If you're a young adult and you're still deciding on whether or not to come to onething Kansas City in December or if you've decided not to come this year, Mike Bickle is urging as many as are able to come and even change their plans so they are able to come. He believes it will be perhaps the most significant conference he has done in the last 25 years, just because of the content he is going to be teaching. Check out this IHOP TV podcast on youtube:

Mike said he would be making "real, defining statements about the hour that we're living in." He's going to be speaking much on the book of Revelation and the need to prepare for the coming days.  read more »

I've been pondering Ephesians 1:17-19 lately, more specifically one phrase that Paul prays. He desires that we would know the "hope of His calling", or as the NIV puts it, "the hope to which we have been called". I've been making a little handout on it, so I figured I would share with you some of my thoughts from it!

Hope is an emotion deeply rooted inside of every human. Hope is simply the expectation and desire for something better than what currently exists. For example, the small child hopes to be a teenager, the teen hopes to be an adult, and the adult hopes he or she will find in life that which satisfies. Hope is a powerful motivator. When it is lost, the burden of pessimism and despair can be heavy on its bearer. The Gospel has the power to lift this burden by giving us a confidence – a true and living hope that will not disappoint us.

God created every human with a deep longing to marvel and be fascinated. Since the fall in the garden, we have been disconnected from what we were created for. The intrinsic hope for every human is unhindered fellowship with God as it was in the days of Adam and Eve in the garden.

“One thing I have desired of the LORD, That will I seek … To behold the beauty of the LORD ...” (Psalms 27:4 NKJV)

The Lord promised to destroy Satan and restore the paradise and unhindered fellowship through a descendant of Eve (Gen. 3:15). The hope of this “seed” and of the restoration He would bring prevailed throughout Israel for thousands of years, as prophets continued to unveil more and more about who He would be and how He would be manifested.  read more »

Tuesday’s election was a very significant crossroads for the nation of America. Our nation elected the first African American president and at the same time elected perhaps the most pro-choice candidate that has ever been in office. Mike Bickle spoke briefly at our 10am prayer meeting yesterday morning regarding these issues and made some very good points on the election that I really want to pass along to you. It’s so easy to get derailed and discouraged by Tuesday’s results if our hope was in John McCain as “God’s candidate” or if our trust was in a political process that is detached from the ways of the kingdom of God. I’m hoping this little post brings encouragement and clarity and reconnects you to the bigger picture of what the Lord is doing in our nation and in the world today.

Before I get to what Mike said though I want to address the common question I am sure many have been asking - “What about the prophetic words? What about all of our prayers? I guess we didn’t pray enough.” I want to boldly state that to ask this question means we are believing lies about the heart and the nature of God. First, prophetic words are given as an invitation from God, not a guarantee. When Daniel was living under a wicked Babylonian king and saw the crisis ahead for his people, he set his face towards God to pray and fast (Daniel 9:1-3). He earnestly prayed and from the first day he set his heart, his words were heard (Daniel 10:12). Jesus longs to hear our voice. Every prayer we prayed counted, and not one was lost. When we pray, we’re not “charging up God’s battery” wishfully hoping that we can pray enough that He would finally be “charged” and moved enough to act. Prayer is about agreement with who He is and what He desires. Prayer is not for Him, it’s for us. In saying “we didn’t pray enough”, we’re essentially saying “God doesn’t hear my prayers” or “God won’t act until enough people pray”. These are unbiblical, unfounded lies from the enemy that we must resist and fill our mind and heart with the truth of God’s word.

Even though the cries for change were greater than the cries for mercy on Tuesday, that does not negate or cancel out all of our cries for mercy. Jesus longs to dispense mercy much more than we want it. Our prayers were heard and they will be answered. But we must understand that what He is doing is beyond our ability to know and discern fully. He sees the big picture, and Barack Obama as our president is the exact thing the Lord has set in place to provoke the greatest number of people to the deepest level of love without violating anyone’s free will in the process.  read more »

Okay, so I got a divine idea this afternoon while talking to my roommates. We know that Jesus defined "love" for Him as something more than a sentiment, an emotion, or a feeling - He defined it as one firm, clear word that is frightening to our selfish, prideful, fallen human nature. In John 14:15, John 14:21, and John 14:23, Jesus said:

““If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.
“A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also.At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?”
Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
(John 14:15-23 NKJV)

Love is obedience.  read more »

... I got it working. For me, AND for you.

It seems like they're having some problems with their website. I used some of my tech skills to make it work for those of you who want to be a part of the prayer meeting - watch it here.

It seems to be working right now, but I'm not sure when it will stop working, so click at your own risk :)

UPDATE 4:55pm: GodTV's site looks like it's working again!