Your body actually knows and can sense when it is being put under discipline by the force of your will (versus just random harsh circumstances). It actually starts responding differently. It starts to cleanse itself, it starts to give you energy from hidden reserves, and it starts controlling hormone responses… All by itself.
Your body is an intelligent slave to your soul. Take control:
Spiritually: fasting and prayer
Mentally: refusing lust and meditating on the word of God
Physically: work, exercise, and athletics
If fainting is something you do when you’re weak… Then prayer is a sign of strength.
Ask God to strengthen you so you can pray and not faint. Yes: pray for strength to pray more. It sounds weird but it’s truth; it’s a never ending spiritual cycle upwards to God. Pray for strength and faith, so you can have the strength and faith to pray.
Luke 18:1And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;
No man is greater than his
prayer life. The pastor who
is not praying is playing; the
people who are not praying
are straying. We have many
organizers, but few
agonizers; many players and
payers, few pray-ers; many
singers, few clingers; lots of
pastors, few wrestlers; many
fears, few tears; much
fashion, little passion; many
interferers, few intercessors;
many writers, but few
fighters. Failing here, we fail
everywhere.~
Leonard Ravenhill
If you are in Distress, call upon the Lord in distress… First He will answer you and give you revelation. Then, He will put you in a LARGE PLACE… A place where you can expand your obedience to the Word that He gave you.
Pay Attention: the part most people miss is when He answers and you have to obey and change according to His answer. Its after you follow His answer, that you will be led to a wide place. It will be a wide place in your life where your vision is expanded, and it will have wide space for you, and you will be SET in that place.
Psalm 118:5
5 I called upon the Lord in distress: the Lord answered me, and set me in a large place.
Of all the signs that Jesus is coming soon there’s one thing I know is going to fill the cup of wrath and bring Him back very quick:
The systematic rape, abuse, and murder of innocent children that I see on the news every day. Their blood is crying out and our voices will cry out in unison for the King Jesus to come and Bring Justice!
These days are so evil but so subtle, if you don’t watch & pray you really have no sensitivity to the gravity of what’s going on right now.
Actors and performers and hypocrites and orators: keep playing church! But the Spirit and the Bride say COME QUICKLY LORD JESUS!
Revelations 22
10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Justin Rizzo is one of my favorite worship leaders… His songs have such a heavy priestly anointing, he reminds me of a literal old testament priest that uses the New Covenant Blood of Jesus to wash God’s people clean! The grace that God has given him to make songs out of new testament scriptures as well as scriptures all over the Bible is a huge blessing to the Body of Christ. Let’s find out more about what drives J.Rizzo to worship the Lord:
eSoSa: How did you get started working at IHOP kc?
J. Rizzo: Around the time of my high school graduation, my dad showed me a brochure for a six-month program (the One Thing Internship) with other young people at IHOP-KC. At his suggestion, I applied and was accepted. I knew virtually nothing about the house of prayer and had no idea what I was walking into. I didn’t even really know that there was a 24/7 prayer room.
About two months into my internship, the Lord really began revealing Himself to me. It was then that I realized that there was a grave disconnect in my heart from who the Bible said that God is and what I was actually experiencing of Him. This started me on a journey of discovering Him that I now know will never end. As the word says, it truly is the glory of man now and forever to search out the depths of the riches of the glory of our God.
My calling includes worship leading, teaching, singing, and songwriting, but I never want to lose sight of the fact that my primary mandate is to minister before the Lord. My heart’s cry is like that of David when he said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, to gaze upon Him and to inquire in His temple” (Psalm 27:4). My greatest desire is to see Jesus come back to the Earth and establish His throne in Jerusalem. I long for the day when He will be the worldwide obsession of every single person on Earth and have supremacy in all things (Colossians 1). My desire is to help send a clear call to this generation that we must wake up from our slumber and prepare the way of the Lord.
eSoSa: What would you say is an example that looks like in real life… waking up and preparing the way?
J. Rizzo: The practical way to walk this out would be first and foremost having a schedule that you seek to follow. When you don’t follow it or get off track you don’t get depressed and stop, you simply get back up and try again the next day. Most of us are busy, we have jobs, families, etc. But we must prioritize a secret life with the Lord (Mt 6) where we making drawing away with Him our first priority of the day. I know from personal experience that if I don’t prioritize this and schedule it in… many times weeks and even months will go by and I realize, “Wow, I haven’t had quality time with Jesus in a long time!” Even if you’re in ministry it’s so easy to simply DO things for Him and not really spend quality time TALKING to Him in the secret place. We cannot be a mouthpiece and a voice in preaching or song declaring things about someone we don’t really KNOW intimately.
eSoSa: What is your favorite theme to sing about?
J.Rizzo: It depends on the season I’m in 🙂 But right now I would say the Epistles, Philippians has been my favorite to sing through. There is such rich theology and understanding that Paul had and singing through this book has been amazing. For example, Philippians talks a lot about joy. It’s mentioned over thirty times, which seems strange because Paul is writing while sitting in a Roman prison. Clearly his joy was not based on his circumstances. I don’t know about you, but I am very affected by my circumstances. Whether due to internal or external things, I find that I can be joyful or sorrowful, happy or sad from one moment to the next.
But thank God that He has given us a glorious invitation to find the superior joy and pleasure of knowing Him, which can carry us through any storm or trial we may face. This is what Paul tapped into.
So how can we find this joy and live in it continually? First, we can purpose to control every other source of joy in our lives. As Christians, we’re called to be in the world but not of it and therefore we have to be careful not to let our emotions be brought under the power of other things. This may sound super negative, but I don’t think it is. I’m not saying it’s wrong to be joyful about things other than God, but if I begin finding my primary source of joy coming from lesser things in my life, even permissible ones, then I need to rearrange things until He becomes the main source of my joy.
I’ve found fasting to be a great way to speed up the process of finding my true source of joy in Him. Another of Paul’s keys to remaining joyful in prison was to meditate on Christ. We can’t rejoice in the Lord without thinking about Him. Finally, Paul tells us to thank God for all that He’s given us.
I also enjoy singing about heaven, and the restoration of the earth when Jesus returns. Thinking about a real man ruling this earth from his throne in Jerusalem and no more crying, tears, or pain is one of my favorite themes to sing about.
eSoSa: Songs about heaven are AWESOME! They make me want to prepare the way for Jesus to return so we can experience Him in fullness! What are your feelings on the spirit of Elijah restoring all things before the return of Jesus… and do you ever sing on that particular theme?
J.Rizzo: I have sung on it a little bit before. The spirit of Elijah is a vast subject with a lot to it and many facets. But the part of it that’s struck me the most has been Malachi 4:5-6 mostly because I’ve experienced it first hand and seen it many times in recent years, which I believe is a clear sign of the times. “Turning the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of children to the fathers.”
I’ve had this experience within my own family and also seen it in many others. Just the other day I heard a testimony about a father who repented to his son after many years of bitterness and having a hard heart. This is stunning and is a huge testimony of the hour in which we live. I believe that the coming revival will be sustained much by families dwelling together with other families in unity and it’s in that place that God will command a great blessing.
Of course the spirit of Elijah has a first advent and second advent reality and the amount of restoration before Jesus returns will be vast!
eSoSa: So that first advent is obviously John the Baptist right? But what about the 2nd advent of the Spirit of Elijah? Will it just be the two witnesses in Revelations, or do you think it’s going to have a wider application for the Church overall?
J.Rizzo: Oh man, you’re pushing me for an answer here 🙂 I on purpose dodged the question. I think it’s a topic that many have different opinions on, but yes… I think Elijah will literally come before Jesus’ second coming. I think he very well might be one of the two witnesses in Revelation (but of course I’m not sure!-)
Two reasons for me thinking this is it says the witnesses will have power to shut heaven so no rain falls – this is what Elijah did in Old Testament. Also, two prophets in the Old Testament who had confrontations with an evil king, Elijah being one of them.
How that applies to us today I think is – yes, walking in the spirit and power of Elijah. Doing signs and wonders, casting out demons, etc. Preparing the way for the Lords second coming, in the same way that John the Baptist, walking in the spirit of Elijah, prepared the way for his first coming.
I will say that I am not an expert on this topic, so hopefully what I said (from my limited understanding) makes some sense : )
eSoSa: How do you develop your songs?
J.Rizzo: Song writing for me takes on different forms. Because I’m singing at IHOPKC 12-15 hours a week, many times songs will spontaneously come on stage and then I’ll write the rest of the song off stage. Other times I will write an entire song off stage. No matter what way you mighttechnically write a song… my opinion is that songwriters must have a deep life rooted in the Word. I believe that people can write songs, even good songs, but if we actually have a history in the bible around a certain theme or verse I believe that makes the song so much more powerful.
eSoSa: Describe a day in the life of a missionary working at IHOP KC?
J.Rizzo: Some of my daily activities include worship leading, teaching, singing, and songwriting, but I never want to lose sight of the fact that my primary mandate is to minister before the Lord. My heart’s cry is like that of David when he said, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, to gaze upon Him and to inquire in His temple” (Psalm 27:4). So along with my activities of ministry and outreach much of my time is spent sitting before the Lord in study, meditation, and intercession. I also spend a lot of time pastoring my worship team (about 20 people). We minister together six times a week and spend about 15-17 hours together.
eSoSa: Who takes care of the natural side of your ministry work, like office work, fundraising, rehearsal spaces, or even putting out your albums?
J.Rizzo: Everyone on staff with IHOPKC, from our director all the way down, raises their own support. As full time staff we have the responsibility to support raise, administrate our e-mail updates, stay connected with and develop our own personal partners. I actually schedule our practice facility for our sixteen primary worship teams. The sound department keeps it up and running. As far as our music we have a record label called Forerunner Music with a studio that we record it. For independent projects we are on our own to fund it, record it, distribute it, etc.
eSoSa: On May 11 you will not only be leading a live worship set, but also doing a special “for singers and musicians only” workshop. What can people expect, and has God given you anything specific for Detroit yet?
J.Rizzo: This session will be an interactive time where I will be sharing about the power of singers and musicians in this day and hour. I believe that two worship movements are being raised up, one that focuses on the glory of Jesus but another that is self-centered worship of self which will eventually lead to worship of the antichrist. Revelation chapter 13 mentions worship of the antichrist five times. This is something we must pay attention to and as singers and musicians in this day and hour see the glory of what we’ve been called to.
Come worship the Lord with Justin Rizzo at The PROTEST. Singers and Musicians stay tuned for more details about the “For Singers and Musicians Only” Workshop.
God’s Word – Open rebuke is BETTER than secret love. Proverbs 27:5
Man’s word – don’t rebuke anyone in the open, just pray so people think you have love.
God’s Word – Them that sin rebuke before all, that others also may fear. 1 Timothy 5:20
Man’s word – don’t address public sins publicly, that’s too negative. People need to feel comfortable while displaying their sin to influence others.
I’m so amazed when people honestly say cliches like “don’t preach the truth about people’s sin, just pray for people” or any variation of that.
What they don’t realize is this – IF YOU HAD A PRAYER LIFE, YOU WOULD HAVE A WORD that pricked men’s hearts and tried to get them to repent.
Jeremiah 23:22 But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
When you stand in Gods counsel room and talk to Him and He talks to you, you end up turning people away from evil. A sharp message that turns people away from evil is actually the RESULT of a real prayer life, it’s the PROOF of a prayer life and love, not the opposite of a prayer life and love.
That is, unless you just pray about money and success and being popular… The god of Fortune and Destiny will NOT give you a sharp message that turns people away from evil.
Isaiah 65:11 “But you who forsake the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, And who fill cups with mixed wine for Destiny…
When you are all about fortune and destiny instead of God’s Holy mountain, you tend to only say things that will increase your fortune and destiny and favor with man, and avoid the suffering, sacrifice, and reproach that comes with a true Word.
But if you had a real prayer life, you would have a real Word. And if you had a real Word, you would have a real prayer life. They go hand in hand, and stick together.
Jeremiah 27:18 …and if the word of the LORD be with them, let them now make intercession to the LORD of hosts…
One of the saddest and most tragic things going on in the planet right now is people making eternally directional thoughts and decisions based on numbers of facebook likes, fans, and twitter followers.
God Himself is sending out a strong spirit of delusion, so that those who don’t love the truth wont be saved.
*[[2Th 2:10-12]] KJV* And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
So, why do people choose to have pleasure in unrighteousness, instead of love for the truth? Because they cant go against the current… If Facebook was a nation, it would be the 4th largest nation on earth. If you want to have the twitter followers, the youtube views, the fans, the crowds…. You have to do and say what the masses “like.”
A love for the truth is the first thing to go when you desire to please the crowd. So when God sends a strong delusion to decieve those that don’t love the truth… you fall for the delusion and eat it up because the potential for “likes” is so good.
There is no excuse for falling away from the faith or being deluded into iniquity. Jesus said to watch and pray that you enter not into temptation. That means if you watch and pray, you wont enter into it. So people that fall away into deception and temptation just prove not only that they didnt have a love for the truth, but also that they werent really watching or praying.
*[[Mat 26:40-41]] KJV* And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
This is sad stuff, and the consequences are eternal, so I’m definitely praying for you.
But i also want to challenge you:
Are you living for “likes” or living for God’s Love – as evidenced by a love of the truth and a real prayer life. You don’t have to tell me. The proof is on your facebook page, and even if you fakebook that really good, the proof will eventually show up in your life, and in the lives of your children. (Hosea 4:6)
I used to pray for the Harvest. I still pray for the Harvest because that’s what Jesus commanded in Matthew 9. But now I pray for Revival first. Because the church is 90% dead. You can’t labor for the harvest when your spiritually wretched miserable, blind, and naked.
Anytime our leading evangelist can take off the fact that Mormonism is a cult off of his website to appease an election…
Anytime the top gospel rappers and top gospel singers can switch from holiness to hypocrisy and iniquity overnight, and still keep 99% of their followers…
Anytime righteousness is consistently seen as wrong, and unrighteousness is seen as good – IN THE CHURCH….
There is dead church, and we need to repent and come back to the heart of God before we can even think about reaching the world. Right now the only thing we are reaching the world with is confusion. The fact that we are rallying behind a Mormon who will do nothing significantly different than Obama is a judgement on US. It proves we’ve already failed and that we refuse to repent.
Especially the political compromises, they prove that it is totally and completely the church’s fault that America is in the predicament that is then. Black churches support Obama, White churches support Romney. The blind lead the blind. People wouldn’t even know a man after God’s own heart if they watch him kill Goliath.
Ron Paul called out the Federal Reserve, the government debt, and the fake wars, and backed up every single one of his policies with scripture. They call him crazy crackpot. That’s why the judgment is getting worse and worse, because simple truth has been rejected, even when God gave an opportunity. People chose power, money, and influence over truth. The fact that we only have two hypocrites to choose from is a JUDGEMENT, because we are hypocrites ourselves. God sends wicked leaders to wicked people.
People don’t know how far and fast compromises like this can spread thru the body like a yeast infection. Pastors that won’t say anything are part of the problem. People can keep trying to move forward if they want, but the only thing left to do is to go back to where we departed from obedience to God, and repent, and reverse our decision. We claim to want political leaders to change their decisions but we won’t change our own selves. WE are the real leaders, Body of Christ.
The Church in Sardis had a Successful Brand Name that they were Alive, but they were Spiritually DEAD:
Revelations 3:3 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.
2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
The Church in Laodicea Thought they were Rich and Successful But they were Spiritually, Wretched, Blind, and Naked:
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
I Used to Wonder Why Old People Sang Thanks and Praises to God for “Waking Me Up This Morning”
I was like “whats the big deal?” Everybody wakes up- I’m thankful I didnt randomly die in my sleep too, i guess?
Now I realize what they were talking about. When God wakes you up early to pray and talk to you, its the biggest blessing in the universe.
It feels good to sleep in every now and then, but when you can’t sleep in and you realize its because God is starting a conversation – your heart just gets filled with Pure Love.
It also makes me feel important that God would get me up just to talk and give instruction.
*[[Psa 55:16-17]] KJV* As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
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