Refreshing, renewal, and outpouring at IHOP-KC

In these past few days, we've been experiencing an unusual presence of God in the prayer meetings at IHOP-KC. It all began at the IHOPU chapel service last week when the Lord was highlighting the issue of self-hatred to the school's leaders. They called students who had been struggling with those issues forward for prayer, and the Lord began to bring deliverance to them as their fellow students prayed. Many of them shared testimonies of the freedom that they felt and how they no longer felt oppressed by demons after people prayed for them.

Since then, God's joy has been breaking out at prayer meetings and services. The work of Christ on the cross has set us free from sin, shame, condemnation, and death, and the joy and peace that comes from that knowledge has been the banner over all of the prayer meetings that I have been attending and playing keys on since that time. It's been awesome!

Yesterday, some of the freshman IHOPU students gathered for their 9am class and the Lord began to highlight some of the same issues again. So Wes Hall, the class' teacher, called students forward for prayer and many began praying for them. The prayer meeting kept going and going and going and class was never held. Throughout the day many people kept hearing about the Lord's presence being manifest in an unusual way, so the auditorium on campus where the class was being held kept filling up. By the time my 3pm class rolled around, the prayer meeting had already been going for 6 hours. Worship teams kept rotating in and out and the presence of God remained strong for the rest of the day into the wee hours of the night!

This morning, Justin Rizzo and our team led the 6am intercession meeting and God's joy filled the room once again. We started off by singing "How Deep the Father's Love For Us" and "In Christ Alone", two awesome hymns about Jesus. People were dancing, clapping, and rejoicing, not in a fake emotional way but truly because the Holy Spirit was revealing the glory of Jesus to our hearts.

Wes Hall's class convened once again at 9am and the Lord began working again there, and then the 10am prayer meeting at IHOP exploded with rejoicing again. David Sliker got up and prayed for God to heal bodies, and several people came up and gave testimonies of being healed of chronic pain!

We're truly experiencing something unusual here. The IHOP and IHOPU leadership teams have recognized that and have called meetings for worship, prayer, healing, and deliverance at the FSM building in Grandview every night from 6pm to midnight, at least until this coming Sunday at which point they will reevaluate things.

It's amazing being part of a fresh move of the Holy Spirit, even though I believe this is just a small token of what He longs to release to the church worldwide. This is more than about good meetings, healing, or deliverance, though. God is jealous for Jesus to be seen for who He is. This is what's on His mind and this is His very occupation - to reveal the glory, splendor, indescribable worth, and majesty of Jesus Christ. (John 16:14)

I love good meetings, but more than some good meetings with healings and deliverance, I want power on my heart to love Jesus when nobody is looking, and I want my heart to ache for Jesus and His return to the earth. That is the ultimate purpose of awakening, outpouring, renewal, and revival for the church. I want the person of Jesus Christ and the Word of God to remain central in my heart and the hearts of those attending these meetings. If His power is there for deliverance and healing in an unusual way, it's also present in an unusual way for us to receive understanding of Jesus through the Word. The same Holy Spirit that heals a body is the same Holy Spirit that breathes on the letters in red to set our hearts ablaze with passion for Jesus. (Luke 24:32)

If you are in Kansas City or you've been hearing about the stirrings of the Lord in Kansas City, come join us and set your heart to love Jesus. More than the gifts of the Holy Spirit, the manifestations of His power, or the good worship music, Jesus is worth your all.