www.ihop.org
internation house of prayer, for those who don't know. although, it would be lovely if it was a house of prayer and pancakes. i can't imagine a better concept. ..'cept i like waffles better. but you say prayer and waffles and it just ruins the alliteration. and it sounds weird. like chicken&waffles.

honestly. chicken. and. waffles. w h a t ?
i like both. don't get me wrong on that.. i just don't believe those are two things that are supposed to be joined like that. gross a roo. if i'm in a waffle-y mood, i certainly don't want chicken. i want waffles. that's why i'm in a waffle mood.
i'm also in a tangent mood.
steering back to the main point of my introduction...

this weekend i was down in kansas city, missouri, clearly at the house of prayer. now, for a little background for those of you who don't know, IHOP was started by Mike Bickel and since sept. 19th 1999, the prayer room has been a constant NON-STOP place of worship and intercession.
neverending. ceaseless. for almost 8 years. now if that isn't hardcore..
you walk in the prayer room (which is actually more like a sanctuary.. it sounds small to say 'room') and you are just immediately submerged into the presence of the living, holy God. it's intense. and the whole weekend was just ... i can't even find one word to describe it, so here are a few: intense, a blessing, refreshing, powerful, joy of the Lord inducing, amazing.. etc. i'm going to try to explain a little bit of it without totally going on overkill like all, IHOP this and IHOP that as if it's the only place God likes to hang out or something.

so i was in the healing room, which was more intimate, but if you want to hear about that you'll have to ask me yourself. it's not really what i want to expand upon here.
i was also in the prophecy room. this is what i want to write about for two reasons:
encouragement for the body, and just for my crapforbrains memory.

now, it's amusing to me to be in different spiritual environments where the level of the freedom of the holy spirit is different. i grew up in a church where the holy spirit was fluent. praise God for that. so i'm always ready for the holy spirit to fall because i expect it. but prophecy is something that people are usually fairly shy about. the kind of prophecy they did was in accordance to 1 cor 14:3, that it is used for the encouragement, edification, and comfort of the body of Christ. not in the sense of 'i know the bad things you do', or 'here's your future'. although, they can operate in that way. but they still will say it in a form of encouragement, and not negativity or condemnation. of course, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ (rom. 8:1). so you go into the room and it's very intimate. there are two chairs on 3/4 walls (the door is on the fourth.) and there are three people in the room. you are instructed to take an empty seat, one per wall. on the chair next to you there is a tape recorder, and they give you a tape with your name on it, which is brilliant. because they speak the words into the microphone so you don't have to even begin to attempt to remember all they say. there was randy, todd, and girl. i don't remember girl's name, and i feel bad for it. but anyway, they explain what their prophecy is and isn't, like what i mentioned above, and then pray for 5-7 minutes and it gets quiet. then whomever gets a word about whom first, sits next to you and beings with the recording.
todd came to me first. he read 1 peter 2:9-10 which says:
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests,[f] a holy nation, God's very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

10 "Once you had no identity as a people;
now you are God's people.
Once you received no mercy;
now you have received God's mercy."

he said the two words he had for me were "chosen" and "royal". i'll expand upon them more in person, but just give an overview now. he said that i will be like a priest(ess) going before God day and night. i really like that thought. but also that i was royal. and that God had specifically chosen me for this set thing, and has set me apart for it. also that things will happen with my family and friends on my behalf. like he said "God will do things on your (mine.) behalf. because you went before him." he really stressed the word 'royal' as well. and the said that he could tell that i didn't want the typical go to college-white picket fence type life. that i wanted a life devoted to God. he said that he didn't know if i was thinking about an internship, either there at IHOP or somewhere else, but that he encouraged it. he said that it would be like the onething event and verse like "one thing will i ask for, one thing will i seek, that i will dwell in the presence of the almighty." which is from psalm 27:4 (remember this, it comes up in a bit here..)
girl then sat down to me next.
she said that she kept hearing the word 'relinquish'. and said that i needed to give up things that weren't bad, but just weren't beneficial for me. and that God will be taking me into a new level of abandonment. i initially took that negatively (isolation, aloneness), but now look at it positively (just me and jesus, nothing else matters, i'm abandoned for the cause.). and she said that she could see me being led entirely by his voice. and that i'm never satisfied until i'm in His presence. (not in the sense that i shouldn't be continually striving for further intimacy with Him while i'm in his presence). she said i was hungry for it. then she said that i need to just take time and wait upon God and know that even if i don't feel anything, that he's still working in my heart. she also mentioned she saw me in a garden, staring and watching flower buds. she said it was either meaning new christians, or young christian girls, that i was tenderly caring for them. and just eagerly watching them. she said for me to know that God has entrusted them to me. it's a responsibility, but that he has placed them in my care. to look after and to watch after.
then randy sits down with this look of glad confusion and just amazement on his face. he says "jeska.. i'm getting two words for you. *he laughs* and they're... warrior princess. *he laughs some more* and i was hearing that, and just going 'whoa'. ... like,.. 'whoa'.." which i knew the whole weekend that sometime someone was going to bring up the warrior in me. i knew it. my heart knew it. my spirit knew it. everything. it's been something that i've been questioning in my heart.. like where does this fierce spirit come from? and what good is it? battle scenes like in the movie 300.. they just get me excited. i'm excited for battle. my heart hears the cry for warriors to stand up. and my friends will tell you.. i relate a lot of today to a battle and i fully understand the spiritual battle that is going on. so i was excited and encouraged to hear that confirmed. it's like i could see Jesus standing before like a fire pit. and he reaches and grabs the flames and holds them in his hand. and he then thrusts them into my chest. and his hand leaves a burn on my chest. but i can feel the fire in me. anyway, he says revelation 22:17a "the spirit and the bride say, COME!" and he says that I see Jesus as a lover, but also as a warrior. I see his heart for war, but I also see that his heart is full of Love. especially for his bride, the church. of course that's my favorite version of Jesus. when he comes riding in on the horse and just dominates the crap out of darkness. praise God. anyway, and he asks me if i've ever had the desire for the gift of prophecy. and i had encountered it just being there. so he prayed the gift of prophecy over me, which i'm way excited about. and looking over my past i see that i've longed for it before i even know i did. but in the prayer he said "you have not, because you ask not" from james 4:2. so in my prayer time, i'm asking God to increase and build more on that. he then went into more of revelation just with some generalities i want to talk to matt about.. matt's good at explaining stuff like that. anyway.. it's just like praise God. for all he has done, and all he is going to do.
oh, i forgot, randy also said revelation 12:11 "And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die." he said it in "they did not love their lives even until death."
now if you know me personally.. i may have shared dreams i've had with you. and i, just this weekend, realized a common theme. i'm usually fighting someone or something, and in some events i either almost encouter death, or i die but am still alive... like, one of my favorite dreams was really dramatic, and full of awesome music. i was shot at and was down, like i was going to die. but i stood up and still had enough strength left to fight and win. i think i died after that.. but i'm not sure. anyway, i do'nt know if they mean anything, or what if they do. but it was a confirmation in my spirit when he said it.


so off of what todd said, i'm looking into an internship, and i picked IHOP because i was just at the website anyway, so i looked into the onething internship. and the first sentence struck me. i want to be all 'quel coincidance' but i'm thinking it's more than that. which i'm a littler nervous and scared of, just because i hate doing things by myself and going to new places where i don't know anyone, etc. but the first two sentences said this:
The Holy Spirit is searching for a generation abandoned in the call to pursue "one thing" (Psalm 27:4). This program is a prophetic call to the abandoned pursuit of the heart of God.

anything sound familiar there? abandoned. prophetic call. one thing. the fact that it's an internship. anyway, so it's 6 months down there.. and i'm looking into it for next june. this june would be a little too intense. and i'm not ready yet. but i would love to be able to cultivate the gift i have.

it's so weird about that, too. the gifts and all. it was as if the whole group of us.. we were all called to seperate things, and that we had these dormant gifts just lying in us. and down there God just spoke for us/them to awake. a few other people had awesome gifts, also prophecy, and healing, and the like.

i'm not sure if i've said this yet.. i did have a lot of this typed and then myspace ate it.. but if you ever get the opportunity to go to IHOP, i would not turn it down. all that God does is just amazing. and seeing so many people just like.. fellowshipping in the presence of God and .. yeah.
i want to go down and for an entire 24 hours, just fast and be in the prayer room. surrounded by 24 hours of worship and other intercessors. and do like todd said to "come before God day and night".

and speaking of day and night..
it's now night. in a few hours it will be day. and i have much to do tomorrow, so i need to get to bed. anyway, i pray that you all were encouraged by the power of God and everything. i'm so excited for what he has done, and what is he going to do. there will be an explosion and outpouring of God's spirit like in acts. i can feel it. and praise God for that.

goodnight my lovelies.