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Mike and Diane Bickle Drop Bombshell News About International House of Prayer
5:00PM Charisma News 11/28/2018
The International House of Prayer made a surprise announcement late yesterday, posting a new video titled, "Why This Is the Last Onething Conference." In the video, Mike and Diane Bickle say the Lord has stirred them up for a new season of reflection, fellowship and slowing down, and that means doing less with the ministry so that they can prepare for the next "move of the Spirit."
Mike says, "We feel like there's a mighty move of the Spirit right around the corner, and this mighty move of the Spirit is going to require that we're in connection in a deeper way with his heart and with one another. We've got to do it with a sense of we're in this thing together. So in the last months, the Lord has really spoken this to us: 'Slow the pace down of what you're doing. Do less, so you can take more time to go deep with God and deep with each other.' Because you can't go deep on the run."
In a YouTube comment, the International House of Prayer clarified, "This will be the last Onething for some time in Kansas City. We do not actually host or manage the other Onething conferences. Sometimes our teams or leaders are invited to be a part of those, but they are generally hosted by other houses of prayer. IHOPKC only exists in Kansas City; we don't have other prayer rooms outside of KC."
(This address was first given at the 2018 International House of Prayer University commencement. It has been modified slightly for publication.)
I am both excited and sober about this generation's future. I am excited because of the many who are responding to the Lord, but I am sober because I am aware of the difficulties of the context and culture that you will engage with for the sake of the kingdom.
This is, objectively, one of the most difficult hours in history to engage a generation with the gospel. Never before has a generation been more desperate for truth yet suspicious of anyone who possesses it. The layers of defensiveness and armor around the unsaved heart, filled with pain, hurt, disappointment and fear, is unlike any time in history. I believe that we are on the verge of facing one of the greatest evangelistic crises ever. Methods and strategies will not be sufficient to face the threat and the challenge that is before us.
The only way forward is the plan of God to raise up burning and shining lamps in the context of historic breakthrough and revival.
Raising Up Burning Ones Therefore, we want to build on the flame that the Lord has ignited within our hearts. We must continue to take the flame within and press on to fight for a bonfire that will blaze within us under even the greatest of pressures. We want to press on from ones transformed by the love of Jesus unto becoming "burning and shining lamps"; becoming true friends of the Bridegroom in an hour where the greatest threat to the future is not political or moral confusion, nor liberalism or capitalism, nor social or racial conflicts, but a man-centered, sentiment-driven, thankless and self-absorbed form of Christianity that denies its power and exalts our comfort and our feelings above His sacrifice and His passion.
How do we engage this generation in crisis? How do we run the race to win? How do we become the burning and shining ones that the Lord wants to use as light for a generation that loves darkness? Here are some key truths that we must cling to that the enemy will seek to steal, this culture will seek to quench and diminish, and our own flesh will war against in the face of the pressures and trials that are before us.
Roadmap to Success:
Jesus is the source and starting point of all things and is leading this movement. "One thing" must never become cliche or trite to us.
The Beatitudes of Jesus are the core expression of first-commandment love. This is who we want to become by grace because we love Him.
The rest of the Sermon on the Mount is our road map to second-commandment love. This is how we'll become who God made us to be because we love Him.
The "good eye" is the key to everything. We must live before His eye in a singular, focused way. The fear of the Lord is the continual resolve to remember that He sees, He remembers and He rewards because He is moved and filled with indescribable jealousy and commitment to His desired end for our hearts and our lives.
Wisdom is prioritizing a flowing heart alive in the love of Jesus. We want to fight to be aware of His presence, responsive to His leadership and oriented toward delight and gratitude regarding His mercy and kindness towards us. We want to despise entitlement and the disease of "I deserve."
Build your life on the rock of the commands of Jesus. ""Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded a rock" (Matt. 7:24-25).
Fight to see the bigger picture regarding yourself and the people that trouble you. You are more than your issues and your victories. So are they. Love the person in front of you; honor them with the dignity that was bestowed on them according to Jesus' costly sacrifice. Let His blood, shed for them, speak louder than their behavior, their weakness or their brokenness. Let it do the same for you. Avoid cynicism and bitterness at all costs. Despise arrogance and haughtiness in all its forms.
Keep your heart and your life simple. Prioritize a Spirit-filled, Spirit-led life. Crave genuine fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Long for the increased activity of the Holy Spirit on your heart and on your life. Revival matters—what you believe about man, his need for God, the depth of the problems and the issues of injustice and how they are resolved is all wrapped into what you believe about revival.
Make the knowledge of God, deeply understood and authentically expressed, your genuine goal of that fellowship. Eschatology matters—what you believe about where things are going, what life is about, who Jesus is, and what He will do, all are wrapped into what you believe about the end times. We cannot afford to be an eschatological agnostic, disconnected from the necessary truths that surround the return of Jesus.
This is Jesus' answer to the complexity of wickedness, rebellion, arrogance and unprecedented pressure. His answer to this present darkness and all of its foolishness is a spotless, beautiful bride, mature in love and glorious in holiness. She will pray for Israel. She will long for His return, and she will lay down her life for the nations that despise her. The Father's delight is to answer the mounting ugliness of the human condition with unprecedented beauty. We long for Him to come, but until then, we long for Him to receive the reward of His suffering—in our lives and the lives of all who were made to bring Him the highest and deepest pleasure and joy.
This is the kind of church the Lord wants to thrust in the midst of a generation like brands plucked from the fire. The heart of God for the days to come is to see His burning and shining lamps, His friends of the Bridegroom, fight for the glory and the beauty of Jesus to be known through a clear demonstration of passionate love in Spirit and in truth. Amen.
What is your role in answering the present darkness?
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Prophecy is a gift from God, which He uses to speak to His people.
At Onething, International House of Prayer's annual year-end conference (Dec. 28–31 at the Kansas City Convention Center), thousands of people come to hear an encouraging word from the Lord.
For Leslie C. from Louisiana, God used the Onething 2017 prophecy rooms to "confirm something that's been on my heart for over a year now," she said. "A weight has been lifted. I have clear direction. He's a loving God."
The word, delivered by a team of three ministers in a room set apart for prophetic ministry, also "confirmed I was hearing His voice and not my own desires."
Leslie's husband, Kevin, came seeking direction about an area of his life and received a word concerning a different area, but it was still applicable. "God showed what was more important that needed to be addressed," he said.
Such is the power of prophetic words to edify, exhort, and encourage believers (1 Cor. 14:3).
Some people receive a word of encouragement during a difficult season of life.
The ministers told Millie P., who moved from Venezuela to Denver two years ago, to look to the mountains for God's help, and that God was going to move mountains in her life.
The minister actually saw a picture of the Rocky Mountains, but didn't know where Millie lived. (Ministers don't converse beyond first names before giving words.).They also didn't know that she's struggling to learn English and launch her engineering career in the U.S.
"They had never met me and they identified where I'm at spiritually," she said, mixing Spanish with English. "I know I'm not alone in the fight, that God sees me. I have hope, and know it will be good. God is my strength."
These reactions are common, as the Lord highlights things about complete strangers in order to bless and strengthen them in their walk.
Millie was initially fearful about receiving prophetic ministry because she was fearful about her future and didn't want to hear a negative word, but her husband, Kenneth, assured her it that prophecy was not to foretell events but to build her up.
His advice to people who question prophecy's validity?
"It's biblical," he said. "It's a New Testament reality, a principle of Scripture. Our heart and desire is to hear from God."
Prophecy can also play a role in salvation, as it says in 1 Cor. 14:24-25.
When Natalie H., from Michigan, visited a local church at the urging of her sister, "they told me all kinds of things about myself, things that no one knew," she said. This led to her salvation and departure from witchcraft.
She came to Onething this year, bringing several friends, and received a prophetic word to keep pressing into God.
"They said God sees my crying out for Him to reveal Himself to me [more], so I'm going to keep doing it," she said. "They also said I'm good at writing, which is something I do in my personal time, but I don't show to anyone. This encourages me to step out."
The Lord can do so much through prophetic words: activate gifts, confirm direction and comfort and strengthen His people.
There can be fear about believing if God will speak, and we must test the words because Scripture says we prophesy in part (1 Cor. 13:9), but God loves to use fellow believers to bless His body.
As Leslie from Louisiana says, "it's all a matter of trust in the Lord, that He has your best interest at heart.
"He'd never do anything to hurt you or embarrass you," she adds. "Prophecy is for encouragement, to build you up and continue to show His love to you."
How can you grow in prophecy? {eoa}
A Detroit native who was raised in Vermont and Connecticut, Adam Wittenberg worked as a newspaper journalist until 2012, when he moved to Kansas City to complete the Intro to IHOPKC internship. Afterwards, he earned a four-year certificate in House of Prayer Leadership from IHOPU and is now on full-time staff in the marketing department at IHOPKC. Adam is also active in evangelism and has a vision to reach people everywhere with the good news of Jesus Christ.
"Your greatest places of warfare will become your greatest places of inheritance!"
This is the phrase the Holy Spirit spoke to me in the fall of 2014 while I was meditating on Psalm 2:7-8. In Psalm 2, we join David in witnessing a day when nations will rage, kings will plot and a generation will declare open war on God, His Word and His plan. David calls it vain. The Father laughs and confidently declares that no devil, nation or conspiracy of nations will be able to overthrow His eternal plan to give all nations to His Son from His Mount Zion. Then we are drawn far from the chaos, confusion and craziness of the day into the place of intimate intercession between the Father and the Son. The Father declares His affection over His Son and in essence says, "You see those nations raging out there? Ask Me for them, and I'll make them Your inheritance."
Right when I read this phrase and connected these dots, the Holy Spirit made it so clear that in the same place the enemy released the greatest assault (namely, Jesus' eternal destiny of ruling from Mount Zion) will come the deepest inheritance that He will receive from the Father. "Our greatest places of warfare will become our greatest places of inheritance."
On March 16, 2013, our family experienced the greatest assault on our inheritance in the sudden death of our son, Josiah Nash Russell. We called him "Nash" after the intercessor Daniel Nash, who co-labored with Charles Finney during the Second Great Awakening. After having three beautiful daughters, my wife and I had received several prophetic promises that we would have a son. On June 26, 2012, that promise became a reality when he was born.
After nine and a half months of experiencing unprecedented happiness over our son of promise and three stunning daughters, and doing life and ministry with my amazing wife and best friend, the floor fell out from under us. While I was on a ministry trip in London, England, and my wife and children were in Arkansas seeing family, my wife put our son down for a nap, but he didn't wake up; he passed away in his sleep. After three hours of being unable to reach me, she finally did, and I was on the next flight home to begin the most gut-wrenching and painful season we've ever walked through.
Over these last five years, there have been times I did not know if our marriage was going to make it, or our family for that matter, but God in His kindness and faithfulness has kept us. In addition to His own faithfulness, He has given us five life rafts—five psalms of David that have helped us interpret pain and sorrow through the Word of God. One of these is Psalm 2, which strengthened me to believe for inheritance when everything around told me differently.
The enemy sought to steal, kill and destroy us, yet I clung to two things: I'm His beloved son in whom He is well pleased, and this is not the end of our story—God has an inheritance for my family and me. As I made the daily decision to come out of the chaos and confusion of what was surrounding us, lock eyes with Father and cling to His affection and dream for our lives, we were strengthened to survive another day.
Here we are five years later, still clinging to God and each other, believing that the promises that He has declared will come to pass. He has carried us on eagle's wings through an intense season. Though we aren't there yet, we choose to wake up every day and believe that "what God had promised, He was able also to perform" (Rom. 4:21). It's been a messy journey, but we have chosen to not quit, and we truly believe that if we don't quit, we win.
I believe many people can identify with some kind of loss or trial that has shaken you, your marriage or your family to the core, and it has changed you. We need more testimonies of people who are clinging to God as they walk through intense seasons, to give courage and hope to others to keep going, because if God can carry my family and me through such great pain, He can carry anyone. {eoa{
To learn more about his journey and the hope he received, read Inheritance: Clinging to God's Promises in the Midst of Tragedy, by Corey Russell, available now from Forerunner Publishing. Corey's honest journey through these five psalms will help readers discover how the Good Shepherd heals His people, makes us into shepherds after His own heart and calls us to believe in a God who turns the worst circumstances into a profound and eternal inheritance.
