Religious v. Relationship

Pulling one out of the archives, after various conversations about my Independent Study: seeking to see and learn about Jesus from different perspectives, just like studying the Gospels. It does not substitute an independent relationship with The Father. This post is almost a year old and there's several more where this came from. Anyway, here it is, unedited, unchanged from it's original version circa May, 2011, in Lawrenceville, Georgia. I'll probably dig back into the archives to post a few more soon.

Religious v. Relationship

Thoughts cross my mind when I see the several denominations and practices all under the umbrella of Christianity. I drive passed another church and wonder what it would be like to fellowship with that congregation or denomination. As Christians, we have so many degrees of Christianity.

To the outsider surveying religions generally, Muslims or Jews appear very religious because of their visible adherence to a strict set of rules. The five pillars of Islam mandate a Muslim to pray five times a day at set times a day. The Jews believe salvation can be bought by works.

In contrast, Christianity contains a wider spectrum of religious practices due to people breaking away and starting their own sects. For Christians, we have varied interpretations of what is Christianity and therefore various rules we abide by resulting in several denominations.

Sometimes I see statements such as “Christianity is watered down” because we are all diverse in our practice or adherence to our beliefs and what we prioritize after the first two commandments. I’ll also see people quoting Ghandi “I like your Christ, I don’t like your Christians.” That’s one of the most incorrect statements documented. There’s no way you could like Christ, without liking His Christians.

We’re all going to church with the same end goal; to be in Heaven together with the Father. You can pray five times a day or 50 times a day and other people may or may not see what you’re doing. For Christianity, what matters is your heart. Therefore, denomination or intra religious debates puts our focus on a topic we are not qualified to judge.

Many times we want religious rigidity.

“Christianity is always less of a set of rules and more of a heart posture.” - Tolu Akande

God will look at the heart of all Christians at the judgment seat. We cannot gage how connected anyone’s heart is to the Father. We cannot judge someone’s heart or intentions for what they are doing. And though works are good and needed, our works will mean nothing if our heart was disconnected to the Greatest One of all, the Greatest love of All!

Deliver us from mere routine and religion. We don’t need religion. We need relationship. An intimate relationship of our heart seeking the Father’s heart and the emotions and attributes of Him.

“So what if I know all the language, so what if I sing all the songs, if my heart’s disconnected from the Greatest One of all.” –Caleb Andrews

“When we pursue religious acts without pursuing the knowledge of God, we are also in danger of becoming Pharisees.”

HelpCalebGraves.org

This is an appeal to ask you to pray for Caleb Graves, his fiancée Victoria, and his family and the family they will be starting next year.

Caleb is a missionary and drummer at the International House of Prayer in Atlanta. Sunday evening, while helping a stranded driver, he was hit by a stolen car and the driver fled the scene. He was immediately rushed to the ICU, and his left leg below the knee had to be amputated. Thankfully, since then, he has been moved out of the ICU, however he is still in a lot of pain. This is obviously an attack of the enemy, as anyone can clearly see the anointing on this young man’s life. But after all is said and done, even the enemy will regret what he's attempting to do. Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm!

Please pray for physical and emotional healing, increased strength and resources for the medical and supplemental expenses. Also, pray that the LORD will be glorified through all of this. Also, pray that the person who hit him will turn himself in and/or be brought to justice. Pray for the International House of Prayer Atlanta community also, as they link arms to help him through this, in the best way.


I already see the LORD being glorified through this and know that He will continue to be glorified. The body of Christ has been coming together from all over the nation to support him and his family. So many people from across the nation are praying for him and his family, so many people who may not have been praying otherwise. And just interacting with Caleb, Victoria or anyone from their family, even for the shortest amount of time, you will understand why people are eagerly rising to the call of prayer and other means of support on their behalf because of how they’ve touched people with love and kindness. Many more testimonies will come out of this, I’m certain.

Please visit HelpCalebGraves.org for more information on how you can help this family and updates on Caleb's progress.

Friends rally around good Samaritan injured helping driver - News Story - WSB Atlanta

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Romans 8:28

Praying for the souls of Muslims

Monday, August 1st, was the first day of the August 2011 Global Bridegroom Fast (‘GBF’). This is a fast where believers fast 3 days a month, beginning with the first Monday of the month, and the first 7 days in December making a total of 40 days a year.

“This fast is a worldwide concert of prayer when believers unite to seek the Lord’s face—at the same time, with the same burdens, and in the same Spirit.”

And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. Matthew 9:15

During the 4pm GBF intercession we prayed primarily for the souls of Muslims. Monday also marked the beginning of Ramadan this year. This means 1 billion people are praying and fasting to a god who cannot hear them or answer their prayers.

“Jesus, You are worthy of praise, even from Mecca!” “Make Your Son’s name great over Allah”– Intercession Choruses via Tolu Akande.

Please keep Muslims in your prayers unto the only true living God, the LORD. Pray that they would know the truth, that there is only one true living uncreated God, the same yesterday, today and forevermore and Jesus is His Son, the visible image of the Father, not merely a prophet. Also, pray for the yet-to-be discipled nations, where Islam is the dominant religion and that the word of the LORD would run swiftly in their lands and in their hearts.


By the way, you don’t have to be Muslim to pray 5 times a day (or more). Every Christian needs to be a an individual house of prayer. Jesus is not going to come back for a bride that doesn't want to talk to Him. {Make us ready LORD}


Please listen to this series called Cultivating a Culture of Prayer especially part 3 from IHOP Atlanta. This was a 7-part series that covered a good portion of the Sunday sermons during my internship. It is also available on iTunes for free. The dates are from May 29, 2011 to July 10, 2011.


Be blessed, in other words, please receive this revelation friends! 


Ephesians 1:17-19.

"Don't get your theology from a movie."

For years, as far as I knew, I believed the rapture would occur before the seven years of tribulation. Around my second week of the internship, I discovered my rapture paradigm is largely based on the movie "Left Behind" and very few supplemental teachings, also stemming from the pre-tribulation rapture ideology.


Well, don’t get your End Times theology from a movie!


Generally speaking, “End Times” is not a commonly preached sermon in the church, yet there are over 150 chapters in the Bible that discuss the End Times; our future. Merely reading through the chapters certainly will not give the revelation we need. In order to get a deeper understanding of the End Times, it is essential for one to ask the Holy Spirit for grace to guide us through a study of the Scriptures that give us the blueprint for the End Times.


During The Pursuit, we’ve had in-depth teachings on the End Times during various classes such as End Times Group, Gatekeeper School of Ministry classes and various Foundational teachings. We also attend the End Times Service, every Friday, as part of our internship schedule. We are currently six weeks into the study of The Book of Revelation.


All of the End Times Services are open to the public. The past teachings are online at http://ihop-atlanta.com/page.php?p=media_mediacast with the notes to help guide you as you listen. This way you are able to lock in and study along as well, from wherever you reside, whenever you want.

You made a way for me to enter the Holy place.

During my Fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit class, one of our instructors told us to use Revelation chapter four to aid us in envisioning ourselves before the Throne of Grace, (the Throne in Heaven) while praying. Revelation four gives us John’s description of what he sees when he is pulled from Patmos island into Heaven.

Under the Mosaic covenant, before the days of Christ’s crucifixion, in order to bring requests before the LORD, people brought animals to the priests as sacrificial atonement for their sins. The priests would slaughter the sacrifices. But sacrifices by the blood of animals could never completely atone for their sins. The primary way into the sanctuary of God’s presence was through the high priest. Only the high priest went before the Ark; the Holy of Holies.

Under the new covenant, the perfect priest, Jesus, has offered the perfect sacrifice. Through the sacrifice of His blood, on the cross, He completely atones for all of our sins. Now, we have the privilege to come boldly before the Throne of Grace, all the time. We have confidence to stand directly before the LORD, with Jesus seated the right hand of the Throne, when we pray.

Hebrews 10:19-21. 19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, 21 and having a High Priest over the house of God.”

What a privilege it is to carry everything directly to God in prayer!

Firecrackers!

Monday marked 235 years of America’s independence from Britain. Many Americans celebrate this federal holiday with barbeques and firecrackers. I didn’t really partake in the celebrations this year or celebrate with firecrackers per se.

However, there are a couple new people I crossed paths with this 4th of July. I recently met a teenager and the first word that comes to mind when attempting to describe her is firecracker.

What do you think of when you hear the word FIRECRACKER? Danger, Explosive, Bright, Shining, Appropriately Loud?

By firecracker, I mean the blaze on her heart is visible in her actions and audible in her prayers and the way she speaks at a mere 16 years of life. She is on fire for the LORD. She is a danger sign to any plan of the enemy as she stands in the gap, interceding over several injustices.

Seeing young people so grounded and unshaken in their faith and truly on fire for the LORD is so beautiful to me. What a firm foundation!

Back in my day, we thought “Meet Me at the Flagpole” was something, and at the time and place, it might very well have been. Yet I’ve heard testimonies of revivals going on around the same time at other locations and I can’t help but to think, “what was I doing? I could’ve been doing a lot more.” In just seeing what they are capable of doing now, as teenagers and in their early twenties, I can only imagine what type of exploits they will be doing in 5 or 10 years.

I was thinking of the song Shine Jesus Shine. I don’t recall the first place I heard and learned the song. Moreover, while singing, I don’t believe I grasped the meaning of the words or really understood what I was asking of the LORD.

Shine Jesus shine
Fill this land with the Father's glory
Blaze, Spirit blaze,
Set our hearts on fire
Flow, river flow
Flood the nations with grace and mercy
Send forth Your word
Lord and let there be light.

Somewhere after learning the words, the singing has the tendency to become habitual and part of the normal order of our Christian gatherings; service, fellowship, youth group and the likes.

Although we may not fully process the meaning, 100% of the time, at the young ages that we sing songs such as these, I believe it still counts for something. I now believe they were and still are prayers to the Lord. And at whatever time the LORD chooses, He will turn those worship lyrics to answered prayers for every child who sings it.

I want the upcoming generation to have awesome testimonies of revivals in their high schools and on their college campuses. I want them to look comparatively upon the state of high schools and college campuses back then and even now and completely shake things up.

As a duty to this upcoming generation, I pray that every child I have a relationship with would be characterized as a firecracker. I want the Spirit to blaze, setting their hearts on fire at young ages. This is very important to me especially for children raised Christian. It’s dangerously easy to neglect spiritual growth, over the years, under the guise of religion, masking the dangers of repetition and stagnancy. Meanwhile, one would fail to realize that their spiritual entrée for several years was just various forms of Milk.

Come fan the flame!

It Could Be Me

I’m racing home during my break to get something. On the way there, I'm thinking of how grateful I am to have a car, so that I can just up and go somewhere. I arrive home, get in, get out and a few minutes later I turn around to head back to IHOP, the same way I came. I couldn’t help but notice this huge accident that was at the intersection that I was just at! Fire trucks, airbags, cars off to the ditch, the whole nine.

The first song that comes to mind: “It Could’ve Been Me”

“It could’ve been me, with no clothes, no shoes and no food to eat.”

In the same vein, I think “but it’s her;” it’s that elderly woman, and this middle-aged woman, and that guy, and their cars. None of them planned this, they are children of God. They may be saved too. I’d like to think the middle-aged woman was praying, post-accident, otherwise she was actively engaging with an invisible person, hand motions pointing and all.

Are they more deserving of this accident than I am? Are other cities and nations more deserving of judgment than me in my comfortable square footage in the city I call home?

Not at all.

I feel this way with several of the intercession topics.

Sometimes we pray for the persecuted church in China or the end to sex trafficking and child exploitation.

Then I just remember how that could be me, a 25-year-old woman that cannot practice religion without physical persecution; persecution that many of us in the West have barely even smelled. I could be a 25-year-old woman and all I’ve ever known in life is oppression and sexual exploitation. At any given time, a man can and will enter my cage and rape me!

But, it’s not me, for God’s reason, but through the enemy, yet under God’s sovereignty, it is someone else. So we pray, we intercede for these children and women, halfway across the globe and in this very city, Atlanta, as the nation’s sex trafficking capital. We intercede for these people who will likely never know we are praying for them. That’s okay, no one needs to know.

That’s praying what’s on the Father’s heart. Feeling what He feels towards these injustices. Hating what He hates, and loving what He loves. Praying for what He would have us pray about, not just about what we want and what will satisfy our present desires.

It could've been me, yet it is someone else, so we pray. That’s intercession. You feel bad – for the injustices, You feel good – as in feeling His presence. You feel God.

Youthful loyalty: ride or die love.

Sunday morning, three couples were called up to the pulpit for an announcement. I asked my cousin which couple she thought was the most recently wedded of the three. She selected the young couple on the right. Jokingly, I indicated it was actually the elder couple, standing in the middle. I actually lacked knowledge of the accuracy of this information. Based on our brief visual observation, we settled on the same couple.

Of the three couples, the couple we selected was joined at the hip. They held hands throughout the announcement and their hands were interlocked. Also, the wife had a huge smile on her face and the husband looked happy as well.

Another couple was seated near us and my cousin said: “they’re newlyweds” and I immediately agreed.

One thing I usually pray for newlyweds is that their love for each other would continue to grow stronger than the day before. I don’t believe the honeymoon phase should apply to Christ-centered marriages.

The honeymoon phase is part of a Psychology theory identifying different stages of love. The honeymoon phase lasts for X amount of time and once the honeymoon phase wears off, your love begins to fade, beginning a cycle of weaker stages and some sprouts of rekindled love.

I admire families where the spouses have been married for years and their love is so strong that it also transfers to their children. For example, there is a particular family I have in mind, if you just watch for a few seconds you will see what cannot really be expressed in words; from the infant daughter to the eldest son. After listening to the father speak a couple times, I understood how they make it work.

“When you’re really in love no one has to tell you how to act; it just comes naturally.” ¬-JBP

Take these two popular love song statements: “Don’t you remember you told me you loved me, baby?” and “I will always love you.” Try to imagine your spouse saying that to you after years of marriage. Try to imagine the LORD saying that to you.

During the 4pm intercession, Wednesday, the director ministered from Jeremiah 2:2-3 for communion.

“I remember your youthful loyalty, our love as newlyweds. You stayed with me through the wilderness years, stuck with me through all the hard places. Israel was God's holy choice, the pick of the crop. Anyone who laid a hand on her would soon wish he hadn't!'" God's Decree. (The Message)

Everyone has an individual Book of Remembrance that is currently being transcribed as we live out our lives with our free will and voluntary obedience. There are days that the LORD is going to mark, remembering our loyal devotion to Him. The days where we loved him loyally in our wilderness, like the love newlyweds have for each other. The days where we were “ride or die” with Him.

Ride or die is urban vernacular referring to a lover, usually of your youth, who was with you through it all, before you attained any level of success. Likewise, if you lost everything they would still be with you, faithfully.

There are some people who may be going through a wilderness season, but as long as they are faithful in their love, loyalty and devotion, the Lord sees it all. It is during some of your seasons in the wilderness where the LORD remembers the way you loved Him just as He marked the way the Israelites loved Him in the wilderness.

I don’t want to be a compromise Christian, when it comes to the perceived seasons of wilderness or uncertainty. I don’t want my love to be dull or my loyalty to fade. I don’t want to be a borderline Christian, a borderline lover of Christ. The border is too close to unbelief, doubt and wickedness. The borderline is lukewarm.

I want my love to be stronger than the day before. I want my loyalty to be God-fearing like that of Job, knowing that I am not my own, and without Him I can do nothing. I want my devotion to be steadfast like David constantly searching after my Father’s heart. I want my Father to remember my love for Him, similar to the way the Israelites loved Him in the wilderness. I want to possess a youthful loyalty worthy of being marked in my Book of Remembrance.

“I want to love You well, in this betrothal, until we meet again, may I spend my time wisely.” – Caleb Andrews

It’s not just about Proverbs 31:

Stop the press! (or just add this addendum)

About two months ago, I surveyed some of my Christian young adult friends about what they desired in a spouse; what they valued in a future life partner. (See Value System: a woman's perspective and  Value System: a man's perspective).

In general conversation, men will usually say they value the characteristics of a Proverbs 31 woman. Likewise, women will say "I want to embody Proverbs 31" (or if they are bold enough they will even say "I am a Proverbs 31 woman.") The children and husband of a Proverbs 31 woman arise and call her blessed. (Proverbs 31:28)

Blessed.

Blessed: the ultimate well-being and distinctive spiritual joy of those who share in the salvation of the kingdom of God. (Zondervan Study Bible)

Our Foundations class today was an Introduction to the Sermon on the Mount; Matthew 5 and 6. (All my Foundations classes have been excellent! I wish I could bring everyone to class with me. I wouldn’t just say that about any class.)

The Sermon on the Mount is "Jesus’ first public proclamation of the value system of His Kingdom." Matthew 5 contains the 8 core values, (5:3-10). Here, "Jesus is expressing His heart and revealing what is important to Him."

The values are followed by 6 vices that would prevent one from inheriting the Kingdom (5:21-47). Then, Matthew 6 has 7 virtues that release God’s grace upon us as we live out the core values. (6:1-34)

The eight core values are the Beatitudes:

1. Poor in Spirit – realizing that we can do nothing without Him
2. Mourning
3. Meekness – thinking of others before thinking of yourself
4. Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness -
5. Showing Mercy
6. Purity in Heart – not just sexual impurity but thoughts and actions
7. Making Peace – a peacemaker not merely a peacekeeper i.e passive aggressive – non-confrontational.
8. Persecution

Oftentimes, we recite the beatitudes, without much insight, as they sound great – who wouldn’t want to be blessed and inherit the Kingdom? However, these qualities are not inherent characteristics that we are born with, or personality traits that can developed by our own strength, in the flesh. We need to ask our live-in teacher, the Holy Spirit, dwelling within us, to give us more insight into their worth and teach us how to embody these values.

Proverbs 31 is good and dandy (and heavily referenced). It provides a good illustration of the “perfect virtuous woman,” which assumingly many women strive to become. However, I would like to place more emphasis on Matthew 5 and 6 as the continuous goal. These are the values Jesus will be looking for in each of us, men and women, and how we ought to live our lives daily.

“These values are to define us as we walk the narrow path in this life. . . Our hearts are liberated and our souls fulfilled when we give ourselves to 100% obedience to the value system of the Kingdom of God.” –Jamie Burns Pridgen

June is...

June is the president-instituted (Clinton and Obama) designated month for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride and celebration.

The Friday before I hit the road to drive down here, May 13th, a few friends and I were having a discussion. One friend brought to our attention that, the once thought of as conservative sect of Christianity: Presbyterian Church United States of America (PCUSA) is now the fourth Protestant denomination to allow the ordination of gay and lesbian clergy as of May 10th.

I am guilty of this: tip toeing around the subject. I worked with and went to school with people who are very open about this and therefore struggling with this bondage.Whenever I learn that someone is committing themselves to that lifestyle, I accept them but I do not question them about it. Moreover, I don’t necessarily commit them to prayer for the Lord to take them out of it. I pretty much tip toe around that and the elephant in the room eventually becomes a painting on the wall.

Organizations would promote Days of Silence and pass out rainbow ribbons. Of course, I don't support hate crimes but my stance was not taking the rainbow ribbon or in anyway promoting the rainbow symbol. The symbol intended for Noah, I was now refusing to wear.

Some Christians condemn this specific sin with a self-righteous or judgmental spirit. It is as if one sin is greater than another, as if a person identifying themselves by that orientation is living in greater sin than the next person.

During the intercession sets on Tuesday, we prayed for the LGBT community.

In the morning, we prayed that they would be released from their captivity and experience the freedom that the LORD brings.

During the All-Staff intercession the prayer leader called a Rapid Fire on this point of intercession. Rapid Fire is when the prayer leader calls asks for people to come up to say a prayer, at the altar, on the microphone for about 10 to 30 seconds. The prayer is related to the topic of intercession.

Then the worship leader of the all-staff intercession set asked us all to break off into small groups to lift this in prayer.

We prayed all across the board on this issue. We prayed for people who believe they are born that way and therefore must engage in this practice. There are people in lifestyle only because of hurt and pain from past relationships from parental figures or former significant others. There is homosexuality in the church and it’s being covered up. There are people who are dealing with this issue silently as well with few or no one to turn to. We must cry out to our Judge for this must end.

The room became really hot really soon.

We need to continue praying for them or start if we have not. Pray that they would know the Father’s love, and that in Him they would find their true identity. Pray that they would be directed to loving Christians holding steadfast to the second commandment; to love one another as the Lord loves us.
Pray that they would come into the Lords house with open arms. Pray that they would have joy in his House.

We take back the rainbow as the reminder of the Noahic covenant:

 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come. I have set MY RAINBOW in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth. So God said to Noah, “THIS is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” Genesis 9:8-17

What a powerful intercession! Keep praying. Testimonies have come, testimonies are coming, I know of another one already!

"How’s The Pursuit?"

"How’s the internship?" "How’s the Pursuit?" "How's it going?"

We’ve received some form of the above mentioned questions from almost everyone – that’s a good thing to know people genuinely care. And we’ll usually get some people to receive our responses by imparting their wisdom from their experience.

Well: It is good! A week ago, I would’ve answered “mostly good” but now my answer is unequivocal.

One thing to note, although I am learning a lot daily, this Pursuit is not an academic pursuit. It is a spiritual pursuit to pursue the unsearchable God and have Him reveal Himself. It is the beginning of an ongoing process; it is not an attainment or destination.

We added two new courses; one called Fellowshipping with the Holy Spirit and one called Thirst.

The LORD has already told me some things in the prayer room and I look forward to more edification from Him, as I continue to pursue the knowledge of Him. During the first couple weeks, people kept saying "the Lord will tell you some things" " or the Lord will show you some things" so I just internally nod thinking, okay, I wonder how and what He’ll tell and show me.

On Friday nights, we have our end times teaching. This past Friday, the pastor began teaching on the Book of Revelation; a much needed teaching for me. There are a lot of details that I previously glossed over. Now, things are starting to make more sense and come to life.

I also started my helps (department) this past week. I will be working in the marketing department. We are developing with the intentions to execute innovative ways to market the internships.

"It is a short season, so make the most of it" - Pursuit Director so, I will!

Thanks for reading. Send me your prayer requests and subsequent testimonies!

Taking the "Saul out of David"

So I’ve been asking for wisdom and revelation . . .

Last summer, I was placed in a living situation, for my internship, and I realized I could have handled the situation better towards the end of the summer, a little too late. This summer, I’ve been placed in another living situation, similar in some respects and very different in other respects.

During the first week, we had a class called Encountering Jesus. The pastor preached on an issue he experienced, which in hindsight prepared him for a coming controversy. Before he could progress though, the Lord had to take the “Saul out of David.” The Lord intentionally allowed David to go through his different trials with Saul to prepare David for leadership with a character that was absent all the character traits of Saul. We learned that God used the earlier occurrence to prepare him for the second occurrence. This later bigger issue would be his time to execute sound leadership in a way he learned through overcoming the first issue.

I had an interesting first half of my second week apart from the prayer room and classes. In short, in my biased opinion, I feel like I was the “most different” amongst the Pursuit interns. I reminded myself of my agenda and purposes for coming to the internship. Highlighting my differences, comparatively, in a group was not one of my initial purposes, on its face. Yet learning to love better unconditionally is something I asked the Lord for last summer, that could always be improved, and I’m still learning it.

I shared my interesting experience, in confidence, with a few others, outside of the internship, that I could relate to. By vocalizing my experience, with my justifications, I was able to reflect on what I said as well as the responses I was given.

I was in the prayer room on Thursday afternoon and I was reminded of last summer. I realized I was basically resorting to handle the current situation similar to the manner which I handled my living situation towards the end of last summer; do my own thing and keep out of harm’s way to prevent any conflict and subsequently reduce interaction.

I immediately saw the trap I could be falling into once again. Meanwhile, I feel the Lord is teaching me to be a better Christina through even this. It is a lesson and preparation on adaptability and adjusting to new environments where it is likely that I may be, once again, the “most different.”

It’d be less convincing to a stranger that I’m adaptable and flexible if I didn’t have recent and relevant references of me venturing out of my comfort zone. Moreover, I don’t generally believe we were made to be comfortable. If I always gravitate towards people who accept me, I’m in effect, making myself comfortable. By staying in my comfort zone, I would not see the areas the Lord is trying to work on in me to prepare me for what is to come.

As I pray Ephesians 1:17-19, I perceive three dangers of maintaining dim eyes to this understanding. One, the Lord may determine that I currently lack the qualifications to be placed in a new setting. Two, I could remain stagnant, missing my kairos opportunity due to my own disobedience. Or three, I would end up learning and realizing that in later less appropriate setting because I decided to do things the comfortable way.

As long as change is constant, it is foreseeable that I will be in these situations in the months and years to come as I enter new beginnings. I would have no excuse not to improve that ("that" essentially being: unconditional love, humility, and meekness) in this setting, not only because one of the safest environments to do so in but it is a test of what I began learning last summer.

I’ve been divinely checked; revelation.

prayer for African youth and young adults

Yesterday, at the all-staff intercession, we prayed for the gift of spiritual hunger with Psalm 42 verses 1, 2 and 7 as our reference.

(1) As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.
(2) My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
(7) Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me.

I specifically prayed for my African Christian Fellowship brethren and called them out by name. I also prayed this prayer for relatives, friends, and the youth and young adult groups at Jesus House Chicago and within the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Please pray this prayer with me, as often as you remember:

LORD please awaken our hearts, the hearts of African youth and young adults. Give us the desire to want to know You more. Give us the gift of spiritual hunger. Stir up a spiritual hunger within us, a longing, a thirst in our hearts. Just as the deer pants for the water brook, let us thirst and long for the Living Water and hunger for the Bread of Life. Lord give us the thirst and hunger that only You can satisfy. Deep calls out to deep.

“You are the Lover, You never run dry. You are the Lover, only You can satisfy.”

The Prayer Room

“To have faith, by definition, is to pray and keep on praying and never lose heart in prayer”

In the prayer room, at the International House of Prayer-Atlanta, the fire is kept burning on the altar 24/7.

Leviticus 6:13: "The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out."

The perpetual fire in Moses’ day represented uninterrupted offering to and appeal to God on behalf of Israel. (Zondervan Study Bible)

For two hour sets, around the clock, the intercessory missionaries keep the fire burning in the form of worship with the word, devotions and intercession. So if you walk into the prayer room at 3am or 3pm you will find people in there, praying and worshiping. During the services, the prayer room moves to the building next door.

During intercession, there is worship and then there are intervals whereby people to come to ask the others in the room to agree with them on prayers that have been placed on their heart. After the person or people pray on the microphone, the worship set sings parts of the prayer and parts of the scripture used in the prayer as a chorus. Many of the scriptures used are prayers that Paul wrote the churches in the New Testament; apostolic prayers. Meanwhile, other people are pacing the room back and forth or sitting in place, it all depends on your style or how you’re being moved at the time.

On Tuesdays at 4pm everyone who is on staff or an intern at IHOP-Atlanta is required to come to the all-staff intercession. This past Tuesday was the second all-staff intercession I attended. I went to one in October too, when I came to visit. They’ve both been live; worship and intercession sets; sometimes you feel like dancing.

At this past all staff intercession, there was a focus on interceding for the churches in Egypt, Muslims, and the word of the Lord to spread rapidly throughout the nations from 2 Thessalonians 3.

The Pastor (director) called the new interns up so that we could be prayed upon and blessed as we begin this season. I don’t recall there ever being a time in my life when so many people came and prayerfully laid hands on me. We also heard from missionaries who have setup a house of prayer in Uganda.

At the end of the intercession sets, the leader will ask people to indicate whether they need a form of healing. Then he will ask for the believers nearby to lay hands on the people who seek healing. So in a sense, if you’re not being prayed for, you’re laying your hands on people to pray for them.


The Parable of the Persistent Widow.

Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: 

“In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, 'Grant me justice against my adversary.' For some time he refused. 

But finally he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!'

And the LORD said, “Listen to what the unjust judge said. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?  I tell you He will see that they get justice and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth? Luke 18:1-8.

 We have to be like the persistent widow.

“Faith always prays, unbelief stops praying.”

The IHOP World – Lawrenceville

It’s funny because right after high school, I used to tell some of my classmates/teammates from high school, that I tried out for the MTV reality show: The Real World and I would be on the next season. Meanwhile, I was taking my Gen Eds & Psych classes in Champaign at U of I.

In all actuality, I never tried out for the Real World. I’m Nigerian; we can’t bring shame to our parents in that manner. The thought of it crossed my mind though: living with 6 strangers for 2.5 months in a different city.  

Well, what I said post-high school came to pass with a twist.

All The Pursuit interns are housed together by gender. We have guidelines that are intended to foster the consecrated environment. I’m living in a townhouse with 7 other women, one of the women is the core leader/RA from IHOP staff but she is also a young adult. There are two male interns in another house. This definitely was not one of my motivating factors in my decision to do The Pursuit.

I share a room with one other intern. I haven’t shared a room (as opposed to house or apartment) with anyone since 2004, as a resident in the dorms, in undergrad. And at 25, I am the oldest in the house with the others ranging from 18-24.

Living communally with 7 others, 6 who will share my same daily schedule, for the duration of this season, can at times be overwhelming. Sometimes, I desire a little privacy.

At times, it feels like I’m in a bubble but I’m also on the outside of the bubble, observing. This is an interesting group and at second glance, a diverse group of Christians, indeed.

Of course, here, there are no cameras, we’re not being filmed, but transparency is foreseeable. As it happens whenever you’re placed in a new environment, you’re bound to learn several things. I’m sure I will learn things I didn’t even expect from this experience.

So welcome to The IHOP World – Lawrenceville.

Thank you for your support!

Before deciding to come to The Pursuit officially, I told my close friends that, I knew that if God wants me to do The Pursuit, He will provide every cent. Jehovah Jireh!

I started raising support earlier this month, and the LORD is providing for me through friends and family. I really really really appreciate the love and support from my family and friends; it really encourages me. I am so grateful to have wonderful people in my life. Thank you!

I’m still raising support (prayers and financial). It surely increases your faith in Him, not knowing how He will provide, but trusting Him enough to know that He will provide for you; total abandonment in Him.

My main expenses will be groceries and gas. One of my goals is not to buy anything I already have at home or can do without. This will mean little to no fast food and unnecessary spending.

I would like to one day support missionaries in some capacity and go on missions trips overseas too. I learned that many of the missionaries here are living below poverty. Everyone from the pastor (director) to the IT director, to the worship leaders and full time intercessors raise their own support, they do not receive a salary. Some live on as little as $500 a month.  All of this, combined with other occurrences, really provokes my missionary mentality. I have thoughts about that topic that I’ll write about in an upcoming post.

If you would like to support me prayerfully or financially please contact me at IHOP Email for more information.

Thank you and God bless you.

And so it begins, The Pursuit.

The Pursuit – a three month season, May 15th to August 4th, of intense consecration, prayer, worship and pursuit of Jesus tailored to young adults who have an ache in their soul to know the deep emotions of the Living God. The three months will include spending time in IHOP-Atlanta's prayer room where the worship, music and intercession continues 24 hours, 7 days a week. We are also on a media fast consisting of no television, movies, or radio; not even watching the playoffs.

Although I miss my community (friends, family) back home, I am glad to be here in this community for this 3 month season.

I have a lot to say and update so I’ll break up the posts by topic beginning with this one as a general overview.

My first week is complete, and it’s a pretty busy schedule. This week included orientation, move-in, classes, prayer room - praying, classes, goal-setting, reading, classes, service, prophecy, and classes. I like the classes. And to think, I told my friends, I was done with school. We will forever be students in some way; forever learning. I’ve also been applying for positions, that I will begin after this internship, and continuing to raise support.

There are eight interns taking part in The Pursuit, two in the Night: The Watch and Nitro and a family doing Intro. More information on each internship has been hyper-linked for your convenience. Perusing the website, you will see there are few more internships as well.

We have had several classes thus far which will continue throughout The Pursuit, and a few more which will begin next week.

1. Foundations
2. Understanding the Old Testament
3. Encountering Jesus*
4. Song of Solomon
5. The Millennial Kingdom
6. End Times

*This class was just during the first week. The schedule is pretty full from 10 to 8 and 10 to 10 on Friday.

We have also received several books to read during this season.

1. Apostolic Foundations – Art Katz
2. The Final Quest – Rick Joyner
3. Unrelenting Prayer – Bob Sorge
4. The Culture of the Kingdom - Billy Humphrey
5. Until He Comes - Billy Humphrey
6. The Heavenly Man – Brother Yun
7. The Pleasures of the Loving God – Mike Bickle

I will spend many hours in the prayer room this summer and I would like to pray for you. It’s always good to have specific prayer points to agree with people on and join our faith to see what we say and request come to pass. Please send your requests to me at IHOP Email

I hope you do because my inbox is really empty right now. :)

For the prayer requests I’ve already received, thank you. Let’s keep praying and keep me updated on the progress.