24-7 Prayer is being birthed at UCLA supernaturally, below is a prophetic summary from one of our passion church leaders at UCLA...read it, be inspired to start a 24-7 campus house of prayer on your campus & pray for the CHURCH at UCLA > LET FIRE FALL!
for campus revival,
Jaeson
click on to sign up for 24-7 Prayer at UCLA: http://prayer.g9labs.com/ucla/
Hey Guys, I know this is going to be a long post but PLEASE read it. We're going to start 24/7 prayer on MONDAY, October 30th. That's TWO DAYS from now! We're going to be doing it 8 hours a day (9 hours on Tuesday with Solemn Assembly), Monday-Saturday and take a break on Sunday. Because it's sooo soon, it's URGENT that you read #1 WHY we're doing it so soon (there's good reason) and #2 we need people to really step it up these coming days to #1 spread it word of mouth and #2 COMMIT to time slots for the first week! Furthermore, we're asing that EVERYONE (PC and EVERYONE ELSE at UCLA) to come on Tuesday nights so that we can seek God in prayer together!
GET READY TO READ. AND PLEASE THIS is one of the few MUST READ e-mails I will ever send in my life. It will only take fifteen minutes max, and honestly, I truly believe you will be encouraged and hopefully inspired!
24/7 Prayer
October 28th, 2006I write this email with just one purpose–to call every Christian, every Body, and every fellowship to 24/7 prayer at UCLA. God has recently given us a tremendous amount of revelations, dreams, visions and words that have all amounted to one thing–a call to prayer that UCLA has never seen before. This post may be long, but please, I ask that you would give me fifteen minutes of your day, and read through it all to be blessed, encouraged, and hopefully inspired. God is GREAT!
To truly understand the context of all that happened, I have to first explain some background information. About 6-7 weeks ago, during our Sunday Night meetings at Passion Church, the glory and presence of God fell in an unusual way. Students were literally praying and seeking God for 5-6 hours! No one wanted to leave–it was a Divine moment. We thought maybe this was one of those "special" Sundays, but that Sunday was followed the next week with another encounter with God, another flow of the Holy Spirit, and that Sunday was followed by yet another! During that period, for three weeks, God began speaking to all of us that before anything else, before ministry, before doing "stuff" we needed to have intimacy with God.
A week later, I had a series of three dreams. In the first dream, I felt like I was "hearing the voice of God". Suddenly, after a while, I realized somehow that it wasn't the voice of God, but that it was a false spirit pretending to be the voice of God. That was confirmed when the voice began maliciously laughing at me. I woke up, didn't think much of it, then went back to sleep.
In my second dream, I saw a "spirit" or "being" of some sort walk through my front door. It looked at me, and I knew immediately it was demonic. Then, somehow, I was back in my bed, and I literally felt a sensation of being strangled in my sleep. I immediately woke up, once again, and this time, because the sensation of being strangled felt so real, I couldn't deny that this was probably a warning from God. However, being tired, I went back to sleep, again.
The third dream I had was that I was sharing these dreams with all of Passion Church, and everyone in Passion Church didn't take it seriously. When I woke up once and for all, I felt immediately that God was revealing to me that He wanted me to warn Passion Church that Satan was going to "attack" us in the form of ministry–that is, Satan was going to try and get us so focused on ministry, that we would lose our intimacy with God.
When I brought this before the church, all of us agreed that it was a Word from God, and we tried to be "careful". However, even though we knew that this "attack" was going to happen, it ended up happening just like the dreams suggested–ministry quickly began to consume our times, and very soon, many of the leaders and members were starting to lose their "intimacy" with God.
Now as we're doing all this "ministry", suddenly God begins to speak to all the people at Passion Church. Our Sunday meetings suddenly became less "Spirit" filled, and although God was still moving, all the leaders definitely noticed a difference. Furthermore, many of the members were beginning to feel like we were "doing something wrong". That something, we weren't sure what, was wrong.
Then, one Sunday we had decided to enter corporately into a 7 day fast. The Sunday before the fast, it was incredibly hard to worship God, and we quickly found ourselves trying to find an answer to why all this was happening, and why the "presence" and "power" we had felt just weeks before seemed to have gone from us. Jaeson gave a word that he saw a "tape rewinding". We weren't completely sure what this meant at the time, but now, it all makes sense. That was the context. Now let me explain the vision.
Jaeson's call to plant simple churches on University Campuses is to first and foremost establish 24/7 Houses of Prayer, and THEN to plant simple churches. However, at PC we began doing it backwards. Before we "established" 24/7 Houses of Prayer, we were first doing all the ministry! The importance of this is because God had intentionally called us to first and foremost be "intimate" with Him, so that ministry can flow naturally from intimacy.
Furthermore, this idea of "doing things in the right order" was confirmed through a couple Biblical words that God revealed. First and foremost, one of the girls in the church gave a Word that in order to build the "Tabernacle" the people of Israel had to do it exactly as God commanded. Otherwise the presence of God would not fall. She also felt like the reason for this is because the presence of God is something serious, and not to be taken lightly. That is why before it can happen, the body needs to sanctify themselves, and prepare for it. Secondly, I was reading in the Book of Joshua about Jericho, and God spoke to me and said "before you can invade the city, you have to march around the city 7 times!" This concept of "marching around a city" is something that strategically makes no sense whatsoever! However, it's what God commanded, and the march is simply a matter of obedience. Finally, I was reading in Acts 2 which shows that before the disciples could really go out and do the work of ministry, they first had to "wait for the Holy Spirit" so that they could receive power from on High to do the work He's called them to. All this was about being "obedient", "listening to His instructions" , and finally, seeking God in a very real and personal way (intimacy, and Holy Spirit encounter).
Now this is where it gets interesting. We meet on Sundays at an apartment on Ophir Drive where one of our church members so graciously provided his living space. A while back, the owner of the apartment, Mike Han, had a very vivid dream in which he saw his apartment filled with people from all over UCLA, and everyone was seeking and praying to God together! Mike said that he felt, in his dream, that everyone was so hungry for God, and so thirsty for His presence, and many of them, because of this hunger, were being filled.
This same dream was verified by so many people who were saying that Mike's Apartment was going to be a "well" where people who were thirsty could be filled. Also, very interestingly, Jaeson felt in the Spirit that the name "Ophir" had significance. The week before, however, one of the girls in PC felt the same thing, and had looked up what "Ophir" was in the bible. Ophir is actually a city next to Jerusalem that was a city of rich abundance and gold. In fact, many people went to Ophir to get the most pure and precious gold they could find! All this pointed to the fact that God was preparing Mike's Apartment to be a place of rich abundance, a well, a fountain where Christians and believers could all come to be filled.
Now in my mind I was thinking, "maybe we should do 24/7 prayer here". However, immediately I pushed that thought aside, because it's Mike's living space. The last thing I would want is to ask him to give up his apartment–even if it's for something like 24/7 prayer. However three nights ago, one of the girls in PC (Jessica) emails me about 24/7 prayer, and asks, "why don't we do it at Mike's place". She gives her reasons, and feels like we need to have it there. I quickly disregard this e-mail, and tell God "well, Lord, if Mike offers his place to us, then sure."
That night, Caleb and I begin praying to God to reveal to us what we're supposed to do. Honestly, at that point we were very confused–God was speaking to us that "something was wrong" and that we needed to "have a Spirit of repentance" and that we also needed to "fear the Lord". In our minds, we want to have a "Spirit of Repentance", but honestly, that only comes from God. So then we felt maybe we're supposed to pray. Maybe even 24/7. But even if we were to do 24/7 prayer, the only question on our minds were, where and when? How would it even work? Suddenly the thought of doing 8 hours, instead of 24 came into both of our minds, and we thought this was from God. We prayed a little bit longer, but the important thing is is that that night, I felt like we truly surrendered the situation to God.
The next day, I was hanging out with Mike, and began talking to him about 24/7 prayer. I told him that we might be doing it at Drake Stadium for 8 hours a day. Then Mike suddenly looks at me and says, "Sam. Why don't we do 24/7 prayer here". Hold up. Let me just take a minute here to say "OH MY GOSH!" Honestly, I know you guys cannot TRULY appreciate this, but if you understood the context of this (we actually almost burned down his apartment last year when we did 24/7 prayer for one day at his apartment) (that's a whole nother story), it was the LAST THING I was expecting him to say. I mean, COME ON! It's his living room!!!
At that moment, when Mike said that, I literally felt the presence of God hit me, and suddenly EVERYTHING that was happening and ALL the things that God had been speaking to us made so much sense! Honestly, in that moment, revelation upon relevation just flooded into my head! Up to that point, I couldn't understand "what was wrong" and I was constantly trying to put together all the "prophetic" words that were being spoken to the PC community to decipher what we needed to do. Then, in that moment, it all made sense. God wanted us to do 24/7 prayer first before anything else! The reason He wanted us to do 24/7 is because He wanted us to have #1 intimacy with Him before we focus on ministry. Intimacy needs to be the birthplace for ministry. #2 encounter Him so that we can have a Spirit of repentance, and a fear of the Lord (Like Isaiah in Isaiah 6). Every move of God only happened when His people "humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways. And finally, #3 unify the entire Body of Christ at UCLA and awaken them to the urgency and need for prayer! This is a given! WE NEED UNITY AT UCLA! WE NEED TO PRAY! Even if our theologies aren't completely the same we can ALL appreciate the NEED and urgency to PRAY! Let's not think together–let's pray together. Let's seek God together. Let's PRAY!
Yea, yea maybe now you're thinking…this isn't THAT crazy. BUT MY FRIEND, here, the story does not end! It gets even better. I start talking to the 24/7 Coordinator for PC (Erika), and tell her about all this craziness that's been going on, then she tells me "you want to hear something crazy"? I'm always down for that. So she tells me how she met a girl named Natalee who doesn't know us at all, and that Natalee is a girl who's part of a church plant in West LA. Her and Natalee start to talk, and Erika begins telling Natalee about how Erika is trying to get a tent on campus for 24/7 prayer but it's not really working out (the student programming center wasn't really big on the idea).
Natalee, a few days later, calls Erika and tells her that she was praying and God spoke to her and said she didn't have to worry, that God was going to provide a place, specifically at someone's apartment, that someone you aren't expecting is going to offer you their place, and that 24/7 prayer is going to happen in a way you weren't expecting!!!!!!!! That's EXACTLY what happened with Mike! Natalee doesn't EVEN KNOW us! That was the FIRST time she's really talked to someone from PC! ONCE AGAIN. OH MY GOSH!!!!
Then, right after this, I'm flipping out and totally stoked about 24/7 prayer. Then I run into Dennis. I start talking to Dennis about 24/7 prayer, and seriously I'm getting excited, he's getting excited, we're all getting excited. I remember that Dennis is a part of AACF. So I tell Dennis, "hey man! You have to tell everyone! AACF needs to be involved!" Dennis looks at me, and says, "well can you pray for AACF? I'm the CC (Core Coordinator). That is…I'm the President. " Now let me give you a bit of context. Two weeks before I felt in my Spirit that we needed to do 24/7 prayer right away. During that time, I asked God a lot of questions, one of the main ones being "well, even if we started it God, how would we keep it going? Who's going to come?" During that time, God spoke to me and said "Sam, if you get it started, I'll take care of the rest". I want you guys to think about this. I "randomly" bump into Dennis RIGHT after all these crazy revelations from God about 24/7 prayer, and unknowing to me he's the PRESIDENT OF AACF!!!! God reminded me right away that He promised to take care of it if we just get it started. NOW I TRULY BELIEVE THAT!
NOW this is the climax. Get ready for it. Cause it's all about to end with a call to prayer. I go to Cross Connect (the joint campus fellowship movement at UCLA) and I'm sitting there, talking to Joyce from CCC. I'm telling her about how I'm lacking sleep these days, and she randomly starts talking about Psalm 127 and tells me she wants to share it with me, and that it's "not relevant" to me lacking sleep, but she wants to share it anyways. Immediately God tells me "that this Psalm is very relevant, so listen closely". I didn't know what to expect, but I told Joyce "tell me" knowing in my heart that she was going to speak a very relevant word to me. Then Joyce begins reading the Psalm. Here's how it goes:
Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to [ a] those he loves.
Sons are a heritage from the LORD,
children a reward from him.
Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are sons born in one's youth.
Blessed is the man
whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they contend with their enemies in the gate.
OH MY GOSH! Maybe you haven't connected the dots yet. If you haven't, let me help you. Ministry needs to start with God! Unless God first "builds the house" all the ministry is in vain! We were doing ministry without God first establishing His house (House of Prayer!) And what's crazy is that it's totally relevant because many of us were "sleeping late" and "waking up early" and even "toiling for food to eat" and STILL we were missing something. God needed to first "build his house", THEN the work that we would do would be "blessed" and we would have strength against the enemy.
Whew. That was long. Even writing it felt long. Honestly, my words, seeing that it is written, cannot do it justice. You need to hear me share it in person because honestly, I may not sound overly excited on this post, or e-mail, but that's because #1 it's freaking 4:20 AM and #2 writing is hard to express excitement. BUT DUDE. TRUST ME. I AM SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO EXCITED about this. DUDE if you read this and are not excited for 24/7 prayer at UCLA then you need to CALL ME RIGHT NOW (310-467-8524) SO THAT I CAN GET YOU PUMPED UP! When all this stuff happened I really freaked out. Ask everyone. And this post doesn't do it justice. But I've never felt so strongly, or so much faith about an issue in my entire life! So please CALL ME IF YOU DOUBT ME!
What's the point? My point is this. God is calling the ENTIRE BODY at UCLA to pray. Not just Passion Church. EVERYONE. During Azusa Street Revival, a revival that 100 years ago swept across America and is responsible for a really good number of the current revivals and missionary movements across the World, there was a very interesting thing that happened. One church would be having CRAZY Holy Spirit encounter meetings, where God's manifest presence was soo powerful. Yet, the church right across the street was completely the opposite–there was no power of God, and they seriously "missed" the move of God.
God is calling YOU to pray at UCLA. Will you listen?
So here it is….
24/7 Prayer Vision: The vision of 24/7 Prayer at UCLA is to birth a generation of love-sick worshippers who would sooner bow and worship at His feet than gain all the success, fame, or wealth in the world. It's not about sacrifice anymore—no, it's simply worship. Suddenly we're not the 50 Denarii person, but after having encountered a Holy and Righteous King, we find ourselves naked, broken, humbled, with no more excuses to give, or words to say. All that's left is repentance—and now nothing else matters but to get closer to Him, because He's the One that saves, He's the One that loves, He's the One who forgives and pours out grace. He becomes everything, our King, our Love, our Lord. And so the whole body cries out, in perfect unity, "Jesus Reigns"! And Satan trembles. And hell retreats. Because an army's awakened, with one heart, one mind, one dream—who can stop us now? Once dry bones, now full of life—the very breath of the Spirit is what keeps us moving. So that's all it is—a people who've tasted the manifest presence of the King. And having seen, and having felt, there's nothing left to do but obey—nothing else left to say, but "Here I am, Lord. Send me."
When's it going to happen?Monday-Saturday, 12 PM to 8 PM. 21 days, 8 hours a day, 48 hours a week. October 30th-November 22nd. There will be sign ups in the prayer room, we're working on a website (that we hope to get up by Monday) and we will be passing out sign up sheets to most fellowship leaders, as we can contact them. Oh, and check facebook, too.
Who's invited?EVERYONE who wants to come. All the fellowships, all your friends. Christian or non-Christian. CCM or KCM. KCCC or CCC. IV or AACF. (sorry I would write the rest but I can't think of them all. it's 5 am now!) Spread the Word. This invitation is for everyone!
How's it going to happen?Everyone who signs up signs up for one to two hour slots. We're going to try and get a website up by Monday. Sign up when you have time, and sign up for as many times as you want. If possible, commit to praying the same time for the whole three weeks. Every Tuesday nights, as well, from 7-9, we will "join together" in Solemn Assembly—everyone is encouraged to come so we can join together as "one body" to seek Him.
Where's it going to happen?11099 Ophir Drive. Ring "Driscoll" at the door, apartment 102. It's the first apartment on the right.
Who should I contact if I have any questions?
E-mail: Samxkx@gmail.com or erimarie@ucla.edu
You can also check www.samxkx.wordpress.com for the same post, and this will probably be circulating Facebook!
Sam
Hey friends, I'll be sending out chapters from my new book for yall to read if you desire to. I'm trying to get as much feed back as possible before it goes into final editing so that what goes in, is the best it can be. I pray this chapter "Waiting Prayer" would be a blessing to you. Honestly, this chapter of the book would be the most significant for me personally, it is what has changed my inner man, and kept my inner man all these short years walking with the Lord. May you learn to relish, wait upon and enjoy the presence of God each day, more and more. I pray this little chapter will help you grow in intimacy with Christ more. Please continue to pray as I have now finished the rough manuscript, and now in editing stages. Please pray that from editing to publishing the process would be Spirit led and God destined. It's a blessing to have you praying and encouraging me with blog comments. Blessings friends! jaeson CHAPTER 3: WAITING PRAYER"But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31
"God, I don't care what it takes, I want to be on fire for you 24-7!" This was my daily prayer as a freshman in college. Be careful what you pray for. After I had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God birthed inside me a supernatural hunger to know Him more. The more I read about the life of the Apostle Paul I could not help but think how awesome it would be to be as intimate with the Holy Spirit as he was. Paul had only one aim, one desire in life:
"That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead." Phil 3:10-11
The word "know" in the Greek is ginosko which means to "intimately experience." It wasn't enough for me to be filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit once – I wanted to intimately know the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, like Apostle Paul did. I kept praying, "God make me on fire for you 24-7!" My prayers were answered….
One day, after school, I received a package of cassette tapes from my mother. She told me, "Jaeson, you must listen to these tapes, they are power of God!" I thought to myself, "Yeah, right, what are these tapes?" The tape album was called "Waiting upon the Lord" and it was a seven-tape teaching series by my mother's senior pastor on how to wait upon the presence of God in solitude and silence. I didn't want to listen to the tapes but, my mom kept bugging me to listen to them, so I gave in.
One afternoon I popped the first teaching tape into my stereo system. There was a Chinese man, speaking English with a heavy Chinese accent, interpreting the pastor's teaching. He said, "Waiting upon the Lord, are you hungry for more of God, do you want to be on fire for God 24-7? Then you must learn to wait upon the Lord." I couldn't believe my ears! This was the answer to my prayers! However, the more I listened, the more I couldn't stand the teaching, the guy kept saying the same thing over and over again. Basically, the teaching tapes kept repeating the need to wait on God by being still, silent, and to daily gaze at God's beauty for long periods of time. By the second tape, I got the picture and decided to go for it.
For two weeks straight, I locked myself in my room, knelt on the floor, and waited on God. I waited, and waited, and waited, and nothing happened. In my room I waited daily for at least two hours with no results. Sometimes while waiting I fell asleep, felt stupid, or was totally distracted. But I remembered Isaiah 40:31 and held onto the promise, "But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength." I wouldn't give up, I kept pressing in and finally one day, the presence of God broke in.
After two weeks of daily waiting upon the Lord, I began to sense the presence of Holy Spirit stronger in me and around me. It would usually take at least one hour of quieting my soul from any distractions before I began to experience the tangible presence of Holy Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit would come so strongly in my room I could not contain it. The presence and love of God was so immense I would begin to weep like a little baby. My heart would begin to flutter, my body would at times shake uncontrollably and I would begin to sing out loud in tongues. During those moments the Holy Spirit would shine His judgment light upon me. I felt as if I was completely naked before Him. As I knelt before the light of the Holy Spirit all my sin and pride was exposed, but then His loving presence would flood over me and wash my sins away. My spirit-man was being transformed in the fire of God's presence. There was an unspoken cry deep in my spirit to know the Holy Spirit more intimately and I became addicted to the presence of God.
For weeks on end, I waited on the presence of the Holy Spirit daily. Everyday, after quieting and silencing my mind, will and emotions from inner distractions, the presence of the Holy Spirit would fill my being again and again. The experience was powerful and transforming, but I knew something was still missing.
One day, while waiting on God, I heard the Holy Spirit speak to me: "Jaeson you must know My Word or you will not recognize my voice, for My voice will always confirm my written Word." I responded to the Holy Spirit in prayer, "Holy Spirit you know that I love your presence, but I have a hard time reading Your Word. I don't understand it as I should, but if you open a door, I will obey." Then a random idea came into my mind and I brought it to the Holy Spirit in prayer. I told the Holy Spirit that I would commit to reading the entire Bible if He would open a door for me during the winter break, to find myself an empty house in the mountains, and if so, I would take out a whole week to read the Bible from beginning to end. A week later the Holy Spirit answered my prayer.
I was at church that Sunday when an elder walked up to me. He said, "Jaeson I felt led to give you these keys while I was praying for you this week." Not knowing what the keys were for, I asked him why he was giving them to me. He told me, "I don't know why, but while I was praying for you, I felt the Holy Spirit tell me that you needed to spend some time alone in solitude, praying and reading the Word of God. These keys are keys to an empty two story house I have for sale in the Santa Cruz Mountains. You can stay there for a whole week if you want to." I was stunned, but not stunned. I knew the Holy Spirit was opening a door for me to obey His command.
"But the anointing which you have received from Him abides in you, and you do not need that anyone teach you; but as the same anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you will abide in Him." (1 John 2:27)
I knew the Holy Spirit wanted to teach me that my waiting on God was not complete without having my foundation built upon the Word. A month later, I packed up a few gallons of water and some bread, and headed for the Santa Cruz Mountains. What happened in that mountain house was supernatural.
Through the supernatural grace and power of the Holy Spirit I finished reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation in four and a half days. For the last three days I didn't have any desire to eat or even drink water, my food was the very Spirit and the Word of God. "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:23-24) What happened on that mountain I am not allowed to explain fully. However, daily, as I waited on the presence of the Holy Spirit and read the Scriptures, God's power invaded my body, soul and spirit to the point I thought I was going to explode. At times, after reading the Word for hours on end, the Spirit of God would strike me to the ground for hours and my body would feel like it was being filled with supernatural fire and electricity. My hands felt like they were struck with lightning, but I realized it was the very presence of God. This same experience would happen each day as I waited on God and read the Bible. It was as if I had met God face to face. All I can say is this. God is real.
On that mountain I learned a powerful spiritual secret. I learned to wait on the Holy Spirit and meditate upon the Word of God together with Him. Daily, as I read through the Holy Scriptures, the very words in my Bible came alive out of the pages and were emblazoned upon my heart with fire. The Word of God became a love letter and every word became precious. But this would not have been possible unless I had learned to wait on God's presence. It was by waiting on God that my spirit was sensitized and the Holy Spirit was able to teach me God's Word in a new and greater dimension. "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor 2:14)
After this mountain encounter with God, my spirit was completely set ablaze. I knew that for the rest of my life, I would give myself to a life of waiting on God, waiting upon the presence of the Holy Spirit. I would dedicate my life to waiting prayer, because waiting prayer is the fire that sets ablaze the Word of God in my life. The Holy Spirit had answered my prayer, to be on fire for Him-- 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year— but first, I had to learn to wait upon Him.
Waiting Prayer Defined"My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning." (Psalm 130:6)
Waiting prayer or waiting on the Lord is the silent surrendering of the soul to God. It is wordless worship. It is seeking God not from without but from within. It is to seek God in your heart. By frequently waiting silently in the presence of the Holy Spirit, you become more and more sensitive to His manifest presence in our lives. After all is said and done, you wait on God because it is what your spirit hungers and longs for most. It longs for intimacy with Christ. Waiting prayer is what you do when you have prayed all your prayers and you can't pray anymore. Waiting prayer is what you do after you have read the Word, over and over, and you now want to meet with the Author of the Word. Waiting prayer is what you do after you sing a praise song to God in the privacy of your room and after singing your heart out, you can sing no more. It is then--when you can do no more--it is at that moment you sit silently in the presence of Holy Spirit and let Him love on you. This is when you have entered into waiting prayer.
In order to wait on the Lord you must be alone. We can not wait on the Lord without practicing the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude with God. Waiting on the Lord is being still in order to know God's presence. It is love on fire combined with intimate devotion. The ultimate goal of prayer is not to ask, the ultimate goal of prayer is a relationship. Waiting upon the Lord is practicing intimacy with God. It renews our strength like the eagles (Isa 40:31) because it is through waiting that our spirit becomes one with the Holy Spirit. Remember, we are not waiting for God. Rather, He is waiting for us to come to be present to His presence. Ultimately, waiting prayer is setting apart regular time specifically and exclusively to be with our Lord. Waiting upon the Lord has been the secret to my spiritual life. It is what keeps my heart burning with passion for Jesus 24-7.
But how do we practice waiting prayer? There are three Hebrew words that accurately define the term "waiting" upon the Lord. Each of these words carries practical insight on how to spend time waiting in God's presence.
Waiting Prayer is a Silent Trust in GodThe first Hebrew word for "waiting" is damam, , which means "to become silent and still" [1] and is used of silently waiting with a quiet trust or of quieting oneself, resting, being silent, or being still. [2] The thought conveyed by the word is a strong, calm, quiet trust in the Lord. King David wrote, "Truly my soul silently waits for God; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved." (Psalm 62:1-2)
In order to wait upon the Lord we must be silent, we must be still, and we must trust God. Without stillness we can not know God. We are exhorted in Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God." The Hebrew word for "be still" also means "to cease, refrain, relax, let go." [3] We are to cease from striving, cease from activity, cease from our worldly desires, and cease from distractions. The word "to know" in Hebrew is yada', it means "to know intimately" [4] or as a close friend. [5
Practically, find a place of solitude each day and take at least ten minutes to be silent in God's presence. From there, let your time spent in silent waiting grow.
Waiting Prayer is Desiring GodThe second Hebrew word for waiting is chakah, it means to "adhere for" or "long for." [6] This word is used in Psalm 33:20: "Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and shield." And, "I will wait on the Lord…I will hope in Him." (Isaiah 8:17) Chakah expresses a burning desire, a longing for something you want desperately. This is what King David felt when he said, "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God, when shall I come and appear before God?" (Psalm 42:2) David was doing what the word chakah denotes – longing for God's presence. How thirsty are you for God's presence?
Waiting prayer desires God as your soul satisfaction. You have tasted the presence of the Holy Spirit, you are addicted; there is nothing better in life and it is the one thing you desire. One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. (Ps 27:4) God, make me a man after your own heart, one who longs day and night for your intimate presence!
Waiting Prayer is Union with GodThe third Hebrew word for waiting is qavah . It means to "wait, look eagerly for," [7] and it is used of waiting with eager expectation, to look, to patiently tarry. [8] The root meaning of the word may have been "to bind something together by twisting or braiding." [9] The main usages of the word qavah involve the idea of "eager expectation and oneness; a joining, a braiding together." [10] "Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!" (Ps 27:14)
Waiting on the Lord brings us into union with God. We spend time waiting in God's presence, so that we can become one with His Spirit. Waiting on God is the practice of saying no to the flesh and yes to the Spirit. The fire of His presence burns away all our impurities for one purpose; to leave us fit for divine union. Study the lives of saints like Madam Jeane Guyon, St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Avila and Brother Lawrence and you will understand what it means to be one with God's Spirit. Ultimately, we wait on God to become transformed into His image from glory to glory (2 Corinth 3:17-18)
Waiting Prayer Made PracticalIn the book "Intercessory Prayer" by Dutch Sheets, he sums up the uses of the three Hebrew words for waiting as, "Silently waiting with a strong, calm trust, longing for His presence and eagerly expecting Him-for you know He'll show up-anticipating and then experiencing the oneness that results as your hearts become entwined." The Holy Spirit spoke to me in prayer saying, "Jaeson if you will teach this generation to wait upon the Lord, the enemy will not be able to touch them- they will be invincible." Now how to practice waiting prayer …
1) Spend time in Praise, Prayer and the Word daily. After this time, bring your
mind and heart into complete silence to the world and welcome the presence
of Holy Spirit
2) Come into God's presence with no agenda but to love God and let Him love you
3) Focus your thoughts on the love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
4) If your mind wanders, whisper a prayer like, "I love you Holy Spirit" or "I
long for you Jesus" to re-center your mind on His presence
5) Listen and be open to the voice of Holy Spirit. Write down what He says to
you (Habakkuk 2:2) and keep a prayer journal.
6) Close your time with a prayer of thanksgiving
[1] F. Brown, S. R. Driver, and C. A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1951), p. 198.
[2] Strong, The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, ref. no. 1826
[3] Ibid., pp. 951-952.
[4] Ibid., p. 394, column a.
[5] Strong, The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, ref. no. 3045
[6] Ibid., p. 314.
[7] Ibid., p. 875.
[8] Strong, The New Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, ref. no. Strongs 6960.
[9] Ibid., p. 875, which mentions cognate words in other Semitic languages meaning "cord" or "thread."
[10] Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer (Published by Regal Books, Ventura Ca, USA, 1996, page 144)
Some of you have been asking about my last post on praying and preparing for a possible earthquake or disaster in Los Angeles...a few simple thots on how to take this...
1. The blog post written is not to predict a earthquake, but to share with those in the body of Christ to simply be alert and pray into this possible situation. The prophetic signs, warnings, confirmations, that I have been experiencing are subjective to my own personal encounters, all prophecy is to be tested, "do not despise prophecies, test all things, hold fast to what is good." 1 Thess 5:20-21. Indeed, others have had similar visions, burdens and warnings, again all is to be tested. How do we do this? By subjecting all prophecy to the Word, prayer, the Church and to see if a prophetic word bears fruit. Please bear in mind, my last blog was NOT a prediction, it is only what I am sensing. I feel convicted strongly that I need to share what I am hearing with the rest of the body of Christ so we may pray, discern and seek God's mercy in this situation. My prayer is that there would be no earthquake, tsunami, or impending judgment at all costs, but we can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst if there is an impending natural disaster. If the Holy Spirit is revealing such warnings or possibilities it could be an invitation to pray for mercy and for as many lives to be protected.
2. Regardless of prophecy, it would always be good to prepare for an earthquake since this is a very real occurance in California. Scientists and researchers have been predicting (just from scientific data) that we are due for another big earthquake in southern california for some time. Realisticaly speaking, we should always be prepared and pray for God's mercy in the inevitabiltiy of one taking place in the near or far future.
3. We should not fear, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7 Our trust is in the Lord our God, knowing that our life is in Him eternally, not on this earth. We are ready to go or ready to stay at any given moment. I believe God can protect lives through the intercession of the saints (Abraham & Lot "Sodom and Gomorah" for example) who fear the Lord and put their trust in Him. It is not a promise of sure protection, but God's mercy can be released through His saints praying for mercy. But like Paul to live is Christ to die is to gain. Our security is that our names are written in the book of life, not in this passing world.
4. We must understand the sovereignty of God does not mean that God brings about earthquakes, disasters, sufferings or evil occurences. God is love (1 John 4:8) but the earth has been subjected to a "curse" since sin has entered into the world through the human fall (Rom 19-21). Jesus told us clearly not to be alarmed "And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are NOT TROUBLED; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." (Matt 24:6-8) Earthquakes are a sign of the end times, as we have seen in natural disasters like in Indonesia and many other nations across the earth. Today there was a 6.5+ earthquake that shut down Hawaii, we are not to be surprised or alarmed, but we are to be prepared, alert and always praying for God's grace in this. God is good. The Devil is bad period. People can cause suffering, judgment, through choosing sin and giving into the temptation of the evil one. Satan comes to lie, kill and destroy (Jn 10:10) not God. Jesus came to give life and more abundantly, not to take life. So we must understand clearly an earthquake happenning in California can be caused by many factors, but lets not blame God. His heart and will is to love, not kill. We can not explain all kinds of sufferings, for there are times where God brings about judgment and discpline because He is a God of justice, this Biblical understanding of God's justice we can not excuse. God judges the wrong to make things right.
5. My heart is that we would pray first, prepare second, and be ready to give a testimony of the Gospel if judgment were to come. In a natural disaster many people will be needing help, needing hope and most of all needing Jesus. It is in this time of crisis the Church is to rise up and be LIGHT in darkness. It is in the darkest of hours that the Church will shine the brightest. We are not to run, flee, but we are to embrace, stand in faith and show the world our hope is in Christ not in the perishing things of this world. During Katrina it was the church that rose up and aided the many who were helpless, if something of that magnitude smaller or greater were to occur in Southern California we as the Church must prepare to be Jesus hands and feet to the many who will need His grace, help and mercy. It is in judgment that there is also great mercy (Book of Joel is such a book about "judgment and grace" working together upon a nation) Let us always be ready, praying and prepraing.
Lastly, I pray you will all pray. Personally, I believe a natural disaster could happen very soon, but this is what I sense, it is not a prediction. You may choose to believe and prepare, or believe I can be totally off in what I am sensing in my spirit. I honestly hope I'm wrong and that nothing happens in this season of time, but I don't want to be ignorant if the spirit is revealing a warning so that His people, intercessors may pray and seek God's mercy so that many lives will be protected, saved or judgment even possibly be averted. Honestly, I believe a big one 'earthquake' is inevitable, its not a matter of "if" but "when?"
Let us not fear, but pray and keep our faith in the rock of our salvation knowing He is the only thing sure and firm that we can stand upon. God is good. I know God works all things together for the good (Rom 8:28) and we are always to ask God, would you receive maximum glory in all things at all times. May this be true also whether an earthquake is occur or not. Father, we put our trust in You alone.
Shalom,
Jaeson
I write this next blog entry with all seriousness and humility. What I am about to share is what I sense, it is not fact, but it is something in my heart for over four months now. It is something to pray about, it is not to put fear in any heart, for we know our God protects those who walk uprightly before Him. Prophetically, I perceive that in Los Angeles something catostrophic, very likely an earthquake of great magnitude will devastate many in this land or region. Let me share...
In early July I was flying back from a trip in Australia into Los Angeles airport. As I looked out the window of my seat, I saw Los Angeles and immediately in a open vision I saw the hills and valley of Los Angeles rolling and the cities being crushed. I was a bit shocked at seeing this vision, I kept it in my heart and prayed. That same night I had a very vivid dream where I saw once again the hills and valleys of Los Angeles county rolling up and down, the city being flattened and devastated, then I saw a large tsunami waves crashing over areas of Los Angeles and many peoples being wiped out. When I woke up I was shaken but also bewildered because I didnt think a tsunami type disaster would be possible in LA.
Later on, to my surprise during this time back in Los Angeles I had met with a local pastor who told me that his wife and others in his congregation have had very vivid dreams of a massive earthquake hitting LA and also large tsunami waves crashing over the region wiping out many peoples. They felt it was so serious a warning from the Lord they sold their homes and others in their congregation also did the same to prepare and now are renting in the area. They are now preparing water, perishable foods and other preparations while praying for Gods mercy in the midst of judgement.
About three weeks ago I had another very vivid dream. In this dream I was in a coastal beach are of Los Angeles. I was in a house near the beach with a loved one, when suddenly I looked out the large window doors of our home from the kitchen and saw MASSIVE WAVES the size of mountains approaching the beach and city area. I looked out, said look at that, we must get out of here! We started running out the house, scrambling. When we got out of the house, there were masses of people running over each other everywhere, all different ethnicities and then the waves hit, many people drowned, but by Gods grace we were able to get out of the devastation alive.
When I woke up I was again deeply shaken in my spirit. An hour later I received a phone call from a missionary friend in Los Angeles. He left a voice mail message crying on the phone. He said, last night my wife had a dream of a massive tsunami wave that smashed into where we were living and our whole family was wiped out. He then said, his wife has had four other dreams with tsunamis in their lives and each time she had the dreams something devastating happened to their family, including the death of one of their sons to cancer who was wiped out in a dream by a tsunami months before it actually happened. When I called him, he was very discouraged, depressed and told me that his wife also had a dream one week before the 9-11 incident and knew it would happen, his wife is not one given to look to prophecy often, but her dreams have been quite accurate each time, this is why he was crying, sensing something imminent and devastating would happen to them soon. I shared with him I dont believe it is only for your family, because just that same morning I had received the dream of a massive tsunami wave hitting the coast of LA.
This last week, at one of our sister churches prayer meeting, a missionary from world vision joined the prayer meeting not knowing anything about these prophetic dreams of judgment. She randomly felt led to share with the leaders that recently she had a dream where she saw large waves crashing into the campus of UCLA and they were not waves of revival, they were something catostrophic. She then said she saw the campus completely flooded and one of the large buildings (a parkings structure) completely toppled over. When she shared this- our leaders were shocked. She shared this the same week, just days before we did our prayer strike at UCLA this past weekend (Sat) with a large gathering of students (www.strikela.org).
Whether or not a tsunami is possible, such as if a 8.0 or higher earthquake hit the LA county area causing the coastlands to be wiped out with massive waves I dont know. The tsunami waves could just be symbolic for judgement and devastation. Whatever the case, I knew again in my spirit this could not just be coincidence but that I needed to really pray and seek Gods voice in these matters.
Now, this morning I woke up at about 4:30am shaken by another series of dreams. In this dream I was with a friend and we had ran to a supply store in LA asking to get in, because we were hungry and without necessities. By grace the supply store nearly closed, but they let us in to get perishable foods and survival supplies. Then the scene changed and I was in my house when all of a sudden a large bull dozer type machine came crashing into the house, crushing the walls and leveling the entire home. By Gods grace, I was able to get out of the home, but had to run back in to grab some of my belongings, particularly one of my sandals.
I awoke from this dream and immediately began to pray, and felt a heaviness upon my heart and began to pray in the spirit. The more I prayed the more a sense of holy fear came upon me, I really felt it was something to do with a coming catostrophic event here in LA, mainly an earthquake. As I opened my daily reading in the Word I turned to
Psalm 29 "The voice of the Lord is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; the Lord is over many waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; The voice of the Lord is full of majesty. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars, Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon. He makes them also skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire." As I read the commentary the word "skip" poetically referred to an earthquake or thunderous quake. I was thinking in my mind no way will this Psalm be talking about an earthquake, but there it was before me. Again, I am not here to interpret scripture to these dreams directly, but I do sense the Spirit of God trying to grab my attention. Possibly, the dream of the supply store meant there is still time to go and get supplies to prepare of the coming judgment. The house crashing I felt strongly was the leveling of homes due to earthquake shakings or devastation, but to prepare by making sure our important belongings are safe.
Lastly, before my trip to Australia in July, it just so happened I bumped into a very well known Senior Pastor here in Los Angeles. If I mentioned his name all reading this would know his name. It was the first time we met, but we were on the same flight. We talked for over an hour and he told me spontaneously, "When Katrina hit the gulf coast I couldnt think straight for 2 whole days, the Lord had me pray for two days straight and in my spirit I knew the Lord was showing me this is only the beginning of sorrows. There will be even greater cataclysmic events and devastations happening in North America, in particular Los Angeles." He then told me he has been warning churches and congregations in Southern California to prepare for a cataclysmic event or a terrorist attack, or both. He told me, "our churches are not ready for something catostrophic to hit, our structures would not be able to support such a devastation."
I am sharing this with all soberness. I have kept this all in my heart for over 4 months, but I do sense I need to at least share these experiences for the body of Christ to pray into. You may read this and think it is fluff, or not going to happen. Honestly, I pray it doesn't, I really do. But if this is of the Lord, then there is a call to prayer and humility at this moment for this land. In the midst of judgment God will extend mercy as He did in the days of Noah. This was because Noah was a man who was humble, walked upright and with God (Gen 6:9) and the Lord protected His family and livestock. I am asking all who read this to do the following...
1. Pray for God's mercy to be released over Los Angeles in the midst of impending or possible judgment (an earthquake of great magnitude etc)
2. Prepare by storing water, perishable foods, survival supplies, etc
3. If you are led to, share with others to pray and prepare
4. Ask God to prepare His Church in every way, to be humble and to also know what to do if the time of judgment does actually come. Lastly, the day after I received the massive tsunami dream. I had another dream where students from our church at UCLA were on the Santa Monica piere, it looked like there were deep, dark blue waves crashing into the beach, it wasn't a tsunami but they were rough waves and very cold. Some students were jumping in head on and swam through the crashing waves to the other side of the waters where it was calm. I was afraid to, but as others went in, I went in also. I sensed this dream could have been a call to press through, not be afraid of what is to come because God is on our side, but to embrace what judgment may come, trust God and know that we will overcome by His strength and grace.
Again, all I am sharing is what I sense, it is not fact, but it is something I am believing more and more could be a very possible prophetic reality. Pray and pray, no matter what. Even if I am totally off, I can't be totally off, even researches have been saying that Southern California has been overdue for a large earthquake, and if the big one hits, it will be catostrophic. Read below...
This story is from my good friend Karla down at Cal State Long Beach University. Not only are the contending for revival on campus, planting simple churches there, they are planting simple churches in the surrounding community, among the homeless and below the women's shelter...this rocks..way to go Karla,
bring church to da people!so guess what....
I started a simple church! yes, it really started...my roommate valerie, and her sister Martha, and I have
been teaching art lessons at a women's shelter in down
town long beach, for about a month now.(its a residential
shelter for women dealing w/substance abuse and drug
abuse)
Since the beginning, God told me to start a church
there, and over the past few weeks we've been getting to
know each of the women more and really love on them and
talk w/them each week. and two weeks ago we were able to
pray with 2 of the women...and one of them told us three
specific things to pray for.
The next week we came back, and that woman came rushing up
to me, and was like, 'Karla, God HEARD our prayers!
Everything I asked you to pray for , was answered! God
answered my prayers!'. and i was like...whhhhoaa. Some of
the other women heard her excitement, and that night we
prayed with FIVE women....
Tonight we came back, and again after the art lesson, the
same five women were lingering around,and we were all
hanging out talking, and finally one of them was like, ok,
karla, we are WAITING to pray with you, can we get on with
it? haha. (they're all addicts, and a little demanding
sometimes..i love their attitudes.)
so we prayed again, and God's presence was so sweet, I
felt Him really strong and we just all had tears in our
eyes...and afterwards I was asking them if they go to
church..and some of them used to go, but not anymore...and
they were saying how they just didn't feel comfortable at
any church they went to. SO i was like, well, why don't
you have church here at the shelter? and they all cracked
up laughing. and i said, no really. and asked them what
what IS church? and we talked about what church really is,
and how we can have it right there, in the women's
shelter...so they were like, lets do it.
soooo...i asked if any of them had a preference, what book
of the bible we read together, and two of them chose
Isaiah. i was like, oh geez. couldn't we start with
something simpler, like John? but they were adamant for
some reason that they wanted to read isaiah...so we're
going to read some of it on our own during the week and
talk about it together next wed, after the art
lesson...and pray..and see how the Spirit leads :)
But I'm so excited!!! This is something I have been
praying about all yr..and really believe that God is going
to bring supernatural healing for these women- that he
will not only bring quick healing to their addictions, and
redeem them of their past, and bind up broken families,
but will come into their hearts as their Lord and Savior..
please please pray for us!! pray for us to have wisdom in
reading Isaiah together.
-pray that the other women at the shelter will not get
offended if they see some of us reading the bible (one of
the women has 666 tattoed on her ankle and a few others
are totally against God)
thanks for all prayers and encouragment!!
In Him,
Karla
"All blessings of this dispensation of grace are wrapped up in a Person, and, by means of the Word of God, we make spiritual progress as our hearts learn to find everything in Him–the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.”—Charles Andrew Coates
"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life....Yet a time is coming and has now come when the ture worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." John 4:13,23
There is something stirring at UCLA these days. I can't put my finger on it, but these past 5 Sundays something is different...the Holy Spirit has been present, when I say present, I mean, every much that very word "present" ....I'm typing this at 5am in the morning because brothers and sisters at UCLA are waking up at 5am every week this morning for 7 days to SEEK GOD'S FACE, not for revival, but for one thing, TO KNOW HIM MORE. Every night this week from 8-9pm students are gathering to pray, fast and seek intimacy with the Holy Spirit at UCLA. Something is stirring, please keep us in your prayers. Holy Spirit you are soooo good, so so good, so much better than anything else in this world. So much better. At passion church the Holy Spirit keeps reminding us of one thing. He is better than anything else, His presence far surpasses all other satisfactions in this world, He is better than anything, any relationship, any achievement, any entertainment, anything, He presence is better.
Last night it broke out again at our passion church one gathering (one of the simple churches on campus). students have been for some reason flooding this little apartment on ophir drive for the past 5 sundays to seek God's face, repent and be filled to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. Something is happening, I can't explain it, I don't have words to describe it, but it's a move of Holy Spirit, there is a river, there is a well being deepened and widened. Students are coming to drink from this well, they are coming to meet God and God alone. It's not a meeting, its an encounter. Each gathering the Holy Spirit is invading our hearts, every gathering has been like 4-6 hours long just soaking in His presence. Please pray for us at UCLA, not just passion church but the entire Body of Christ. something is happening, there is an open heaven and an invitation right now to this campus, to enter into the presence of God like no other. Seriously pray, we must purify ourselves, fear the Lord and seek Him alone. God is preparing His people for a great outpouring, but we must humble ourselves, purify our hearts, so that we may see the face of God, we must prepare ourselves for holiness unto the Lord, no more games, no more hidden sin, no more fear of man, only the fear of the Lord. We must come to meet God. We must come to meet God when we gather. No other purpose, but to come to meet God Almighty, to seek His manifest glory.
For some reason, these past 5 sunday evenings students have been coming from out of no where, truly to meet God, to cry out, to seek His face, to know Him more, to hunger and thirst, I know something is up, I can't put my finger on it, this little apartment has been getting packed out with students hungry for the Holy Spirit and not leaving till they encounter Him. last night we cried out for our sins, we asked God for His FEAR to be put back in us, we asked God to purify our insides, we asked Jesus to examine our hearts and rip out anything not of Him, we told the Holy Spirit we would choose Him above all else. Isaiah 58 is our cry, to fast, to pray, but not out of obligation, but a chosen fast that is born out of hunger, desperation and a desire to know Him more. We would rather have 5 minutes of intimacy with Him than anything or anyone else this world could offer. I choose You, I wil have no other! God I don't want anything else but You. You are soooo much better than all these other things, don't let my heart go back to this other stuff, these other things that don't satisfy, I dont' want them, I want You and You alone.
pray for ucla, pray for an awakening on this campus, in the hearts of those who don't know the great love of our Father. He is crying out, His heart is sad, it is breaking because 40,000 on this campus are his sons and daughters, and they don't know His great love for each of them. prepare the way, prepare the way of the Lord, He is coming, blow the trumpet in Zion, call a holy fast, call a sacred assembly, the day of the Lord is near, it is coming, we must seek His face (Joel 2), rend your hearts, not your garments....seek Him with your whole heart. Prepare the way of the Lord. Holy Spirit come, come to UCLA, come to this campus, put the fear of the Lord back in the heart of a generation, back in the spirit of our beings, come Holy Spirit come, we welcome You, we honor You, You are our most honored guest today, in our lives, in our gatherings, whereever we are, we acknowledge Your Holy presence, You are Holy, Holy, Holy....ahhhhh...come Holy Spirit come!
Kiss the Son, lest He be angry (psalm 2) Last night, as I prayed, wondering what is it about this special presence, this unusual outpouring at this little apartment on "Ophir" drive? I all of a sudden sensed in my spirit ...."O Fear" "O Fear" "O Fear the Lord of Hosts" the Spirit of God is being poured out because His people are choosing to FEAR HIM, to revere Him, to honor Him, to truly worship Him, to truly come together not for any other purpose but to meet with God, to humble ourselves, repent and be wiling to turn from our wicked ways, in order to know Him more, because He is that good, He is more than that good, He "is" GOOD. He is so much better than anything else this world has to offer, His presence is the fullness of all joy and satisfcation, seek Him, fear Him, fear the Lord Almighty, the King of Kings, Lord and Savior, Prince of peace, friend and Bridegroom, I choose You, I will have no other.....
please pray for us at ucla, as you are on other campuses we will also pray for you, may God's Spirit be with you as it is with all of us.
Knowing You.
there is no greater thing.
Under the mercy,
jaeson
come to hunger & seek His face from if you are in the UCLA area for the next 7 days...5am at Dykstra Hall 10th floor and 8-9pm at the below link each night....
www.pcla.wordpress.com
Well, it must be God, I finished writing the rough draft of my book two days ago. I don't know, but definitely it was God's grace. I pray it will be put into the hands of those students who will take it and run with the vision to see revival and reformation established on their campus. I'm thinking about posting the rough draft chapters on a blog so yall can read it and give me feed back..ouch. haha..its coo. I know i will have to probably slash half the book in the editing process, its needed especially with my ghetto ebonics grammar :P
as for me, haha, i'm still trying to figure myself out. sometimes, I wonder why I am the way I am. I love it, at the samee time I don't understand it. It's really tough not being at UCLA as much as I desire to be right now, but I know I have to obey God in this 3 month sabbatical. I'm really proud of Caleb, Sam, Anita and just everyone at PC or passion church (www.pcla.wordpress.com) I really wish yall could come out to these simple church gatherings, they are really something else, Holy Spirit has been pouring out in the gatherings like crazy, people are being filled with the Holy Spirit for the first time from all over campus...its been growing, at the same time, dealing with rapid growth is not easy, we are dealing with that now as simple churches are being planted and others need to multiply. but its a good problem, fun, and alot of hard work, but the focus needs to be on one thing - intimacy with Holy Spirit. I realize I am so weak, so so weak, weak at being a leader, weak at loving others, weak at empowering others, the human brain seems to always be in defiance with God, Lord help me, I don't get me at times, but I know You know that I don't know what the heck I'm doing half the time. Have grace on my faults and give me strength, wisdom to do what is right. If I fail, pick me back up, shed grace not on me, but more so on others who are affected by my faults. i realized the other nite, there maybe a friend (one that does not believe in Jesus) who I have been doing my best to be Jesus to, that may have been, well is, turned off by Christians, I honestly think I had a part to play in that, I feel horrible, but I pray that God would shed grace on my fault, and extend grace and blessing upon my friend. There are so many other things I do, that I go, "geez God, help me man, if You don't hold me back, I will mess things up bad" but the good part is, He loves me, Holy Spirit truly loves me, and His presence is never failing, never ending, always there and yeah, give me strength to carry on in this life. Things come, things go, one day you are up, the next day you are down, but through it all, He is good, oh so good. One thing I've learned, "Don't take yourself too seriously and stop beating yourself up" it's not that bad, things will get better, there will be another day, a second chance, and God will work it all out for the good in the end. do your best, God will do the rest. amen :)
