IHOP trip
Here’s the last blog entry (I think) before we leave KC, unless Vesper sneaks one in tomorrow a.m. when she gets back from the night watch. As soon as she gets back I’m rushing over there for a few precious hours before catching our flight. Before I get into it, the colors to the right are another meditation on the fringes of Jesus’ garment. But as I was painting, the antiphonal singers began quoting from Isaiah 53 “and by His stripes we are healed.” It was like some one gripped my insides as I sat there thinking about the wounds of Jesus, and how it was the Father’s pleasure to crush His Son that we might be drawn into eternal fellowship with Him. I am especially ruined by the thought that Jesus was a “marked man” from birth (flight into Egypt Matthew 2:13) and the Lamb of God from the foundations of the world (Isaiah 41:1-4). (more…)
Posted by Vesper on March 15th, 2008 in Going Deeper, IHOP trip | 5 Comments »
This is a watercolor I did in the Prayer Room during my Night Watch. God has been really emphasizing the theme of “oil” to me for a while now, most notably in the parable of the 10 virgins, and in Song of Songs 1:3: “Your name is like oil poured out.” I know the photo is not very clear, but it’s a glass flask of oil being poured on a flame, with smoke coming from the flame. I leave the rest of the interpretation up to you. Leave your comments below, as well as any comments or questions on “Harp & Bowl”. Thanks!
When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
–Revelation 5:8
In case you’re wondering why Ben and I are down here (on a practical level), we’re attending a training program called “IHOP-KC Commission”. This is a program that can either be taken in 10-day chunks (like we’re doing) or in a one or three-month track. The three-month Commission covers several topics, including Intimacy (with God, that is), Eschatology (the study of the “end-times”–very big here at IHOP), and Harp & Bowl.
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Posted by Vesper on March 11th, 2008 in IHOP trip | 3 Comments »
Here’s a drawing we found in Alban’s sketchbook. What more can I say? The Holy Spirit inside of our children is not a junior Holy Spirit, but the same Spirit that reveals the Son to our hearts and reveals our hearts to the Father. Usually when we speak or think about the Lord revealing the hidden things of our hearts, we think BIG and BAD and SCARY things and are eternally grateful when He discovers them before others do (bend your knees or they will be bent for you), and even though everything will be revealed in the last day, maybe it won’t be before every one in the whole wide world, or if it is, that’s a long way off and maybe we’ll all be more gracious by then.
I spent last night in the prayer room from about midnight to 7:30am (and quickly dashed over to the cafe as soon as I heard the coffee machines firing up). I tell you this to relate the atmosphere here, that all-night prayer here is the most enticing thing about this place to me. The reality that day and night the heavenly host are encircled around the throne in ecstatic joy towards the Lamb of God! It is a magnet to the human heart to touch something so much greater than yourself that is way more real than the soft feather pillow under our heads. Don’t get me wrong, I can sleep with the best of them when given the chance. But I just can’t get the image out of my head from Revelation 4:8 “And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, ‘Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (more…)
Posted by Vesper on March 9th, 2008 in Going Deeper, IHOP trip | 4 Comments »
Well, in the past few days we’ve become pretty much useless to the world.Our lives are wrecked and ruined and all of
yours will be too when you spend your PTO in Kansas City. We apologize ahead of time for any inconvinience this will cause in any way. Blame yourselves. You sent us here. THANK YOU! That being said, this is a drawing I did today which is a meditation on the fringes on Jesus’ prayer shawl. Obviously, it’s not meant to be representaional, but the way I often work in pictures is by turning ideas around in my mind until I am as intrigued with the form as I am with the picture’s content or subject matter. That was a big theme that God was whispering to my heart today. Pastor Scott often speaks of his first encounter with Brazilian worship,
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Posted by Vesper on March 8th, 2008 in Going Deeper, IHOP trip, Sharing Jesus | 2 Comments »
Well, I can’t promise that this will be a daily blog…the adventures (or misadventures) of sharing a single room with two small kids, not to mention putting them to bed at…gulp…midnight…may prove to be prohibitive. But here’s the old college try.
Tonight was a great session at the Passion for Jesus conference. Mike Bickle and Misty Edwards presided. I think when I first discovered who Misty was, I was bound and determined that I would not let her celebrity become a hindrance in experiencing what God was doing through her. One thing I read in the Harp & Bowl handbook (the “method” of worship here) is that worship leaders must cultivate a “spirit of hiddenness”. That struck a chord in me so deeply. I want that to be my life’s motto. Inscribe it on my gravestone. (Actually, I don’t really want a gravestone, but that’s for another post.) Those of us that are in the arts (and are believers) can probably relate to a weird dichotomy that goes on: a lot of us want to hole up in a room with our art and crank up the Depeche Mode and enter “the zone”. We don’t care if anyone ever sees, hears or reads the stuff we do; it’s soul-food to just create, especially with sincere devotion to Jesus. But then there’s the fact that the arts are very visible. Music must be played to audiences; art must be hung on a wall. And so it goes. I battle this all the time. And I’d venture to guess Misty Edwards does, too. There was a smattering of people that applauded her before and after songs, like they were at a rock concert. But aside from her rockstar haircut, there’s nothing rockstar about this woman. I think in her heart of hearts, she wants to be invisible–to simply show others her Lover… (more…)
Posted by Vesper on March 7th, 2008 in IHOP trip | 4 Comments »
While at IHOP, the Ben and Vesper will be hijacking Esther’s URL and turning it into the play-by-play of God’s work in Kansas City. It’s midnight here and I (Ben) will be relating our first day’s adventures to you. For those of you who don’t know where or why we are, here’s the scoop: www.ihop.org
Today was orientation day so there was very little teaching, though I feel like I’ve already learned a great deal. In fact, if we were to catch the next plane back to Newark, I’d come back satisfied. But more on that later. The image you see is part of a drawing I did earlier today in the Prayer Room (the main gathering space where you want to be 24/7). If you can’t make out the details, it is an egg constructed of feathers. When I began this drawing, all I knew was that this is the image that came into my head when I sat down and began taking in my surroundings. As I was well into the drawing, the worship team began singing about waiting for the Lord. I felt a chill go through my body as God brought revelation to the picture He was creating through me. (more…)
Posted by Vesper on March 6th, 2008 in Going Deeper, IHOP trip | 2 Comments »
