08/14/2010
.:LIFE SIEGE:. [in the context of psalm 2]
.LIFE SIEGE.
do you know what that entitles? do you know how LIFE came about?
Today is Saturday August 14, 2010 and I did my first LIFE SIEGE this morning. I have never done one and I can tell you that I will be partaking in more of them after what the Lord revealed to me today.
In the following paragraphs I will tell you step by step what we did and then break it down.
So we get in a circle, talk about what to expect: travail, a deep yearning for righteousness in our inmost being, others cursing us, revelation from the Lord, and I am sure much more. We then get out the red tape and write in bold letters LIFE. What on earth do we do with the LIFE on the red tape?
“When LIFE is written on a piece of red tape and placed on our mouths, we are identifying with the silent cries of the unborn and of those who have no voice.”-Bound4Life (http://bound4life.com/the-silent-siege)
We put the red tape on our mouth and let LIFE speak for those who can’t. We then stand on the sidewalk in front of an Abortion Clinic, and with no words we declare in humility justice to come forth.
As for my own experience: I was moved greatly by Psalm 2. While I was standing there, petitioning the Lord to release mercy, to change lives, and save souls, the verse “Why do the nations rage; why do the peoples plot in vain?” came to my mind. I was pretty sure that was Psalm 2:1-3, so I turned to it and this is what it read:
1Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together,
against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” (ESV)
Before I even started reading this passage, I was thinking, “Man, humans, are the ones who came up with this idea to ‘abort’ and ‘kill’ babies. We conspired this. Father, have mercy on us.”
So I am meditating on these verses and when I got to verse 3, I felt such a burning and trembling in my stomach. “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
-To burst their bonds: burst= a sudden breaking open or apart; explosion; to cause or suffer the rupture of. bond(s)= chemical bond: an electrical force linking atoms; attachment: a connection that fastens things together. I got the revelation of the kings and the rulers of this earth plotted this, they themselves came up with a way to burst and rip apart the binding of the human formed in the womb. In Psalm 139:13-15 it says:
13For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
-Verse 15 states that we were woven together. If you can picture a basket, the material is woven over and under each other in a specific pattern. Through that specific pattern it is tightly secured together; or you could use the word bound. It is the same thing for the human being. We are woven together, secured in the womb, bonded together in our mother’s womb and attached to her inner being. So to burst their bonds was such a powerful statement in the context of abortion. It is literally taking apart all the bindings and even at the molecular level, it is destroying and bursting the chemical bindings between each cell. God did not create just so that it would be uncreated and destroyed by man’s ideas, hands, and machines.
-To cast away their cords: cast away= discard: throw or cast away; To discard; To abandon or maroon. (synonyms: discard, throw away, dispose, get rid of, eliminate) cord(s)= a line made of twisted fibers or threads; (in the context of the human body there are: vocal cords, spinal cords, and umbilical cords). So this just really got me; “to cast away their cords” is to throw away, dispose, ELIMINATE (i.e. abort) umbilical cords= LIFE.
I am in no way condemning those who have had an abortion and have turned and repented for it; for we are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory (Ephesians 2:8-For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; Romans 3:23).
I am however, standing for LIFE. For those not heard. For those that can’t do anything but be until they are nothing but destroyed, ripped apart, lifeless membranes in a trash can.
**LIFE prayer: Jesus I plead Your blood, over my sin and the sins of my nation. God end abortion and send revival to America.
**Recommended listening: Tim Reimherr “Standing in the Gap”
07/20/2010
Week 2.5 of ITI
Ever had a message repeated to you by different people on different days? Maybe a number that follows you around everywhere you go? Or how about a prophecy given!?!
Guess what? It’s really all the same thing for me in this situation! God has really been trying to get through to me that He is going to provide because He is my shepherd!
- So about one week ago I started to study Psalm 23 in depth. For example, I studied the first three verses, and have three pages of notes on it! And like what I got from it was that if God is like my shepherd, He must know everything about me. A shepherd has got to know his sheep! He needs to know when they will be hungry, when they are tired, when they are thirsty, He knows when one is being non-social; He knows His flock. As does God know us. SO if He knows us and what we need, “we shall not want” because He knows what we want and need!
- Then last Wednesday night at our home groups, we knew we were going to prophecy over one another but we didn’t know who! So we got an envelope of who were going to prophecy over, we then had ten minutes to download from the Lord what He wanted this person to know. Well, as I am writing all this stuff down, I’m thinking to myself “wow, me and whoever this is would really get along because this stuff in here is really applicable to me too!” Turns out we all ended up doing it over ourselves! It was amazing! I do remember a vivid vision that I had of a girl running frantically through a forest and off to the left was a clear path that led to this beautiful waterfall, and after the crash of the fall, it was just a calm stream, trickling on by. Trees and green grass was all around the still water and then I felt like the Lord said “this is what Psalm 23:1-3 looks like.” Amazing!
- Then I am at the Awakening one night and during the time of worship I am singing Psalms 23 back to the Lord. Well Wes called out a prayer for healing so I raised my hand and my friend starts praying. Now, she is in the middle of her prayer for me and she stops and goes “I just feel like the Lord wants you to know He is your Shepherd!” I freak out in hysterical laughter and just am stunned. I am like “Okay God! I get it! I trust you!!!”
- Then I was riding in the car with two friends, and I said to the Lord that I wasn’t really going to engage in the conversation and that I would let the two sitting up front talk. Well, one way or another I get in the conversation and we are talking about my friend’s first day on the job as a security person at IHOP. He said his first night on the job he noticed this guy writing down all these verses on paper and handing them out to folks. Well he one left and gave it to my friend. As he is telling us he is like I think it was a Psalm, I mutter in my head “yeah right, it’s not going to be Psalm 23″. Well he goes “yeah yeah! It was Psalms 23!” My jaw drops and I am stunned!! Okay God!!! I’m gettin’ it! Psalms 23 okay!!
- Now, just like an hour ago, I am on facebook and I want to put a really cool, in depth and really cool status up. So I say on there “I need a verse of the day or week. Got any suggestions anyone?” So my friend Jannell writes on there “Psalms 23!” ….. wow. lol. ok.
So all in all, I am learning that I need to get it! Really “get it”! Also, another cool thing, is during our first week of class we had usher training, and it was super fun! Although, they were saying something that if someone is sinigng really loud to tell them to be quiet and instantly I got this fear put in me that I couldn’t sing because I was going to be told to be quiet and that makes me feel like people don’t want to hear me sing. (I am quite sensitive, which is a gift from God, but in the wrong setting can be stepped on.) So one night, my friend Bret comes up to me and tells me “Hey, I really appreciate you singing harmony and just singing over me this morning” and wow.. I started crying like crazy. It was amazing. THE NEXT MORNING, I woke up to lead some worship at home and I played a song my friend Josh and I wrote, only I didn’t sing.. but it is based out of Song of Solomon 2. I go to class and we have our worship time, and again fear grips me. I am singing, but softly. Anyways, I was praying in my mind “God give him a word please, that will show me that it is ok for me to sing.” Oh God, this makes me tear up writing this. As we are worshipping Chris Ferguson, goes I feel like the Lord is saying this out of Song of Solomon: (it reads) 2:8 “Let me hear your voice, let me see your face, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.” I broke down crying like letting it all out. So Bret comes up to me and starts praying and wow.. it was just amazing. Praise God!
Switching subjects, PRAYER REQUESTS:
-I am having a really bad sore throat, headache and neck pain
-Pray for myself and all others in this internship to encounter the love of God that reveals all understanding of Him 
Switching subjects, UPCOMING EVENTS/RANDOM NEWS:
-This month GOD HAS PROVIDED ALL MY NEEDS INCLUDING RENT, BILLS ARE PAID, AND I AM EATING!
-I believe I am going to do the second track of ITI which is $600 and if you would like to help me in any way, please contact me!
-I do still need money for the next two months, so if you would like to help in that way, I would really like to discuss the whole thing with you so that you can see where you are benefitting out of it!
Thank you for taking the time to read this and pair your heart with mine in this journey I am on! And PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU NEED ME TO PRAY FOR YOU FOR ANYTHING! EMAIL ME AND I WILL KEEP MY WORD TO LIFT YOU UP AND INTERCEDE FOR YOUR PRAYERS TO BE MET!
With the Love of Christ, and many blessings upon you!
Niki
07/12/2010
Week One OVER! Intro to IHOP
So this past Friday was the mark of week one for ITI. Currently I am actually sitting in the prayer room or the GPR [for current IHOP acronym followers] and I am like doing night watch which is totally opposite my schedule… but ITS SABBATH tomorrow! I am pretty sure my second wind has hit me and I’ll be up for a while… which will most likely mess up my schedule for Tuesday when I start class again.. LAME! Oh well… so on with the updates!
-Friday night at the awakening a new understanding hit me and caught my attention. I really want this season set aside to be totally a season of me hidden away in Jesus.
-Friday night the Lord healed me of a terrible headache and just grumpy mood that I was in.
-Saturday’s set at noon was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! Luke Wood was leading and at about 1pm it just let loose. I mean just the most glorious rejoicing and love and adoration for the Lord you ever did hear I tell ya lol.
-Oh wow… so SUNDAY!? Where to start? This is like a paragraph in itself. I had to wake up seriously early.. like 7am… and I am just gonna make a bullet list cuz explaining it would be quite difficult and long!
- lost my most favorite water bottle
–if any of you would like to know what kind.. it was a light blue camelbak with white sippy and its the one that is most commonly found 
its the middle one on the top row
- anyways.. so then i realized that i really did lose my i.d. badge! its $5 to replace which.. i don’t have lol. sweet!
- then i totally realized that i sat in a wet seat on the shuttle like after my bottom was soaked! cool!
- but while i was on the shuttle i was like Lord I know that you provided money for my bills to be paid for this month and as i was faithful and paid for them you gave me more money. So i know Lord that i need to use this money that i have to pay for my phone bill. so once i made it right in my heart with the Lord guess what happens…
- THIS LADY AT THE COFFEE SHOP WAS LIKE I FEEL LIKE IM SUPPOSED TO BUY WHATEVER YOUR GETTING?!!? praise the Lord! cuz i really did want something but i knew i couldnt if i was gonna pay my phone bill lol.
- oh and how cool is this… last week my mom gave me money so that i could go just use it for niki.. which was totally a blessing. i got a perty watch, a nice journal so that i can make notes of thoughts and bible studies and i got highlighters! and of course a Starbucks Coffee to be exact an iced double tall extra caramel caramel machiatto yummm
oh two really cool things today: 1. for the past however long (like 3-4 days really lol) i had been thinking about a friend… just concerned about him and hadn’t seen him in a while… but so im like sitting in the gpr and i look up and there he is! this great joy and happiness just came over me and i was so excited! so i go to talk to him and he was like yeah i knew i was going to see you today.. lol it was just really cool! idk.. praise God. but really what was awesome about it was that i heard from the Lord earlier that i was going to hear a word from someone totally unexpected and well i believe it was from him! i told him that i was in a really junky mood like all day and he showed me something really cool.., he hands me his coffee and he goes see you just need to do a jig.. and showed me what a jig was and starts dancing lol so funny. but it brightened my day thanks! and 2. my friend and i sat in her car for like 2 hours doing theophostics and getting healed of like different things.. but so good cuz God was really searching our hearts Praise God!
I AM REALLY TIRED: but first pics of recent stuff!
have a great day! know i love ya and i am trying my best to keep you all in prayer! you can always email me and i will read them and i will pray! sismooch777@yahoo.com
bless yall!
niki
07/06/2010
INTRO TO IHOP DAY #5
Hello! So finally I setup the internet connection to my laptop so that I can do my updates on here rather than type it all out on my phone! ooftah!
Well, I must say that I didn’t think I would be as busy as I am, but Intro is kickin my butt! This weekend I probably got like a total of 8 hours and had like 13 hour days. It was tough. But fun I must say! I got my ID badge that says I am officially a true ihopper! yay! (i’ll post a picture up of it at the end!)
So this weekend was the 4th of July and wow, was it ever an experience! My sister and her hubby and the kiddos + adam + tracy + me = a lot of people! We all went to go enjoy the works of fire and boy were we in for a ride that we really did not expect!
So we’re there and the guy who is like hosting the show is like “folks it’s gonna be raining here just for a couple more minutes and we are still gonna get this show started!” so we stick it out without shelter just hangin outside in the sprinklin rain! Well, 20 minutes into it (we are pretty much damp at this point) adam decides to be all like super-hero-ish and pulls out a hammock out of nowhere!!!! I’m like really Adam!?!?! Like we coulda used that 20 minutes ago!
So we stand underneath this non-waterproof hammock for another like 30 minutes waiting for the rain to only be “a couple more minutes” and it is just being unruly. Pretty soon rain is drippin through the hammock and we adults standing on the edge of the circle (so the kids stay dry) we are DRENCHED! So i go out of the hammock and Im like testing to see if the rain is gone, and Im like oh yeah… its startin to die down!!! So we all get out from under it and about 30 seconds later… IT POURS DOWN!!!
We all pack up and leave and start going to the car, i look back and see adam still there… lol. He was like “I aint no panzy.. im stickin it out!” Needless to say.. the fireworks were cancelled.
NOW as far as INTRO goes: Monday was day of rest… and that I did. Today was Tuesday so I had class at 8:45 but I wanted to say my goodbyes to my sister and family. So did that at about 8ish then she drove me to JPR and i had to say farewell to my best friend Went to class… then get this… the prayer room for 6 HOURS ALL DAY TODAY! I got to just rest and be in the prayer room as long as I wanted! yay!!! I got to also be a “yellow jacket” or “usher” so much fun!
It was absolutely amazing today! Now, I am really ready for rest. I have really not had a good night’s rest in about a week or two.. so I am going to go to bed and pray out of Philippians 4:6-8 Be anxious in nothing, but in all things with prayer and petition and thanksgiving make my requests known unto God
Deeper blogs soon to come when I can! Tomorrow we have home group which I am super pumped about! Finally FELLOWSHIP!! YESSSS!!!!!!
:::pics:::
well folks have fun, enjoy… God be with you and KNOW HE LOVES YOU and will supply all your needs cuz HE ALREADY ORDERED YOUR STEPS AND WILL PROVIDE FOR WHAT HAS BEEN ORDERED!
love yall!
niki
oh really good set let me show you…. copy the link below then paste in addy bar and watch! or go to www.ihop.org and click prayer room and go to archives then go to sat july 3 joanna may
http://cmp.ihop.tv/gp-nohide2.php?pid=v6Ldzrjgbisc03aHvwcjWxFvyjKGO2CG
07/02/2010
INTRO TO IHOP DAY #1
Well folks! My first blog as an IHOP intern! Just to let you know I will refer to the internship as ITI being it’s the first letter of every word, acronyms become apart of your daily vocabulary when being here at IHOP
So DAY ONE: was early. Fun. Scary. Exciting. Long. Glorious!
•I went to bed last night at like 2:30-3:00am and woke up at 7:20am!! So I was like waaaaay tired! But it was so much fun! Granted I needed a pickmeupper so I got a Rockstar™ Energy Drink!
•So then let’s see, a few decals so far… The Lord has shown Himself true and has provided my first months rent, my tuition fee, my cardiology bill to be paid off, and book money! Now all I need for this month is my phone bill paid and misc. money for when our team goes out and hang somewhere?
A verse Corey Hariff spoke about earlier was Philippians 4:6-7! One verse before my fave! Here it is:
“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
This totally challenges me to just trust God! Just let Him know whatsup, what my needs are and just watch Him do His thing being God.
My favorite part of tonight is when I got to dance in my pretty skirt and spin! I was having so much fun dancing! It was like I was at a ball and Jesus was across the room and I was curtseying before Him waiting for Him to take my hand and dance with me! It was so beautiful!
I have to go figure something out, I live with a girl named Susie from Egypt and I told her I’d leave the service with her so she wouldn’t have to walk home alone… But I left cuz of my stomachache and forgot! So I am ending with this:
Jesus is love. It takes knowing Him to know love. We can love because of His love for us. All of it happens to be about love. I challenge you and myself, let’s really love. Let’s really be like Jesus. Amen!
Peace!
06/23/2010
IHOP Bound!!!
Well folks here is THEE freshest, most up-to-date info on my life so far!!
Today is Wednesday and we (Bruses and I) are packing to go to Vivian to do prison ministry and then this event called Worship Without Walls!! Super excited and really pumped about encouraging these women to seek after Jesus as Onething!
Then we will come back Sunday night; Chris will go to work Monday and Tuesday…….. AND THEN…..
OFF TO KANSAS CITY!!!!!!!
I have been accepted to the Intro to IHOP internship Starts July 2!!
Woooooohoooooo!!!!!!
So that’s whatsup so far and I am so stinkin excited!!!
So right now we are at our friends house on a farm in Vivian and it’s beaaaauutiful!!!
Words from Mists set last saturday.
“Do you know, how you’ve caught my eye. In the secret place, where you chose to die. Do you know the way you move me?”
Love y’all! If you want to contact me about how to help me out in this upcoming season email me at sismooch777@yahoo.com
Be blessed!!
06/04/2010
Time for an update!!
Well…. Things have yet again changed!!! But for the best!!!
Here is the current flow of life::
-transferred my application from FMA to Intro to IHOP [reason being it's more at hand/attainable/feasible and it gives me only a three month commitment rather than a year! Also my favorite part is that 5 hours in the prayer room is required class time! Yes! I get to sit at His feet with no obligations to "life"!] still pending but should know very very soon!!!!
-if that works out I start JULY 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-still working at starbucks in target!
-ummm… Working out/dieting/watching what I eat
-really wanting God to show His love in an amazing way to everyone especially those dearest to my heart.
-and……. Uhhhhh….. I like my iPhone? Lol.
Aiiight so hopefully when/if I get accepted I’ll be posting up my support letter if you would like to help out in any way :
Love y’all thank you for reading my somewhat boring blog!!! praise God!!
-niki
05/15/2010
wow.. its again, been a while!
For all you who do read this once and a while, I want to let you know what is going on!
Real fast and easy here are the current things going on in my life:
-Currently waiting on IHOP’s Letter of Acceptance to the Forerunner Music Academy! If I do get accepted, I will be needing to submit a couple other things, including auditions and phone interviews I will also be sending out letters, so send me an email if you would like one! (sismooch777@yahoo.com)
-My sister and her family and I are all currently moving into her mother-in-law’s house because their house has sold, which is one more step closer to stepping on the missionary ground!
-I just had my birthday and got the bestest present ever, which was a new bible!! yay! (I will post a picture)
-Still working at Starbucks inside of Target; trying to save up for FMA but it’s going pretty slow… God help me!
That seems to be all! I have been recording videos on youtube of just some regular old worship songs and puttin them up, cuz they are so good!! I will post a recent one too!
Other than that, I want to share with you something good Jason Upton and his son Samuel wrote a song together that was absolutely simple and honest and yet so good. Gotta listen to it! I love yall! Be blessed!
04/12/2010
Walking It All Out
I am really stirred for going back to IHOP.
I cannot express it enough. Each time I watch a set, or each time I think about music or the level of spirituality being raised and girded up, I long to go back.
I am currently in the process of submitting my application for the Forerunner Music Academy. The orientation dates are August 11-13 and class begins on August 16. I am waiting to receive the application fee and then I will be sending it in- most likely I will send it in on Saturday.
After the application is processed and reviewed, I am either accepted to the next level of the process or I don’t get accepted at all (which to be frank, I don’t think will happen unless God doesn’t want me there.) Upon being accepted, I will have to submit a recorded audition of two songs, reason why I want to go to FMA, and a short summary of my testimony and when I came to Christ. After that, I start to raise finances. And really I am already doing that.
Aside from the application and “trying out”, I am just walking this out everyday. I just want to be with Jesus.
All I want is to just worship Him. This is not only done in musical ways but in everyday life. I really want to be found faithful, true, holy, righteous, happily humble, steady… pure… all those. Especially found loving. God please don’t let me have a word come off my lips that isn’t of you or isn’t what you would say. Jesus transform me.
I was reading this today as I remembered my brother in law speaking about in this past Sunday in church:
Philippians 3:7-14
“7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”
I surrender all to Jesus. All of my ambitions, hopes and plans. I’m surrendering into your hands.
Be blessed. I love you all. Jesus help me to be like you.
