a day in the life of an intern...

When I signed up for this internship I only had a skeleton of an outline, a whisper of what we were actually going to be doing here. I just knew that God was drawing; me to this place that He was giving me the desire to shed as much of "the world" as possible. I was hungering for simplicity and a deep encounter. I didn't feel like I could truly hear the Lord through the fog of my job, my activities, my busyness... I felt the need to shed it all and didn't have the discipline to do it. When people would ask me what I would be doing, it as hard to describe anything since I didn't truly know. I knew that there would be time in the prayer room and time in class. I used words like "sabbatical" and "fasted lifestyle" but I didn't really have language for what I was stepping into. I felt very strongly that it would be a place of preparation for the next step, which is missions.

So here was my schedule in Track 1:

Sunday

10:30-1:30 - Work with 4-5 year-olds in the Children's Equipping Center

2:00-6:00 - Prayer Room

Monday

Sabbath - off except for staff meetings the 4th Monday of each month

Tuesday

8:45-9:30 - Worship/ministry time as a group

9:45-11:45 - Core Teaching (Subjects like "Tools for the Prayer Room", The Gifts of the Holy Spirit, Forgiveness, Adoption, Sermon of the Mount Lifestyle, Fasting, etc.)

1:00-5:00 - Prayer Room

6:30-9:30 - Pure Heart (Inner healing and restoration through the Holy Spirit)

Wednesday

8:45-9:30 - Worship

9:45-11:45 - Core Teaching

1:00-5:00 - Prayer Room (Team 4 ushers 3-5)

6:00-8:30 - Life Group (small group meetings)

Thursday

8:45-9:30 - Worship

9:45-11:45 - Core Teaching

1:00-4:00 - Prayer Room

4:00-5:30 - Team 4 Briefing

9:00-10:00 - Prayer for Detroit at the Prayer Room (optional)

Friday

8:45-9:30 - Worship

9:45-11:45 - Revelation teaching

1:00-4:00 - Justice Prayer Room (training on Apostolic Prayers and prayer leading on the mic)

6:00-10:00 - Encountering God Service (Worship, Ministry, Preaching)

Saturday

Noon-5:00 - Prayer Room

6:00-10:00 - Forerunner Christian Fellowship Church Service(Team 4 ushering every 3rd week)

Some will look at this schedule and laugh out loud at the sheer lunacy. Some will look at it and love the idea of that much time in the before the Lord. I admit, looking at the schedule in the beginning I did not know how I was going to do it all. All I knew is that I needed to jump in with both feet and fully give myself over to everything He had for me. I am so glad that I did. I wake up in the morning with worship songs on my lips and in my heart. Instead of 4 hours of TV a day I might see 4 hours in a week. I have given up secular music and secular radio. I seriously the other day forgot the name of an artist I used to love when I heard his song at the bowling alley. It took me 24 hours to remember his name. I have found so much freedom and have made so much more room for Jesus in my life. And it is God who wooed me and then gave me the grace to do it. The fog has lifted and I can hear His voice, see His Spirit move so much more clearly than before. He has also opened my eyes to the schemes of the Enemy. It has never been a matter of what is permissible for me, but what is beneficial. What am I willing to let go of to be able to walk in deeper communion with my Beloved? What voices need to be silenced in my life so I can be free to think on the things that move His heart? When I turned away from the things that I used to entertain and amuse myself I realized that the pleasures of God are far superior to what I was settling for on a daily basis. I also realized that I was being influenced negatively in my thoughts and beliefs because the voices of the world that I was listening to were severely contrary to the Truth. And there lies the entire point. It is the will of the enemy to cloud our minds with so much garbage that we live in a state of fog and delusion, unable to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit that is intended for those who bear His Image. We keep justifying and reasoning in our search for freedom from legalism and religious bondage and work ourselves right into another prison. The other ditch, as Pastor Steve would call it. I am learning that there is so much that I have been missing, and so much that He wants to say to me. In this state of voluntary weakness and fasting the things that are permissible but not beneficial, I am being qualified and brought into my true identity and purpose in Christ. I honestly do not recognize myself in the mirror any longer. And it's to God I give the glory, for setting me on the path, giving me the grace to do it, and then rewarding me with His presence.

And now, in Track 2, I will be able to see how He is going to move me in these things that I have been learning. I have been hidden in the cleft of the rock while He passes His glory by me. It is a privilege that I do not take lightly.

life siege

I am blessed by the kindness of God; that He will reveal truth to our heart in the attempt to draw us into agreement with Him, and that by agreeing with Him we are drawn into a deeper intimacy with His Son. He calls us to obey Him, gives us the grace to do so, and then rewards us for doing it. What kind of system is that? In His mercy and perfect sovereignty He has made a way for us to come into His presence and to put on the righteousness of His Son, Jesus. When He moves us in conviction it is a gift, an invitation to grow closer to Him. He corrects those whom He loves (Hebrews 12:5-6).

I am also amazed at how easily we can go astray, how often we can slip into deception. The darkness in this world is not just a result of the Fall. It is crafted and designed by the Enemy who detests us; the one who hates all those who are Image-bearers. The evil things in the world are not just part of the equation, they are schemes to keep us from entering into the New Jerusalem, to keep us from knowing and operating in our true Identity in Christ. God has chosen to partner with man and the last thing that Satan wants to see happen is a successful union between us and His Son as a pure and spotless Bride. So for those of us who are living in a relationship with Christ and working against committing visible sin, the scheme of the enemy has to be much more subtle. Our true history with God is found in our thought life.

One of the first things that God put His finger on in my life when I got to KC was the issue of abortion. I have never believed that abortion was acceptable. I believe that life begins at conception and only God has the right to make the decision on whether a fetus is viable or not. (Deut. 30:19, Psalm 139:13-16, Jeremiah 1:5) I was, however, guilty of apathy towards the fact that it was legal and there was nothing we could do about it. In that line of thought I also began to believe that possibly in some cases like rape or incest that it would be acceptable. It was hard for me to imagine the pain of going through a pregnancy and bringing a child into the world that only reminds you of the tragedy you suffered. The child would be unwanted and possibly even suffer neglect. I want to share with you what changed my mind.

Sometime in the first couple weeks of class I was listening to the Prophetic History of IHOP. It is a series of messages by Mike Bickle that share how the Lord moved him to start this ministry and how the Lord has moved over the years to bring us to this point. As I was sitting on my bed listening to the MP3 and taking notes, Mike made a comment on the issue of legalized abortion that completely rocked my world. I curled into the fetal position, shaking and crying uncontrollably and I repented before the Lord.

Bob Jones is a Prophet that the Lord brought into Mike Bickle's life to help direct him in the way he should go in starting this 24/7 prayer movement. In August 1975, 2 years after Roe v. Wade, Bob received a word from the Lord to prophesy against abortion. Soon after, he was visited by a demon who told him that if he spoke out against abortion that he would kill him. Bob spoke out against abortion the next day and started hemorrhaging internally and almost died. I am really shortening the story, but this is just the background. Mike then spoke about abortion being an assignment of the enemy to kill the end-time messengers; the forerunners who will prepare the way for the Lord's return in the last days. Satan put it into Pharoah's heart to kill the first born sons of Israel to try and snuff out the God's promised deliverer, Moses. He also put it in Herod's heart to kill the male infants after he heard of Jesus' birth from the wise men, in an attempt to kill the rightful King of the Jews and Messiah. The enemy knows that the Lord is raising up a John the Baptist Generation, who will rise up from the wilderness and usher in the return of the Messiah. Abortion is not just another bad thing that we have come up with that contrary to God's heart. It is a blatant scheme of Satan to root out God's forerunner messengers, and in this day and age, aimed very specifically at the Black Community because of their destiny to bring forth worship and song in the end time generation. (Kushites mentioned in Isaiah 18:7). The truth of this revelation has moved me to draw that line in the sand. It has snapped me out of my delusion and apathy. Legalized abortion must end. We must take it seriously and we must dedicate time to pray against it politically and for God to move on the hearts of women. I no longer believe that it is acceptable in any case. I trust that the Lord of Creation can take the obedience of one's heart and heal not only the wound from the tragedy that has befallen them but also protect the life He has created. Trying to erase one tragedy or even one mistake with another one only heaps more tragedy on our head.

This is a controversial and hard issue to take a stand on. The enemy's roots run deep in the heart of man. The deception on conception is strong. But let me leave you with a few thoughts:

• Legalizing abortion did not decrease the death rate of women dying in the procedure.


• Less than 1% of abortions are done for rape or incest victims.


• Planned Parenthood was started by Margaret Sanger, and launched into black and minority communities with a Black Genocide intention.


• Our carelessness and the 4000 babies who are aborted everyday is actually decreasing the population, mostly in the African American community. 35% of abortions are done on black women and they only make up about 12% of the population. In the past 20 years, the Latino population in the US has gone from 10% to 15%. The black population has actually decreased to 11%.

Children bring prosperity and blessing and bolster the economy and increase ingenuity. God blessed the people of his covenant with descendants. The social and economic problems that we have cannot be solved with murder and are in fact only made worse. It is true that if we would save 4000 babies a day we would have a surplus of unwanted children that would fall into a broken foster care system. It is my conviction that the Church needs to step up not only in prayer, but also in fostering and adoption. God has given His Church the mandate to care for the orphaned and unfortunate ones (James 1:27). If we were all doing our part, the problems would be lessened, and God's would be glorified in the process. The truth is that the Word of the Lord will prevail. It will run swiftly. The Church will come into agreement with His heart and we will win.

On a Saturday afternoon in February over 100 people from the IHOP community went to a local Planned Parenthood location and stood on the sidewalk and prayed. We did not speak or picket, but covered our mouths with red duct tape, stood shoulder to shoulder, and prayed for a solid hour for the ending of abortion. It's called a Life Siege. It was the first time I had ever taken any kind of physical stand on the issue before. A friend who rode with me to and from the prayer meeting said it best. She said "I feel like I have driven a stake in the ground today." I have driven a stake in the ground; marked the place where I have come into agreement with the heart of God for His children and started to take action on behalf of those who do not have a voice.