Day 6

Classes started today!

We began the day with Tools for the Prayer Room. We watched part 1 of a 2-part DVD on the 16 core values of IHOP-KC. Mike presented the first 8 values and explained that they all fall under the category of Enjoyable Prayer. This comes from Isaiah 56:6-7:

Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant; even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.

8 Core Values:

• God wants us to enjoy intimacy with Him
  
• The necessity of combining intercession with worship
  
• Praying in the Spirit and spontaneous song
  
  • Cultivating a flowing heart where we feel God's love toward us and we feel love back toward Him and toward others.
    
• Cultivating a prophetic spirit on the worship leaders
  
• Antiphonal singing
  
• Agreement with God's heart
  
  • This has to do with strategic intercession, which I really like. This is when you ask God what is on His heart and then pray for it.
    
• Divine entertainment
  
  • This is basically the outward expression of what is happening in the prayer room. We cannot just pray. The prayer has to lead to doing things outside of the prayer room like preaching the gospel or praying for healing.
    
• Path to fullness
  
  • Unity in the larger body of Christ.
    

I love the idea that God made prayer to be enjoyable! And, I find the mixing of prayer and worship to be very enjoyable. I was also impacted when he talked about value 4: cultivating a prophetic spirit on the worship leaders. Mike talked about how the human spirit is musical and we are meant to enjoy the flow of God in music. Worship leaders need to keep their hearts connected with God in order to posture themselves for this prophetic flow. So, I'm adding all of R2HOP's worship leaders to my weekly prayer schedule. I will be praying for God to keep their hearts deeply connected with Him and to cultivate that prophetic spirit over each of our worship leaders.

I also learned that anyone can pray on the mic during the 4 AM intercession watch. Very interesting. I could be praying for Rockford and asking the prayer room to join me very soon!

This afternoon, we had our first Life of David class, taught by Clay Edwards. He gave us an overview of the class, but I think that the most meaningful thing he said might have been about a sermon series that Mike preached several years ago called the Perils of Perfectionism. Clay talked about how perfectionism can bind you in a performance spirit and keep you thinking that your worth is dependent on your success. I was REALLY resonating with what He was saying and think that I probably need to look for this series on www.mikebickle.org. But, then Clay talked about how David really studied God's emotions and this was how he came to know that God was mostly glad toward him. Then I was reading The Rewards of Fasting and this similar statement jumped out to me:

God wants our identity and sense of value to be rooted and grounded in the knowledge of His affections for us.

Several IHOP-KC leaders have now touched on this topic and this is something that I really want to go after. Understanding God's affection for me in such a way that it transforms me and helps me to feel secure in Him. Fortunately, this message seems to be coming up everywhere!