Seven years ago, September 19th, 1999, the International House of Prayer began a prayer meeting that has never stopped. Inspired by the Tabernacle of David that ministered to the Lord “continually” (1 Chron. 16:37), we feel, in our day, “the fire on the altar” must not go out (Lev. 6:13).
In this critical hour of history, our world needs prayer. With an increase in wars, natural disasters, and wickedness, the earth needs night and day worship and intercession in every major city of the earth.
Jesus said in Luke 18:6-8, “now will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly.” I believe that God’s method of establishing justice in the earth is night and day prayer. He will quickly bring about justice for the church if we bring this cry before Him night and day.
Leading Worship
At IHOP I help lead a team of singers, musicians, and intercessors. Our team leads twelve hours a week in the prayer room. What we do as musicians and singers is critical to sustaining night and day prayer. Spontaneous songs related to the prayer topic enable an entire room of people to agree on the same thing and music makes long, sustained times of prayer possible. (Continued Below)
Leading Intercessors
In May, I began leading a prayer room team for intercessors on the Night Watch who are not on worship teams. The team helps give these intercessors a focus for the prayer meetings and provides a place for us to encourage one another to (Continued Below)
GOD TV to Broadcast OneThing Conference December 28th-31st
On December 28th-31st nearly 15,000 young adults are expected for our annual OneThing Conference in Kansas City. The purpose of the conference is to equip a generation to have the same cry David had in Psalm 27:4, “One thing I have desired of the Lord–to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.” On the last day of the conference we will bring in the New Year with a twelve hour solemn assembly, worshiping and crying out in prayer for our nation.
This year, portions of the conference will be broadcast on GOD TV, a Christian television network with a worldwide audience. You can watch on Direct TV channel 365 or by their web cast at www.GOD.tv. Who knows how many all over the world will be ministered to during these four days? Please pray for those attending and those who will watch on TV and the internet.
Fighting in Prayer for the Unborn
This has been a difficult year for many of us who are fighting for the unborn. We had two major blows: 1) In October, the Supreme Court denied re-hearing to Doe v. Bolton, a critical pro-death decision made in 1973, 2) In November, South Dakota voters turned down a ban on nearly all abortions. With so many possibilities to see our laws changed this past year, we had focused much of our prayers at IHOP on the ending of abortion. Though deeply disappointed with these outcomes, I am resolved to keep fighting.
I have been meditating on Isaiah 42. The passage begins with The Father calling us to look at His Son. Verse four has especially been meaningful to me related to our fight for justice for the unborn:
He will not be disheartened or crushed until He brings justice to the nations of the earth and the coastlands will wait for His law.
When I got the news about South Dakota, I was disheartened for sure and near being crushed since I have put so much into this fight. However, I realize that Jesus is neither disheartened nor crushed in His fight for justice. So, with His help, I will continue to fight this battle in prayer.
Praying for the Overturning of Doe v. Bolton
From Thursday night, October 5th, until the breaking of the dawn Friday morning, the IHOPKC Nightwatch stood on our “LIFE Lines” in the front of the prayer room crying out for the ending of abortion in America and for the Supreme Court to accept the Doe v. Bolton abortion case. Doe v. Bolton, decided on the same day as Roe v. Wade, is the second case that sealed the coffin for over 46 million babies. Many of the intercessors lied prostrate on the floor weeping before the Lord asking Him to have mercy on our nation. That morning at 10 am, the Supreme Court justices met in a conference and denied hearing to this case.
Even with the outcome, I was so pleased at the response of the staff of the International House of Prayer to the call to pray for LIFE. Monday thru Wednesday our staff fasted for three days on our monthly Global Bridegroom Fast. During this time we focused much of our prayer on the ending of abortion. Many of the IHOPKC staff stood totaling over fifty hours on our “LIFE Lines” praying for the Supreme Court.
Silent Prayer Siege & 24/7 Prayer in South Dakota
As the significance of the battle in South Dakota become clearer to me, I knew I had to go there to pray. So, with a last minute decision, I packed my car and joined about fifty others from IHOP to stand in silent prayer before South Dakota’s only abortion clinic in Sioux Falls, SD. At 4:30 am Friday night, I joined eight others outside of the clinic staring at Planned Parenthood’s ominous sign, “These doors will stay open“. Their statement may have proved to be true now. However, Jesus will not stop until He gets justice for every human being. Our prayers are helping to establish this Kingdom of complete justice.
On Friday and Saturday night from 12 midnight to 6 am at the First Assembly of God in Sioux Falls, SD we prayed through the Night Watch less than a block from the Planned Parenthood clinic. I led worship several hours joining in prayer with the other intercessors from IHOP.
Praying with Governmental Leadership
This past June, God opened up an amazing door for a Kingdom relationship with Allan Parker of the Justice Foundation in San Antonio. Mr. Parker represented Sandra Cano, the Doe of Doe v. Bolton who sought to reverse her case in July. After seeing my name on a list of some of his contacts, he felt led to call me. Since that time, we have spoken on many occasions and he has relayed specific and critical information for prayer targets. I have been able to pass this on to the intercessors of IHOP and we have been able to focus many of our prayer meetings on the information he has given us. During our first conversation, Mr. Parker made a statement to me that struck me regarding our prayer for the Supreme Court as they submitted Doe v. Bolton, “It is more important what you guys will be doing next month in prayer than what we will be doing in preparing this case.”
God has also opened doors for contact with Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas. I have attended prayer meetings with him personally praying for him. I also receive weekly updates on how to specifically pray for this Senator as he fights in the Senate for the ending of abortion, I believe, much as William Wilberforce fought in parliament for the ending of the slave trade in England in the late 1700s. Senator Brownback is seeking the 2008 Republican nomination for president.
Working in the Healing Rooms
The Sick Are Healed: Blind Eye Opened!
Earlier this year, I began working in the healing rooms at IHOP. These rooms are positioned in the back of the prayer room and are open several times a week for anyone to receive prayer for physical healing. I pray for the sick every Wednesday from 6-8 pm. I love partnering with Jesus’ compassion for the sick!
Since our 40 day fast for Signs and Wonders this past March, we have seen an increase of healings. In April, we had five testimonies of eyes being healed. Among them was a man who had one blind eye. A high school aged girl prayed for him, and his blind eye was opened!
Another lady had two nodules on her thyroid. Before she let the doctors test them to see if they were cancer, she wanted to receive prayer. So, she came in and we prayed. She went back to the doctor and had him run another test. The nodules were gone! There was also someone who had a tumor on her kidney and after prayer she went back to her doctor to run another test and the tumor was gone! At our Sunday service, we had another man diagnosed with lung cancer who suffered with severe pain in his chest. The pain left that Sunday morning. He was crying, with his family, relieved to be healed from the pain.
Over 200 Summer Teen Interns Join Us for the Night Watch
This past July, IHOP hosted over 200 teenagers from all over the world for three weeks. These teenagers gave themselves to four hours a day in the prayer room, several hours of teaching a week, and just got immersed into the prayer culture of IHOP. On one of their last nights, the interns joined us for the entire midnight to six am Night Watch. It was a very lively six hours for all of us apparently subdued young adults. (I only thought I had energy!)
We focused much prayer on their generation. It was incredible to hear them crying out for their lost friends and family members. They also prayed for the ending of abortion. I saw that God touched many of their hearts with a burden for the rescuing of the unborn.
We have now started a night about every quarter that we are calling “Friday Night Burn”. Many teenagers from area churches including our own “Forerunner Youth” will pray with us in our intercession meetings and receive teaching from 2-4 am. I am excited to see God raising up prayer warriors among these teenagers.
Leading Worship, (cont. from top)
This year, I have been actively writing songs. I have written several songs this year including another song from Isaiah 42 related to justice for the unborn, a song about healing, and a re-do of the classic, “I’ve Got a River of Life”. I plan on putting a new CD out in March, recorded in the prayer room, with some of these new songs. Please pray for me in 2007 as I make songwriting a major focus of my time outside of the prayer room.
Leading Intercessors, (cont. from top)
pray. I also oversee these intercessors as their supervisor. In our briefing times, I have been able to arm them with the latest information in the fight for the ending of abortion. We also have been studying the hope of the kingdom to come in Revelation 22, the nation of Israel in Romans 9-11, and God’s heart for justice in Isaiah 42. It has been such a joy to run hard with these incredible intercessors.
Panama: Answered Prayers Walk Through the Door
This February I began leading a small team every Monday from 3-4 am praying in one of the Great Commission Rooms at IHOP for the nation of Panama. This nation holds a special place in my heart since I went there as a teenager on a mission trip. In our prayer meetings we had been asking God to raise up intercessors in Panama. One night, as we prayed, a mom, dad, and four kids knocked on the door of our room. They began to share that they were from Panama and were in Kansas City for our prayer conference at IHOP! They began to relate to us their desire to see a house of prayer birthed in Panama. They told us that a couple of months before they came, a friend had been sharing with them about IHOP. They then decided to come to Kansas City for a conference. We were amazed to see the very answers to our prayers for intercessors in Panama sitting right in front of us. We then prayed for them since it is not often that we get the privilege of Panama coming to us!
Fire in the Night Internship
I have also had the privilege of pouring into the lives of 60-100 interns from all over the world who come every three months and spend six hours a night, six nights a week in the prayer room. These interns come from all over the United States and all over the world. I have been amazed to watch God, over and over again, transform the hearts of these young adults as they set themselves before the Lord night after night.
I am special to God–I ravished His heart. I never did anything that impressed Him, He just saw my heart and saw in me the potential to be God’s precious bride of who He is not ashamed to call His own. Through the love He has for me and shows me every day I am able to leave all that I know behind, and to step into the reality of my destined life: a princess- the daughter of the most high King.
-Sara from Germany
Fire in the Night can best be described as an awakening. I received a deeper understanding in both the love and the fear of the Lord, the end times, and my personal calling. The Lord also allowed me to see some results of the intercession made in those months. I am set on a course for the highest: knowing God and making Him and His Kingdom known.
-Johan, The Netherlands
IHOPKC Prayer Room Broadcasts Worldwide
People all over the world are joining us in prayer and worship via our new Web Cast. It has amazed and sobered me to think that our worship team is sometimes leading hundreds beyond what we can see in the prayer room.
One woman watching over the internet expressed her gratitude to me. Her son has a serious handicap and often experiences pain throughout the night. As I was leading worship one night, I began to feel an unusual burden to prophesy in song during the middle of my worship song. I began to sing out of Isaiah 35, “Behold your God will come.” She said it was exactly what she needed to hear and thanked me for singing it. It amazed me to realize that my burden for the song wasn’t even for anyone in the room, but was for a woman watching over the internet.
How Can I Be A Part of This Ministry?
How Can I Be A Part of This Ministry?In Romans 10:14, 15a Paul asks a series of questions describing how the gospel goes forth, “How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And How will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?” Some of you might be called to this final element of the gospel going forth: sending. Would you consider sending me into this next year ministry by giving a special year-end gift or by praying for me regularly? Thank you for your consideration. May you have a memorable Christmas growing in the knowledge of Jesus who became a man dying for our salvation and His glory!
