New Year's Prayer

Join us in prayer as we begin the new year! 

Father, You are Holy. You call us to be holy. You created us in Your image. Yet, so often our hearts wander. Our speech does not glorify You. Our actions do not honor You. Self prevails. In this New Year, clothe us with humility. Take away our desire to be right and our stubbornness to demand our own way. Submit our will to Yours. As we open the pages of Scripture, tender our hearts so that it will penetrate even to the marrow of our bones.

Father, in this world of tolerance and compromise, give us hearts that seek Your Truth above all else. Saturate us with Your Spirit of knowledge and revelation so that as we digest Your Truth, we not only understand it but are also equipped to live it. Guard our hearts from the lies of this world and keep our eyes fixed on You, for You alone are the Author and Finisher of our faith.

Father, we surrender our thoughts — especially our feelings and our emotions — to You, You who are Faithful and True. Where fear and anxiety loom, help us fully trust in You and Your goodness, no matter the circumstances. Your Word says that You don’t give a Spirit of fear but rather Your perfect love drives out fear. Lead us to walk in the freedom of that love. Your Word promises that when we pray, anxiety will flee and peace will prevail. We purpose in our hearts to pray more faithfully and consistently so we can walk confidently in Your peace.

Father, Your Word says You created us in Christ Jesus to do good works for Your Kingdom. You knit specific gifts and talents into us to do that work. And Your Word promises that when You begin a work in us, You will carry it on to completion until the day we step into eternity with You. Thank You, Father! We desire to walk in Your good and perfect plan, Lord. To serve Your people. To walk boldly in the call You have on our lives. So, as we seek to walk with You, help us to trust in You with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. Help us acknowledge You in all our ways so that in our obedience, we can clearly hear, "This is the way, My child, walk in it." 

Father, we love You and thank You that our names are engraved in the palm of Your hand. You love us unconditionally and nothing can ever separate us from Your love. May we know more than ever before how wide and high and deep and long is Your love. And as we live out that love, may our lives be a living testimony of You. We ask this in the powerful and mighty name of Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who will do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ever ask or imagine. Amen.

This prayer was written by Wendy Blight from Proverbs 31.

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Evan's Testimony

This is a testimony shared by HOME staff member, Evan Kraayenbrink.

2 Corinthians 12:10 "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

The struggle. That is what I call the last two years. I contracted a brain infection in August of 2015. The strength I have is in the Lord. The Lord uses my weakness for His glory. I am able to be all things for all people in my work here reaching out with His hands to touch their lives for Him. The infection has left me with a lot of headaches and muscles spasms. I do physical therapy and doctor visits. It gets very easy to relate to the crowd that comes on Wednesday for the food pantry. I praise God that He can use me in this way. God has been at work in and through me. I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made! 

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Lyle's Testimony

This is a testimony shared by Lyle Schut:

I’m so grateful for the worship sets at HOME.  I walked into the Friday 6 am set a few weeks ago feeling weighed down and anxious due to the pressures of the world coming against me.  Jon was singing a familiar song and then broke into singing a spontaneous song.  The words he song seemed to pierce my heart and break the despair and anxiety right off of me.  I came in to the prayer room so discouraged but left so filled with hope.  Thanks Jon for following the Spirit and singing what was on your heart!

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Spark Notes (12/17)

Teach Us To Pray: Week Seven

Greg Schut wrapped up the Lord's prayer series teaching on the last line of the Lord's prayer, focusing on the glory of the Lord. 

The kingdom, the power, and the glory. The Kingdom is the King's domain. The power - He is all power. There is no match for Him. He is the All-Powerful One. The glory - His is the glory. 

But how do we describe glory? In the world's eyes, the glory means fame and fortune. Greg brought up the definition of glory - very great praise, honor, admiration, adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving, a state of great splendor and magnificence. That's God! He is the definition of glory. 

Greg talked about the book The Blood and the Glory by Billye Brim. The author talks about the glory in Genesis, saying the Lord crowned us with glory. It's more than crowns of gold - crowns of glory! Greg shared a picture he saw that reminded him of Acts 2 when the people had tongues of fire on their head in the shape of a crown. These people waited on the Lord for days and then when the Lord comes, he crowns them with glory. 

Bill Johnson calls the glory of the Lord the manifestation of the Lord's presence. The glory and manifestation of the Lord's presence can be seen in tangible ways. In 1906, the Azusa street revival began. People gathered asking for the Lord's presence. His presence makes everything right - healing, chains broken, breakthrough, release, etc. It is a foretaste of what is to come in Heaven. As the people on Azusa street continued to seek the Lord's presence, hundreds of thousands of people were saved and healed. There are testimonies of the manifestation of the Lord's presence, one of them being a glory cloud. 

In John 17:24, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world."

Jesus has a desire, that we would see his glory.

Then back to John 17:22, the Verse of the Week, "I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one." The glory that the Father gave Jesus is given to us. That glory doesn't mean that we should be famous, honored, and praised. It should be that when we see His glory, we just desire to be with him. We become less and He becomes everything. That is revival. It is about Jesus being lifted high. 

1 Corinthians 3:7-18 (NLT) says, "The old way, with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life?  If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!  In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way.  So if the old way, which has been replaced, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new, which remains forever! Since this new way gives us such confidence, we can be very bold.  We are not like Moses, who put a veil over his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory, even though it was destined to fade away.  But the people’s minds were hardened, and to this day whenever the old covenant is being read, the same veil covers their minds so they cannot understand the truth. And this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ.  Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand. But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."


When we go to that place to be with Him, we become one with Him in His glory. 

If you would like to watch the full service, click here.

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Brad's Testimony

This is a testimony shared by Brad Vermeer:

We were just ready to start our Wednesday bible study, and a lady was standing outside the door. I went to talk to her and ask if I could help her. She said she was new to Sioux Center and didn't really have a group of friends to go to. She said she had been at HOME before and felt the Holy Spirit there. She came hoping to find someone to pray for her because she was feeling in the middle of spiritual warfare. God planned this because as a class we were studying spiritual warfare, and that week we were studying prayer against spiritual warfare. It was great hands on application for us, and it was a blessing for her. Our assignment was to practice praying at the end of class, but God wanted us to learn by example. He shows up at perfect times.

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Spark Notes (12/10)

Entering His Presence Through Art

with Pennie Strople

Pennie Strople, a prophetic artist originally from Colorado and more recently from Redding, California, recently moved to northwest Iowa and has been getting involved at HOME. 

Pennie started with explaining that prophetic art positions us to see into what we don't yet comprehend. She explained that it's about furthering intimacy. "Into - me - you - see". It is a way to see deeper into Him - true intimacy. But it is not just for artists! Just like music is not just for musicians. We all use music. We all listen to it or hear it through out the day, but we are not all musicians. We use music to interact with God in worship, but we are not all worship leaders. The music is a tool for intimacy. It is the same situation with prophetic art - we can all use it because it is a tool for intimacy.

How does it create more intimacy? It is a visual experience with the Lord, it brings us back to child-like play where we take ourselves less seriously, and it opens us up to risk taking!

The intimacy is vertical (with the Lord) but also horizontal (as a body of believers). We can interact with the Lord to bring intimacy between ourselves and the Lord, but also we can share our prophetic art with others which can feed into others' intimacy with the Lord. We're offering a glimpse of the Lord to others through our prophetic art. We can prophecy with words, but sometimes giving a visual can have deeper meaning. It is similar to Jesus using parables. For example, with the parable of the prodigal son, Jesus told this whole story to give them a visual when he could have simply said "The Father is one who will always love and take you back". But when we see that picture, we can sit in that and go deeper. 

Pennie then led the group through a couple activation activities. Feel free to try this activity at home! 

You will need two pieces of paper and three different colors (crayon, marker, colored pencil, etc.)

1. Ask the Lord to show you one quick thing. A scene, an object, something you know. Just ask the Lord to show you something and then draw it on one side of the card. It's like Pictionary with the Holy Spirit. 

2. Ask the Lord to show you it again, and something about the image will have changed. Ask "What do you want me to see now?" Part of it may have moved, or something is covered, or something is added. Draw what you see now. 

3. Ask the Lord to bring to your mind an issue in your life right now. Something that you need the Lord's insight. Ask him what that is and write a word or phrase that represents that issue. 

4. Turn the paper over and ask the Lord two questions, 1) Lord, how does the first picture you gave me represent the issue in my life? and 2) How does the second picture you gave me represent the solution to the problem? What is the change you want to bring? 

The second activity was creating a piece of prophetic art for someone else. 

1. Ask the Lord to show you what to create. You might see it in your spirit, or you might know it in your heart, or the Lord may just reveal it to you step by step.

2. Ask for a word or phrase. 

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you who to give the image and words to.

To watch the full service, click here. 

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Liza's Testimony

This is a testimony shared by Liza DeYounge:

The great news is that we are pregnant with our third kiddo!  

The bad news is that, around six weeks in, I became very sick and mostly bedridden.  My doctor diagnosed me with hyperemesis gravidarum - severe vomiting, dehydration and feeling, overall, just terrible every minute of the day.  Many of the women I had talked to, who had also experienced this complication, were sick through their entire pregnancy - hospitalized multiple times throughout, suffered deep depression and were virtually unable to care for their families or continue working.  Not only was I feeling miserable, my heart was consumed with debilitating worry, not knowing how I'd survive the next hour, let alone the next eight months.

Praise the Lord - two of my sweet friends and prayer warriors contacted me and volunteered to visit my home every week and pray.  My house was a mess, kids were interrupting our conversations, and I'm sure I looked frightening, not having the strength to even shower for who-knows-how-long, but the Lord met with us and heard our prayers week in and week out.  I was so exhausted and weary, it was refreshing to have others come alongside and say, "We'll bear your burdens!  Even when you run out of your own words and prayers, we'll stand in the gap - in your place - and cry out to the Lord for healing."  

In the midst of these times together, I grew in hope, and felt like the Lord was confirming that I would not be sick the entire pregnancy, like so many others.  In His mercy, the season of sickness would be shortened!  Even better, I grew in confidence that he was using what was meant for evil, for His great purposes.  

We contended for 12 weeks - that the Lord would not allow the sickness to pass the twelve week mark of pregnancy, and that He would bring revelation and perspective so my heart could comprehend what He was doing in the midst of the struggle.  

I am hoping to make this short, so I'll jump to the happy conclusion...  I am now thirteen weeks pregnant, and I'm feeling significantly better and so much more like myself.  I've been able to stop IV treatment and stop my anti-nausea medication altogether.  Most significant in my mind are the deep truths the Lord revealed to me in the hours and hours and hours I laid in bed and by the toilet.  He spoke truth into some deep trauma in my past, and He has healed significant pieces of brokenness in my life.  My heart became more tender to his word, awe and wonder returned to the place of worship.  

I am so thankful for the community of faith the Lord has surrounded me with - friends to pray alongside me, random acquaintances who dropped off meals, family who volunteered to watch my kids and do my dishes...  In the darkest and most helpless days, the Lord was providing manna (just enough!) to get through each day.  I am most grateful for God's healing - both in the physical, but also in my heart.  He is so gracious and so faithful.  Thank You, Jesus!

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Spark Notes (12/3)

Teach Us To Pray: Week Six

This week, Jen Sandbulte facilitated a video and discussion on forgiveness, centered on the verse of the week, Matthew 5:23-24,  “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to them; then come and offer your gift."

Jen began with this video of Steven Furtick teaching on Forgiveness - click here to watch.

In small groups, those in attendance processed and discussed how the Father sent the Son to forgive and what that means in our lives, especially as we approach Christmas knowing that Jesus, the beautiful miracle, came to save us and die for our sins. The main point was "Father forgive them, AGAIN. Even though they know what they are doing". 

Next, the groups discussed "As you reflect on the forgiveness of Jesus, what are you most grateful for?"

Jen then brought up these two images, she asked everyone to make their hands into a fist and to squeeze it really tight, then asked everyone to open their hands.

  

This is an example of how with a clenched fist, it is uncomfortable, but it does not feel uncomfortable for anyone else. The only way to feel relief is by opening your hand and letting go. That's what it is like when we hold onto a grudge and do not forgive. We mostly hurt ourselves from holding onto. Once we let that go, it brings great relief! 

Jen ended with another video on Forgiveness - click here to watch.

To watch the full service, click here. 

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