September Update
I’m almost at the end of the 2nd month of school, and I really love it. I love getting to read the Bible and be in the Prayer Room for credit. Though, for the sake of being real and honest, it’s not always exciting, easy or even what I feel like doing. I really want my heart to be alive with love for Jesus and the most enjoyable, exciting thing I can think to do is to be in His presence. Because the God who created everything must be the most fascinating, exciting being in all existence. I think honestly, I’m here in school not because I’m really good at prayer, ministry and loving Jesus, but because I look inside my heart and see that I’m not, but I really want to be. I feel like I am learning a lot, and really being stretched. It is not naturally easy to sit in a prayer room for 4 hours and engage with the Holy Spirit the whole time, even when the music is really good. I realize how easily distracted I am and and how often I’ll try to do anything else other than come face to face with God. I’m learning to engage with Jesus with my heart and that is stretching me, too. I have been used to engaging Him with my mind and intellect. But almost all of our education and homework involve and require engaging our hearts with Jesus, because being a Christian is about knowing a Person, Jesus, not knowing about Him, or knowing about a set of beliefs.
Forerunner Arts
Along with the theological and ministry training I’m getting, I also want to learn how to create art that flows from significant amounts of time in prayer, worship and meditation on scripture. In terms of art, I’m really excited because I wasn’t expecting it, but there is actually a sizable community of artists here, some of whom have gone to art school before coming here. It’s actually a pretty creative community in general, maybe because music is such a big part of what goes on here, and many artists are also musicians and vice versa. Anyway, I’m really excited about being involved with this ministry, called Forerunner Arts.
24/7 Works of Justice
I feel like I’ve come here at a really great time. A week ago, IHOP celebrated 10 years of continual prayer, 24/7. Mike Bickle shared 8 sessions of the history of IHOP. (You can check out the notes from each session or listen to the mp3 here http://www.ihop.org/Group/Group.aspx?ID=1000047932 I also highly recommend checking out the videos, particularly the Harp and Bowl Sing a Long, and the IHOP skit 
) The last session was about where IHOP is going from here, which is adding 24/7 acts of justice to the 24/7 cries for justice that have been going up through prayer and worship, so there are many new initiatives beginning.
Adoption, the Prophetic Answer to Abortion
Over the years, IHOP has been vocal about standing against abortion, because it has shed the innocent blood of over 50 million babies since 1973 in America alone. Since the Lord is a righteous Judge He cannot delay releasing judgment indefinitely if a guilty nation doesn’t repent and turn from their sin, because the Bible clearly states that the blood of the innocent cries out to Him from the ground, and because He is righteous and just, He must answer that cry for justice. IHOP has been active in supporting Prolife initiatives and groups and regularly prays for the ending of abortion in the prayer room. I have begun going with a group of students every Saturday morning on what is called a Life Siege. We go to a local abortion clinic, where approximately 15-30 abortions are performed a day, or 6000 a year. We stand on the sidewalk with a piece of red tape over our mouths with the word LIFE written in black. It is a silent prayer meeting, not a protest. We go to stand as a witness to the injustice being done to the unborn and to appeal to the Court of Heaven, repenting of our sin and that of our nation and asking God to release justice by having mercy on those involved in abortions and bringing an end to abortion in America, and sending revival instead. We wear the LIFE tape on our mouths because we are identifying with the unborn, who also do not have a voice to defend themselves. This past week, there were probably about 50 or so students from my school at the clinic for two hours on Saturday morning. www.bound4life.org, www.thecall.com
But we also believe that an adoption movement is the prophetic answer to abortion. Because abortion (among other things) has released a spirit of rejection and murder in this generation, the Biblical answer is the spirit of adoption, which Paul talks about in Romans 8. Spiritually, God has adopted all who give their lives to Jesus into His family, and physically, it is time for the church to stand up and say we will take these children and care for them. In the first century in the Roman world, the exposure of infants was a common and accepted, legal practice. This means that if a family didn’t like their baby, if they were the wrong gender or sickly or deformed, they would basically throw them away on garbage heaps. It was the Christians who would go out and pick up the babies and raise them themselves. The Orphan Justice Center is an organization that is helping families in IHOP who are adopting children from the local DCFS system, children rescued out of human trafficking and babies given up by moms who chose not to abort. I am so excited about getting involved with this ministry. I would be able to be an assistant to a family with adopted kids, being like a big sister, and even possibly teaching art to kids at some point. This is an organization I really want to become a part of, now and into the future, because I love what they’re doing. I feel really strongly about being involved at both ends of this issue. I want to continue participating in the Life Sieges on one side and also be apart of serving children. I’ve been to Life Sieges in Chicago, and as we would stand there men going by on the street would shout nasty things at us. One time, a man going by on a bike shouted ‘how many of you have foster kids or adopted kids?’ basically making the accusation that we had no right to be there if we weren’t helping raise kids who weren’t aborted. While the majority of people there with us were under 30 and unmarried, it still struck me as having a note of truth. We do need to be active on both levels. So that is what I intend to do.
Exodus Cry
Regarding the issue of human trafficking, a group of IHOPers is producing a documentary called Nefarious: Merchant of Souls, documenting human trafficking and sex slavery and how they have spread into cities all over the world. They have a begun an organization called Exodus Cry. www.exoduscry.com The really significant thing about this project and everything that is going on at IHOP, is that all the things we are doing are flowing out of night and day prayer and connection to the heart of Jesus. This is really important because much of social justice-type initiatives that are being done now are rooted in human sentiment and according to what human beings think is right or wrong, without a Biblical understanding of God’s righteousness and holiness, and the sinfulness of man. For instance, much of the secular fight against human trafficking is being conducted by men and women who are opposed to the exploitation of women and children sexually, but at the same time they are producing music and movies that promote a relativistic worldview (there is no objective standard of right or wrong) and they produce movies and music that promote exactly the type of sexual immorality and promiscuity that fuels sex slavery. If millions of women and children are enslaved in sex slavery, that means that many millions more men are demanding that service. It is foolish and impossible to truly oppose sex slavery without also standing for holiness and purity in the rest of culture. In my previous post I shared the notes about what is going on here at IHOP, and there are several new initiatives that have to do with serving women and children rescued out of human trafficking.
From Judson to IHOP to Myanmar
There is also a cool connection for me coming here from Judson University. When the cyclone hit Myanmar, the IHOP community felt the Lord calling them to give. So they raised one million dollars to send to Myanmar. But you need to understand, IHOP is a missions base, and the majority of people who gave are missionaries who raise support to be here. So that is pretty extraordinary that a few thousand people gave so much. One of the leaders’ wife here is Burmese, so she and her husband were able to go into the country, and the government (which is notoriously closed to outside intervention of any kind, and as a Buddhist nation, hostile to Christianity) were so pleased with the relief work she was doing, that they allowed a team from IHOP to go into Myanmar. They set up a base camp in a Christian village, and were able to preach the gospel and see many Burmese saved, including Buddhist monks who had had dreams and supernatural encounters with Jesus when the cyclone hit. Other villagers testified that when they prayed to Jesus instead of the buddhas, rice came to their villages. What’s really cool to me about IHOP having an impact on Myanmar is that Judson University is named after Adoniram Judson, who was the first missionary to Burma.
YWAM and IHOP
What do these two acronyms have to do with each other? Well, for those who don’t know, YWAM stands for Youth With A Mission, one of the largest missions organizations in the world. Over the past few years, YWAM and IHOP have developed a close relationship. IHOP has been partnering with YWAM as the prayer support for their missionaries on the field all over the world. And now, YWAM and IHOP are teaming up for an outreach here in Kansas City where they will be bringing a campaign called the Impact World Tour, which includes culturally relevant presentations of the gospel in stadium-type settings. The campaign will also include evangelizing the whole city, with the goal of every household in the city receiving a witness of the gospel.
So, as you can see, there is a lot going on here, and I’ve only mentioned a couple things… Thanks for reading my update. I would love to hear from you, my friends and family and even to know what I can be praying for you about.
Love,
Erin
