last weekend, participants shared testimonies of healing from chronic back pain and migraines, deliverance from shame and self-hatred, and experiencing God’s love for the first time. Similar testimonies have been sent from around the world, where the services are being viewed via live Web stream.

Wesley Hall, provost of IHOP’s Bible school, said several people have been saved and 80 people baptized since Nov. 11, when students in his 9 a.m. class started breaking into small groups and praying for one another.  

“Some were lying on the floor, others were weeping, and some were laughing,” said Hall, who led the class with Allen Hood, president of the ministry school. “So I asked the Lord for a release of Pentecost, and it just snowballed. Other teachers brought their classes in, and the Holy Spirit moved for 15 hours, with reports of physical healings and deliverance.”

Almost 2,000 people from the Kansas City area heard about the “awakening” and came to the campus to participate. Since then the meetings, held nightly from 6 p.m. until midnight, have been drawing capacity crowds to the ministry school’s sanctuary.

College students are also gathering across the country to watch the services online. Testimonies have poured in from such schools as Georgia Tech, Wheaton College, Asbury College and the University of California-Berkeley, where students reportedly are experiencing great joy, deep peace, and emotional and physical healing.

“We will continue these nightly meetings as the Holy Spirit leads us,” IHOP founder Mike Bickle co-wrote in a letter with prayer leader Lou Engle, founder of TheCall, which has offices in Kansas City. “We earnestly pray that this awakening will continue, as our nation is in desperate need of another great awakening in this hour.”

Hall said the younger generation is very broken and looking for authenticity. “It’s the students who used to make fun of the manifestations who are now being hit with the power of God,” he said. “Those students don’t want to fake anything or create a culture. Rather, they want to experience God.”

And while Hall said he is grateful for the renewal, he and Hood are praying for more. He said most of the people being touched by the meetings are Christians.

“We want to see the lost saved and the culture changed,” Hall said. “We want this to grow and expand. We want an anointing where no known disease would stand against the people of God. We want to see this on the body of Christ worldwide, the third Great Awakening.”

Bickle said IHOP is not the next place of revival, but “one of many places that the Lord is visiting in our nation.”

“We believe that many other places are soon to receive a visitation of the Holy Spirit,” he told Charisma.

Bickle says the meetings will continue in the run up to IHOP’s One Thing conference Dec. 28-31 in Kansas City. Leaders expect some 20,000 students to attend, and seek to mobilize them to evangelize their cities and campuses in partnership with area houses of prayer.

Bickle and Engle said the conference would also address “a new wave of confusion that is systematically seducing many young adults into deception.”

“Sincere young people whose hearts were once ablaze for Jesus are being lured into compromise on foundational biblical truths and practices, while at the same time they are increasing in works of compassion and justice,” the ministers said.

They believe the renewal meetings are a sign that the Holy Spirit will release His power at the conference.

“We must confront the confusion that is pouring forth from many pulpits as well as from the halls of Washington,” they wrote. “It is time to draw a line in the sand. We must hear what the Spirit is saying, and we must act on it. The Spirit will confirm the truth with demonstrations of power.”

We stand at a critical juncture in our nation’s history. It is time to encounter God and to take action. The Holy Spirit is visiting His people with power. At the same time, the powers of darkness are raging against the moral fabric of our nation. The light is getting brighter as the darkness gets darker. Many of you will have heard of the spiritual awakening at our Bible school. On Wednesday, November 11, the Spirit fell on a class for more than 15 hours. The word spread quickly and over 2,000 people spontaneously gathered in the auditorium from all over Kansas City, as deliverance and physical healings continued to increase. We canceled our classes for the next week so that each one of our 1,000 students and interns could receive from the Spirit in an extended way. We decided to meet nightly from 6:00pm to midnight because His manifest presence continues to increase. Visitors are pouring in from many places across America to partake of this spiritual awakening. We will continue these evening meetings until our onething conference, December 28–31, 2009, when we are expecting 20,000 young adults to gather for worship, teaching, and to participate in the supernatural ministry of the Spirit. Last year, over 16,000 young adults attended this conference. We are still hearing testimonies of lives that were changed. This year, we are expecting to receive even more from the Spirit. We believe that this will be a historic and important conference, and encourage you to attend. The theme for onething’09 is “What is the Spirit saying to the Church?” Our team will proclaim what we believe the Spirit is prophetically speaking to the Church in this hour. We will also share practical ways in which we can “adopt” high schools and colleges across our nation as we envision young people to impact each sphere of society with works of justice and acts of compassion. At the conference, we will have extended ministry times to receive healing, renewal, and impartation from the Spirit. We believe that the Spirit will release His power at this conference, as evidenced by what He is currently doing in our evening meetings. Mark Anderson, a senior international leader in YWAM who also works closely with Campus Crusade for Christ, will host forums for leaders to discuss how we can systematically evangelize entire cities and campuses in partnership with the houses of prayer in their area. Mark has remarkable insight that comes from his 30 years of successful ministry in evangelism. The Lord has given him some bold new strategies for this hour. The crisis in our nation is real. The serpentine stranglehold of abortion continues to squeeze the life out of over 4,000 wombs daily. Sexual immorality, both heterosexual and homosexual, are reaching epic heights of perversity. The number of women and children being trafficked into the dark underbelly of the sex industry in our cities is growing at an alarming rate. Entire school systems are giving way to darkness. The sanctity of marriage is under siege, threatening to destroy the moral foundations of our nation. We will also address the growing crisis that is emerging in many churches across America. A new wave of confusion is systematically seducing many young adults into deception. Sincere young people whose hearts were once ablaze for Jesus are being allured into compromise on foundational biblical truths and practices, while at the same time they are increasing in works of compassion and justice. No amount of increased ministry activity can “balance out” their profound spiritual compromises. In the name of tolerance, they are settling for a humanistic and “politically correct” theology that trivializes the glory of Jesus. Many young adult ministries are falling prey to this as they are seeking “relevance” that dulls the razor’s edge of truth for the sake of man’s approval. It is not enough to mention Jesus’ name if they deny foundational truths about Him. Our works of justice must flow from deep allegiance to Jesus and the Scripture. Our nation has never stood on such a precarious footing as today. The onslaught of spiritual darkness is increasing in our classrooms, boardrooms, courtrooms, and bedrooms. We must confront the confusion that is pouring forth from many pulpits as well as from the halls of Washington. It is time to draw a line in the sand. We must hear what the Spirit is saying and we must act on it. The Spirit will confirm the truth with demonstrations of power. It is darkest before the dawn. Our hearts are full of faith. We know another historic “Great Awakening” is soon to sweep across our nation. We look with confidence to God’s promise: “In the last days . . . I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:17-21). All nations will receive the witness of kingdom with power (Mt. 24:14; Rev. 7:9). What a privilege to live in this awesome hour of history. At this very hour, Jesus is raising up young adults who are being mobilized to cry out in night and day prayer, win the lost, heal the sick, and do works of compassion and justice as they impact the very fabric of our society. Please join us in Kansas City from December 28–31. The onething’09 conference is FREE. You can register at IHOP.org/onething09 With passion for Jesus, Mike Bickle and Lou Engle

If you read this blog, I imagine you have been keeping up with the awakening meetings taking place at IHOP-KC. If by some remarkable chance you haven’t heard, the Holy Spirit has been moving on us (especially on our student body) in an unusual way lately. You can watch live meetings Wednesday-Sunday, starting at 6pm (Central), as well as watch some amazing archives and testimonies, at www.ihop.org/watch.

You can read the explanation of what is going on at the IHOP website. Plus, you can go read a couple of great posts by Zack Hensley and Randy Bohlender  with some further thoughts on the meetings. As I consider what has already been said, along with what could be said, and how much I’m still trying to get my own bearings on things right now, it is hard to decide how to write about this. At one level, I have to say something — we are having healings, deliverances, and salvations breaking out after all — but at another level, what can I say? (Except for: ”Seriously folks, if you haven’t tuned in to any of it yet, get on www.ihop.org/watch sometime this Wed-Sunday.”)

This has something to do with the pronounced lack of blog posts so far this month.

Yet as I was reading through the book of Luke recently, I was struck with two passages that exactly speak to what I’ve been feeling about this season of awakening.

I was reading in Luke 17, and ran across this in verses 7-10:

And which of you, having a servant plowing or tending sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and sit down to eat’? But will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare something for my supper, and gird yourself and serve me till I have eaten and drunk, and afterward you will eat and drink’? Does he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I think not. So likewise you, when you have done all those things which you are commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable servants. We have done what was our duty to do.’

If I may venture an interpretation of this analogy, I think of “plowing” as laboring in the place of prayer, and “tending sheep” as taking care of the daily pastoral needs of the people of God (taken from the ABCOSTOTMOTS… Amanda Beattie’s Commentary of Stuff That Occured to Me on the Spot).  From a distance, these may sound like rather glamorous things — “Ooh, I want to be an intercessor”, or “I want to be a pastor”. But in the day to day, there is a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, mostly worked out in the mundaneness of life with little recognition and frequent opposition.

Praying in a focused way is hard work, kind of like plowing — long hours pushing something through stubborn terrain, encountering all kinds of obstacles on the way, preparing for a yet-future harvest you wonder if you’ll ever see. Pastoring people is hard work, kind of like tending sheep — long hours caring for, feeding, protecting, and keeping track of creatures who may or may not have much desire or appreciation for being led.

It’s no accident that Jesus chose these two jobs for His illustration. Surely if anyone deserved a break and a few kudos after their job, it was the servant-plowman and the servant-shepherd.

Not so, according to this.

Now of course, the point is not that God actually looks down His nose at us and works us to the bone. The point is that God does not owe us anything, no matter how awesome we think we are (or are not) or how awesome anyone else thinks we are (or are not). Our biggest efforts and most dedicated labors are, in reality, nothing more than our debt to the One who has given us everything. We are not entitled to so much as a pat on the back. If He chose, He could work us into the ground without ever saying a single “thank you”, simply because we are obligated to honor and serve Him as God.

He is the Creator. We are the created. We were the fallen. He is the Redeemer. We have zero leverage to begin haggling for our fair share of the pie, because we are just “unprofitable servants”. We brought nothing to the relationship, so we can demand nothing of it. Entitlement has no place. Prideful self-aggrandizing has no place. We obey God, not because we are building credit and earning favor from Him, but because it is right for us to do so.

As I read this passage, it gave me pause. I understood all right what Jesus was saying, but I was sure I had read a parable with a much different angle just a few chapters earlier…

I flipped back in my Bible a page or two and found it in Luke 12:36-37:

…and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.

There is something very important to notice about this passge: This is not normal. What’s normal is what we see Jesus talking about in chapter 17 (the passage I cited above). Servants do their master’s bidding because it’s their job. The master doesn’t fall all over himself to reward the servants for doing what he hired/bought them to do in the first place. Especially in the ancient Near East, no one would ever expect otherwise.

But when Jesus is telling us what He is like, we see that He is not the kind of master who sets us to work without a nod of thanks. He is the kind of Master who serves us. He owes us nothing, and we owe Him unceasing gifts of our time and energy. But He actually stoops down to feed us and strengthen us, even though we have absolutely zero entitlement to such treatment. He doesn’t just provide the meal, either — He Himself gets His hands dirty, so to speak, going above and beyond any expectation to serve us and lavish affection on us. He is not distant, only concerned with preserving His rank; He is meek and lowly (Matt 11:29), and He joyfully sets about serving His “unprofitable servants”.

This is what has been overwhelming me so much with the IHOPU Student Awakening meetings. At one level, I can look back at the ten-year history this place has in night and day prayer, and say: “This is the kind of thing we’ve been praying for! God is answering our prayers!” But on another level, I can’t say: “Well it’s about time! I wondered when God was going to get His act in gear and do something in this city, for crying out loud.”

God isn’t answering prayers because He is obligated to. He is answering them becuase He is mind-blowingly generous and kind. He is no more obligated to release healing than a master is obligated to wait on his servants’ tables — or wash their feet. But Jesus does both.

Every time I get to take a good look across that FSM auditorium and drink in the sights and sounds, I am profoundly overwhelmed. I see students who were mired in depression two weeks ago, now laughing hysterically. I see men and women who hobbled with pain into the building and danced out the door a few hours later. I see a couple thousand people really engaging in worship and prayer for six solid hours, not because they’re simply toughing it out, but because they actually want to be there. I see hundreds of young (and not-so-young) people giving their lives in wholearted surrender to God’s calling on their life. I see dozens of people a night getting baptized, declaring themselves dead to sin and rising to newness of life in Christ. I feel how my own heart has been disentangled from some real emotional burdens and confirmed in the Lord’s affection and calling on my life.

And the thing that brings tears to my eyes as I see this is: God is so kind to us. We don’t deserve any of this. And He’s giving it to us anyway.

There is much that could be said about these meetings. Much has been said. I’m sure I will have more to say in the days and weeks to come. But above all I am floored by the gentle kindness of the God who serves His servants. I am astounded by the generous God who gives freely of Himself to those He has purchased. I am grateful for all He has done for us and excited to see where He is leading us next.

Revival is a phrase that often gets used to describe moves of the Holy Spirit upon a people. In some ways I understand its usage, in other ways I believe it’s misapplied. Revival in my understanding is a full scale event where believers are sanctified, and unbelievers are convicted of their sin and mass repentance happens. The result of revival would be a town, city, or region thriving in the message of the gospel and thriving in lifestyles that reflect the Sermon on the Mount as many embrace the transforming power and grace of the Holy Spirit.

The fruit of revival:  It’s masses of human beings saved. It’s Christians walking in the endless power of The Holy Spirit and not the lethargy of endless entertainment. It’s believers being confident in love, no longer deficient in love. It’s the lame walking, It’s the blind seeing, It’s the power of sickness and demonic oppression being broken off of image bearers of God. It’s millions walking in agreement with the cross energized with the hope and message of the second advent. It’s the Spirit and the Bride crying: COME!

I am in my 8^th year of asking the Lord for such revival before judgment from heaven is righteously released on this nation. What is currently happening at IHOP is not yet that. However I do believe it is the Preface to the chapters of Revival soon to be written by many believers all over the world. After 6 to 8 to 10 hours of prayer a day for nearly eight years I’m finally seeing some of those weak prayers answered. It is a beautiful thing.

The Holy Spirit is awakening hearts at IHOP and in Kansas City not because there is a special anointing for this ministry or this city to receive the Holy Spirit in ways others can’t, it’s that we’ve simply been faithful to say “Come” and God is proving His faithfulness to that cry.

Thousands in Kansas City are pouring into our little conference center and are leaving with clear physical healings, water baptized, free from bitterness, fear, depression, oppression, and saved. I’ve been watching marriages get restored, emotional wounds healed, and countless pastors, teachers, and missionaries tired from their labors get refreshed in life changing ways. Friends of mine who I have always prayed for, who had issues of insomnia, anxiety, bitterness, and wounds from past abuse are getting free in ways I’ve never seen. Their eyes reflect the light of Christ for the first time. For many I know I am seeing the hope and peace of Christ on their faces like I have not seen in my entire history of knowing them. Including my self, my life has been changed.

I grew up loving Jesus. Not in the sentimental sense but in the deep devotional sense. When I was eight, nine, and ten, years old I would spend hours by myself talking to the Lord in my back yard, prophesying to people I had never met. Jesus was not a deistic metaphor but a personal friend who walked and talked with me. I used to get up with my Dad before work and read to him Matthew 5, 6, and 7 every morning. When I was in Jr. high school I carried my Bible everywhere I went. I fasted and prayed for my classmates, even had their names on a white board in my bed room. In the midst of all of this, I was made fun of, physically beaten up on a regular basis, and had no friends at 14 to speak of.

At some point before I was 15 I had had enough. I was tired of being “radical” I was tired of my classmates and kids in the neighborhood beating me up and belittling me for my faith. I was tired of my friends at youth group telling me to “Chill out” and not be so “intense” about my faith. So I quit, and shut my heart down. Since then I have had the hardest time loving Jesus apart from shame. Since I quit I have always loved him, but there was always a steady anxiousness in my heart to venture too far down the road to devotion. There was always this fear of being vulnerable in prayer before the Lord, the way I used to when He was my best friend. Jesus had become a doctrine, a Theology that I was faithful to. He was a living and active man that I truly did love, but from a distance. I would preach about Him with real conviction, share about Him with others in real tenderness, but ALWAYS felt like there was a wall in my heart that was reserved for just me, and I was too terrified to let Him in there. Last week this all changed.

It was my third night of attending the Awakening meetings. I had been greatly touched by what The Holy Spirit was doing. Watching friends get set free, praying for teens of mine to hear the Lord; even crying some what during worship. But there I was, standing in a sea of people praying for this young man to get healed when a friend of mine who I greatly respect got up and gave a testimony about how the Lord had revealed His love to him. I decided to do something I hadn’t done in years. Stop praying for people, and hold out my hands and receive prayer.

My friend’s testimony had given me real boldness. So I “maned up”. I was tiered of praying for people to receive the love of Christ, when I hadn’t felt it in years. I was tired of asking for revival when my soul felt like a dry wasteland. I was sick and tired of preaching about the love of God at conferences and being envious of the people in the pews receiving love from God when my heart felt num. I was tired of being Martha in the kitchen while Mary got to sit at Jesus’ feet. I voiced this to the Lord, and just when I did I felt like my shoulder was on fire.

A couple of friends and leaders I knew had gathered around me, and began to pray for me. I was shocked that I was feeling some sort of physical manifestation, especially since I was the biggest skeptic of such things. My friend Jennifer Roberts, not knowing anything about my life as a kid or as a teenager began to prophecy to me my life’s story. She began to tell me that when I was 14 I quit, and the enemy had been robbing me of feeling the love of God like I did when I was a kid. Then she said the phrase: “Zack you are a Mary meant to sit at the feet of Jesus and you’ve been trying to be a Martha”. The phrase felt like someone punched me in the gut. I bent over and wept like I’ve never wept in public. As I did I felt the joy of the Father’s delight in my life. I felt the love of God like I had when I was a kid. I felt free to be able to love God with my whole heart, when I hadn’t before. I will never be the same.

Is revival happening at IHOP? Not yet. Is the Holy Spirit moving in such a way to prepare us and the rest of the nation to faithful steward a full scale revival of souls that is coming soon? Yes.

The day is coming, and is nearly here when the prayers of many saints will be answered and Revival will sweep through this land in a way that will make the Great Awakening of Jonathan Edwards look small. Not because the prayers of the saints today are any different than those in the 1700’s, but because a Jewish man, fully divine named Jesus is following through on His promise to come back to the Earth to judge the Living and the Dead, and His desire is that none should perish. This tiny, little, blip on the move of the spirit radar in Kansas City gives my heart courage that it’s soon. And make no bones about it, This blip will soon become a roar.

Even so Lord, Come!

After praying for folks last night at the IHOP Student Awakening meeting, I realized how tiring it can be.  I mean physically.  You feel great while you are there, then you leave and it hits you, this is work!  I thought of Bob Jones telling Mike that, when the “big” healing move comes, there will be no end to the lines.  I now realize what that will be like in a small way.  I have been given a grace to stand in the midst of this and pray for people, and I can see where this is going.  Long ministry times, a need for stamina in the Lord, and wisdom to take times of rest.  I thought of Wes Hall, and other leaders that are there 6 hours every night and I realized they too need rest – and prayer for wisdom.  I’ve read about Evan Roberts and John Alexander Dowie and the lack of rest was their undoing.  When you go without adequate rest for an extended period of time, you can be susceptible to all kinds of impressions and thoughts, leaving you vulnerable to being thrown way off track, as they were.  I don’t know how long this will go, but pray for all of us working here, that we will take nights off, and choose to get enough sleep.  The longer this goes, the more important this will be.

Okay, that’s a little corny, but there is a lot of it going here at IHOP right now.  I’m sure many of you have seen and or heard about the current move of the Spirit going on at IHOP.  It started a week ago last Thursday at the weekly IHOPU chapel and it has grown  from there.  Primarily focused amongst the sutdents, it is also touching some older folks who haven’t experienced some of what God is doing right now.  What is that?  Well, I see this as more of the wine movement started in 1994 at Toronto.  It is mostly about God’s tremendous love for us, and the healing it brings to the human heart to encounter that in real Holy Spirit truth.   Self hatred, depression, suicidal thoughts, and rejection are all being broken off of people.  Women, young and some old, are telling of being free of shame from past memories for the first time.  And people are confessing all kinds of sin perpetrated against them that has left them closed off from God and people, even as they look fine on the outside.  There has also been an abundance of physical healings.  You may have seen some of this on the webstream, which is free during this outpouring by the way.  Best of all, 41 people were baptised Sunday night!

Personally, I had a major encounter with my Father’s love in the prayer room a few weeks ago.  Out of that, I’ve felt a tremendous peace about this whole thing, feeling called to mostly pray for people during ministry times and have a blast watching God touch, heal and play with His children.  So, tune in, come if you can, and pray for this move.  We’d love to see it grow in length, breadth and the numbers impacted.

The Holy Spirit has been visiting the International House of Prayer in Kansas City during the past week (you can watch for free at www.ihop.org/watch).

Mike Bickle & Lou Engle demonstrate the right and wrong way to catch people who fall under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

The right way.

The wrong way.

The results.

IHOP-KC is going to be running the webstream FREE for the next three nights 6pm – midnight Kansas City time so for Florida it will be 7pm – 1am.   Let’s all continue to praise, rejoice, pray and worship with our family in KC.  We are feeling a unity of the body coming together!

Beloved of God,

I just wanted to take a moment and share with you what the Lord is doing. We had an incredible weekend in Raleigh/Durham. IHOP-KC sent out a team of missionaries to hold a Onething regional conference.

It was a powerful time of encountering God in the WORD and in the SPIRIT. Many peoples lives were eternally changed this weekend for the Glory of God in Christ Jesus. I know only eternity will show the fruit of this weekend. Praise be to our God who has loved us, and who will always love us! His goodness and mercy are overwhelming!

With that said, I want to share some highlights and prayer request…

God’s favor was upon me this weekend and IHOP-AC. God began to speak to the IHOP-KC (kansas city) leadership concerning me and IHOP-AC. They asked me to come on stage and share with over 1600 people the vision and mandate that God has released for “day and night” prayer in Central NC. It was powerful and God graced me to speak as an oracle in those brief moments. All praise to Jesus. It is His glory not mine.

After the conference, Dwayne Roberts who is a senior leader and Director over Onething ministries asked to speak with me concerning some things that I said. He began to share with me some things that they have been speaking about in KC recently and how I was in agreement with what God has been speaking to their leadership team. He then proceeded to randomly become the answer to a prayer that I had asked God two night earlier for. My cell phone had been messing up and going black for a whole week. I told Gracey how I would like a new one, one that would serve my calling. I asked God to release to me an IPhone. Not because I was lusting after the latest technology, but b/c it would help me fulfill my calling as a tool for ministry. I did not see it coming, but Dwayne said God told me to give this to you. I was a brand new IPhone 3gs. He told me how a girl threw it on stage and said she was tearing down her idol. Dwayne attempted to return it, she said, NO!!! ITS AN IDOL… seeing the music that was on the phone, I now see why God was telling her to get it out of her life. There was contemporary Christian to ganster rap glorifying sex, money and drugs. God is soo good to free her from bondage and bless me in the same time. I still can’t believe that Dwayne Roberts was talking to me about the Lord and then, randomly… Gives me an answered prayer. God is funny : )

Last, Dwayne invited me and Gracey to come out in December to the conference in KC. He personally asked us to come for the Leadership Summit that will take place the following days after the conference. He said that he strongly felt the Lord telling us to come and represent Central NC.

So please pray for us as we are seeking God to release funds for us to drive out to Kansas City this new years. Also, we are planning to spend Christmas with Gracey’s family in Indiana. So there is a urgent need for prayer and break in of finances to do all God is calling us to. He is faithful to do all He desires, as He partners with His people, unto the glory of His name in the nations of the earth!

You are loved, God bless (Matt 5,6,7)

John and Gracey

The draw to deep meditative prayer is so appealing.  From the very first moment of encountering the Lord I have wanted to sit and meditate on Him.  Just wanting to get to know Him more.  Longing for His presence.  Which is a commandment to do.  Did you know that?  It’s a commandment to pursue the presence of the Lord? Psalm 105:4-Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His presence continually.  Most translations replace “presence” with “face”.  But the heart of the Hebrew used is presence.  He tells us to be with Him.

It can be a chore to enter into the “deep” of Gods heart but I’ve found that the biggest problem is in that initial hump of just sitting down and calming my inner man and asking the Lord to come and speak to me.  Actually that is the hardest part…and sometimes it can be REALLY discouraging to do.  But when I finally slow down and everything is silent(which almost ALWAYS takes me an hour or so fyi) it is so worth it.  The Word becomes so much more alive.  Prayer changes from asking God for stuff to being in an actual conversation with Him.  Sitting and listening, I’m finding, is only possible in this place(for me anyways…not that I can’t here God speak anytime, but in this place I’m intentionally engaging in conversation w/ Him and not receiving a random thought or impression from Him).  Important note- God loves it when we sit and talk w/ Him in prayer no matter what it looks like.  Short or long!  I’m just discussing prayer that is long, uninterrupted, meditative prayer.

Our fast paced culture is not very beneficial to deep meditative prayer.  But even longing for it is pleasing to the Lord.  But when we finally do this our lives with the Lord change.  How we view Him, our hunger for Him increases, how we treat others and view world circumstances all changes.  As we gaze upon the Lord He begins to open the eyes of our heart and lets us see things more clearly.  Time with Him is of the utmost importance and meditative pray is helpful in this.

I wont lie, it takes time to do this.  A prayer walk is a life long journey.  And a steady prayer life requires much discipline.  I believe that the more consistent I become in sitting down, slowing my inner man and asking the Lord for His presence, the easier it becomes.  With practice makes perfection.  Granted every day is different for me, some days I wake up happy as can be…others, a cranky frog.  But being faithful in prayer, along with reading His Word, is the most important thing we can do.  And it takes real perseverance to keep it.

Reality: I’m just as good as any other Joe at this.  There’s no step action plan to a perfect prayer life with the Lord and the books on the “how to’s” are either WAY to watered down or are more geared towards inner healing.  If you want a good book on prayer I have a few suggestions(email me or comment and I can recomend) but…your best bet is to get your knees dirty and jump right in.

He loves our weak words, no matter how week they may be!

My friend Kendall, who is a “missionary of prayer” at IHOP-KC, recently sent a challenge out to those in the Church.  It is based on one simple command: Love.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

John 13:34-35 ESV

Read his article here, and be challenged to love – regardless – today and tomorrow.

“The Steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to and end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” –Lamentations 3:22-23

Struggles in life are common. Everyone has their kryptonite when it comes to having a consistent and fruitful relationship with the living God. In my adolescent days pornography was the temptation and stumbling block that I had to overcome. In my adult years, the green rock that drains all hope and strength from my heart and soul is anxiety. A few years ago it was common for me to lie in bed breaking into a hot sweat, anxious about any gamut of things life can make one anxious about. At times I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night. Tossing and turning trying to calm down my fears. My problem fed a psychosis of fear that I thought would never break. It got so bad that even with nothing to fear I would fear sleep itself. I was a afraid I wouldn’t be able to sleep, and if I missed a night of sleep I’d worry that I would miss the next night of sleep then the next, ultimately ending in  death. I know sounds absolutely absurd, and it is, but fear has the all inclusive ability to overtake one’s entire thoughts and emotions. For me this is what fear did, it took away my dignity and convinced me that I was a lesser man then I was.

I figured spiritual discipline was the answer to my problem. I filled my time reading books like St. John of the Cross’ “Dark night of the Soul” and St. Bonaventure’s “The life of St. Francis”. Now don’t get me wrong, I love spiritual disciplines and I love some of the Old Catholic Saints even if some of their conclusions would be best thrown out, but I feel the same way about Luther and Calvin. I would pace in my bed room with my Bible open praying in the Spirit, asking forgiveness for every sin I had ever committed. I would break off curses, bind the enemy, and chastise myself for feeling so anxious. Then once I had finished repenting I concluded that God still wasn’t pleased with my attempt at devotion because I still had anxiety lingering. I rescheduled my time so I spent 12 hours a day in prayer, studied theology during my none prayer time, and worked out in order to “buffet my body”.  These times were not innately fruitless; I got in shape, got a handle on scripture like never before, and probably read about 3 large theological books a week. As far as discipline goes it was a good schedule. As far as my heart and understanding of God goes, there was much to be desired.

This season of my life culminated into a single weekend that ultimately changed my heart and outlook on God forever. It was obvious to my friends and fellow workers in ministry that I needed some sort of break. I had been on this rigorous schedule for about a year and the pleasantness I had once carried had faded. I was becoming depressed, and anxiety was growing not weakening. I decided to take a three day break at a retreat center up in the woods. Staying in the vein of discipline I decided not to take anything but my Bible, Fire Within by Thomas Dubay, and a notepad. I figured I’d do some hiking, do some writing, and meet God in any way I possibly could. Instead of my time being relaxing, my time was tormenting. I spent all three days weeping over my inability to connect with God. I wrote pages and pages detailing all the way I was failing God in my life. I made a list of all the things I wanted to change about my life. I wanted to spend money better. I wanted to cut out any and all entertainment out of my life figuring I didn’t deserve to have fun when millions in the world are dying without the knowledge of God.  I wanted to never sin so God would never be displeased with me. The last day of the weekend as I was driving back to Kansas City completely dejected at the lack fruit my weekend produced. It was then I heard the Lord say to me: “I delight in you”. It was a line that struck me in the gut. I pulled over to the side of the highway with tears streaming down my face as I hung my head. Then he spoke to me again, “lift up your head, my son you have been loved and are loved.” I got out of my truck and walked over to a bridge just off the highway overshadowing a small trickle of water. I leaned on the railing and wept thanking Him for actually speaking to me.

I had spent the better part of a year, trying to earn something that was already mine. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists trying so desperately to earn the affection of my creator and savior that he had already endowed me with. I don’t regret that year of my life I spent seeking God with everything I had and in every way possible. To this day I pray I’m always pursuing God with everything I possibly can; I just also pray I do it in the grace of Christ. The problem I was facing was confidence. I was not confident in His love for me, I was insecure in it. When he spoke to me that day after my retreat it woke me up. I realized that the answer to my anxiety, and desire to encounter God wasn’t found in my ability to strive but in my ability to rest. Rest in the grace he has provided in the cross. Rest in the love he expresses daily. Rest in the provision we has given me. It produced in my heart Gratefulness, and gratefulness slowly melted away the anxiety and fear that had plagued my soul. It lead me to intimacy.

Last week we looked at how God has loved us. Looking at three of the primary expressions of His love for us in history, today we will look at three ways God loves us. Three ways that he expresses His love for us daily. Again the goal of the first three posts on Intimacy is first to get an understanding of God’s love for us, so we can then know how to live our life in a way that best loves and glorifies Him.

Grace. “For the Grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self controlled, upright, and Godly lives in the present age. Waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ who gave himself for us to redeem us from lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.” – Titus 2:11-14 Grace is one of the first and clearest ways He expresses His love to us. In our day, grace is a message that has been misunderstood. Grace for many is a license to do as you please. It’s a message that has been preached defining our sin as superfluous because His grace simply covers our sin. Promoting the idea that we need not worry about how we act. However in the misapplication of grace we have cheapened this beautiful gift that is renewed to us every day.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Jn. 14:15

As I talked about last week we are image bearers of God that have been broken in the image we bear by sin. Since the fall of man, sin has been the cause of much corruption. Sickness, disease, poverty, fear, depression, sexual immorality, lust, greed, pride, murder, etc. have kept humanity imprisoned in a sinful cycle un able to live in the peace we were created to live, and have kept us as objects of His wrath. The grace of God appeared placing the wrath of God we deserved on the son, and covered our sins so we could live in peace. However that was not the complete work of grace. Grace appears daily. Grace is the power of God to keep us from falling into the sin, and thus separating us from him. It does indeed cover our sin, but it also trains us to love him by keeping His commandments.

Grace takes depraved human beings, incapable of real love, joy, and peace and gives them the strength to overcome fear, sin and shame. Grace is the daily mercy of the Lord guiding us, and training us to live holy and righteous; transcendent from the effects of the fall. Grace is Jesus perfecting our faith daily. Lovingly keeping us from stumbling (Jude 24) and sustaining us until the day of our Blessed hope, Jesus Christ returns and completes our salvation by glorifying us with Him. Grace is one of the greatest acts of love God daily gives us.

Intercession. “But if anyone does sin, We have an advocate before the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” I Jn. 2:1; “He forever lives to make intercession for them” (us) Heb. 7:25

The second way He Loves us is through Intercession.

Jesus is our great high priest. He has voluntarily taken the position of intercession before the Father for you and me. Every passing day Jesus is our faithful witness (Rev.1:5) standing before the Father pleading our case. He atones for our sins, asking the Holy Spirit to reveal His love, His jealousy, his glory, his wisdom to us on the Earth. Jesus forever mentions your name, my name before the Father.

Often Jesus feels far off. When we pray, go to work, go to school, live our lives we feel like we are distant at best, of no importance at worst. This is where building our understanding of God’s love purely on how we feel can lead us to a misconception of His love. Instead we can rest and have confidence in the truth; You are on the Mind of God! (Psalm 139:17-18 “How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand.”)The ministry of Jesus as our Great High Priest guarantees that we are not only on His mind, but that his thoughts toward us the redeemed or not of condemnation but of great compassion. This allows us to live life with confidence. We have a God in Heaven fighting for us, thinking about us, loving us amidst every trial, pain, fear, or accusation.

Holy Spirit; Revelation “But the helper Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send, will teach you all things.” Jn 14:26

One of the greatest daily expressions of God’s love is how He reveals to us himself through the Holy Spirit. Just as I reveal my heart in vulnerable way with my close friends, God has opened up His heart to us through the Holy Spirit so that we may know Him better. “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has in store of those who love Him, These things God has Revealed through His Spirit, the Spirit that searched the deep things of the father’s heart… (We have received) The Spirit that is from God, that we may understand the things freely given us by God.” (ICor2:9-12) Catch that? The deep things of the Father’s heart.

God has not abandoned us to our own defenses, Jesus has not left us as orphans, but he has left with us the divine imprint of His nature to dwell within us. Paul speaks of this to the church in Colossi. He tells them not to be ignorant of the mystery of Christ living within us; our hope for Glory. (Col. 1:27) The Holy Spirit gives us direct access to God’s heart, and testifies the truth of Jesus to our hearts.

The Holy Spirit’s activity manifests in a vast number of ways. First, through the Bible. The Word is living and active. When we read it our Spirit comes alive with real power as we touch the truth of who we are and who God is. Second, through Prophecy. We can hear the voice of the Living God, whether in the Word, in our Spirit’s, or in another. Prophecy is often one of the most dynamic ways the Spirit moves. Whether to warn us, convict us, comfort us, or edify us; it’s how Jesus express His heart to us. Third, through Conviction. When we falter in our quest for righteousness or stray from the truth the Holy Spirit is faithful to lovingly convict, and discipline us so we stay in the way of salvation. Finally through special revelation. Dreams, visions, audible hearings of God’s voice, words of wisdom, words of knowledge etc, are all ways he reveals His love, His intention, and His purpose to us who abide in Him.

All three of these expressions of God’s love should cause us to fall into wonder at who He is, and who He is toward us. I have practicals that we will go over in time concerning “How to” have intimacy with Jesus, but to be clear there is no formula. There is no amount of spiritual discipline, no amount of striving, no amount of righteousness you can gain on your own accord that will cause you to enter into a deep relationship with Jesus. We only enter in through His grace and intercession as stay attentive to the Holy Spirit as He teaches us more about this blessed God we so deeply desire to meet.

These are the notes from ihop.org’s free resources, I may have added a note or two in there as well.

I.                   Standing at the Crucial Juncture

Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? (Joel 1:2)

1. Daniel Lim, our CEO, preached a message to IHOP on Aug. 23^rd titled, Yoked with the Burden of the Lord.  He set before us some shocking statistics concerning 21^st century America and called IHOP to contend for historical revival.
2. The Emerging Prospect of Post-Christian America

Builders generation  (1924-1944) – 65% church engagement
Boomers generation  (1945-1965) – 35% church engagement
Buster generation (1966-1983) – 15% church engagement
Bridger generation[1] (born after 1984) – 4% church engagement

1. Critical Missiological Milestones:

2% of population – the reality is probably here to stay
10% of population – the reality is probably capable of spontaneous reproduction
16% of population – threshold of catalytic reproduction /multiplication /movement.

1. USA has the 5^th largest population of population between 5 to 14 year-old after India, China, Indonesia and Nigeria. Leonard Ravenhill declared that every generation’s preachers will be held accountable for their generation

Human ingenuity, ideas, ideology, philosophy, political activitism, strategy and methodology fall short to turn a nation to back to God at a revolutionary force. We need an outpouring of the Spirit, and we need a historical revival in America. We need a historical revival that will shift the fundamental DNA of the civilization in America with revolutionary magnitude. If the statistics are accurately reflecting the downward spiral trend in the last 80 years, then no revival or renewal movement in the 20^th century except the pre-1920s move of God has managed to turn this tide of “exodus” of worshippers. The moves of God in the 1940s, 1960-70s may have slowed it down.[2]

1. As we give God thanks for every renewal and refreshing which has come in the last 80 years and specifically the renewals in Pensacola and Toronto in the 90’s, we must realize that renewals and revivals that lead to awakenings are not the same thing.  The Church in America needs a revival; the culture in America needs a massive spiritual awakening to the glory of Christ Jesus.
2. My heart was personally connected to America’s need for revival in a renewed way during the 40 day 7-7-07 fast leading up to TheCall Nashville.  On the morning of the 33^rd day I awoke from an encounter that has put intensity in my heart concerning the future of my sons and this next generation of Americans.  The Lord’s interpretation of the historic moment produced a different cry in me.
   Note from Sierra: I will, from memory, recount what Allen said in the message about this point.  Allen described this encounter. He was getting an aerial view of Kansas City, and the Lord sat before Him at a bench like a Judge, and Allen was excited and was asking “Lord, are you going to send revival?” The Lord had a green folder, and He opened it and began looking through pages, and asked Allen, “What about California? What about the drunkeness of California?” And Allen realized that every page the Lord was flipping through was recounting the iniquity of the nation. Allen’s heard went from expectant to broken, and he realized that the nation had great iniquity, great drunkeness… that the nation deserves wrath, the nation does not seek God. And Allen began thinking of his sons, the next generation, and what will become of them when there are so few left standing in the gap. Allen began to scream “NOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOO!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!! MERCY!!!! MERCY!!! NOOOOOOO!!!” and he could feel a meter, like a needle point moving to tell the way something is tilting, and the needle was moving from Justice to Mercy… that is all I remember. -Sierra
3. Today we stand at a critical juncture.  The prophet Jeremiah stated, “O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart!  My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.”  My question today is twofold.  Has IHOP-KC heard the sound of the trumpet and have we responded with a commensurate burden.  In 1999 David Wilkerson wrote America’s Last Call Sept. 11^th came and went.  Katrina followed suit.  Mike had the encounter of the angel holding the trumpet to his lips and an open vision of tanks driving across the land.  A global financial crisis still exists.  Yet, have we heard the sound of the trumpet.  Has IHOP turned?  Have we connected our hearts to the crisis?
4. America is way past the hour of having conferences on how to make our quiet times a little more bearable.  Developing a history in God in this season is not simply a matter of making our quiet times more enjoyable.  It is a matter of life and death.  We need more than a few more tools to improve our devotional lives.
5. An individual and corporate history in God must be cultivated that can bear the weight of rogue nations with nuclear capabilities, flu’s and pandemics, water shortages, biological threats, terrorist attacks, virtual perversion, the dullness of Western humanistic society, a global false religion, a demonized world ruler, and the confrontation with the Holy One who sees all and hears all and holds all men to account.

II.                Joel’s Crisis

Hear this, you elders, And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land! Has anything like this happened in your days, Or even in the days of your fathers? 3 Tell your children about it, Let your children tell their children, And their children another generation. 4 What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten; What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten; And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten. (Joel 1:2-4)

1. In the aftermath of a national disaster, Joel draws the nation into the urgency of the hour through an opening question, “Has anything like this happened in your day, or even in the days of your fathers?”  Something monumental and shocking has taken place to all the living adults in the land.  Before the rebuilding and replanting strategy kicks into gear, the prophet seizes the moment to ask the deeper question.
2. A locust plague has swept through the land, and Israel finds herself in the peril of the aftermath.  The chewing locust, swarming locust, crawling locust, and consuming locust have devastated the nation.  Locust plagues do not always destroy an economy; however, Joel’s description of the plague paints a bleak picture.  The crops are destroyed, the trees are stripped, and next year’s seed is in danger.  Drought compounds the problem as fire spreads throughout the barren land, and the herds are dying of hunger and thirst.
3. The land has experienced a financial catastrophe.  The agricultural engine to their financial system is destroyed.  In a short time the locust plague has brought the nation to financial collapse and the people to a crisis of survival.  The prophet begs the question in verse 16, “Is not the food cut off before our eyes?”
4. The prophet exhorts in Joel 1:5-13 every class of society to awaken and wail over the loss of the crops.  The people must awaken and sober up.  The crisis is just beginning.  The front edge of the storm has passed over, but the back side of the hurricane will follow with greater severity.  A religious crisis is upon the nation.  The grain and drink offerings are cut off from the land.  The Temple system is shaken.  The priests are called upon to mourn and wail as the very core of their religious expression is stripped from them.
5. The only appropriate response is to “lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.”  Their response must equal the crisis.  They must mourn as a virgin who has lost her husband suddenly before the consecration of the marriage can occur.  This is an unthinkable tragedy.  The crisis is urgent.
6. In verse fourteen Joel gives the only answer to the crisis.  The priests must move beyond their individual travail.  They are instructed to consecrate a corporate gathering of prayer, fasting, and repentance.  At the forefront of the relief and recovery effort must be a call to corporate repentance through gatherings of prayer and fasting. A corporate disaster calls for a corporate response.  Shut everything down and bring the nation together for prayer and fasting.
7. Why such an extreme measure?  Why pull the entire nation together?  The prophet gives the explanation in verse 14.  It is the Lord who has done this!  The Deuteronomic curses are operating in the land.  The drought and locust plague have been sent from the hand of the Lord.    Joel announces to the people that it is the Lord, who directs the wind and the plague, who has brought the destruction upon the people.

Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty. (Joel 1:15)

1. When God’s judgments are evident among the people of God, what is the proper response? When the Day of the Lord is at hand how do the people of God respond?  At the formation of the nation of Israel God set forth a clear path for returning to the Lord, which would turn His judgments into blessings. Moses instituted this path, Solomon solidified it, and the prophets, including Joel, called the people to it in seasons of compromise and judgment.
2. The nation must respond in the way God has prescribed in Deut. 28-29 and 2 Chron. 7:14.  Joel simply calls the people to return to the biblical prescription for crisis as set forth by the Lord to both Moses and Solomon.  Their response is a matter of life or death, for the prophet will soon tell us in chapter two that another day of the Lord is coming.  The locust plague is but the precursor.  If the people do not respond to the locust plague, God will send a military invasion.  The people of Joel’s day are at a crucial juncture between two crises.  They must discern the season rightly and respond biblically.

if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chron. 7:14)

III.             The Call to Hear and the Call to Awake

1. In many ways America finds herself much like the nation of Israel in the days of Joel.  An economic shaking is upon us similar to the prophet Joel in his day.  Standing at a crucial juncture in between two crises, the word comes to Joel and he pleads with the children of Israel to hear and give ear to the word of the Lord.  The people must hear the correct interpretation of the first crisis in order to respond correctly and avert the second crisis.
2. Joel’s prophecy begins with a charge for the leaders to hear.  The mandate to hear always begins with spiritual leadership.  The leaders must hear the words of Joel.  Every generation’s preachers will be held accountable for their generation. Oh, if we could have the testimony of Joshua, “Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the Lord” (Joshua 24:31).
3. Joel then calls the inhabitants of the land to give ear.  This is a corporate summons.  Elders and working class, adults and children are included in Joel’s charge to listen.  Joel is doing more than a call to physically hear his announcement.  The prophet is calling the people to active engagement of God’s interpretation of the prophetic moment. He is calling the people to discern the season and respond accordingly.
4. Hearing takes place when the spiritual senses of the person are awakened to the truths contained in the prophecy.  Suddenly, the content of the prophecy moves from the abstract to be pondered to the place of living understanding that demands a response. This is the reception of divine insight by the Spirit of wisdom and revelation.
5. Is. 50:4-5 – Jesus is described in this servant song as having an awakened ear.  The awakening enables Him to hear as one of the learned.  The verse immediately connects the listening ear with right response.  What you hear and how you hear will always display itself in behavior.  Why?  Rom. 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

“The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned. 5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear; And I was not rebellious, Nor did I turn away. (Is. 50:4-5)

1. Mark 4:24 points to the importance of what you hear.

Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. 25 For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”  (Mk. 4:24-25)

1. Luke 8:18 points to the importance of how you hear.  This speaks to the response required after hearing God’s Word.  We must hear in such a way that cultivates a response of more inquiry and more obedience to what is revealed.

Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him.”  (Luke 8:18)

1. Seven times in the gospels (Mt. 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mk. 4:9, 23; 7:16; Lk. 8:8; 14:35) and once in Rev. 13:9 Jesus exhorts, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”  Eight times in the Book of Revelation Jesus exhorts, “If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.”
2. Joel reveals to us that there are narrow windows in history when the correct interpretation must be given in order to set the prayer culture to preserve the next generation from oncoming judgment and destruction.  The prophetic voice calling Judah to hear exploded from 640-620 B.C. with Joel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah.
3. Many Bible students wonder at the lack of Joel’s mentioning of the king.  However, the king is not at the forefront of Joel’s mind, and the king’s devotion is not enough to avert the judgment of God.  King Josiah would show himself unusually devoted to Yahweh worship and work to reform the nation from their idolatrous worship.  Yet, the king’s efforts were only able to delay God’s judgment.  Joel is focused on establishing a corporate culture among the spiritual leadership and the people of the nation that will reveal a sincere repentance and true devotion.

IV.             Telling the Children and the Coming Military Crisis

1. After commanding the elders and inhabitants “to hear,” the prophet now commands them “to tell.”  They must open their mouths and side with truth for the sake of their children. The prophet means more than reciting the facts of the locust plague.  He is calling the people to interpret the facts in accordance with God’s promises in Deuteronomic Covenant.  In humility they must agree with God’s assessment and teach their children the proper response. Why?  Because, if they do not interpret the season rightly, instruct their children correctly, and respond biblically, a more devastating judgment is just around the corner.
2. In Deut. 28:32-42 the Lord warned the children of Israel that if the, locust plague, which is a financial shaking, does not turn the people, then He would send a military conflict to shake the people out of their sinful state.  The military conflict will cleanse the land of its bloodshed and exile the nation in a foreign land.  The land would rest from its defilement, and the people would abandon their idolatry in another land.
3. The prophet is urgently calling them to attention because another catastrophe is only a few decades away.  If the elders do not interpret the season rightly and warn their children, the children will be the ones who reap the consequences of the military destruction.  If elders do not heed the word of the Lord in Joel’s day, then the children will face Nebuchadnezzar in their day.
4. The elders must discern the season rightly and transmit the correct prophetic interpretation to the next generation.  Their children’s lives depend upon it.  The call of Joel comes as an urgent plea for the people to rightly reflect on the course of events and respond in the way which God requires.  If they do not, their children will not have the proper interpretive framework to interpret the Day of the Lord that is coming.  Their ears will be closed to the sound of the alarm.  If the elders do not interpret Joel rightly for the children, Jeremiah will sound like another eccentric prophet out of touch with the goodness of God.

V.                Three Hindrances to Discerning the HOur of Crisis Correctly

1. Many times we are tempted to bolster our personal comfort with biblical principles in the hour of crisis. In the initial shakings of crisis we are tempted to ease our conscious and bolster our comfort with more favorable biblical principles.  We must feed on the Word (including biblical principles) with an open heart so that we can hear the now word in the historic moment in which we live.
2. Biblical counsel differs depending on the historic situation.  Isaiah’s counsel concerning a foreign invader was vastly different from Jeremiah’s counsel.  Biblical principles must be matched with the proper prophetic interpretation.
3. Isaiah gives two prophesies concerning two different military invasions.  In chapters 36-37 Isaiah addresses the Assyrian invasion with a promise of God’s deliverance of Jerusalem.  Israel was to seek refuge in Jerusalem.  God would deliver the city, its Temple, and His people.  In chapter 39 Isaiah addressing Hezekiah’s hosting the Babylonian envoy announces that Babylon will invade the city and take its sons and the Temple treasury and articles.
4. In Jeremiah’s day the false prophets used Is. 36-37 to bolster their position that God would protect the city and its Temple from the onslaught of Nebuchadnezzar.  Jeremiah warned them of their false religion and vain hope.  The prophet Jeremiah called them to embrace the correct prophetic interpretation and give themselves up to Nebuchadnezzar.
5. Our religious traditions can often cloud our understanding.  The Pharisees understood many biblical principles and taught on them, yet they were unable to recognize the signs of the times.  The Pharisees had no room within their theological construct for a suffering and dying Messiah.

He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; 3 and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. (Mt. 16:2-3)

And the Father Himself, who sent Me, has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. 38 But you do not have His word abiding in you, because whom He sent, Him you do not believe. 39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. 40 But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.  (Jn. 5:37-40)

1. Many times we confuse our individual intercessory desires with the corporate status of the Church before God. God individual dealings with people may be very different than His corporate dealings with nations.  Our Jabez prayer culture is so focused on individual prosperity that we are slow to recognize God’s corporate dealings.  If Jabez would have prayed his prayer during Judges 6, his borders would have been expanded inside of a mountain cave and his harvest would have been plundered by the Midianites.  God’s individual dealings in a given season may be very different from His corporate dealings.
2. Examples from the Civil War.  Revival was taking place in both the Confederate and Union armies.  God was displaying great mercy individually as thousands came to the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus.  However, the nation would suffer the corporate judgment of losing over five hundred thousand men in a war required from the justice of God due to the enslavement of a people.

The Almighty has his own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offences! For it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!” If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether”[3]

1. Abraham receives blessings while Sodom and Gomorra receives judgment – Gen. 18
2. Moses receives favor from the Lord and sees His glory individually as Israel receives judgment for their worship of the golden calf in Ex. 32-34.

Then Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! 32 Yet now, if You will forgive their sin — but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” 33 And the LORD said to Moses,”Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. 34 Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin.” 35 So the LORD plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. (Ex. 32:31-35)

So the LORD said to Moses,”I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” 18 And he said, “Please, show me Your glory.” 19 Then He said, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” (Ex. 33:17-19)

1. Manasseh as in individual is shown mercy because of humbling himself before God; yet corporate judgment upon Israel is not removed in 2 Chron. 33.
2. His Humbling and Restoration – 2 Chron. 33:10-16
3. Corporate Judgment because of Manasseh

I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. (Jer. 15:4)

Surely at the commandment of the LORD this came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also because of the innocent blood that he had shed; for he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which the LORD would not pardon.(2 Kgs. 24:3-4)

1. Josiah
2. Ezekiel gives us insight on the individual dealings of God in the midst of corporate judgment.

“Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. 14 Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness,” says the Lord GOD. . . . 17 “Or if I bring a sword on that land, and say, ‘Sword, go through the land,’ and I cut off man and beast from it, 18 even though these three men were in it, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “they would deliver neither sons nor daughters, but only they themselves would be delivered. 19 “Or if I send a pestilence into that land and pour out My fury on it in blood, and cut off from it man and beast, 20 even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live,” says the Lord GOD, “they would deliver neither son nor daughter; they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness.” (Ez. 14:13-20)

1. The Rich Young Ruler and the Oncoming Destruction of Jerusalem – Mk. 10:17-22
2. This lack of understanding robs us from carrying a corporate burden for the church.
3. C. We fail to discern due to the lull between the two crises. We often mistake the temporary reprieve as a sign of God’s approval, rather than a demonstration of His longsuffering. 

Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, (Rom. 2:4-5)

VI.             The Warning of Josiah’s Reign

1. Church history is filled with examples of revivals which precede a military crisis.  America has many examples of revival preparing many young Americans for death in the Revolutionary, Civil, and World Wars.  The revival prepares young persons for eternity but fail to make cultural and systemic change before the oncoming judgment.  Thus, the judgment plays a crucial role in the systemic, cultural shift of the nation.
2. Rarer are those revivals which take place in time to prevent the oncoming military crisis, where the transformation penetrates to such an extent that it turns the potential judgment of God into a season of blessing and protection.  Hezekiah’s revival is one such example.  The Wesley revival is often said to have saved England from a bloody revolution such as the French experienced.
3. Joel reveals to us that there are narrow windows in history when the correct interpretation must be given in order to set the prayer culture to preserve the next generation from oncoming judgment and destruction.  The prophetic voice calling Judah to hear exploded from 640-620 B.C. with Joel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah.
4. Josiah’s
5. 640-620 B.C. – Joel, Habakkuk, Zephaniah Announce the Day of the Lord
6. 640 B.C. – Josiah’s Reign
7. 632 B.C. – Josiah’s Seeks the God of his father David
8. 628 B.C. – Josiah’s Purging of the High Places and Idolatry Begins
9. 627 B.C. – Jeremiah the Prophet Prophecies Impending Military Judgment
10. 622 B.C. – Josiah Discovers Restores Temple, Discovers the Law Books, and Restores True Worship.
11. 622 B.C. – Josiah Repents and Seeks the Prophetic Word from Huldah the Prophetess

Then she answered them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘Tell the man who sent you to Me, 24 “Thus says the LORD: ‘Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants, all the curses that are written in the book which they have read before the king of Judah, 25 because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath will be poured out on this place, and not be quenched.’”‘ 26 But as for the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, in this manner you shall speak to him, ‘Thus says the LORD God of Israel: “Concerning the words which you have heard — 27 because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before God when you heard His words against this place and against its inhabitants, and you humbled yourself before Me, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,” says the LORD. (2 Chron. 34:23-27)

1. 609 B.C. Josiah Dies and Idolatry Takes Root
2. 605 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar Invades Judah and the Exile Begins
3. The elders in Josiah’s day missed the prophetic window in which to change the culture to corporate prayer.  Thus, Josiah’s individual efforts did not enable the reform to transform the larger body and avert the oncoming judgment.  The window was missed, so that by the time Jeremiah came it was too late.  The revival fizzled out days after Josiah’s death, and within three months the people under king Jehoiakim returned to idolatry.  Within four years the Babylonians had begun their twenty year invasion process.
4. The invitation to hear is critical.  It is not a vague summons.  It is the difference between responding correctly at a key juncture of history that can set a culture of corporate prayer to turn the crisis into blessing.  We see this in Jesus’ warning some 40 years before Titus’ invasion.  We also see the preparation of the Churches in Asia Minor receiving the same invitation some decades before a season of coming trial.

Seven times in the gospels (Mt. 11:15; 13:9, 43; Mk. 4:9, 23; 7:16; Lk. 8:8; 14:35) and once in Rev. 13:9 Jesus exhorts, “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”  Eight times in the Book of Revelation Jesus exhorts, “If anyone has an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches.”

1. Joel gives an unusual glimmer of hope in 2:12-14.  If we hear the correct prophetic interpretation of the hour, announce it, and turn to the Lord with all of our heart through establishing a culture of corporate prayer and fasting, the Lord in His great love and kindness may relent from send the calamity and leave a blessing.  What we must realize is that the “perhaps” of God is directly related to our hearing at the crucial juncture of history.  If we miss the urgent cry from God for us to hear and discern correctly, our culture of revival prayer will be missed and the perhaps of God will not be realized.  Revival may come, but it will only prepare us for eternity.  It will not avert the crisis.

So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. 14 Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him — A grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God? (Joel 2:13-14)

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, 2 Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you! 3 Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’s anger. (Zeph. 2:1-3)

When I heard, my body trembled; My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops. (Hab. 3:16)

1. The sad reality is that Israel did not listen to the interpretation of her prophets.  God sent them prophets morning by morning in His great compassion, but they would not hear.  Jerusalem would also refuse Jesus’ warnings and kill Him as well.  However, God’s word will not return void.  It will accomplish all God’s purposes.  The locust plague came.  Titus did as well.  The prophet Joel will tell us another enemy of Israel shall come in the end times just as the Lord had spoken.

“From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the LORD has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened. 4 And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. 5 They said,’Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the LORD has given to you and your fathers forever and ever. (Jer. 25:3-5 in 605 B.C.)

And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy. 17 Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand. (2 Chron. 36:15-17)

VII.          Creating a Culture of Discernment and Prayer – Blowing Joel’s Two Trumpets

1. If the elders do not hear and discern the season correctly, they fail to set a corporate culture of prayer as the main communal activity.  However, the hardest thing for any generation to discern is their corporate standing before God. Everyone knows the famous saying, “The only thing that we’ve learned from history is that we’ve learned nothing from history.”
2. Jesus stated in Matthew 11:19, “Wisdom is justified by her children.” The wisdom of the lives of John the Baptist and Jesus could not be recognized in the present-tense moment. Also, the foolishness of the masses in their rejection of Jesus could not be discerned either. The successive generations would clearly see the fruit of Jesus life as well as the destruction of the religious establishment brought upon Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
3. Many things that look foolish to the masses today will be deemed as wise tomorrow, and many of the fads within the church right now will be deemed foolish tomorrow. Jesus addresses this at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. He emphatically declares that storms are coming. There is a great shaking coming that will reveal the quality of our labors. The man who built his house on the sand will be revealed as foolish, and the man who built his house on the rock will be revealed as wise on that day.

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.  26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”  (Mt. 7:24-27)

1. The prophet prophecies in the day of the locust plague.  The day of the Lord is upon the nation.  In chapter two the prophet introduces Israel to a future day of the Lord.  A military crisis is just around the corner.  Standing in between two crises, what is the nation to do?
2. In the heart of the prophecy Joel introduces the audience to two very distinct trumpets. These trumpets give the blueprint for turning the judgment of the Lord into deliverance and blessing.  Trumpets served two purposes in the Old Testament – to warn and to gather.  One is a trumpet to warn. The other is a trumpet to gather.
3. Joel 2:1 first announces, “Blow a trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the Day of the Lord is at hand.”   The nation must hear the proper prophetic interpretation of the moment.  The first trumpet is one of warning.  The prophet proclaims, “Blow a trumpet!  Sound an alarm!”  When a watchman saw an enemy on the horizon, he was to blow the trumpet in order to warn the city to prepare for war.  If the watchman failed to stay alert and did not sound the alarm, the city would surely be destroyed because of the watchman’s lack of alertness.
4. The prophet commands the watchman to sound an alarm.  Danger is on the horizon.  The locust plague is only the precursor.  The nation is set for a military invasion, and it is the Lord who is directing the army.
5. Presently, God wants to sound the alarm. He desires to bring forth Day of the Lord preachers who will cause the Church to tremble and who will give the people understanding of God’s heart in the midst of judgment. Jeremiah stated that in the last days we would understand God’s judgments perfectly. This will come because persons will stand in the counsel of the Lord, hearing, perceiving, and marking His word.

¹⁸ For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? ¹⁹ Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury – A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. ²⁰ The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. (Jeremiah 23:18-20)

1. These persons will discern the season and give biblical understanding to God’s people for the purpose of turning them to the Lord in sincerity and truth. Daniel describes these preachers.

³² Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. ³³ And those of the people who understand shall instruct many… (Daniel 11:32-33)

Those who are wise shall shine Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)

1. Joel declares that the first trumpet must be sounded. The Day of the Lord must be preached unto trembling. Without the preaching of the current prophetic season and the Day of the Lord, trembling will not be produced in the people. The declaration of the urgency of the hour is necessary and vital for the Church to lay down Church as business as usual and gather for prayer and fasting corporately.  Preaching is to create alarm in God’s people and cause them to tremble before His Word.
2. Without urgency the stadium may be filled for a day, but the heart is not rent and a culture of prayer is not formed. Without urgency the elders do not lay down their agenda for bigger and better in order to support continual solemn assemblies. Without urgency the elders and people do not reallocate their resources to prayer.
3. Urgency also changes the prayer focus.  Joel 2:17 reveals the content of the intercession that should be offered in these gatherings.  Without the revelation of the Day of the Lord, the intercession will not be, “Spare your people, O Lord.”  Rather, our cry in the gathering will be, “Make our ministries bigger, O God.”

Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar; Let them say, “Spare Your people, O LORD, And do not give Your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” (Joel 2:17)

VIII.       Application – How do We Move Forward?

1. We must discern the season rightly and repent for our inability to hear.
2. We must form a culture of prayer in our own lives, our families, and our churches.
3. We must not draw back from proclaiming the Day of the Lord while forming a culture of prayer.  We must rend our heart and not live disconnected from the sound of the alarm.  Do we identify with living in the land of judgment?  We must feel the need and the urgency for revival while leaning into God’s desire to be merciful.
4. We must give God no rest in prayer until the crisis is turned into blessing. We need to ask Holy Spirit to give us a burden for revival.
5. We must separate ourselves from all darkness and begin to engage God’s heart for the poor.  It is not the time to be taking short cuts on the issue of holiness.

Therefore, O king, let my advice be acceptable to you; break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity.” (Dan. 4:27)

1. We need to beware of Hezekiah’s response in Is. 39.

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: 6 ‘Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the LORD. 7 ‘And they shall take away some of your sons who will descend from you, whom you will beget; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’” 8 So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.” (Is. 39:5-8)

[2] Daniel Lim, FCF Service 8-23-09.

[3] Taken from Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.