IHOP

Old column... once again - are you getting tired yet:


“Elijah was a man with a nature like ours and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”
James 5:17-18
During the Christmas vacation, I went on a road trip to what seemed the most unlikely place for a Christian conference.
If you were to draw an “X” across the United States, the state of Kansas would be dead center. So logically, Kansas City would be the perfect place to house a conference on prayer. One Thing or Nothing was hosted by the International House of Prayer whose target audience is the so called generation “x”.
I had never heard of IHOP (yes, that is what they call it) before I was invited to go up there and was surprised as to the nature of this organization. IHOP devotes itself to 24 hours a day of prayer. It has a prayer room which at any given point of the day not only has people praying but also a worship team.
While the world sleeps, there are many people praying in the IHOP prayer room.
When I first got up there, this concept seemed foreign to me. I was a great advocate of the five to seven minute prayers. Confess my sin, ask him to fix my problem and then I was good to go for the day.
How was it even possible that people devoted hours and hours of their time to prayer? What on earth did they talk about for all that time? Was there something I was missing out on?
During the One Thing conference, I learned prayer is not just about confessing your sins or telling your problems to the Most High. It is also about meditation, intercession, praise and setting aside more than five to seven minutes to actually wait in His presence and listen to Him answer.
As much as I was willing to put in, He pours out. He longs for a relationship with me. Now, I will be honest; there are days where I pray, God speaks and it feels like heaven and earth just moved. While other days it seems like I am talking to the wind.
The key to a relationship with Jesus Christ is persistence.
I am convinced that the only reason our country hasn’t seen judgment is because of the little old women in prayer closets and places like IHOP. We aren’t ready, the church isn’t ready.
I am of the firm belief that Christians can be divided into two groups—those who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and those who don’t.
Most people will try to divide Christians into groups such as Baptist, Methodist, Catholics, Presbyterian, and Non-Denominational but in reality, there are only two groups.
In the end, when I stand before my God will I say to him, “ Hello, remember me… I’m Abigail, I go to that non-denominational church down the street.” No, He will know me and I will know Him because I have spent time with Him.