Tag Archives: Kingdom

Eye Surgery for a Kingdom Focus

Leave a comment

11130260_964162560313518_4399395163024787223_n-2
My husband and I went for a free vision exam. The advertisement made a lot of amazing claims just as they so often do. It said the doctors were skilled with extensive experience in advanced diagnostic equipment, the procedure rooms were specially designed for optimal results, the technology used was the best with complete follow-up care and affordable prices! We had thought we were going for a normal eye exam only to discover that the doctor was examining us for laser surgery. Because of the fancy advertisement, the place was packed with people wanting to improve their vision through free laser surgery.

While we were waiting, I noticed a group of patients gathered around a big window intently watching something very interesting in the next room. I walked over and to my surprise, they were watching a live laser surgery being done on one of the patients! It took only about ten minutes to complete this surgery that provided a vast improvement of one’s vision, even with those who had been wearing bifocal glasses for years and years.

I was fascinated as I watched the doctor wash the eye with a solution and know exactly how to do what seemed like a simple surgery on the eye. I am sure it was much more complex than I imagined. Then he would wash the eye again, and I would see magnified a beautifully colored and designed eye so unique and carefully created by God. It was an amazing surgery that impressed me greatly.

God is doing eye surgery right now on the body of Christ. He wants us to see with His vision. He is a skilled physician with the very best equipment, and He has the greatest experience of anyone in the entire world! His technology is supernatural, and He provides daily follow-up and personal care. God wants to remove our shortsightedness and the cataracts that fog our vision. He wants us to see through eyes of faith what He can do in our cities and nations. He wants to put his own eye salve on our eyes so we can see brilliantly what is before us and how we are to pray.

While on a prayer journey in the Biblical city of Laodicea in Turkey, I was reminded of God’s message to the Laodicean church. God wants us to be willing to go through His refinement so that we are not lukewarm and naked like the Laodicean church but, instead, are on fire for Him. He says to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:18:

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful naked-ness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

I didn’t qualify for lazer surgery, but I am glad that I do qualify for God’s surgery that opens my eyes further to see from His glorious perspective! You qualify as well. I encourage you to begin to see your city from God’s Kingdom perspective. Think about starting 24/7 in your city for a week or a month. Think about the Kingdom of God invading your city.

We sometimes do one-month Houses of Prayer. When we do this in cities for a month, it changes so many of our lives! Time in God’s presence changes you dramatically just as it did Michael’s family. Perhaps you are thinking:

“But you don’t know my nation – the church is too small or too divided!”

God doesn’t need a large population of Christians in order to bring in His presence. He will work through a few churches that decide to unite in prayer in order to seek His presence for their city. This is where He loves to show His presence. When we had a one-month House of Prayer in Spain, we had only 12-15 committed churches.

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

A Kingdom Lifestyle

Leave a comment

11009198_990320437697730_710204864117894450_n“Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all” (Mark 10:42-44).

Spreading the vision for prayer and starting a House of Prayer in your church or city will take a great deal of faithful serving. It will take hard work and endurance. There will be times when you wonder if you are doing the right thing or if it will ever happen. The opposition from the enemy will be great. But this is God’s personal invitation to greatness for you. God designed you for greatness (Matthew 5:12; 11:11; 18:4). Deep in your heart you desire greatness, significance, dignity, nobility, honor, and impact. You want to be great in God’s sight. You are learning to live for His Kingdom purposes.

The Sermon on the Mount is all about the lifestyle of the Kingdom.

When we learn a Kingdom lifestyle, look at what happens. We practice rapid repentance when we sin. We become more responsive to God with a wholehearted love. We love others more. We experience greater fruitfulness, and we cultivate a lifestyle of sustained focus and devotion to God. But it takes time and effort. It is deliberate. We can’t just run around living for ourselves.

In obeying it, we position ourselves for greatness. We pursue obedience in our speech, our appetites, our time, our money, and our eyes. We renew our inner man for eternal glory (2 Corinthians 4:16-17). We work to become faithful disciples of Jesus through our heart obedience and our ministry impact. We respond to all that the Holy Spirit shows us so that we may be worthy of our calling (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12). Our eternal destiny is to possess godliness and become like God in character, living a life of love (Ephesians 5:2; Romans 9:29).

This can be cultivated in the prayer room as well as in our daily life. We develop our secret life with God, and we do acts of justice wherever we go. He sees our heart. Seeking to lovingly obey is never in vain. We should seek to live out the eight beatitudes every day. He is looking for a people who obey Him wholeheartedly.

The Sermon on the Mount contains the core values of God’s Kingdom and is the litmus test to measure our true success in life. By spending time in God’s presence, God changes us on the inside and gives us more grace to live a Sermon on the Mount lifestyle daily. We are on a journey to greatness. Matt Chandler, from the International House of Prayer, writes about God’s invitation to greatness:

“The Sermon on the Mount is the litmus test to measure our success in life, spiritual development and ministry impact. Our foundation call (internal) is to live out the 8 beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) as we pursue 100-fold obedience (Matthew 5:48; 6:22). The beatitudes are like 8 flowers in the “garden of our heart” that God wants to fully blossom…. God invites us to greatness without regard to our outward achievements or the size of our ministry impact. Rather it is based on the development of our inner man in love, meekness, and revelation or in righteousness, peace, and joy in the spirit (Romans 14:17). Without the paradigm of being on a journey to greatness, the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle is much more difficult to sustain. Living in light of receiving reward in heaven and being great in God’s sight is a major theme that is emphasized in Matthew 5:5, 12, 19, 46; 6:1 4, 6, 18, 20; 7:2.” Matt Candler

God is developing us in the Beatitudes of Matthew 5:3-12. He is our source, and we are absolutely dependent on Him. Let’s wholeheartedly pursue His fullness, and hunger and thirst for His righteousness. We are complete in Christ (Colossians 1:28-29; 2:10; 4:12; 1 Thess. 5:22-3). We are seeking to be obedient and perfectly established in Him (1 Peter 5:10; 1 Timothy 6:13-14). We are seeking a blameless life and to live out the Sermon on the Mount lifestyle.

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3-10).

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOP-KC

Our Prayer for God’s Kingdom in our City

11694990_990317657698008_1380555052200191595_n

Lord, we want Your Kingdom purposes for [Name your city]. Help us to see our city from Your perspective. We pray for day and night prayer. Give us eyes of faith and a vision to see what You can do. Raise up Your Church here, and break through every divisive barrier that is keeping us apart. Revive the churches, and make them an influence in our neighbor-hoods and places of work. Help us all to work together towards a one-month House of Prayer [Pray your specific vision for your city]. Teach us to lay down our personal agendas and see the big picture of what You want to do here. Invade our city with Your glorious presence and Your Kingdom purposes. Help our city grow in trust, wisdom, relational unity, love, worship, Kingdom building, simplicity, and in seeking Your presence.

Teach us how to prepare every detail for a House of Prayer here. Give us Your wisdom as to where we should have it. Give us Your creativity in decorating the prayer room. We pray for favor with Your people as we spread the vision. We believe this is Your will. Break through every obstacle, and show us the steps we need to take. Lay a burden on our hearts to pray together for our city. Bring a core group of people together to pray towards this House of Prayer. Give us Your wisdom and Your heart for united intercession.

We are desperate for Your presence. We welcome you here. Come and dwell among us. Let our city bring You renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things You do for it; and let them be in awe and tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace You provide for it (Jeremiah 33:9). In Jesus’ name, amen.

Verse to Memorize

“Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it” (Jeremiah 33:9).

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Preparing the Way for God’s Presence

Leave a comment

Developing a Dynamic Prayer Life in the Prayer Room“In every revival in history we read a similar testimony. When God responded to His people by sending His presence, He didn’t just work Himself into their routine religion—He overtook them by His power and glory! He left a trail of glorious chaos in His wake—weeping, repenting, rejoicing, reconciling, changing of habits, healing of families! Nobody wondered if Jesus was involved in these meetings. There was no doubt in their minds and no lack in their hearts.” Rhonda Hughey

God wants to invade our cities with His glorious and powerful presence. He wants to overtake our lives and change our plans and routines so that they are fully in line with His purposes. As we look at the Kingdom of God and preparing the way for God’s holy presence, the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest test to measure and evaluate our personal success.

  • How well do I live out the eight beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12 and all of Matthew 5-7?
  • Do I seek to obey God in every area of our life?
  • Do I declare war on all compromise?

This is the test. This is the great personal challenge we are all facing as we prepare for 24/7 prayer. We are made for personal holiness and to intimately know God. This is what is so fantastic about a House of Prayer. God begins to change you, and you begin to prioritize prayer in a way you have never done before—or even imagined possible. Prayer begins to take center stage in your life.

We experienced this at our House of Prayer in Spain. Prayer suddenly became a priority. God began to deal with our lives—our speech, our time, our money, our relationships, and everything else. There was an internal calling from God to love and follow Him with all of our heart. God wanted our hearts and a life of complete obedience so that we would be perfect and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:4).

We were challenged in our prayer lives as the Holy Spirit began to
reinforce the importance of personal prayer and the absolute necessity of corporate prayer for the region. There was a lying down of secondary priorities for many. We were becoming very hungry for Jesus and His presence (Matthew 5:6). Through prayer and praise we were welcoming God into the region. Many of us began to treasure the presence of God above all else, as we realized deep in our hearts the truth of John 15:5, “Without Me you can do nothing.”

That time, and now being based at the International House of Prayer, has personally challenged me to make quality decisions for holiness and to let God challenge my motives on a regular basis. I still have a long way to go, but at least I am on the road. It definitely is a life-long journey. You may be thinking:

“How do I even begin to think about a House of Prayer in my city?”

The first step is to PRAY! You start by praying about a House of Prayer in your city. Even if you are not the one to start it, you can pray for others who will. Pray that God raises up the right ones to begin it, and you can be the one who supports them in prayer. If one month seems too long for you to start with, begin with a one-week House of Prayer. In starting to plan towards a one-month House of Prayer and beyond, there are several initial steps to pray and work towards. Every city needs a House of Prayer, but there always needs to be a few who start it.

Think about some of the things you want to see accomplished. You want to create an unbroken string of focused intense prayer of entreaty to God. Now this may seem overwhelming at first, but you will be surprised at how God helps you. After all, it’s His idea and desire in the first place. You want to provide times and places for many to come together in prayer. You want to ask the Lord to visit your city with His presence. Ultimately, you want to roll out a red carpet for the King of kings, and invite Him to come and do His work.

In Biblical and church history, united prayer has proven to be the single lifesaver of a nation during times of danger and uncertainty. The Lord commands His people to seek His face (2 Chronicles 7:14). Noah was warned by God concerning the flood, even though there was no visible sign of it coming—not even a raindrop! He took heed and diligently constructed and prepared an ark for the deliverance of his family (Hebrews 11:7).

It is difficult to predict exact results in a one-month House of Prayer. The key is to be faithful in doing what God shows you to do in prayer. In our House of Prayer in Spain, I believe that many were radically changed in their prayer lives, but there were also those who went back to their previous lifestyles and life as usual.

We have to be willing to pay the price for God’s continual presence in our city. It’s up to the Church to decide long-term how much of God they really want. It is important that churches and intercessors continue to pray and anticipate the ongoing development of God’s plan and Kingdom purposes for their city while the discipline and blessing of united prayer is still fresh.

In Spain the glory of God was visible in one of the most spiritually needy areas in the world, but the churches needed to continue asking God to help them develop the prayer movement in their area. Outsiders who came to help could not do it. It had to be those who lived in that city. I believe the following results will happen when Christians do accept the challenge of continual united prayer in their city:

  • A united, praying church develops that is pleasing to the Lord.
  • There is a breaking of the spiritual darkness that is invading the nation.
  • The Church demonstrates an example of corporate prayer that challenges others in cities around the country to develop prayer in their region as well.
  • A movement of the Spirit occurs, bringing salvation to thousands of people.
  • A continued growing movement of prayer arises, sweeping thousands of tired Christians into a fresh new excitement and vitality in Christ.

Imagine the future of your city when a House of Prayer is operating day and night. God will pour out His Spirit. There will be the manifest presence of the Lord scattering His enemies and ours. Signs, wonders, healing, and deliverance from demonic oppression will become the norm. There will be the revival of the Church, and it will grow. Sinners will come under conviction and will open their hearts to the message of the Gospel on a regular basis. But you must ask the Lord what you are to do.

What is the blueprint, the plan for building His Kingdom in your city? How can the Church in your city prepare the way for God’s presence?

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Eye Surgery for a Kingdom Focus

Leave a comment

11692622_990323741030733_6732920235973030542_nWe went for a free vision exam. The advertisement made a lot of amazing claims, just as they so often do. It said the doctors were skilled with extensive experience in advanced diagnostic equipment, the procedure rooms were specially designed for optimal results, the technology used was the best, and they had complete follow-up care with affordable prices! We had thought we were going for a normal eye exam only to discover that the doctor was examining us for laser surgery. Because of the advertisement, the place was packed with people wanting to improve their vision through free laser surgery.

While we were waiting, I noticed a group of patients gathered around a big window intently watching something very interesting in the next room. I walked over, and to my surprise, they were watching a live laser surgery being done on one of the patients. It took only about ten minutes to complete this surgery that provided a vast improvement of one’s vision, even with those who had been wearing bifocal glasses for years and years.

I was fascinated as I watched the doctor wash the eye with a solution and know exactly how to do what seemed like a simple surgery on the eye. I am sure it was much more complex than I imagined. Then he would wash the eye again, and I would see magnified a beautifully colored and designed eye, so unique and carefully created by God. It was an amazing surgery that impressed me greatly.

God is doing eye surgery right now on the body of Christ. He wants us to see with His vision. He is a skilled physician with the very best equipment, and He has the greatest experience of anyone in the entire world. His technology is supernatural, and He provides daily follow-up and personal care. God wants to remove our short-sightedness and the cataracts that fog our vision. He wants us to see through eyes of faith what He can do in our cities. He wants to put His own eye salve on our eyes so we can see brilliantly what is before us and how to pray.

While on a prayer journey in the Biblical city of Laodicea in Turkey, I was reminded of God’s message to the Laodicean Church. God wants us to be willing to go through His refinement so that we are not lukewarm and naked like the Laodicean Church, but instead are on fire for Him. He wants us to buy salve to put on our eyes. He says to the Church of Laodicea in Revelation 3:18:

“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.”

I didn’t qualify for laser surgery, but I am glad that I do qualify for God’s surgery that opens my eyes further to see from His glorious perspective. You qualify as well. I encourage you to begin to see your city from God’s Kingdom perspective. Think about starting 24/7 prayer in your city for a week or a month. Think about the Kingdom of God invading your city.

We have had one-month Houses of Prayer. When we do this in cities for a month, it changes so many of our lives. Time in God’s presence changes you dramatically. Perhaps you are thinking, “But you don’t know my nation—the church is too small and too divided!” God doesn’t need a large population of Christians in order to bring in His presence. He will work through a few churches that decide to unite in prayer in order to seek His presence for their city.

This is where He loves to show His presence; He longs to give us a Kingdom focus.

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Kingdom Vision Ignited

Leave a comment

10989172_963507660379008_1774359157626250699_n“A city that becomes a “crown of glory” is a city that is consecrated or set apart to the Lord for His purposes, a city with an uncompro-mised church that is reflecting God’s glory. It’s a city where the church is victorious, the house of the Lord is established, and His presence is tangible in their midst, offering the protection of His presence. It’s a city where the priests are watching and guarding the city and contending for God’s presence, a place where the lost can look at the church and see Jesus and His power at work in life-changing ways.” Rhonda Hughey

Without question, cities begin to change through 24/7 prayer. When we pray in unity day and night, we begin to get a kingdom vision because we start to see everything from God’s perspective. Things that are not essential begin to fade into the distance. Our vision begins to sharpen as we see the city in a new way through eyes of faith.

What does it really means to have a Kingdom vision and perspective? We pray about it in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10, “Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven,” but what does this actually mean to us?

Did you know that the central message of Jesus and the apostles concerned the Kingdom of God?

Jesus is the King of kings, and He will one day rule every sphere of society worldwide. The Kingdom is already here in a limited way, but it will be fully here when Jesus returns. The centerpiece of God’s eternal purpose is for Jesus to come back to earth to establish His Kingdom rule on earth and join the heavenly and earthly realms (Ephesians 1:9-10). He will rule nations on earth during the thousand-year Millennium Kingdom, and there will be a global blessing of righteousness (Revelation 20:4-6). This will be a thousand years of peace, righteousness, prosperity, and blessing throughout the earth. It will be wonderful.

I lived on a ship. This was for over ten years with over three hundred people, mainly young, from about forty different nations. We sailed from country to country spreading the good news about Jesus. One of the songs we liked to sing in those early days was based on Habakkuk 2:14:

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

I used to like to go out on deck and look at the ocean during many of our calm, or sometimes rough voyages. If you’ve never been on a ship, you must try it. Often from east to west and north to south, you couldn’t see anything but blue-green sea. There were no ships or land anywhere as far as your eyes could see. The sea was massive—it was impressive—it gave me a picture of how one day the whole earth would see the glory of God and would know about Him.

The heavenly and earthly dimensions will one day come together and fully express the glory of God.

You and I have the privilege to proclaim in our prayers—and through our lives—that Jesus is King and is coming to earth to establish His worldwide Kingdom. We can bring heaven to earth through our prayers. We can proclaim the knowledge of God and spread this Kingdom message with power everywhere we go
(1 Corinthians 4:20). He wants us to walk in His authority and power, even as we wait for His Kingdom to come in all its fullness (Acts 1:8). He is reconciling all things to Himself (Colossians 1:19-20). All the earth will be filled with His glory (Numbers 14:21; Psalm 72:19; Isaiah 6:3). Our lives should be filled with the knowledge of God.

This must be our focus. Houses of Prayer ignite a Kingdom vision and help us to live fully committed lives. As this happens, we shall experience supernatural boldness and authority.

Daniel prophesied of the Messianic Kingdom in Daniel 2 and 7. God’s Kingdom is any sphere of life where God rules over Satan. The Church is the community of the Kingdom, and we spread His Kingdom by living holy lives, praying for the sick, sharing our faith, etc. This is why it is important that we get a vision of the Kingdom of God for our church and the city we live in. Before Jesus returns, the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to the whole world (Matthew 24:14). And God will use us in this great task of making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19). We must have vision to see God’s great perspective of the Kingdom. When we see this, we see how important day and night prayer really is.

To understand the end-time scene, we must understand the book of Revelation. It is our prayer manual for the end-times. If we understand this book, we can live successful through the difficulties, and we can know how to pray strategically. We don’t have to be caught off guard. We don’t have to fear the tribulation. God will use the least severe judgments to reach the greatest amount of people at the deepest level of love. Jesus, our King, will judge everything that opposes love (Revelation 19:11-21). The measure that we develop love, meekness, and holiness determines our place and function in His government.

Let’s realize that Houses of Prayer will help us know how to live in this present seventy-year internship that prepares us for life in the age to come (Psalm 90:10). Let’s give God our all now! Let’s look at the future with positive optimism instead of morbid discourage-ment. Jesus is King of all, and He has already won the battle at the cross.

A Vienna born psychologist, Viktor Frankl (1905-1997), rejected Freud’s emphasis that the past is the primary force that forms us in the present. He was a survivor of several Nazi concentration camps. After the war he analyzed the holocaust survivors and categorized them in two categories: Those who were emotionally stable and those who weren’t. The predominant factor was not their experience before or doing the concentration camps. It was what they believed about their future.

Our hope and what we believe about the future matters greatly. We need to see it from God’s perspective and with the hopeful anticipation of Christ’s rule here on earth.

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC