Off to Kansas City

As I am packing my belongings in a trunk, I decided to stop for a moment and consider the unfolding events surrounding my transition into another season in my life.  The past eight months have been many things, but certainly not ordinary, boring, or slow.   I attended the One Thing Internship at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City (IHOP-KC) January to June of 2010.   After that I came home for 6 days or so, and shipped off to Campina Grande Brazil.  I spent a bit less than two weeks there, fell in love with the land, but even more I fell in love with the people who make the land what it is.  I came back to the U.S.A. and finished summer school so that I can start as a second year student at IHOPU (International House of Prayer University) in the fall.  I leave in two days.  I can hardly believe how much has happened in the past eight months, I can’t wait to see what happens in five years!

            I have gotten the privilege to see, hear, experience, and be a part of things that I could never have imagined, and some of it, if I told you, you probably wouldn’t believe.  I am so thankful for all of the people who are such a blessing to me.  I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends, family, all of who are surrounding me and supporting me on my next adventure. 

            Here is what the next few years looks like (right now—until further notice from the Lord) for me.  I am a second year student at the International House of Prayer University in Kansas City, and I will be in the Forerunner School of Ministry there for the next three years.  I do not really have a clear vision for what my life will look like after that.  There are several reasons for this.  The first is that this is all the Lord has set up for me thus far.  I am very confident that He has a plan, He always does, but I don’t think He ever gives us more than we can handle.  There is plenty on my plate right now; I don’t need to be thinking about what comes after, because that is just temptation to worry.  A lot of people ask me what ‘degree’ I will get, or what I will do with all of this stuff I am doing, and the real not fun answer is: I don’t know yet.  This is hard for a lot of folks, because as Americans we love to try to plan everything out and set everything up perfectly, because we think our security is in our planning and in our pocketbooks.  My response is that He has gotten me this far, how much more faithful is He to complete the good work that He has started?  I speak about this only because it is a common (important and accurate) concern.  I am very thankful that people care enough about me to ask the hard questions.  I think that the reality is that God doesn’t always tell us the whole plan, because He knows that A.  We can’t actually handle all of that information, B.  He wants to build trust in Him, C.  He wants us to keep coming back to Him.  He wants us to be totally dependant on Him, not coming to Him once in ten years to figure everything out and say “Thanks! See ya later!”  This is very much an exercise in trust for me as well as in planning, and making decisions.  I would like to share a bit of my heart with you about what I want to do while at IHOP and after I am done. 

            I don’t think I am called to be an intercessory missionary in the House of Prayer (not just IHOP) as my first ministry calling.  I definitely think that everyone needs to pray, a lot, but I am not specifically gifted in intercession as some people are.  The Lord has put a burden on my heart for people though.  Specifically my generation and up and coming generations, and even more specifically Boulder.  I think that I am called to have a part in the coming revival, and I think part of that involves Boulder.  I have such a heart for these people, and think that the Lord has big plans for this town, state, region etc.  I don’t know all of what it looks like yet, but I know I will be called back to Boulder for a season.  I have been given some divine relationships with like hearted folks in this area, and am confident that the Lord will be strengthening those and increasing the number of them in the days to come.  Things are starting to move and shake, and people are being raised up, strongholds are being torn down, exciting times are ahead.  God has a big bull’s eye on Boulder, and His plans will not be thwarted.  God’s people are being awakened to His love and His plan, and are refusing to compromise and will not go back to the mediocrity they have come from.  There is so much available, God has so much planned for our Nation, State, and little Town, but if we are not awake, prepared and most importantly HUNGRY, we will miss out.  I heard once that the currency of heaven is ‘hunger.’  This may not be literally the case, but I think that it is a very important principle in the Kingdom.  If God’s people are hungry, and crying out for more, more will be given.  If we are satisfied with what we have, and become comfortable with the place we are at, we will get to stay there.  God dignifies us so much that it is nearly scandalous.  He takes our desires into account, and if we desire Him, and all of Him, and will not settle for anything less, if we dare to contend for breakthrough and refuse to settle, we will be given more than we can ever imagine. 

            We have sat too long in the comfortable numbness we are used to in America and the West.  We all want to see our surroundings changed, our neighbors changed, our families changed, our communities changed…all the way up to our world being transformed by the Love of God.  We all want this, sure, who doesn’t?  But what are we doing about it?  Are we going to be willing to cast down our idols, weep in sack cloth and ashes, repent for our wickedness and turn, REALLY TURN to God?  I may be a radical, legalistic, zealous young fool, but it doesn’t look to me like “Sunday Morning Christianity” is working.  If the only time we are getting filled is Sunday morning, there is probably a lot more wrong than we are willing to deal with.  The word ‘church’ comes from the Greek word Ecclesia which means gathering.  The church of Christ is the ‘gathering’ of Jesus.  When did it become more about the building that the Church meets in than about the Man they are gathering to worship?  Change is coming in America.  And its not political reform, social reform, healthcare reform, it is going to be in the hearts and minds of the Body of Christ.  If we are in the same prison as the people we are trying to set free, not a lot is going to get done.  How can we free people who we share chains with?  Before we can begin to set the captives free we must be free ourselves.  God is moving in our homes, in our churches, in our schools, in our cities, states, in our nation, and the nations of the earth.  If we want to be part of it, we need to be ready, willing, and hungry.  Giving God the ‘time of the day’ on Sunday morning for 5 minutes in our prayer time is not enough.  To me, that does not look like wholehearted devotion to Jesus.  Jesus is worthy of everything in your life, everyday, not just once a week.  The days where that ‘worked’ are coming to an end.  The days where it seemed like we could get away with a little ‘compromise’ are over.  The line is being drawn, and has been drawn.  Our God is the Bridegroom God, and He will not share us with anyone.  Would He be a good Bridegroom if He told us we would be His favorite of all of His brides?  How would that look with your partner, if they told you that you were the #1 of all of the partners?  That doesn’t look like love to me.  Jesus is calling us ALL to wholehearted obedience, because He is worth it.  Period.  If our GOD is not worthy of all of us, and we are not willing to give Him everything, I think it is time we seriously re-assessed our worldview.   Jesus is coming soon, and I sure want to be hastening and eagerly awaiting His coming, not dreading it. 

            I am not saying this to condemn you.  I am not even saying that you are part of these things I listed above, in fact, if you are reading this, it is more than likely that you are one of the people provoking me to go deeper in the Lord and calling me to be more radically in love with Jesus.  I write to you about it, because I am sure you are seeing the same disease, feel the same way, and are battling it too.  The reason I throw in this heavy stuff, is because we need come together, in unity, in the Man Jesus and lock arms and run into His arms together.  If we, as the Body of Christ are not united, how can we expect to see the lost world united?  Transformation has to start from within.  We cannot help transform someone else if we are not transformed ourselves. 

I am a bit of a long winded fellow, and I am trying to work on that, so I apologize.  I am very thankful that you are part of my life, and am so blessed by the way you care for me and have come around me and support me so well.  My heart is to be a big family, and that is how I see this thing, we are all in this life together, and we need to live like a family and care for and love one another.  I would be so blessed if you joined me in daily prayer.  Please pray:

-That Jesus’ name would be exalted to the highest place in every area of Ian Weiner’s life, with loving obedience toward loving God with all of his heart, soul, mind, and strength.

-That Ian would know the love that God loves him with, and that he would love others with that same love. 

-That the Lord’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, as well as in Ian’s life.

- That the fruits and gifts of the Spirit would grow to their fullness in Ian.

-That the Holy Spirit would release wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God in Ian’s like unto him sharing his revelation with others. 

-That the Lord would provide everything needed for Ian to fulfill his ministry calling at IHOPU as well as in Boulder and the ends of the earth. 

           

Please feel free to email me with any questions, comments, PRAYER REQUESTS, concerns etc at iplaysixstrings@gmail.com, check out my updates at my blog at : ontheseaofglass.blogspot.com or send a letter to:

Ian Weiner

11117 Blue Ridge Blvd,

 Kansas City, MO 64137. 

Once again I am very thankful for your prayers, support, love, encouragement, etc.  I am so blessed to have you in my life, and I want to keep it that way.  I am very excited to be doing all of the wonderful things that God has in store for me, but my heart it still here in Boulder too.  You are such a blessing to me, and I pray that God would pour out His blessing upon you!

Thank you and be blessed,

Love,

Ian Weiner

Prayer Letter

I have been a bit lax in my communication, and my only excuse is that my time is very heavily occupied out here in Kansas City. That, however is part of the reason that I write to you, to tell you about what is occupying my time, and also what will occupy my time in the coming months and years. I have spent the last five months in Kansas City, MO at the International House of Prayer doing the One Thing Internship. Consider it the first semester of the bible school out here, IHOPU. I have had a wonderful time out here; have made many friends, shared laughs, joys etc. Most importantly I am being transformed by the renewing of my mind. The Lord is beginning to heal and restore my heart, my body, my soul, my mind. 
I came seeking my ‘calling.’ I figured it would be a simple, straightforward thundering voice from heaven telling me where to go, when, what to do, and how to do it. The Lord is ever so patient in His dealings with man, and has merciful longsuffering on my ignorance. He has revealed these things to me, but not at all in the way had I expected, or in any way I would have guessed. 
The reason I exist is thus: To love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. We have different callings within the body, and different ministry opportunities, platforms, strengths, there are a few things that I am specifically called to now and also some things a little different at a later time in my life. Right now, I am called to sit at Jesus’ feet and minister to Him as an intercessory missionary, and to get rooted and grounded in love and truth at IHOPU. 
Being an intercessory missionary is a fancy way to say that I will be sitting in a room for 12-2 hour sets a week, (24 hours) praying to a God I can’t see, singing to a Man I have never met, wasting my life at that Man’s feet. To the unredeemed, and even occasionally believers, it is utter foolishness. I certainly do not always see the fruits of my labor. The Lord loves to use the foolish things to confound the wise. I am choosing, for a season, to waste my life at Jesus’ feet, taking the role of Mary of Bethany, because if I am going to see revival in the church, and the nations, I first have to be revived. 
I will be spending my entire life ministering to the Lord as a priest, but for the next 3(ish) years I will be getting that foundation set, good habits formed, etc, here at IHOPU. On June 22nd I will graduate from my internship, and head back to Boulder. I will be home for less than a week, and I will be shipping out to Campina Grande, Brazil. A group of young adults will be working with a ministry, helping with glasses for the poor, doing youth and community outreach, proclaiming the Name of Jesus, and loving our brothers. 
I will be coming back on the 14th of July, and be working for the next year, all of this in the midst of doing 50 hours a week of summer school, so that I can start school on August 16th as a second year student. I am getting busier and busier! 
I want to be a team, and let you know what it going on in my life, and I would love to know what is going on in yours! Please feel free to email me at iplaysixstrings@gmail.com or send me a letter via snail mail, I love getting letters (home baked cookies) and would love to write you back, if you so desire, write:
Ian Weiner
1507 Centaur Circle
Lafayette, CO, 80026
Be sure to let me know how you are doing, what is new, what I can pray for you about, etc. The Lord loves partnership, so thank you for seeking the Lord with me in daily prayer! 

Please pray:


That Jesus’ Name would be exalted to the highest place in every area of Ian Weiner’s life, with loving obedience toward loving God with all his heart, soul, mind, strength. 
That Ian would know the love that Jesus loves him with, and that he would love others with that same love.
That the Lord’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven, as well as in Ian’s life. 
That the fruits and gifts of the Spirit would grow to their fullness in Ian. 
That the Holy Spirit would release wisdom and understanding in the knowledge of God in Ian’s life, unto sharing his revelation with others. 
That the Lord would provide everything needed for Ian to fulfill his ministry calling in Brazil, as well as at IHOPU. 

Brasil!

Brazil 2010

 (It should be noted that there are two fonts used in this letter.  The larger font is the letter to my friends, supporters, and family about my Brasil trip.The smaller font is a bit of a rant that I went on, and I decided to just leave it in the post.  Read it or not.) 

            I spent about 12 days in Brazil, and have been home for as many.  I feel as though I was in a different world for that time, but although it was a different hemisphere, it was still the same world.  “…God so loved the world…” John 3:16.  This could be the most famous Bible verse of all time.  I wonder if as many non believers know this verse as Christians.  I am very sad that so many people know this verse, and have heard it many times, but so terribly few know what it is speaking of—The Love of God--- very specifically The Love of The Father.  We may have stumbled upon a very difficult problem here.  Why have so many people never felt the love of The Father?

            I think that there are a few possibilities here.  One of them is very simply that we, the Church, the Body of Christ, have a job.  We are to take the love that has been given to us, and give it, show it, spread it, pass it out, live it…we are supposed to DO the second commandment.  (Yes, of course the 1^st commandment comes first, and I am supposing that we are only able to give the love that we have first received from God, because without Him we have no love.  I am very adamantly affirming that the 1^st commandment comes absolutely first and there is no beginning of an argument that it would in any way come after serving, or anything else.  I believe that we need to be filled with the love of God, and go on being filled, and THEN we are to give that love back to God, and to the rest of the world, but it simply must come in that order and we can not give something to someone else that we have not first received.  [I know I went off on this, but I want it to be exceedingly and abundantly clear that the 1^st commandment is first for a reason.])  The question always comes up: “Who is my neighbor?”  And I think it is a very silly question to ask.  Certainly the people who live on your right and to your left, but also who ever is in front of you, who ever the Lord brings to you.  And so I think one of the reasons, very briefly, that the Love of The Father is not received throughout the earth is that we are not doing a very good job.  I think we are certainly starting to get better and am very thankful for this.

 Another possibility that I will address ever so quickly is that perhaps God only loves certain people, and only they are capable of receiving His love.  I hope this is very clearly heretical and not foolish.  I do not think this is true.  I think perhaps another option remains.

I think that God loves very passionately and deeply and hotly pursues us, but often we run further and further away.  I think this is a very sad reality.  Real love is very skewed and misinterpreted in our world.  Last week a few friends and I were on Pearl St. in Boulder going around praying for people and loving on people, evangelizing, etc.  One of my friends came to me while it was going on telling me he just had a few people yell at him.  These people were very angry, and one of them said a very heartbreaking and also revealing statement.  I believe he said “…My god is a god of love, and he would never send his children to hell!”  I would like to take a moment on this sentence.  This is a very profound misunderstanding of love.  Now, in a very narrow sense, our God-YHWH the Creator of heaven and earth will never send His children to hell.  Let me explain what I mean.  Anyone who is a child of God, who has been grafted into the family, who has ‘kissed the Son’ so to speak, is a true child of God.  We are not truly children of God until we have repented of our sins and accepted the Lord Jesus as the Messiah, which He is, and declare that He is Lord God.  In a very broad sense, we are all God’s children, this is only to say that we are humans and He is Creator.  Jesus said that the Pharisees are sons of the father of lies-Satan(John 8.)  So, in this way, God’s real children will never go to Hell.  The problem with what this man said is that he has a profound misunderstanding of what love is. 

In our culture, and in the west, I think most of the time we think that if someone loves us that they will let us do whatever we want, whenever we want, how ever we want, and do nothing but ‘support’ us in our decisions and lifestyle choices and pat us on the back and smile at us and give us money because they love us.  Summed up, love is allowing someone to do whatever they want without consequence.  This is absolute folly, to the point that it is actually very wicked and corrupted. 

I think this is almost the exact opposite of love.  Love looks like John 15:13.  Love looks like God hanging on a tree for His enemies, in spite of their hate, because He will go to the ends of the earth, to death to bring us out of the evil wickedness that we have become, to put us on the right path, to straighten us out, to correct the mistakes, so that we can be with Him where He is, that the love the Father has for Jesus would be in us, and that we would love Him with that same love.  John 17.  Love is doing everything that must be done to pull you out of your sin, not glorify you in it, not accept your sin, and say that ‘it’s just the way you are’, or tell you its ok, etc.  That is not love at all. 

LOVE IS NOT: “I am going to let my best friend drive home drunk because I love him, and he wants to drive home, so I will let him, because that’s what he wants and love is letting you do whatever you want.”  Do you see what I mean when I say that love is not letting you do whatever you want? And that it is quite the opposite? 

            That man had a very profound misunderstanding of what love is, and he has been fed that probably since he was a very young child.  The reason that it breaks my heart is because there are a great many people in the world who believe that about love, and are very greatly deceived.  I think this is the true problem that we have with love in the world, God loves very deeply and passionately, and we are so blinded and deceived, that we think His love is actually evil and wrong, and we REJECT His love, and instead partake of lies and deceptions that look nice, because if love is getting to do whatever you want, nobody has to change anything. 

            God loves, and sometimes the world receives it, and sometimes the world rejects it.  The Church loves, and the story is the same.  I bring this up in this letter because this has been something that has impacted me very strongly in the recent months, and on the Brazil trip.  I do not intend to bash the Body, or point fingers and start a blame storm etc.  That is not my intention at all.  I bring this up to tell you about how I have seen the Body do this very well, and how my heart has been impacted by it. 

            I learned a lot about unity in the Body on this trip.  I also learned about the Love of The Father on this trip.  I learned a variety of other things, but these are the two I want to focus on.  I must say that I had and have very immature understanding about what unity is in the Church, and how that is played out.  I was a bit concerned about this trip just because of all of the different ministry styles on the trip, the different church backgrounds, and even a few doctrinal differences.  A little bit, I thought that unity was everyone cutting their losses, and just sticking to one ministry style, one doctrinal system, everyone coming together and putting down their differences and doing it the same way, and not arguing about it, because we love each other, and we ‘just love Jesus’ so it will all work out.  Part of this is true. 

            Unity is spelled J-E-S-U-S.  We come together in the Man who holds everything together by the word of His power, and yes, differences do fall away and are laid down for the sake of Christ.  But the way I thought of it was wrong.  I was almost thinking of it as a sort of ‘communistic’ system if you will.  Where everybody is the same and everybody is equal all of these things.  The problem with this, is that it makes everybody and ‘eye.’  Not everybody can be the eye.  Sometimes I think we all want to be the eye, so all we have to do is watch… ;] (Just kidding.)  When you become a Christian, you don’t instantly turn into this clone who does everything the same as everyone else.  We are all individuals.  Your background and your experience do not leave once you become grafted into the Body.  How you act about these things does however change.

            I think unity better looks like this.  “We are all here, on this trip for one reason: Glorify Jesus to the highest place, where He belongs.”  There is an old saying attributed to Augustine that goes something like “Love God, and do whatever you want.”  This is a bit startling at first, but then it starts to make sense.  If you really love God, there are many things you are not going to do, and really when it comes down to it, if you really love God, you will want to do His will anyway.  (It is very important that ‘Love God’ comes first!)  I think unity is a bit similar.  If I am trying to glorify God, I am not going to get in an intense argument with my brother about why speaking in tongues is blaspheming and try to prove him wrong so that I can puff up my pride.  When everyone is united for the same cause: Glorifying Jesus to the highest place, and Jesus is at the center of it, and He is leading it, little ministry style differences disappear.  I was so blessed to experience this on the Brazil trip.  I do not remember even hearing of a single issue relationally on this trip.  (I am certain there were disagreements, but I did not catch wind of them.)  The first night we got to Campina Grande, we prayed all together for unity, and laid down our differences before the altar.  We followed this with an a capella run through of “They will know we are Christians by our love.”  Jesus took care of the rest. 

           

            Switching gears here a bit, I want to tell you about Brazilians.  I have never met a people so deeply affectionate, passionate, caring, giving, or loving than Brazilians.  These people gave us their time, their resources, their food, welcomed us into their homes, put us before themselves in everything they did.  I am utterly convinced it was the Love of God shining through them. When they hug you, they hold on as long as they can, because they want you to know that they love you.  I have never seen affection displayed so openly, safely and generously as on these 12 days.  They hug, they kiss, they smile great big smiles, they encourage, they laugh, and they cry.  When we would pray for the children, Ismael, our brother and translator would tell us to hug the children and their families first, because they would feel more comfortable, and they would open up.  I think there is no coincidence in our society that we have so very many people of all ages who have self worth issues, body image issues, sexuality is so twisted, suicide is so rampant, the alcohol and drug and pornography use in our children(Yes, children, not teens) is starting younger and younger all the time.  I think the desire to take your own life is significantly smaller if everyone you know is displaying their love for you on a daily basis.  Perhaps I am ignorant and mistaken, so be it.  I think we need to learn from the Brazilians.  I have had some incredible experiences with the love of God, but what I experienced interacting with my Brazilian brothers and sisters has profoundly impacted me, and is something that I will never forget.  These are a people who have the love of Jesus, and are quick to give it away. 

            I am so very thankful to everyone who supported me in prayer, and financially to go on this trip.  And of course, to my good friend YHWH for taking care of everything all the time; Love ya Pappa. 

-Ian