repentance

12 Prayers of Repentance for the House of Prayer

/ JSB / Leave a comment

#IHOPKC folk: At the end of the day, if we don’t see that the tribulation that has engulfed the House of Prayer is foremost about the Father judging His household, WHATEVER else we have to say, either as accusation, or in defense, is gonna be OFF POINT. Profoundly.

Generally speaking, us humans would rather do the easy work of “destroying”, than the hard work of “healing”. In a nut-shell, this is the kind of endemic, and warped way of the curse, that Jesus came to save us from.

What if, we paused our cursing and accusing, and defending, and instead, used our many words to cry out to the Father for His tangible power and presence to rest upon us, the House of Prayer and the praying church?

What if we poured out our broken passion and pain, and tears and angst, and our many sins together at His feet?? Are His arms short? Would He not purge us, forgive us, and heal us? Would He not gather us to Himself? Would He not fit us for His purposes in this hour? Perhaps with even increased fidelity to His heart as the contra-Christ spirit intensifies around us?

This is what I am endeavoring to do here. I’m sick from eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I’m tired of throwing my stones. I’m bruised from my own punches and counter-punches.

Here are 12 PRAYERS of REPENTANCE that I’m using to enjoin the Lord and His healing mercy.

#01 • A PRAYER of THANKSGIVING and SURRENDER to GOD and HIS JUDGMENTS

“The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. More to be desire are they than gold; yes, than much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.” (Psalm 19:9-10)

#02 • PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS FOR OUR REBELLION AND UNBELIEF

“Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: ‘Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of trial in the wilderness…’ Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 3:7-8; Hebrews 10:29)

#03 • REPENTANCE AND PLEA FOR DELIVERANCE FROM THE CURSE OF THE SERPENT

“(When) they knew that they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So Adam said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And the Lord said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?” Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” And the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”” (Genesis 3:7-13)

#04 • REPENTANCE FOR OUR HYPOCRISY RE: OUR FAITH IN GOD THROUGH CORPORATE PRAYER

“Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God… Blow the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children and nursing babes… Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar; let them say, ‘Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’“ (Joel 2:12-17)

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6)

#05 • PRAYER of REPENTANCE for OUR DEEP HYPOCRISY and PROFOUND REBELLION AGAINST the LORD and HIS WAY

“Our iniquities overwhelm us; only You can atone for our great rebellion.” (Psalm 65:3)

#06 • PRAYER of REPENTANCE for ASSUMING WE HAD THE HOLY ABILITY TO FIX THE LORD’S HOUSE

“So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets. And when they came to the THRESHING FLOOR, UZZA put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against UZZA, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark… David was afraid of God that day, saying, ‘How can I bring the ark of God to me?'” (1 Chronicles 13:7-10,12)

#07 • PRAYER of REPENTANCE for GIVING OURSELVES to DEVOURING OUR SISTERS and BROTHERS

“If you go on attacking each other and tearing each other to pieces, watch out, or you will be destroyed by each other!” (Galatians 5:15) [CEV]

#08 • PRAYER of REPENTANCE for DISMISSING and MARGINALIZING the CONCERN and PAIN of OUR SISTERS and BROTHERS

“As for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting; and my prayer would return to my own heart. I paced about as though he were my friend or brother; I bowed down heavily, as one who mourns for his mother.” (Psalm 35:13-14)

DAY #09 • PRAYER of SELF-EXAMINATION and REPENTANCE

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my fears; and see if there is any wicked way in me.” (Psalm 139:23-24)

#10 • PRAYER of CORPORATE REFLECTION and REPENTANCE

“I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the #HouseOfPrayer Your servants, and confess the sins of #IHOPKC which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded.” (Nehemiah 1:5-7)

#11 PRAYER OF REPENTANCE for SHUNNING the WAY of the CROSS

“If you do not take up your cross and follow Me, you are not worthy of Me.” (Matthew 10:38)

#12 PRAYER of REPENTANCE for SELFISHLY SEEKING OUR OWN PROTECTION and SELF-JUSTIFICATION while in the MIDST of CRISIS

“All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:6)

“In those days… everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6 and 21:25)

“There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God…” (Romans 3:11)

“He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

“For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)

“He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:12)

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JSB • February, 2024

10 Pastoral Encouragements, and One Urgent Plea to House of Prayer Leadership

/ JSB / Leave a comment

No one’s asking me, but in light of the calls for the closure of #IHOPKC here’s one urgent plea, and 10 strong pastoral encouragements for the House of Prayer family as we respond to the fire-storm of revelations, and accusations being leveled against Mike and House of Prayer leadership:

1. Set-apart 3 – 6 (or more) months for this season of focused grieving, lamenting, confession and repentance.

2. Shut EVERYTHING on the base down and focus EVERYTHING on repentance before the Lord. (This is central to the radical, Joel Paradigm.)

3. Require all staff, leaders, group-leaders, pastors be present at these gatherings – multiple times each day. If they’re unwilling, kindly give them their exit papers.

4. Be as thorough as the blood of Jesus bids us to be. Let all of our “ways” get scrutinized and brought to the threshing-floor. Own it all. Without one plea; or an ounce of excuse. Stay in the number. Get entirely naked before God. Get to the roots of the mundane to the most wicked inclinations of our hearts.

5. Invite Houses of Prayer around the globe into this season; for their own well-being, for solidarity w IHOPKC, and ultimately for their own unique integrity before the Lord.

6. Establish and enforce an atmosphere of open prayer and grief that the “Tammy’s” and the “JaneDoes” tell us are “safe” and “real” before the Lord. Hire professional counselors to minister to those who “dare” come and need intimate, respectful, Christlike care.

7. Cultivate lament, tears and travail as values, and vital expressions of prayer in Houses of Prayer everywhere. Normalize these types of prayer as much as the Spirit does.

8. Let (John 12:24-25) be the driving vision of the whole of the base; no less than “changing the expression of Christianity in one generation” was in the past. Let the style; the ethos; the language; and the prophetic history die. Bury it. Erect “Achan memorial stones” (Joshua 7) over it. And then train every worship leader, singer, musician, intercessor, pastor and teacher in the theology of the cross, so that NOTHING is done apart from embracing the crucified, dead and buried life-style.

9. Hire a truly, independent, third-party investigation team. Let them do their work. Compare notes with their findings, and the prayer room’s repentance. Across the board. Post the findings to the IHOPKC web-site, as additional memorial stones.

10. Restart prayer and worship ONLY on God’s terms. Listen to the Lord for His design; His style; His formation; His unction; His vision. And gather objective prophetic, prayer leaders from the nations to speak into, help shape, ordain, and release the new expression of the tabernacle of David prayer according to their sense of the Lord’s timing.

None of this will be easy. But it IS what’s necessary. It’ll go against every natural inclination to “save self” that IHOPKC has been evidencing the last four months. For the sake of authentic healing. For the sake of the integrity of the prophetic histories of the beloved hundreds of individuals, and families who came to pray in this community at the behest of the Holy Spirit. Do. Luke. 9:24. Anyway.

Why is it imperative to have #IHOPKC #HouseOfPrayer leadership facilitating such radical, self-restrictive measures “today“? And why does the work of personal and corporate introspection, confession and repentance become exponentially more difficult the longer the time goes by without it?

We are not only personal beings, we are relational beings. We form norms, values, beliefs, language, histories and narratives between ourselves that shape how we view ourselves, our significant others, and our place in our world. Once a “narrative” is set, it is extremely difficult to unravel the thousands of threads of belief, value, normative behavior, histories and episodes that have formed that narrative.

This is the reason why millions could vaunt a Hitler in the 30s and 40s, and why billions looked on with horror at the warped beliefs, norms, values and episodes of the German people when they were finally exposed. Through their shared culture; conversations, relationships, propaganda etc. Germans were accumulating evidence for their narratives, and then reenforcing their values, norms, behavior with those pieces of evidence.

This was also the reason why the prophetic messages of Jeremiah were so adamantly opposed by the people of Judah. Their aggregated narratives had placed them in a paradigm of thinking and believing that WOULDN’T ALLOW FOR YHWHs WORDS to be embraced as TRUTH and REALITY.

The point? If the current leadership of #IHOPKC does not quickly, do an about-face, cease with its narrative of persecution, and cultivate an atmosphere where it trusts the independent, objective analysis of both God and other brothers and sisters, the dominant, self-saving narrative will become too engrained within the people; too engrained for them to want to do the thorough self-crucifying work of untangling the months and years of accumulated belief, values and episodes. This is the ONLY WAY any of us will come through the chaos of this tribulation into vibrant righteousness.

ASIDE: I generally believe, pray and hope for the continuance of the Spirit’s authentic worship and intercession through my #IHOPKC family. (Mike’s profound sins, do not have the ability to negate the millions of sincere expressions of love and adoration to Jesus, the brilliant, Kingdom-enhancing friendships, the testimonies, the gazillions acts of Kingdom witness, the healings, the souls saved, nor the many, many miracles manifest over the decades.)

HOWEVER, the base, (the WHOLE base) MUST let go of self, and undergo a long, radial, self-abasing, self-analyzing, self-crucifying fire of the Holy Spirit. Without this arduous, focused work being engaged, we should not entertain any hope of the Father’s anointing upon us. (I honestly can’t swallow that I am saying this.)

PRAY FOR the current leadership at #IHOPKC. Pray for #HouseOfPrayer leaders in the nations. Pray that we/they would abase our/themselves before the objective analysis of the Holy Spirit, and humble our/themselves before what He says is true and real, that we might appropriate the Father’s authentic healing and righteousness. He IS a complete, and mighty Redeemer.

This is where I’m aiming my little energy in this hour.

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JSB • February, 2024