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The Sun Will Rise...

Mar
01

Why do we fast?

Many people across our nation are entering into a 40-day "Daniel" fast starting today, eating no meats or "pleasant food" from March 1st to April 9th. The Lord has given us an invitation to focus our prayers on Matthew 9:38, asking the "Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest", specifically to the college campuses of our nation.

I've been examining my own motives for entering into this fast, specifically related to the posture of my heart and the expectation I have for it. I've come to this major conclusion:

Fasting itself is not what moves God's heart. Our humility in fasting is what does.

The difference is subtle but very significant, and the way we respond to that statement sets us up for either great gratitude or great offense towards the Lord. I feel like I've always approached fasting as a "tool in the spiritual warfare toolbelt" to affect change on the earth. With this mindset, I slowly and subtly became religious about my fasting much like the Pharisees were, believing that if I broke a fast that I was letting God or my fellow intercessors down. He wouldn't move with as much power because I had "failed". The accusation about not fasting as "intensely" as others also was a constant condemnation. The lie I heard from the enemy was: "you're more spiritual and you shift more things in the heavens if you do a water fast instead of a Daniel fast". But I am slowly beginning to realize why fasting is so important to the life of a believer. It all boils down to one word alone:

Humility.

Feb
23

Life in and out of the prayer room...

I haven't given much of a "life update" recently, so I wanted to do that briefly before I dive back into the real substance of why I write this blog - Jesus. He is the sole reason why I write blogs and tweet things on twitter. John Piper tweeted this line back in October, and it continues to resound with me:

"One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time."

John's brief statement hopefully will give you the reason why I don't often give many of the "I'm at a ball game" or "Eating food with my friends" tweets. I don't want these things to consume my life, and I want you and I to feast on the real Bread from Heaven. I want what I say to provoke you to love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to simply be a reflection of the desire of my own heart. I want to become less so that He may become greater, and ultimately that He may have the preeminence in all things in your life.

I believe the reason internet social networking is so popular today is because it is falsely filling the void in the heart of man to feel loved, appreciated, and valued. Only a genuine friendship with Jesus can satisfy. We often brag about having more friends on Facebook than we talk about the life of Jesus. Our friend Paul the apostle said:

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. " (Galatians 6:14 NKJV)

Even with that said, I do believe that it's helpful to give updates on my life so that you can feel more connected to me when we interact personally. Jesus is a real Man that is deeply involved with our lives if we want Him to be, and the stories of His working in our lives is what has the ability to shape the lives of others. That is our testimony. So it's from this perspective that I give you my latest life update...

Feb
20

The humanity of Jesus

So often we show up to our Sunday church service, sing the songs, enjoy the teaching and the fellowship, and then go about the rest of our day when church is over. We perhaps spend some time reading the Bible during the week, and attend the Wednesday night prayer meeting. On the busy highway of life, we'll take a brief exit to refuel, only to get right back on afterwards and keep driving towards a dream we can often times never fully articulate.

In the midst of this highway of life rises one distinguishing feature that should cause us to take the next exit, find directions to a small stable in an obscure town in Galilee, and camp there for the rest of our lives. What God did is outlandish and staggering.

The eternal God from everlasting became a human being.

The course of heaven and earth were forever altered when the second Person of the trinity took on flesh. If we truly make the confession as a "Christian", this is what we believe. But our belief should not stop at simply a bland doctrinal confession. It should radically affect the way we spend our money, our energy, and our Tuesday afternoon, Friday morning, and Sunday evening.

I want to let you in on some of the questions I have been asking myself these past few weeks. If I honestly believe that God became flesh, why do I still see Him as a floating blob of light in some ethereal realm that sort of looks like a human? Why is His life not real to me? Why do the stories of His life in the four gospels often times seem like fairy tales? Why does heaven seem like a pipe dream instead of a real, concrete, physical place where that Man sits right now?

Jesus is a real man. One day, I will stand across from Him, look Him in the eyes, shake His ruddy hand, and smell His sweet breath. He is my Creator and my God.

Feb
11

Interview with Cassie Campbell, part 3

I’m continuing a series on my blog interviewing some musicians from IHOP-KC. If you have not yet read part 1 and 2 of Cassie’s interview, be sure to read them here and here. I asked Cassie about her thoughts on a somewhat controversial subject for some – secular music. I’ve written some of my own thoughts about this here and here. I hope you enjoy this final part of her interview!

Josh: Hi Cassie, well here comes the big question that I am sure everyone has been waiting for… What do you think about prophetic musicians and secular music? For a musician desiring the spirit of prophecy, is secular music ok to listen to?

Cassie CampbellCassie: Well, let me start by saying that I believe the Lord is the Creator and with that the originator of music. He has designed His throne room (Rev. 4) to have continual music through song, in words or instruments. We’re musical because He’s musical. Music is the one universal language. It is the highest form of entertainment or worship in every culture. I believe there is music that is pointed directly to God, I believe there is music that is pointed directly to Satan, I believe there is music that exalts the world, which is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 Jn. 1:16). I believe there is soulish music the expresses the soul in it’s emotions of pain, joy, anger, sorrow, and confusion. I believe there is music that is factual and describes the practicals of life. i.e. If I write a song about my car it’s neither worship to the Lord nor satanic worship, it’s a song about my car… I believe the Lord can use songs that were once not directed towards Him specifically, however, if then used by a worshipful heart, would receive the worship and is pleased. Obviously this list isn’t exhaustive, but my point in saying all of this is that there is music that is definitely worshipping Jesus, music that is definitely worshipping Satan, music that is definitely worshipping the world/man, and then there is music that isn’t clearly one or the other, it may be describing universal emotions, or can be a silly song about my car I drive, which neither leads me to a place of directly worshipping Jesus or the other.

Feb
08

Trip report - College Station, TX house of prayer

This past weekend, I traveled to a weekend event in College Station, Texas organized by the Luke18 Project, the college campus division of IHOP. The Luke18 Project’s vision is to raise up prayer furnaces on every college campus across the US. Brandon Hammonds, a fellow intercessory missionary here at IHOP, is a part of the Luke18 ministry and organized the whole trip this past weekend. Justin Rizzo and I flew down with Brandon to Houston on Friday and were hosted by an amazing family in College Station (about an hour and a half outside of Houston).

College Station, Texas is the home of Texas A&M University, one of the largest campuses in the nation. Texas A&M was well-known several years ago as the campus that had a massive bonfire accident where several students lost their lives. The Lord has recently been stirring prayer on the campus, and the Griffith family that hosted us for the weekend has carried a vision for a house of prayer on campus for a while now. We believe that our trip was just another spark for the fire in the Spirit to burn even brighter.

Feb
03

Interview with Cassie Campbell, part 2

I'm continuing a series on my blog interviewing some musicians from IHOP-KC. If you have not yet read part 1 of Cassie’s interview, be sure to read it here. Cassie is the bass player on Laura Hackett’s team at IHOP-KC and has played with Misty Edwards, in addition to being part of IHOP-KC’s nightwatch for many years. This is part 2 of Cassie’s interview where I asked her questions relating to being a prophetic musician as her full-time occupation.

Jan
25

Interview with Cassie Campbell, electric bass

I'm continuing a long-running series all the way back from 2008 on prophetic music where I interview musicians, singers, and worship leaders from IHOP. If you have not read the other interviews, be sure to read the ones from Justin Rizzo, Jordan Vanderplate, Francisco Arteaga part 1, part 2, and Gabriel Hancock part 1, part 2. I love running with these guys (and gals) because they share the same vision as me for the spirit of prophecy on their music. This time, I interviewed Cassie Campbell, a bass player in the house of prayer who has played a lot with Misty Edwards and many other worship teams here. I hope her words and thoughts encourage and provoke you!

Jan
18

On intimacy with God - do we really know Jesus?

Allow me to ask a bold question. Are we more in love with the idea of Jesus, the power of Jesus, or the doctrines of Jesus than we are in love with Jesus Himself?

I’ve written on this topic in these past articles here and here but I’ve been been personally convicted again lately by the way I would answer this question, because I have had a wrong understanding about what a “relationship with Jesus” is for so long.

Unfortunately we’ve made a relationship with Jesus to be something completely different than what it should be. Men are sincere but misdirected in their pursuit of intimacy and relationship with God. Intimacy with Jesus has been characterized by a nebulous, intangible warm fuzzy feeling on our hearts during a prayer meeting or worship gathering. If someone has memorized the Bible and can speak eloquently, or they have lots of “intimacy language” we often say that they “know Jesus”. With this false idea of intimacy, Jesus is not a real human to us in the same way that the people close to us like our family, friends, and coworkers are. As this wrong mindset progresses in a downward spiral, the incarnation becomes only a doctrine that we adhere to, and Jesus becomes nothing more than a fairytale-like figure that sits on a cloud in the heights of the heavens.

Jan
15

The prayer movement is gaining steam...

This past weekend, I was invited to minister at the Orlando House of Prayer (www.orlandohop.org) with Justin Rizzo. Every month, OHOP hosts a special weekend of worship, prayer, and teaching. This month was extra special because Mike Bickle, the leader of our missions base here in Kansas City, was invited to attend and speak. Mike and his wife Diane take a yearly vacation to Florida, and although Mike rarely travels and speaks, he took time out of his vacation to speak at the event to encourage the body of Christ in Orlando and all over Florida. Over the weekend, Justin also spoke to the staff of the Orlando house of prayer on the “big picture” and ultimate goal of the prayer movement - the perpetual, incessant adoration of Jesus on the earth as it is in heaven.

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Jan
05

onething 09 recap

It’s hard to believe that the KC onething conference is over and another year has passed. Paco and I were walking into Bartle Hall the day before the conference started agreeing together that it had seemed like we were just there only a few months ago.

For those of you who were able to watch the onething conference via the free webcast, I hope you were blessed, encouraged, challenged, and provoked to pursue Jesus and give Him the preeminence in your life in a new way.

There were over 20,000 in attendance at this year’s conference and for many, it was a life-changing 4 days. The Lord in His kindness broke in and set many free from wrong paradigms, self-hatred, a spirit of fear, a religious spirit, depression, suicide, and anxiety, bringing joy and freedom, a greater love for the Word, and a passion for souls. Many experienced physical healing and manifestations of power and of the wine of His presence. The worship from Cory Asbury, Misty Edwards, Matt Gilman, and others was faith-filled and anointed. Our (Justin Rizzo’s team) set on Tuesday morning was great!

All of the conference teachings were knit together in a common theme, centered around the supremacy of Christ, His purposes, His desire, and His heart to heal and deliver. Wes Martin spoke on the centrality of prayer and the identity of the church as a praying people before Jesus returns. Corey Russell spoke on the passion and desire of Jesus towards us from His prayer in John 14-17, and how the knowledge of His love will stabilize our hearts in the midst of a shaking world. Misty Edwards examined the ultimate purpose of our life and powerfully explained that it must be centered around the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Recent comments

As I'm laying here, I just happened to stumble on your blog, and I woke wondering how fasting from meat could be so hard! I never knew how much I...
- written by Anonymous (not verified) commenting on the blog entry called Why do we fast?, 20 hours 29 min ago
Josh, Love what your doing with just the computer, awesome stuff. I posted about it on my site at alexkranjec.com. Miss running with all you guys!
- written by Alex Kranjec (not verified) commenting on the blog entry called Life in and out of the prayer room..., 1 day 18 hours ago
Hello Anonymous, I'd encourage you to read all of my other posts in the prophetic music category, as it may give you a little bit of a better feel...
- written by Josh Hawkins commenting on the blog entry called Rock, pop, or jazz?, 1 week 16 hours ago
So in other words if there isn't an artist praising God in their music than they are considered demonic or their music is demonic. I have many years...
- written by Anonymous (not verified) commenting on the blog entry called Rock, pop, or jazz?, 1 week 17 hours ago
Thanks Josh for sharing, i really needed this understanding! and i do find your blog entries very influencing & inspiring..keep doing what god...
- written by Davina Rashad (not verified) commenting on the blog entry called Why do we fast?, 1 week 18 hours ago

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