Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, "The Lord has done great things for them." The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. Psalm 126:2,3
..What a birthday gift!..Last week I celebrated my 31st birthday with some dear friends. We had traveled to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City together to attend a leadership summit for those involved with house of prayer ministries. My friends went out of their way to celebrate my birthday...
but it was by far God Himself who gave me the most unexpected and unforgettable gift!..A little background..
For over two months now the 10 year old
International House of Prayer community has been experiencing an unusual outpouring of the Holy Spirit marked by physical and emotional healings, breaking of addictions, nearly 1000 water baptisms, many salvations, the anointing of boldness for evangelism, and the Holy Spirit manifesting within individuals in dramatic ways.
Click here to read more or view these awakening services.
..Diving in..
On my birthday, my pastor prayed over me in light of the season I am coming out of. It was a season that closed with some disappointments and unrealized hopes. He prayed:
"Grace to open her heart again, not to be guarded, to give herself passionately and fully, not fearful of how her passion and desire might not be realized, but to dive in with You again, Jesus." With that prayer in the back of my mind the next day, at one of these IHOP awakening services, I decided to "go for it!" As soon as the invitation was made for people to come to the front to receive from the Lord I went forward, joining hundreds of others, and set my heart to dive in; to worship the Lord and celebrate His beauty. I asked the Holy Spirit to come and help me worship God with all that is within me...
with every cell in my body.
..Overcome with JOY..
I take it that He couldn't resist my request. As I sang and thanked Jesus for His matchless love I began to
literally feel joy welling up within me in a way I have never felt before. I was overcome with joy and gladness, my soul rejoicing in the love of God. Soon I could no longer contain the joy and it bubbled out in exuberant laughter, bringing me to my knees and then face to the ground. This uncontainable joy came in waves throughout the evening and then again even more dramatically the next day. Today, one week later, I still feel like there is a reservoir of the joy of the Lord within me that is more tangible than the joy I have had previously in 30 years of knowing Him.
I feel empowered to hope again and pursue with passion the dreams God has put in my heart.A
NetBible article on joy has shed some light on the topic for me:
"Paul speaks of joy as one of the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22) and of "joy in the Holy Spirit" as an essential mark of the kingdom of God (Rom 14:17). This joy is associated with faith (Phil 1:25), hope (Rom 5:2; 12:12), brotherly fellowship and sympathy (Rom 12:15; 2 Cor 7:13; Phil 2:1 f). To rejoice in the Lord is enjoined as a Christian duty (Phil 3:1; 4:4; compare 2:17 f; 1 Thess 5:16). In Christ, the Christian "rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet 1:8), in spite of his temporary afflictions (1 Pet 1:6). Christian joy is no mere gaiety that knows no gloom, but is the result of the triumph of faith over adverse and trying circumstances, which, instead of hindering, actually enhance it (Acts 5:41; Rom 5:3 f; Jas 1:2,12; 5:11; 1 Pet 4:13; compare Mt 5:11,12).Joshua Hawkins, keyboard player at IHOP, has several great blog posts with Biblical background on manifestations of the Holy Spirit (in light of these awakening services).
One in particular has challenged my thinking and resonated with my recent experience. Here's an excerpt:
"Most of our understanding of the order and culture of a church service comes from our current experience. We read the book of Acts and are completely disconnected from the power dimensions that were seen in the early church as normative. The Old Testament accounts of God’s dealings with Israel and New Testament Christianity were never seen without the spiritual, heavenly realm interacting with the earthly, physical realm. This was the norm for them. Early Christianity was known for its spiritual power and its utter foolishness to the human intellect (1 Cor. 1:20-31). But today, we live in a world where Christianity has abased its concept of God and His dealings with men to things that are abstract and detached rather than
concrete and experiential.
Our whole spirit, soul, and body were made to experience the presence of God. Christianity was never meant to be a religion of mental ascent and enlightenment, but rather an experience of power and love connected with the truths of God’s person."
..Continuing in joy..
My desire is that all that is within me would bless His holy name. I want to allow the Holy Spirit to come and move within me -- whatever that looks like. I'm "in" whether I respond calmly or like David before the ark of the Lord
: "I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." 2 Samuel 6:21,22
Once a month we gather the band and invite people of all ages to come together to pray that God would be known, loved, and obeyed in our region. We call it the "Joel 2 Prayer & Worship Gathering" in the spirit of the call which the Lord gave to the prophet Joel for young and old alike to gather; giving their whole hearts to God while asking for His mercy before the day of His return.
