[Editor’s note: Having just concluded IHOP Internship III last week, we are once again getting back into the grind and routine of life at the House of Prayer. Burning in the House for seven sessions a week...fasting on a weekly basis...growing deep in message... After the adranaline-rush and all the excitement that such an event brings, it’s always good to remind ourselves why we keep coming back day after day, week after week, event after event, to burn in His House and to sit at His feet.]
(This is Part 2 of our first article that can be found here.)
Prayer with worship is at the heart of a House of Prayer. This is because the Lord Jesus requires that Christians congregate across the earth, crying out for His return in fervent prayer with worship (Matt 9:15, Rev 22:17).
If prayer with worship is at the centre of all Houses of Prayer, this brings up a critical question: what happens when one doesn’t enjoy prayer?
This is something that many believers struggle with. In fact, Mike Bickle, the founder of the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, testifies of this. In his younger years, he would tell God that he planned to persevere in prayer for an hour, but those times were more agony than anything.
But there is hope. God has mandated that believers congregate in prayer across the world, and that such prayers would bring joy (Isa 56:7)
Sustaining days, weeks and even decades in the House of Prayer boils down to this: we pray, because He enjoys us; He enjoys us, because our gaze at Him – weak, distracted, and however momentary – overwhelms Him!
He is overwhelmed when we stay engaged, seeking Him and Him only, even when we don’t seem to see, hear or feel Him.
How does this work? The Lord has buried this mystery in the Song of Songs, an allegory of how the Church (or the believer) grows from an immature bride who is dark and lovely (Songs 1:5) to one who comes out from the wilderness of a sinful world, leaning on her Beloved (8:5)
In the Song of Songs, the Shulamite woman (a “type” of the individual believer and the Church) learns to relish His love (1:2), the sweetness of His Word (2:5) and the joy of ministering to younger, less mature believers (5:8)
In Chapter 5, however, the Bride experiences a 2-fold crisis – at a time when she has overcome her fears to seek after Him, she loses two precious things – her veil (or ministry) is taken away, ironically by the leaders of the church (5:7). Even His sweet love – love that is more precious than all the delectable pleasures of the world (1:2) – is gone as He withdraws His presence momentarily to enable her love for Him to grow (5:6).
This is the much-feared “dark night of the soul” of which Saint John of the Cross wrote about – a term referring to the times when the saint doesn’t feel the presence of God. As ominous as this sounds, the Lord’s training school has this core module – training us to press into His presence, even when He says nothing, or little.
The Bride does well in this module. She doesn’t take it sitting down. In 7 verses, in Songs 5:10-16, she goes on to tell the daughters of Jerusalem (younger, less mature believers) about her lovesickness and determination to pursue Him. In these 7 verses – one of the longest passages in Scripture that go into fine, exquisite detail about the beauty of her Beloved – she calls Him the “chief among ten thousand,” “altogether lovely” and one whose “mouth is most sweet.” These are descriptions of Jesus that believers should spend their lives – and through eternity, for that matter – meditating on.
The response from Jesus (as typified by Solomon) is one of the climaxes of Holy Scripture. In Song 6:5, Jesus calls on the Bride to turn her eyes away from Him, as they have “overcome” Him!
This is profound and mind boggling. Jesus, the one who rules the skies and created the heavens, the One who is at peace and in perfect fellowship with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, this same Jesus is overwhelmed, captivated and downright goes weak in knees when He sees the gaze of a weak, sinful broken believer!
As believers, this is a mystery that will take us years – again, even through eternity – to ponder and wonder about. When she doesn’t feel anything in her heart, He feels everything! Likewise, our hearts feel might feel cold and numb, but based on this truth, we can still reach out to Him in the poverty of our spirit, knowing that He is deeply, deeply moved. Indeed, His heart burns with holy passion for us when we reach out to him in weakness! This is the secret to staying and burning long in the House of Prayer. Sometimes, burning in the House of Prayer can be mundane and routine. In the House of Prayer, people can at times feel distracted and weighed down by cares. Sometimes, I have felt that my prayers are so weak that they have not even ascended to the ceiling. But knowing that He hears, and is deeply moved, motivates me to press in.
This is a mystery that we will through eternity meditate on and rejoice in.
We can live this out in 2 ways.
Firstly, this truth is buried in the Word. Even when our hearts are not moved, our minds are distracted and we would rather be somewhere else than burning in the House of Prayer, we know that He desires and is overcome by us – simply because His Word says so. Secondly, there will be times of sweetness when the Spirit of God touches our hearts with His love, or when He reveals His heart for us and His desire for us. Many of us who burn in the House can testify to this. In this His Word is validated by experience. Indeed, feeling His love, and loving Him back constitutes one of the sweetest, most delectable emotions imaginable this side of heaven!
This is what causes us to burn, and stay long in the House of Prayer. It’s not the music, the eloquence of the prayers nor the length of our intercession. Rather, it is about how our weak hearts move a strong God.
