The First Few Weeks

Wow.  I’m halfway through week three of classes (at the time of writing this) and I’m finally getting around to writing this.  There is so much to write about… so much has happened.  Some very specific, awesome things have happened, but I don’t want to start rambling (yet).  I’ll start at the beginning.

I came down to Kansas City on August 14th and moved into my house on the 15th.  I left early in the morning and stopped at Maggie Voelker’s house for a few hours to hang out with her in Iowa for a while.  That was positively delightful!  J  We played with her kittens, swung on her hammock and chatted.  Then Jim Tegelhutter and Sarah and Josh Strayer met up with me and we continued on from there.  We made it to Kansas City late that evening, crashed at a hotel and moved all my stuff in the next afternoon.  

I am staying in the most epic house.  EVER.  There are five of us girls in total (three of us have the name Rachel) and the house is lovely!  Five bedrooms, two bathrooms, on-site laundry, I get a full sized bed and two closets, tons of storage, a nice open backyard, only three blocks away from the Global Prayer Room, full kitchen with two fridges…  Just amazing.  All very nicely furnished and updated.  Wireless internet.  I’m amazed by this house and the quality of it—a woman who is very involved with IHOP owns about eight houses like this and rents them out to IHOPU students, so I’m staying in a very nice, safe place!  I love it here.

Moving in went flawlessly—I am remarkably blessed to have amazing housemates and live in such a great place.  We had a few days to chill in our house and go grocery shopping before orientation began, which was a huge blessing. 

And thus orientation began…  Ah, it was so remarkable.  The night before orientation started I found myself a little nervous—I suddenly felt anxious and began to wonder if I was doing the right thing by coming to IHOP.  This was definitely an attack of Satan trying to make me doubt and be full of fear.

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”

2 Timothy 1:7

I felt like I didn’t know enough to be at IHOP—I didn’t understand when people said certain terms or phrases and that made me nervous.  Before orientation began, I felt like I had to know it all in advance, but I quickly realized this was a stupid lie from Satan. 

I rapidly became excited by my lack of knowledge, because that meant I was going to learn so much!  I cannot express how eager I am to learn about healing, prophecy, fasting and prayer and then to put it all into practice.  Applying what has been learnt is a huge part of IHOPU—whenever we learn something in the classroom, we will usually have a ministry timein class to pray for one another and seek God to use the knowledge we have just acquired; after all, we can know everything there is to know, but if we don’t utilize that knowledge in a practical, applicable way, what use is it? 

I am also required to be in the prayer room at least 24 hours each week.  This time is also used for putting into practice what is learned.  I love a quote by Leonard Ravenhill from his phenomenal book “Why Revival Tarries” (this is the sole book other than the Bible that I recommend every believer read),

“What school has prayer on its curriculum? The most important thing a man can study is prayer. But where is it taught? Let us strip off the last bandage and declare that many of our Bible college presidents and teachers do not pray, shed no tears, and have no travail. Can they teach what they do not know?”

At IHOPU I am learning how to pray, and this is huge.  This is the pinnacle of my learning.  This will be the crux of the rest of my life and on the truth and revelation that comes from prayer I will base my life. 

Over orientation and the first week of classes, God has whispered to my heart about two specific things—these are consecration and desire.

The idea of consecration has always been interesting to me—the concept of setting oneself apart from certain things to pursue God more.  The dictionary on my computer defines consecrate as: “To make or declare (something, typically a church) sacred; dedicate formally to a religious or divine purpose.”  But I believe we should consecrate more than buildings and churches—every believer should consecrate him or herself to God. 

This is not a radical notion—holiness is something all Christians should grasp.  We are to keep our eyes pure by not staring at perverse things or mindless violence.  Our ears should flee from hearing gossip, slander or music that doesn’t glorify God.  We should run from acts of violence and give ourselves to God fully.  God wants us to be HOLY.  Romans 12:1 speaks of this idea, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

The problem with our culture is that it is steeped in sin—music that glorifies lust and violence, movies that make impurity something to laugh about, a society that puts entertainment and enjoyment as first priority.  I don’t believe there is room for compromise when it comes to these things—if we want God to use us to our full potential we need to be totally and wholeheartedly given up to Him. 

Consecration (basically a synonym for marking something as holy) has always been a passion of my heart; it is in fact one of the main reasons I came to IHOPU.  I want to be in an atmosphere where people have the same convictions as me so that we can all grow in God together.  If you don’t share my convictions about consecration, please don’t think I’m judging you or trying to force this upon you—only God can convict, but I do hope you can understand that if you are a believer (and a temple of the Holy Spirit) then you should not soak in anything that would cause you to think impurely or offend the Spirit within you.  What you watch and what you listen to changes your heart—whether you think so or not.

Matthew 6:21-24 states, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other…”

With that aside I want to lay some groundwork for what I am studying this year.  In addition to ministry and Bible basics, I am studying the concept of being a Nazirite.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this term, go read Numbers 6.   Actually, even if you think you know what a Nazirite is, go read Numbers 6 as a refresher anyway.  According to this passage, any Israelite could choose, for any period of time, to pursue God with a sense of deep consecration and passion by taking a Nazirite vow.  The vow had three parts to it.

1. Not eating grapes, raisins or drinking wine (which were pleasurable treats to the Israelites—everyone was entitled to them and they were perfectly fine to consume) in order to set aside earthly pleasure to pursue God as the first and foremost pleasure.  Lou Engle gives a good explanation for this in his book Nazirite DNA, “For the Nazirite, even the good [these simple food items] could become an enemy of the best [God].”
2. Not cutting hair as an outward symbol and sign to other people that you have committed yourself fully to the LORD for a season.
3. Not going near a dead body in order to stay clean before God.  The idea of cleanliness and purity was of great importance in the early Israelite culture.

So, basically I am making a similar Nazirite commitment for my first year at IHOPU.  I am not following everything that the Nazirite in Numbers 6 would do, because their culture is radically different from ours today.  In that culture people would recognize a Nazirite by his or her long hair, but in our society many men and women have long hair just for fashion.  In addition to this, grapes and raisins aren’t treats for us—these are the equivalent of sweets, candy or desserts to us.  Lastly in modern day we aren’t focused on being “clean” before God in the sense that the Israelites were.

With this information in mind, I began to ask God what He wanted me to separate from—instantly entertainment came into my mind.  Our culture is so flooded with a constant need to be entertained by movies, shows, books, the Internet and all forms of media.  These things are not inherently bad, but in excess they can take our focus away from God and become an idol that we adore more than God.  I don’t want that to be the case in my life, so I have decided to follow what God has impressed on my heart and not spend as much time online as I usually do.  I’m not going to waste my time anymore on permissible websites that don’t help me grow spiritually. 

I thought that was enough, but then God put something else on my heart—sweets.  I was shocked when this came to mind, because I didn’t think food was really an issue for me, but then I thought about why I came to school—for consecration.  I also remembered how sweets are the equivalent to the grape products the Israelite Nazirites fasted from, so after receiving some confirmation from God about this I decided to go for it.  Until this school year has ended I will be fasting candy, most desserts and anything with chocolate in it. 

This is not to be legalistic or obsessive, but rather to say in my life, “I want God to be my ultimate source of pleasure—not sweets or entertainment.”

That is my consecration this year.  I’ve made a commitment to do it wholeheartedly, and I must say, the first day (the 29th of August) was HARD.  Everything that I intended to separate from somehow showed up in my day and tried to make me break my fast already.  I even found out my favorite granola bars (which I had just bought in bulk packages) have raisins in them (I’m following the traditional Nazirite commitment to not eat grapes, as well).  This may not seem like a huge issue, but I am determined not to compromise!  I know Satan was trying to get me to bend the commitment I made, but I will not! I am fully committed. 

I hope this has all made sense—it took me so long to write this that I almost thought I wouldn’t even put it up online, but this is remarkably important to me.  I pray that this entry does not come off as haughty or arrogant or prideful.  I want you all to know what I am doing this year and I want to share it with you deeply.  You should only make a commitment like this if you feel called by God, not just because someone you know is doing it.  Coming to this point was a two-year journey for me as my entire life became swept up in a desire to be holy before God. 

Ask God how He wants you to commit yourself to Him.  Listen and follow what He asks of you. 

My next entry will probably cover the topic of desire that God has been reminding me of, or it may be specifically about the armor of God in Ephesians 6—God has been making this passage come alive to me!  I’m not totally sure yet.  Or maybe just about TheCall Institute (TCI).  HMMM.

I’m learning a lot.  I’m still in awe that I’m here.  Classes are amazing.

I would also appreciate prayer for healing—ever since coming down here the pain I have in my jaw has been increasing.  Not only does my jaw dislocate when I chew food, but now I clench my teeth all the time—when I sleep and when I’m awake.  Healing would be a huge blessing so that I can go about life without worrying about pain!

PLEASE let me know how I can pray for YOU.  Send me a message so I know how I can lift you up during my time in the prayer room.

Be blessed!

Rachel Korhonen

(Originally posted September 14th on Tumblr)