If anyone still checks this, we're not posting on this one anymore. We like to be confusing.
Check out http://thehungryone.wordpress.com/.

~Sarah~

I have two jobs. Both are more than full time. They don't end. There is no break.

My first job is an intercessory missionary. If you want to be technical, I am only part time. I spend 12 hours a week in the prayer room interceding for others and gaining authority in the Word so that I can more effectively intercede for others. But in reality, it's not a part time job. It's a more-than-full-time lifestyle. I'm learning how to do that - how to pray with out ceasing. I'm learning to pray while I'm driving, while I'm cooking, while I'm changing diapers. I'm learning to pray for the checkout lady in the store and the homeless man on the corner (but if I pray for him with out helping him, the Word says I’m a hypocrite). I’m learning to pray in the Spirit when I can’t think straight enough to pray in my understanding. I’m learning to intercede while I’m drifting off into sleep and throughout the night. Constant communion with the Father. I’m not there yet, but it’s my goal. Whenever I think about someone, I need to pray for them. I need to pray for the guy that cuts me off during traffic. I need to pray while watching what little tv I watch. I need to pray for those who hurt me. I need to use my time to make an eternal difference. I need to pray for boldness for myself. Prayer... that’s my job. An d I’m never off the clock.

My second job is being a mom. I like the terminology of “children equipper “ better. This is equally as hard to do well. My job description includes: feeding, clothing, changing, cleaning up after, teaching, playing with, reading to, praying for, prophesying over, disciplining, hugging and kissing two of the most important and influential people in the world. This job also never ceases. I’m never off the clock. And the catch: I must do it all with a happy heart, with a wellspring of gratitude. When I do it while keeping my gaze on the Father, He counts it as worship. I was chosen for this job, and it’s a sobering reality. I believe that my children are part of the generation that will usher in the second coming of Jesus Christ. God entrusted me to get them ready for this. It’s a huge responsibility. I may see that day. I hope so, for it’s the crescendo of time. But regardless of whether I’m here, I believe they’ll be here. Will they be able to endure what Jesus said in His Word that they’ll have to endure. Will they be able to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah if there’s a gun to their heads? Will they have the courage to preach the gospel if persecution is certain? Will they be the ones to walk in greater works than Jesus did? Will they know that God can and will heal? Will they be part of creative miracles? Someday, I believe they will multiply food through the power of the Holy Spirit. They are, with out a doubt in my mind, two of the most important people in the world. And God has chosen me to help bring them into their destiny. I can’t be lazy.

Hadessah got all of her teeth at a very early age. I believe this is prophetic of her spiritual maturity – that she will have much maturity for her age. Hezekiah first rolled over at 5 weeks. I believe this is prophetic, that he will be part of the turning of Mal. 4:5-6. My children have destinies before the Lord. They have purpose. I need wisdom in raising them, in knowing how to teach and train them. I can’t wait until they’re three. I must start now. The spirit man understands much more than the natural mind. I speak to their spirits. I tell them who they are in God. I talk to them about scripture. I won’t know the fruit of this for a long time, but I take it seriously. Or I try to. This is important ministry.

Can I do my jobs while keeping my gaze off of myself and on my Creator? I need grace, His power on the inside of me.

I know this: someday I

Can I do my jobs while keeping my gaze off of myself and on my Creator? I need grace, His power on the inside of me.

I know this: someday I will look like Jesus. When I see Him, I will be like Him.

CEC

~Sarah~
We worked our second conference this past weekend, and we got our first opportunity to share/teach on Saturday morning. Saturday was one of the best days of my life. I got to sit in front of a room full of kids and pour my heart out. I got to watch them be touched. As I spoke, my heart came alive. ALIVE! It was as if I took a big breath of clean, fresh air after a long season of being indoors. It was wonderful! I was made for this!

After sharing, Misty asked if any of the kids had a prophetic word for us. Many did. I wish I could have written them all down. One that touched me in particular was that we were a pathway, making a way for others to follow. Many said Kevin was to be a pastor to children and that we were to travel and share what God has given us. This goes right alongside of other words we've been given in the past. There were other words too, about protection over our home and children... I wish I could remember them all. They were good.


Then, we went to McDonalds for dinner and ran into a family from St. Louis whose 3 kids went to our children's equipping at the PRAY conference. Apparently, we made quite an impact in their lives. They were so excited to see us and truly blessed us. We never thought we had maken that much of an impact, and hearing their testimony touched us so, so deeply. They bought us dinner too, which was nice! :)

THEN, that night, Lenny called us up front and had the kids lay hands on us and pray for us. It was a sweet, sweet time. I can think of few things better than the feeling of little hands on my shoulders with little voices bombarding the throneroom of heaven. Sweet stuff. And more prophetic words! Good, encouraging ones. I cried. It was so, so sweet.

A new season? Time to step out from the hidden place and run with what God's given us? We'll see. But I'm thankful either way.

One Thing and God-TV

We managed to make it back to KC (with out Hadessah. She staid in St. Louis with my family until New Years Eve) in time for the One Thing Young Adult Conference. We'd never been before, and since this would be the last conference that we weren't locked into serving at, we decided to just go and soak.

One Thing is the one conference not held on the missions base. They packed out the auditorium downtown with over 11,000 people. I really enjoyed myself, though how I managed to do so is beyond me. Seriously, I hate loud music and the music was deafening. I despise crowds and it was so crowded we had to get there over an hour early to find a seat and getting to the break out sessions was mass confusion. No one enjoys lines, and the registration line might have literally been a mile long. With mostly teenagers/20 year-olds, I felt old! And very pregnant. And yet, when I quieted my spirit down, the worship (yea- even the LOUD worship) and the teaching was so, so good. And it was amazing to look around and see that many young people giving up their holiday break and New Years parties to worship the King of Heaven and earth.
What a waste in the eyes of the world, but how precious to God.

This conference marked the beginning of IHOP-KC on God-TV. IHOP is entering into a new season. The night sessions of the conference were broadcast across the world. In America, anyone with Direct TV could tune in, as well as anyone with Internet access. It's a big step and one made with both excitement and the fear of the Lord. When things get bigger, they most likely get harder. And since humility is highly practiced and treasured here, it's a challenge to stay in that place when people are watching. I'm so thankful for the leadership here. No one backed down or watered down there messages. It didn't seem any different to me than the normal, sometimes mundane daily prayer meetings that people here do day in and day out. At the end of the day, they lived before an audience of One.

On Friday night there was an impromptu prayer meeting instead of straight worship. The leadership ushered thousands into prayer for Saddam Husein. The auditorium was full of people praying for the salvation of a man who has long been considered an enemy of the worst kind. Who does that? Who prays that an evil man would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus? Who even thinks that way? It certainly wasn't on my list of prayer requests for the day, but there is such wisdom in it. What if we seriously lived the Sermon on the Mount? What if we did pray for our enemies and those who persecute us? What if we reached out in love to those who hated us? What would the world look like if the church, as a whole, looked that much like Jesus?

The prayer room will be live on God-TV during the night hours (2-6am I think). They're also revamping the webstream. The thing that excited me the most was to hear that in times of crisis (such as another Katrina) God-TV plans to cancel their regular programing and bring their viewing audience to the prayer room to respond to such situations with prayer instead of fear. I'm not sure when these things will fall into place, but they are ushering IHOP into a new season. We walk forward in fear and trembling, knowing that it's easier to keep our hearts right in the secret place when no one is looking than in the lights and cameras. It takes a work of God's grace to not be moved by the fear or praise of men. We're praying for such grace.

I'm thankful One Thing is more than a conference, but a lifestyle lived by the "big" and "small" alike here. Ps. 27:4 in reality. Lived out, not just sung about. I'm learning to be a woman of one thing. I'm learning to live a life of worship and adoration of God and derive my identity from being at His feet instead of from what I do. It's a paradigm shift. Who I am before Him is more important than any of the great things I could do in His name. So I go to the prayer room and sit in a chair. I tell God that I love Him and gaze on His beauty. I feel His love for me and intercede from the place of His beloved bride. I wait on Him when the answers to prayers are not readily apparent and I praise Him when they are. No matter what I do with children or any other work of my hands that week, I am pleasing to Him in that place. It is a valid way to spend my life. I want to be a person of one thing so that I can help to usher the next generation into that reality. I can only take them as far as I'm willing to go. "How far will You let me go? How abandoned will You let me be?"

Intro. is Over

~Sarah~

Intro. is now officially over. We had our closing ceremonies Friday. Now we're in this waiting mode. We're waiting to see what work scholarship Kevin can get. We're waiting to meet with Lenny and get an idea of our service hours and get really plugged in. Until we figure out what's going on, you can find us in the prayer room.

Intro. has been the most life changing experience in my life thus far. I agree with what one intern said of Friday. I feel like since I've been here, God's been challenging me to become a Christian. I gave my heart to Jesus 13 years ago, but I've never lived it like this group of people is living it. I want Biblical New Testament Christianity - not the Western world's version. Someone famous said something to the effect of Biblical Christianity is as far from normal Christianity as normal Christianity is from the unbeliever. I'm not exactly sure about that, or even sure I know what it means, but I do know that this Sermon on the Mount/fasted lifestyle stuff is way different from what I thought it was to be a Christian. I can't narrow down the whole experience to a "best", but what I've learned most is what I've seen and not what I've heard. It is so amazing to be in a place where it's perfectly normal to find people praying for other people EVERYWHERE. Not just at designated times or places. Are you waiting in line to check your kid into CEC? Why not pray for the person in front of you? Hallways and foyers, parking lots and bathrooms... everywhere I go there is prayer and love for others.

I am so not where I want to be - but now I know where I want to be... or who I want to be. Pressing on for the prize for which He laid hold of me.

Words fail at explaining every change and rhythm of my heart these past few months. I feel kind of like I did when Royal Servants was over... how can you explain those kind of experiences to others? You'd just have to BE here. So, if you're not here... come here! At least for a visit. Not that visiting IHOP would give you the feel of being in an internship. But I love this place so much, I feel like Heidi... if you could only come here, you would get well. Not even at this location per se, but in a place where people all around you are going hard for God, dying to self, and all going in the same direction. Which is hard to find - but not limited to IHOP-KC.

So, now the next step in our journey. We're not sure what the future holds, but I'm madly in love with a God-Man who delights in every inclination of my heart towards me. He's beautiful. When He speaks, it's His kindness. No matter what He says. Somedays it seems dry and dull and I wonder what is going on. I don't always FEEL God. But it's those times when He whispers or delights me with His presence that keep me coming back for more. The sweetest addiction. And that's what gives me strength to pray into the unknown. My God moves at the sound of my voice.

What a week! It's been our first week in the class Eternal Glory of an Intercessor. My internal world has been rocked. As Dale says, my legs have been cut out from under me.


It's been a hard week. We'd been contending ernestly over the elections. I'd been devoting time on the lifelines here (up in front of the prayer room, there are strips of red tape where you can stand if you want to specifically pray for the ending of abortion). Everytime I go up to the lifelines, I end up weeping. I would have such periods in the prayer room in St. Louis as well... times of deep anguish in prayer as God let me in on how His heart is breaking over the lives lost. Here, though, I'd stand or kneel and sob and wonder if that was okay. We're supposed to pray with confidence, sure that He'll answer. I didn't know how the tears fit with that paradigm. Thankfully, our Intro. leader addressed this as it is something God is doing in the hearts of a great number of people in our Intro group. He gave us a Biblical basis for trevail. Esther, Jeremiah, Hannah, Jesus... they all cried out in anguish in prayer. And now Corey is giving room for it in class. I know it isn't the only way He has for me to pray, but it is valid and Biblical. And it comes out of me whenever I pray for life. Which, this week, was a lot.


I cry out because there is lack of the knowledge of God in the land. I cry out because America continues to harden her heart to the Creator. I cry out for the sins of the nation, the blood that cries out from the land. The fellowship of His sufferings.


Someone asked how to reconcile this trevail with the fact that Jesus was annointed with joy more than His companions. We have a glad God. I rejoice when I look ahead. The story doesn't end this way. He's coming back. Jesus will rule on earth, bring everything under His dominion. It won't be a democracy. He will be king. But we won't have to worry about unrighteousness reigning. He will rule in righteousness and justice. He's coming. Seeing the way the world continues to go, the cry is finally escaping my lips "Come Lord Jesus!" ... Come, even though the events preceding Your coming include persecuation and difficulty. Come! Come make the wrong things right.


In times such as these, when I feel sick at the depravity of the world, the only answer is to press in harder. There is no other option. The only option for me Wednesday was to weep on the lifelines. Yes, sin will become more and more commonplace prior to the return of Jesus, but there will be pockets of mercy. Who knows but that He will relent and leave a blessing behind? If we will just turn we may be hidden in the days of His wrath.

~Sarah~

Okay, so we're not doing so good on updating once a week! Yesterday marked the end of our class on the end times. I am completely bummed! It went by so fast, with so much new information being thrown out. I knew from the beginning that this one class wouldn't make me an expert, but I didn't anticipate leaving the class with more questions than I had when it started. It's truly a facinating subject. I've studies the charts and timelines on my own before. Mostly it was out of curiosity because I was origionally a pre-trib rapture girl. That was all I had been taught and I never researched any other points of view. This class, though, spent the first two weeks not going over WHAT is going to happen in the season before the second coming of Jesus, but WHY. Why are the judgements going to be so harsh? Why would God allow that many people to die and go through hardship? Why wouldn't the church be raptured before such things break out on earth? It comes down to trusting the leadership of King Jesus. Learning the WHYs behind the WHATs really helps to gain the right perspective. I ceased to be a pre-trib girl months before this class, but I'm beginning to understand why. I'm certinaly not ready to preach on the end times in any capacity. This class left me with a lot of questions and I need to really dig into the Word to find answers. But I believe in the urgency of this hour. I believe Jesus is coming back for a unified Bride. His bride, as of now, is not unified. She's not pure. She's not even on board with His heart much of the time. But she will be. The Spirit and the bride will have a unified cry of COME! I want to live prepared, in such a way that I'm steady in prayer and worship. I want to be preserved blameless in the coming of my Lord. I need His grace - His power within.

Into. is 2/3 of the way over. Major bummer! It's going by so fast! We have one week of guest speakers, 3 weeks of an intercession class with Corey Russel, Thanksgiving break, and then the last week of Intro. Please keep praying for us. It's so easy to get distracted, and to let our spirits grow dull and tired. We want to be awake! We want to be focused! Your prayers are much appreciated!