Ian & Jocelyn Barker

As of two weeks ago, I have been serving IHOP-KC at the Forerunner School of Ministry for two full years; a long time at IHOP-KC. I have worked in the Academic Affairs Office as an administrator, and while I have enjoyed serving the school, I have always known that God would have something different for me.

For the past couple of months, I have felt that a change was coming, and Jocelyn even told me that she felt it would come suddenly. It sure did! A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to be the Project Manager for a new department starting at IHOP-KC called “IHOPU Press”. This department will publish theological books on the themes of the IHOP-KC message, and oversee the development of course books for classes taught at IHOPU. My current boss will be directing IHOPU Press so I’m excited to be able to continue working with him.

When I graduated from FSM, I felt that my “calling” was to teach at FSM, which was one reason why I agreed to work there. However, over the past couple of years, and having had the odd chance to teach classes, I have discovered that my joy is in writing and I want to have a voice through writing. (I know that I need to write more on this blog.) Working at IHOPU Press will allow me the chance to be involved in the process of developing books with the hopes of one day doing some writing of my own.

I’m really excited to help develop materials that will deepen and broaden our message. I believe that God is breathing on the message of prayer, intimacy and end-times throughout the church, and it will be fun to play a small role in seeing this happen.

I’m in the Prayer Room all day on Tuesdays. This may sound glorious to some, but to me, it feels like a prison. Today, I’m constantly reminded of my own weakness:

And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9)

Long days in the Prayer Room always remind me of how weak I am, especially when I am fasting. It’s days like today that I realize that prayer is not about being strong, but about being weak and turning to God for His strength. It is about humbling myself and saying that I cannot do it. I just cannot give up.

Embracing weakness goes against everything our culture and my own flesh says. Yet resting in weakness and humility is the place where God can dwell, and where He loves to dwell. I have nothing to give Him today. Just my time and my weak prayers. Sometimes all I can give is the desire to desire Him. Is that enough? I sure hope so.

We are on day two of the onething08 young adult conference here in KC. 15,000 people are here for 4 days of being equipped and called to be forerunners. IHOP-KC has a real sense that this will be a strategic time in the forerunner movement.

The IHOP website has tons of materials on the conference if you can’t make it. You can actually view the conference for free via webstream, which is awesome. They are also giving updates through Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, and more.

So check it out and join in with this exciting and historic event.

I’ve been a little quiet as of late. It’s not that I don’t have anything to write, it’s that I have too much to write. I tend to want the “ink to dry” on my thoughts before putting them to paper. This is the opposite of my wife who is much more of a verbal processor. Life has also been a little busy due to the end of the semester at FSM, and a visit from my parents for Thanksgiving which was quite lovely.

IHOP has recently been abuzz as the Lord has been quickening Mike Bickle, the leadership team, and our community that the days are short and it is time to prepare. Jesus is soon returning to take over the kingdoms of the earth and the earth is radically unprepared for the events and conditions that will precede His return. IHOP has always been called to speak of His coming and prepare for His coming, but the Lord has awakened our urgency.

At onething this year, Mike is going to teach through the book of Revelation and call forth the forerunners; those, like John the Baptist did for Jesus’ first coming, who will prepare the way for the Lord. God wants His Church to be people of understanding and revelation in order to give clarity in the midst of the shakings and judgments that are about to come upon the earth. He wants to save the most amount of people, into the deepest level of love, using the least severe means, without violating anybody’s free will.

Jesus is stirring our hearts to lay hold of the vision to be messengers and intercessors who will speak to kings and nations at the end of the age and declare the coming of another king who will overthrow the governments of the earth. Just as Moses stood before Pharaoh, so will the Church stand before the the Antichrist and kings in alliance with him. Just as Peter and Paul saw thousands radically saved, so will we see a great harvest of souls. We will see the multiplication of food, while the waters will also turn to blood. Believers will be divinely protected, while others will give their lives witnessing of a coming king and His kingdom.

I am excited for the days ahead, yet I am trembling. I long to see the Church be purified and empowered, but I wonder if I have the endurance to survive. I have no choice but to say, “yes,” because I long to see the Messiah come and take His rightful place on the earth as it was in the beginning. I groan for His return because He will make all things right and new again.

It’s time to be sober, and a time to prepare. Follow along with what Mike and Allen Hood have been sharing on the book of Revelation in preparation for onething. Ask the Lord for wisdom and revelation. Ask Him to prepare you for His return.

“From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised.” (Ps. 113:3)

Yesterday was IHOP’s 9th year anniversary of 24/7 worship and prayer. What a remarkable gift of the Lord to give us a place where the name of the Lord is worshipped day and night, and where petitions go up before His holy throne.

We cannot fully understand and grasp the power of worship and intercession; but I know that the weak words of petition and praise that have come forth from this house for the last 9 years have touched God’s heart. Not only that, but they are helping to bring forth God’s purposes in the earth. Lord willing, it will not cease before He comes to take it to a whole other level!

Here at IHOP-KC, we believe that God is raising up a prayer and worship movement, and that it is the end of the age. It is clear, for anyone who is watching, that the prayer and worship movement is growing as houses of prayer, in whatever form, are being started completely independent of one another and outside of any network or organization. Case in point, IHOP-KC and 24/7 Prayer started on the same day without even knowing it. It must be said that the “movement” I speak of is not limited to houses of prayer or ministries. It has to do with God’s desire to have His “house” be “a house of prayer” (Matthew 21:13).

But why is this happening, and what does this have to do with the end of the age?

The prophet Isaiah writes,

“The proud look of man will be abased and the loftiness of man will be humbled, and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.” (Isaiah 2:11)

As we look across the earth today, we only see slivers and pockets of the exaltation of God. Man is largely in direct rebellion against God and act in the haughtiness of their own opinions. A small remnant of humanity gives Him the praise that is due. But this will change. God has sworn that He will receive all the glory that is due to His name.

“I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, nor My praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8)

He will soon arise and shake all that can be shaken because He is zealous for His glory to be known, and He is jealous for the worship and love of the human heart. As we witness the rise of the worship and prayer movement across the earth, we can be confident that we are approaching the hour when God will bring the lofty low and exalt His name before all nations.

As we draw near to the climatic event of the joining together of heaven and earth, we can see that the worship that is happening continuously around the throne in heaven is being joined with worship on the earth. At the end of the age, the Spirit of God is stirring a desire to worship Him in the heart of His bride.

The prayer and worship movement is not primarily about intercession for revival and the fixing of the world’s problems. We need to pray for revival, but intercession devoid worship will lead to discouragement and burn-out. The primary reason we are to engage in corporate prayer and worship is because He has forever been worthy of incessant adoration. We are to join in the worship that has been happening day and night forever (Rev. 4:8).

Out of the Father’s zeal for His glory to be known on the earth, He sent His only Son. As His Son went low, He purposed that His Son would be vindicated and exalted above every other name. Jesus came as the enfleshment of Yahweh to receive the worship of Yahweh. God’s zeal for His own glory and His desire to vindicate the Servant have joined together in the exaltation of Jesus above every other name (Phil. 2:5-11).

Zeal for His name and His house have “consumed” Him (John 2:17). As this age comes to a climax, He is moving across the nations searching for hearts who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). He is longing that His Son would be glorified, and His own name be properly honored. By giving ourselves to worship and prayer in whatever form, we agree with His heart and join with the song that has been sung in heaven since the beginning of creation.

Here are IHOP, there has been prayer and worship 24/7 for almost 9 years. But what is the reason for the House of Prayer? For a long time I have considered the release of revival as the purpose for the House of Prayer (globally not just locally). Yet lately I’ve been seeing things a little differently.

If you start with the idea that heaven and earth will be joined together at the end of this age, the purpose of the House of Prayer starts to take a different shape. In short, we are to mirror on earth the prayer and worship in heaven happening now in anticipation of the day when we will join the worship of heaven as heaven descends to earth.

If the angels, the 24 elders, and the 4 living creatures are worshipping God day and night now, should not there be an expression of this on earth? We are to enter into unceasing prayer and worship as a corporate people because He is worthy and we will be doing this forever.

“For you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex. 34:14).

God is jealous for worship not because He is egotistical, but because it is right and it is healing for our souls. As we worship Him, we become like Him. As the purpose of new creation goes forward, He wants a place where worship continually goes up before His throne joining the incense of heaven.

David understood this and appointed the Levites “to stand every morning to thank and to praise the LORD, and likewise at evening” (1 Chr. 23:30). Notice that their job was to “thank and praise the Lord.” That was it!

The purpose of the House of Prayer is to pray for revival, but it is so much more. Revival will come, but the House of Prayer will never stop. It will just join in with the chorus that has been sung since the creation of those creatures in heaven:

“HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is THE LORD GOD, THE ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS AND WHO IS AND WHO IS TO COME” (Rev. 4:8).

Hope and faith for the power of God is arising again in my heart. Expectation is being awakened after what seems like a long winter.

I have always believed with my mind that God is going to do something powerful and beautiful to change the Church and the world as we know it. I have believed that God can and will do miracles and healings in my city.

But something new is happening. I’m beginning to hunger again and actually believe that it could happen today, not just in the future.

This isn’t some new faith that I have conjured up. I’m believing reality. God is moving in this nation. You hear about what is happening in Lakeland. You hear that it is spreading to other cities as well. It is provoking something in me.

And then, yesterday, it happened in Kansas City. Nothing major or earth-shattering. But the 2 Sunday morning services were spent in worship and praying for the sick. Knees were healed; eyes were healed; ears were healed.

No one knows what will happen in the days ahead. We do know that He is blessing us with the activity of His Spirit because He wants us to hunger for Him. For me, my heart is being awakened and I’m starting to expect Him to move. I’m beginning to have faith and hope again.

The Jackson County Advocate published a front page article on IHOP in their weekly newspaper. It’s not exactly the Kansas City Star, but it is a very well done article from an outsider’s perspective.

The main reason for the article is to highlight the economic impact that IHOP’s future campus will make on the little city of Grandview. If you don’t know, IHOP was given 120 acres of prime real estate in Grandview. This land is untouched which means we will be able to build a very large campus that will house multiple prayer rooms, meeting spaces, our schools, and many other things.

We encourage you to read this article to not only hear the story of the plans for this campus, but also to gain a flavor for what IHOP is.

I don’t hear many testimonies about what effect the prayers that are spoken at IHOP are having. You can’t gauge the effectiveness of prayer. That’s part of the reason why it is a foolish thing and requires humility. I come before God and pray because He tells us to, but at the end of the day, I’m not sure what my prayers actually did. So it’s nice when you hear testimonies like this one I heard the other day.

A man (somewhere) was in the midst of a crisis and was seriously contemplating suicide. Somehow he stumbled upon the Prayer Room while he was watching TV. He obviously was drawn to the worship and prayer that was happening and was saved!

That’s all I heard of the testimony because it was spoken very briefly as an example of the kind of testimonies that IHOP receives daily from people who are touched by the Prayer Room on GOD TV and the web. It’s amazing to me that what happens at this little prayer room is touching thousands of people across the nations every day. It’s amazing to me that God is into technology. He has a brilliant strategy to use that which has been used for darkness to unite believers across the nations in prayer to bring down wickedness and raise up righteousness.

So if you haven’t checked out the Prayer Room webstream yet, you really should.