There are many things that can give us a sense of urgency in our prayer life. This can range from sickness of family or friends, praying for a crisis in the land or praying for an upcoming election.
However, in addition to the urgency these things bring, we want to have an overarching urgency in our prayer life concerning the Jesus’ return to earth. When we study what the Bible has to say about the future we are empowered to be victorious in love and power during the most glorious and difficult time in history. It prepares us to actively participate under Jesus in the end-time events and to rightly interpret Jesus’ leadership in the coming global crisis, instead of being offended by Him (Matt. 11:6).
Studying the End Times awakens urgency in us for intercession, knowing that our prayers may minimize evil and increase victory. Understanding end-time scriptures strengthens our confidence in God’s sovereignty by knowing that He is in control and is never surprised.
When you look at scripture you find that most of the prophets spoke about the future “Day of the Lord” which relates to the events of Jesus’ coming. There are actually more than 150 chapters in the Bible where 51% or more are focused on the end times.
In light of the overwhelming amount of information the scriptures have to say about the End Times we should be preparing ourselves and others for the King’s return to the earth. The key to preparing is to consistently and prayerfully study what the scriptures say about the End Times. Jesus called this “watching.” Daniel received revelation of God’s prophetic purposes for this generation by diligently studying what God’s Word said about it (Jer. 29:10-14). He embraced a lifestyle of Bible study with prayer and fasting (Dan. 9:2-4) to receive “skill to understand” (Dan 9:22).
“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.” (Ezekiel 22:30)
God is seeking and searching for those who will intercede, who will “stand in the gap”, for people and nations of peoples. Sin requires a response from God, however God does not want anyone to perish but that all would come to repentance.
This may seem obvious but many of us do not have a vision for the importance of intercession in our prayer life. And even for those of us that do we must be encouraged again and again of God’s purpose for and response to intercession.
Without Moses’ intercession for God’s people, God’s wrath would have been poured out against His people many more times than it was for their sin (Exodus 32:7-14; Deuteronomy 9:8-9, 12-20, 23-27; Psalms 106:23). When man’s sin requires a response from God we can change the outcome through intercession like Moses did in Exodus 32:7-14… “So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”
When we get a vision that intercession is both an intimate partnership and an agreement with God we will begin to enter into it with a greater passion to touch the heart of God. God wants us to know His heart and more so, to feel the very emotions of His heart, then to hear us cry out for the longings of His heart to come to pass. We begin to feel and do what the Father feels and does.
“For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest…” (Isaiah 62:1)
“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the Lord, do not keep silent, and give Him no rest…” (Isaiah 62:6)
When we partner with the heart of God in intercession we are being the means by which God’s will is established on earth. God does not act apart from human beings partnering with His heart. In intercession we come into agreement with God and what God promised to do. When we ask God to do what He desires to do, we are declaring that we agree that His desires are good, and that His desires have become our desires.
Below are some practical ways to encourage ourselves and others in gaining vision for intercession:
Experience God’s Beauty (Intimate Partnership) by
Simply asking God to reveal His beauty to you
Turning the Word in to dialogue with God
Praying in the Spirit and Singing Spontaneously
Experience God’s Desires (Agreement w/ God) by
Praying the prayers of Scripture
Practice praying positive prayers
Pray Aloud, Leading Others in Intercession (when applicable to your prayer meeting)
Other Scriptures on Intercession:
Genesis 18:23-32; Job 16:21; Lamentation 2:18-19; Joel 2:17; Acts 12:5-12;
Christmas has passed, our annual Onething conference is over and 2009 has finally come to an end. It’s hard to believe but the new year has started whether I was ready for it or not. Life on the missions base here in Kansas City is getting back to semi-normal; that is if we can get through all of this snow and negative degree temperatures that have been plaguing this city for the past few weeks.
Our awakening services have began again and we are continuing to see God move on the hearts of people. I love this stuff. I love hearing the testimonies of people who were bound by addictions, wrong mindsets and so many other things testifying of the power of God on their lives in setting them free.
Even at our Onething conference, which drew over 20,000 people this year, we saw so many set free from wrong mindsets, self-hatred, a spirit of fear, religious spirits, depression, suicide, and anxiety bringing joy and freedom, a greater love for the Word, and a passion for Jesus and souls. In addition, in the last 2 months or so we have had more than 900 salvations and baptisms.
God is on the move. He is up to something. We have also seen the convergence and greater partnership between Toronto Vineyard, Bethel Church, YWAM, Urbana and the Call2All with IHOP-KC in the last 2 months. My soul is stirred with a greater passion for the Word, a desire to intercede for others to make wrong things right and give myself to doing His works of justice for those who are oppressed.
I know many of you joined with us at the Onething conference online as we had more than 25,000 viewers over the web. I want to encourage you to continue to join us for the awakening services every Wed – Sat at ihop.org or on GodTV. But more so, that you would press deeper into the Word and intercession for others; that you would carve out more time in each day to pray, to be in the Word and to give yourself to works of justice.
“Therefore… I beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1)
Having a vision for intimacy with Jesus as a foundation to your prayer meeting will keep the focus of your meetings on encountering Jesus. If our primary focus is on encountering God and not on speaking to and binding Satan our prayer meetings will be enjoyable and sustainable. The latter element is there at times, but it is not our primary and regular focus. We want to create an environment that makes it easy for people to come and rest in the presence of God and meet with our creator face to face. When our prayer meetings are focused on the preeminence and supremacy of Jesus Christ, all of our circumstances are diminished, our enemies are defeated and we can stand in confidence in the place of prayer.
When we have a vision for intimacy with Jesus in the place of prayer, we gain a right view of God as a tender father and a passionate bridegroom. Prayer positions us to be energized to love God and to love people. We love others far better as we regularly encounter God’s heart. When we connect with God regularly, we gain the “oil of intimacy” spoken of in Mt. 25:3-4.
“That the world may know that You… have loved them as You have loved me.” (Jn. 17:23)
In John 17:23 Jesus prayed that we would know that the Father loves us as much as the Father loves the Son. That is an astounding statement. The uncreated God loves me just as much as God loves Jesus.
Get a vision for encountering the living God and His heart of unrelenting love in the place of prayer. Encountering truths like these in the place of prayer are essential to sustaining prayer long term.
Once you have started your prayer meeting and you have a few weeks, months or even a year under your belt, how do you sustain it? How do you keep your prayer meeting going week after week? How do you fuel people to keep the fire burning? You must have vision, and your vision must be fueled by the message.
Most people will try anything once, but there must be a vision for something greater than yourself, greater than your meeting in order to sustain your prayer meeting over years. Your vision must transcend your own ability to accomplish goals, yet also be clear enough for people to wrap their mind around and get behind.
Your vision must also be founded up on the message. Here at IHOP-KC we have determined 4 primary pillars that fuel everything that we do. These 4 pillars are intimacy with Jesus, intercession, end-times, and justice. The messages that come out of IHOP-KC will fall into one of these categories and the direction that we are headed is filtered through these as well.
I have found even in my personal life that setting these 4 areas as a foundation for personal devotion, bible study and setting up an action plan for the Word has catapulted my time with God. My encouragement to you is to make your vision personal. Give yourself, your time and your energy to your vision in a personal way, not just for “your ministry.” Let the vision God has given you be your guide regardless of if you “have a ministry” that is leading others. Once you have a vision, get an action plan for the Word based on your vision and begin to unpack the layers of that vision. You can’t sell others on your vision if you are not sold yourself.
This is a 20 minute clip of the Awakening service where they were praying for college campuses and for boldness for evangelism. View more video testimonies, baptisms and the IHOPU Student Awakening services each night from 6pm – Midnight at www.ihop.org/watch.
This article is for worship leaders and prayer leaders of a prayer meeting that is of any size. I hope this encourages you to try incorporating spontaneous singing into your prayer meeting.
“I will sing with the Spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.” (1 Cor. 14:14-15)
There are two ways to sing spontaneously. First, we can do this by singing from the Scriptures. Secondly, we can sing with our spirit in tongues.
Paul says in Ephesians 5 to be filled with the Spirit by speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. The Word of God does not return void, so when we sing the scriptures we are singing and speaking forth words of life. In 2 Chronicles 29:30 it says “King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to sing praise to the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the seer. So they sang praises with gladness…”
Paul also talks of the necessity of praying in the Spirit with all perseverance. “…praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints…” (Eph. 6:18). When we praying and sing in the spirit we are speaking mysteries, or in other words speaking inspired ideas to God and receiving inspired ideas from God in our prayers and our spontaneous singing. “For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; However, in the Spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Cor. 14:2).
When To Go Into Spontaneous Singing
You can go into spontaneous singing at many different times during a prayer meeting, however it usually works best at the end of a worship song. After singing a known worship song, continue with an easy chord progression and begin to sing spontaneously with your spirit or in your understanding from scriptures singing about the truths of who God is.
At IHOP-KC we incorporate spontaneous singing as a regular part of the prayer meeting entering into it after a worship song. This also acts as a signal to the prayer leader that we are moving from a time of “Worship Songs” to “Spontaneous Singing.” This is helpful because the prayer leader knows that a time of “Intercession” will usually come next.
Pick Easy Chord Progressions
Picking an easy chord progression is really helpful to the singers on the worship team, but also very helpful for everyone else in the room who want to join. When we make it easy for people to join in with us by avoiding difficult chord progressions, we help bring the room in unity as well as invite people to engage with the Lord by singing their own song to the Lord.
Another thing for the worship leader to remember is to sing melodies that are in a range that 90% of the room can sing. Avoid singing in a very high octave and avoid highlighting one particular person during this time. Everyone should sing together all at once so as to invite everyone to lift their voice to the Lord together.
Make Clear the Time to Begin Spontaneous Singing
It is important for the worship leader to clearly signal that it is time to begin spontaneous singing so that everyone will feel free to sing out with boldness, especially singers on the worship team. Two ways to bring clarity to the beginning of spontaneous singing are:
The worship leader simply begins to sing in the spirit and not in English. This way the singers, the prayer leader and everyone in the room know that the worship leader wants to begin singing spontaneous singing.
The worship leader can say, “Lift your voices to the Lord.” This is another way that lets everyone know it is time to enter into spontaneous singing.
Either the worship leader or the prayer leader can also encourage the people in the room to lift their voices and sing to the Lord their own song that is on their heart. This encouragement helps everyone know what is going on if it is new to them as well as gives them freedom and permission to boldly engage.
As some of you know I work for a ministry of the IHOP-KC Missions Base called Luke18 that is dedicated to seeing prayer furnaces planted and fueled all across the world with an emphasis on young adults. As a result I want to write an article highlighting this ministry as well as encourage you to get involved in your own city.
I first discovered Luke18 from a friend of mine named Thai about 6 months ago. He was a campus missionary for many years at UC Berkeley and is now a missionary here at IHOP-KC. I jumped on the team lead by Wes Martin about a month or two before Luke18′s Summer Leadership Program started.
The Vision of Luke18
Luke18 seeks to partner with the Holy Spirit as He raises up a prayer movement across the globe in preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our main emphasis right now is on college campuses. We seek to establish persistent and corporate prayer gatherings on every college campus in America called Prayer Furnaces. Our desire is to equip college students with the necessary equipping and teaching, to not only establish a Prayer Furnace, but more importantly to sustain it on their respective campuses.
Our vision is to call forth students to stand in uncompromised allegiance to Jesus; those who desire to see holiness and righteousness on their campuses. Luke18 seeks students who long to be holy and who desire to fast and pray until God breaks in.
Luke18 Regional Coaches
The Luke18 staff consists of full-time regional coaches who connect with students to provide practical preparation on how to start and sustain a prayer meeting on their campus, and equip the students who attend in the values of the Sacred Charge. The coaches supply biblical messages on the subjects of intimacy with Jesus, the end times, the spirit of prophecy, biblical justice, and intercession. They also communicate with students in an online environment to give prophetic encouragement and cast vision for each campus’s prayer furnace.
After every Onething conference across the U.S. there is a Luke18 Fuel School that is the follow-up ministry to the conference. It is our desire to see corporate, consistent, and unified prayer furnaces contending for a historic breakthrough of God’s presence, affecting every sphere of society with the glory and majesty of Jesus. Our vision for Luke18 Fuel Schools is to equip young people with the necessary tools to plant and lead a prayer furnace. Each Fuel School focuses on the details of how to start, how to grow, and how to sustain a prayer furnace for years to come.
Luke18 also offers a six-week leadership training intensive on how to start, build, and sustain prayer furnaces. This intensive is intended for those who desire to see persistent worship and prayer for revival established in their region or campus. The training will focus on topics such as how to start, lead, and sustain consistent, corporate, and enjoyable prayer meetings; intimacy with God; the end times; the Sermon on the Mount; doing works of justice; and focused intercession for revival.
During the intensive you have hands-on experience of leading and participating in corporate prayer. There will be round-table discussions following these times with various IHOP–KC leaders, discussing the prayer movement, various models, and what the Spirit is saying in this hour of human history. Sessions are taught by IHOP–KC leaders including Mike Bickle, Lou Engle, Dwayne Roberts, and the Luke18 team.
2010 Leadership Intensive Dates
Spring track – Monday, Feb 1, 2010–Friday, March 19, 2010
Summer track – Monday, June 7, 2010–Friday, July 23, 2010
Fall track – Monday, September 6, 2010–Friday, October 22, 2010
I’ve talked a bit about how to start a prayer meeting as well as the different aspects involved in leading a prayer meeting. In this article I’m going to cover the question “how do I sustain my prayer meeting?”
Small Groups (Developing Community)
Acts 2:42-46 gives us a great example of how the early churched sustained prayer and their community. It says they continued steadfastly in 4 things: 1) the apostles’ doctrine, 2) fellowship, 3) the breaking of bread, and 4) in prayers. In Acts 2:46 it says “continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house…”
If we are going to sustain our prayer meetings it must be coupled with the study of the word and fellowship. Add to your weekly prayer meeting weekly small groups where you can build community while going deep in the word together and even add in a bit of food to the mix.
A couple of things I want to mention are to make the prayer meeting and the small groups on 2 different days. Make your prayer meeting the primary thing with your small group the thing that is adjustable. As your prayer meeting grows increase the number of small groups. Find leaders who are willing to lead a bible study and care about other people.
If your community is connected outside the prayer meeting then your prayer meeting will be stronger and last. Be blessed and keep the fire burning.
I want to start by breaking this down a bit and answering the question “what is a chorus?” A chorus is a simple phrase or sentence sung repetitively. The main point of a chorus is to bring a group to singing in unison.
More people will sing the chorus if it is easy to sing. Many worship leaders and chorus leaders get caught up in the complexity and poetry of creating the “perfect” chorus and create more difficulty for themselves. The easier for the non-musical person to sing the better, especially in a prayer meeting. In most situations about 80-90% of the people in any given prayer meeting or church service are not gifted musically, but love to sing and love music.
The Purpose of Choruses in Prayer Meetings
Corporate Prayer Choruses are sung to help everyone in the prayer meeting to intercede in unison. Also, when you sing your prayers your heart connects at a much deeper level than when you speak your prayers.
In a prayer meeting choruses are created spontaneously, are sung AFTER a person has prayed and are PRAYERS (in song) on the same topic of the person that just prayed. They are not generic choruses about anything and everything, but specific to the prayer that was just offered to God. When the chorus is created it should be sung at minimum 8-12 times.
Choruses should be easy on-ramps for everyone to join in so that we can have as many people in the prayer meeting as possible singing the same prayer. They should be easy melodies, with phrases that are easy to remember, in an easy vocal range without forcing too many words in so that it is easy for ungifted singers to participate quickly.
If you haven’t added choruses to your prayer meetings yet, I would recommend finding a worship leader and giving it a try. Once you do you’ll be surprised at the level of enjoyment it brings to your prayer meeting.
As some of you know I work for a ministry of the 
Subscribe to the RSS Feed
