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Vision for Intimacy with Jesus in Your Prayer Life

Filed under: Intercession, Intimacy, Leadership

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.

Tags: Intercession, Intimacy with Jesus, Luke18, Prayer, Prayer Meetings, sustaining prayer meetings, Vision

Practical Ways to Lead Spontaneous Singing

Filed under: Intercession

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.

Tags: IHOP-KC, Intercession, Leading Prayer Meetings, Luke18, Prayer, Prayer Leading, Prayer Meetings, Singing, Spontaneous Singing, Worship, Worship Leading

Luke18: Planting and Fueling Prayer Furnaces

Filed under: Intercession

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.

Click here to visit our leadership team page.

Luke18 Fuel Schools

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.

We also offer Fuel Schools during different times of the year. Click here if you would like to invite a Fuel School to your area.

Luke18 Leadership Intensives

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

Click here for more information on Intensives and for an application

Tags: IHOP, IHOP-KC, Intercession, Luke18, Prayer, Prayer Furnaces, Prayer Meetings

Leadership in Prayer Meetings: The Briefing

Filed under: Intercession

When gathering together for a prayer meeting whether its 5 or 50 it is going to be different than your Matthew 6 prayer closet alone time with God. The purpose of a corporate prayer meeting (Joel 2; Acts 1; 2:46; 4:24-31, etc.) is much different than the purpose you have for your personal devotional time. So getting on the same page before you enter into a corporate time of prayer will be super helpful for making your prayer meetings enjoyable and effective.

Here at IHOP-KC, before every 2 hour prayer meeting, we have a 20 minute briefing. In the military the mission briefing is used under operational conditions to provide information, to give specific instructions, or to instill an appreciation of a mission. Our briefings operate much of the same way providing information on specific prayer focuses, giving specific instructions related to worship songs or related to communicating between the prayer leader and worship leader as well as instilling vision for intercession or sharing the burden we might have for a specific prayer focus. Your briefing doesn’t have to be 20 minutes, it could be 5 or 10. However, the unity it brings in a corporate prayer meeting makes the next 2 hours much more enjoyable and much less stressful.

Here are some practical tips in having a briefing before you begin your prayer meeting:

• Who should be at the briefing?
  Anyone involved in leading or helping to lead the prayer meeting. This includes, but not limited to, the prayer leader for that meeting, the worship leader, worship team members, sound tech and other intercessors wanting to help lead.
• Who should lead the briefing?
  The prayer leader and/or worship leader
• What should we cover at the briefing?
  At minimum you will want the prayer leader to share the prayer focus. However if you have a worship team you will want to allow time for the worship leader to distribute chord charts to the musicians and go over any specific musical instruction. The briefing is also a great time to give vision (the why) to your core team for persistent, consistent corporate prayer meetings as well as going over different parts of how (the model) to best communicate when you are going into prayer, choruses, small group or ministry time, or going back into worship during the prayer meeting.
• When should we start having briefings since it’s only the 5 of us?
  I would start having briefings as soon as I start having prayer meetings. Even if its just 2 of you that can make it, having 2 people who are on the same page is better than having 5 of you who are all on different pages in regards to the next hour or two you will be praying together. Also, if you introduce it from the beginning it won’t be a new thing you have to introduce after your prayer meeting starts growing.

Tags: Briefing, Intercession, Prayer Meetings