I did it. I made it through an entire semester at the International House of Prayer University. Four months of an incredible, mind-blowing, eye-opening journey have come to a close. I’m back in Minnesota until January 19th; spring semester starts on January 23rd!
Anyway, I’m astounded that last semester came to a close so quickly. It flew by! We didn’t have midterms or finals in any of my classes, so there wasn’t really anything to mark the time with… Just SUDDENLY it was Thanksgiving and then even more suddenly came Christmas break!
I like the fact that this entry was my tenth on facebook (where I normally post my entries first). Ten is a good number for a semester. I aspire to have at least ten more updates next semester. I’d really like to know what you guys have thought of these updates! Has anything stuck out to you or really marked your heart? Do you have any questions? I would LOVE to take questions and answer them in a blog at some point (anonymously if preferred)! Yeah, feedback would be fantastic! Questions, comments, other… Whatever you guys want to say, my ears are wholly open. Just shoot me a message or comment here! :)
I’m still baffled that the semester is over. How did it go so fast? Where did the time go? I’ve learned so much more than I could ever have expected and I am infatuated with the Lord to an even greater degree! I’ve learned so much information, yes, but what is powerful is the way my heart has changed. I took the practical facts I learned in class and got to apply them in the place of prayer and worship. To be honest, just in the last two weeks of the semester I had a concentrated dose of revelation from God and I’m super excited about everything He’s reminded me of. He’s been plumb-lining my heart and setting me straight. I’ve got a renewed desire to read the word, pray, fast and worship. It’s really an answer to prayer!
If I could sum up the entire semester in one word it would be IDENTITY. Realizing who I truly am has been so powerful. I am not just a small, irrelevant person that God sometimes looks at—I am the apple of His eye (Psalm 17:8). I have access to God because I am seated with Christ in Heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). I am one spirit with God (1 Corinthians 6:17). I am a priest and king for God (Revelation 5:10). I am a daughter of God, who REALLY loves me (1 John 3:1)… The list could go on and on and on.
Corey Russell’s teaching at Onething 2011 really cemented this truth in my mind, so to speak. He reminded us that we are new creations in Christ and because of our newness we stand as ambassadors for Christ, declaring that we are the very righteousness of God because of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21)… And if this is ALL TRUE—if this really is our identity, then we need to quit living like we are still wallowing in the sin and mud. If we really are children of God, then we have the authority of our Father! If we really are seated with Christ in heavenly places, then we have access to Him whenever! Because of Christ we have such an amazing new identity! I’m just so marked by this truth. Anyway, that’s only one revelation from this past semester that was confirmed by Onething, which was awesome in general!
I got to go down to KC for Onething with my dear friends Tom, Jake and Adrienne! IHOP holds this conference at the end of every year; this time approximately 25,000 people were in Kansas City and roughly 70,000 people watched the conference online. Days were filled with speakers, worship, teachings, informational meetings and ministry times. We had a delightful time hanging out, attending sessions, worshipping, dancing, eating and sometimes sleeping. Haha… There was so much revelation at Onething. Corey Russell taught about identity, Allen Hood gave biblical support for 24/7 prayer and worship and talked about the worthiness of God, Mike Bickle shared about eternal rewards that believers are given for their service to God in this life, I got lost in the imagery of Proverbs 30:15-16 (which was weird but fun), we got to see the documentary Nefarious: Merchant of Souls (about human trafficking), Lou Engle ended the conference with an incredibly stirring message about prophecy, and we had an amazing dance party led by Cory Asbury and his worship team to welcome in 2012… Overall, the conference was freaking amazing. I wanted to buy all the books I saw, but had to be content to get Misty Edwards new EP with David Brymer (called Measure of Love); it is fantastic! I was so blessed to be able to go, and I’m absolutely certain those I was with were equally marked.
I’m beyond excited to see what comes of 2012… I can’t put into words everything I’m expecting, but I can say I believe God is going to show Himself real and powerful this year. I believe something big is going to happen and that it is the churches job to step into her identity and partner with God through prayer, fasting and seriously seeking Him. I mean, epic stuff has already happened—just at the beginning of January President Obama declared January to be National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and yesterday (1/11/12) was the first ever Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Here’s a website about the proclamation: http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2011/12/obama-declares-human-trafficking-prevention-month/1. This decision came just days after I first saw Nefarious… I find this to be a pretty epic first sign of all that is coming in 2012. If you really want a taste of this, go to the Onething archives (link below) and find Lou Engle’s message. I believe it’s on the second page of the archives and is entitled “A Moment to Confront.”
Here are the archives: http://www.ihop.org/onething/
Finally, in closing, I am going to beg/plead/implore all of you to READ THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA!!!! This may seem ridiculously random, but I borrowed the books from one of my housemates and read all seven books in a week. Oh. My. Goodness. Those books have seriously changed my view of literature and the Lord. If you like fantasy, then that’s a good reason to read them. BUT IF YOU ARE A CHRISTIAN YOU NEED TO READ THEM. Aaaaah…. They have marked me so profoundly and I hope they could do the same for you! The ending is so wonderful that I wish I could post it online, but unless you read all the books you won’t understand the impact of such an epic ending… So please read them and then talk with me about them!
Yes. I’ll be back in Kansas City in about a week… In the meantime I’m looking forward to hanging out at home some more, going on a short trek to Duluth with momma, visiting Northwestern College briefly, going to the dentist and whatnot…
Be blessed!
Rachel
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