Tauranga House of Prayer
Archive for the ‘Stefan Miller’ Category
Calling Young Adults to Radical Consecration
by: Stefan Miller
As we head into our sixth year as a ministry at the Tauranga House of Prayer, this week kicks off the beginning of our 10th THOP Awaken Internship. The internship is the primary onramp into the House of Prayer. It’s an intensive three month introduction into the foundational values and vision of all that we are about. If there’s one thing that I know after 5 years of observing and leading the Internship program, it’s that the Lord is drawing young adults (and old) into the place of prayer in a unique and unusual way. There is no better word to describe it than unprecedented. The consistent reaction of interns is “this is everything I’ve been searching for and feeling but haven’t been able to put into words.” So what is the internship all about?
It’s about wholehearted devotion. It’s about the pursuit depth in God. It’s about radical consecration. The sad fact is that the state of young adults in western Christianity is growing increasingly dim. They are all but abandoning the church (and God). And anyone who’s watching what’s happening sees the darkening dilemma. There’s a war raging over the 18-25 year olds. But instead of forming caricatures about why things are failing and playing the blame game, the Lord is once again shedding light upon the solution. Once again, companies of young people are congregating around the beauty of Jesus, the substance of His Word and the incomparable worth of fellowship with Him. The notion that He is tiresome and incapable of fulfilling the desires of the human soul is being exposed as fraud. And as the dawn of His glory shines ever brighter, young adults are awaking from their slumber.
Young people are experiencing this reality, internship after internship. THOP interns are served a steady diet focussing on 3 primary areas; intimacy with God, intercession and the urgency of the hour we live in. We cover a variety of massively important subjects; such as: God’s ultimate purpose in creating us, how to pursue Christ-likeness, and what it practically looks like to walk out the first commandment. We discuss the realities surrounding Christ’s return, God’s plan for Israel and the church, and how His people should respond in an hour of global crisis. There are also many other issues of pressing relevance taken up. But at the same time there is an intentional focus on being very practical. This season of consecration is so helpful for those of all ages in the pursuit of spiritual maturity, godly living, and one’s personal relationship with the Lord. And one of the main things that I love about the internship, and a huge reason why such powerful transformation is found through it, is that it provides a daily context for young adults to encounter and commune with Jesus in order to experience for themselves that He alone satisfies.
The words of Isaiah the prophet perfectly capture the offer of the Lord to our generation – why are you spending yourself on that which doesn’t satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food (my paraphrase of Isa. 55:2). I can’t think of anything which better communicates the heartbeat of the THOP Internship.
A Paradigm of Leadership Motivated By the Beauty of God
by Stefan Miller
Great leaders have an uncompromising, narrow, overshadowing passion that drives everything they do and are about. David was that kind of leader and was dominated by one singular vision.
One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)
David truly desired just one thing. Psalm 27:4 wasn’t poetic language to him. Nor hollow lifeless words. The superior pleasure found in fellowship with God is tangible and real and was the longing that dominated the entirety of his life. He knew that the beauty of God alone is what satisfies the human soul to the uttermost (Ps. 37:4). And his unflinching resolve to pursue depth in this reality set his people aflame and ultimately reformed an entire society around this singular devotion. Literally, tens of thousands of his followers were released and funded to give themselves full time to the occupation and ministry of adoration of the beautiful God (1 Chronicles 23-25).
The reason why David’s vision succeeded in leading and impacting generations for the glory of God was that David lived it out himself. Most Christians today accept David’s “one thing” heart cry as good and valid and yet few people actually buy in and live a “one thing” lifestyle. Like the culture around us, our lives are given to a multitude of things. The one thing reality eludes us.
And yet David walked in it and spent himself on pleasure in God’s beauty, with abandonment and without compromise. That’s what made him “a man after God’s own heart” (1 Sam.13:14; Acts 13:22). It was his obsession in adolescence. It was his steady passion through trial and opposition. It was his devotion in adulthood. And at the end of his life it inherited his wealth, resources and time to pass his vision on to future generations (1 Chronicles 23-25). It consumed him constantly and unswervingly. And that is why it consumed those he led.
David was great because his passion was the one thing that matters. David was a great leader because his vision for his followers was his vision for himself.
Prayer, Power and the Life of Daniel
by Stefan Miller
The power-bases of the nations are not located in capital cities or national parliaments. It rests in the hands of the praying church. This is one of the foundational reasons why God is establishing an unprecedented prayer movement in our generation. The life and message of Daniel is therefore radically relevant right now.
The book that bears his name paints a vivid picture of the interplay between prayer and the dispensing of God’s power to govern history and alter the destiny of nations. There are four things about Daniel that make his lifestyle vital for us to follow as we eagerly seek the in-breaking of justice, righteousness and salvation in the nations. They are (1) His grand vision of God, (2) his identity before the Lord, (3) his spiritual insight and (4) his heart posture. These four things formed a man whose prayers caused angels to move, demons to tremble, ungodly governments to topple and wicked legislation to bow down.
1. Daniel knew a great God. He had a glorious vision of the sovereign God who is not only involved in the course of world history but reigns over it; subduing nations and exalting others in their place (Dan. 2:21). Daniel knew many powerful rulers. But His God had authority to direct the very hearts of kings (Dan. 4 cf. Pro. 21:1), including presidents, prime ministers and legislators; and sustain them in their course or tear them down in a breath (Dan. 5:23). God’s irrepressible power to act was the rock solid reality that empowered Daniel in prayer. If we would pray great prayers that carry great weight and alter real circumstances – personal or national (e.g. the overturning of legislation permitting baby slaughter in the womb) – we must know and have confidence in a great God (Eph. 3:20).
2. Not only did he have deep understanding of the Lord, he also knew his own identity in the eyes of heaven. Daniel persisted in prayer because he was confident in love. His assurance that mountains would be moved when he spoke weak words (Dan. 9:23; 10:12) rested in his assurance that he was beloved and highly esteemed (Dan. 9:23; 10:11, 19). We will have the same courage and longevity in prayer only when we comprehend the immeasurable pleasure in God’s heart towards us (Eph. 3).
3. Also, Daniel possessed acute insight about the context he lived in. He knew the times and the seasons that had been decreed by heaven and he was able to pray with insight into God’s purposes (Dan. 9:2). Our context, at the end of the age, urgently demands insight for our generation. The Lord is calling His people to partner with Him in prayer; to agree with His ways and bring to pass His purposes on the earth (2 Pet. 3:12; Rev. 8:3). Like Daniel in his day, our prayers will alter circumstances to the degree that we possess the knowledge of God’s will from His word and are filled with His desires (Dan. 9:2, Jer. 25 cf. John 15:7, Ps. 37:4).
4. Lastly, Daniel lived with a life posture of sobriety and humility before the Lord. Daniel’s dependence and sobriety – fasting, mourning, and steadily seeking the Lord (Dan. 1:8, 6:10, 10:2-3 etc.) – was his lifestyle for 70 plus years. He was persistent. He had a history in prayer. I wonder if many in our day have swallowed a sub-biblical (mis)perception of God’s sovereignty that has led to less constancy and urgency in prayer instead of more. This was not so with Daniel (Dan. 6:10; 9:2-3). And it must not be so with our generation. To those given wholly to God He has delegated true power and authority to affect the course of history under His sovereign leadership (James 5:16-18). Praying for Daniel’s in our time who will give God no rest until righteousness prevails, injustice is abolished, and the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.