7 Thunders Newsletter
January, 2006
South
Carolina
Building, Planting and Establishing, those would
be 3 solid words to describe what’s been happening
since December 15th. Let’s start first with Building:
We are literally building things all around the base.
Two of our staff members, Luke Ahrenholtz and Jonathan
Mills do carpentry trim work everyday; They have been
focusing mostly on getting the Men’s dorm in good
shape. Since we picked up some on-campus apartments we
have had to pull off wallpaper, paint, clean and move
lots of people in. These apartments are such a blessing;
God broke in, in a really big way.
Planting: This has been a House of
Prayer plant in the truest sense of the word. We plant
everyday in everyway, from creating basic info
structure, (EX: Setting up cleaning crews, Apartment
Forms, Processing Applications, etc), to finding
temporary housing for folks. And like a plant, most
things around here start as a seed and need lots of
water (love) and Sun (Jesus)!
Establishing:
Our main goal is to establish night and day prayer. We
have set up a basic watch from 6:00am-12:00am. We are
trying hard to get live worship set up in 2-hour slots
while playing worship cd’s the rest of the time to
create an atmosphere for encounter. The Bound4life folks
have been very giving and gracious to us and love to
pray and minister to God as much as we do. These guys
love to pray and this little prayer room is a great
place. Kirk has been having an Encounter God Service
every Wednesday and Saturday in the prayer room. He has
been teaching on the priesthood and night and day
prayer. We know God loves us a lot because He has given
us Kirk and Dee to lead us. I am glad that He shares
them with us. Dee just started leading a Hannah and
Samuel prayer set where the focus is getting the 0-10 yr
olds praying and encountering God. This is just a
picture of how God is moving amongst our young ones.
Meditation
Every
week we have teams who meditate 4 hours, 2 days a week
in the prayer room. We believe this is key for
understanding and going deeper in the word. What we do
is we have one verse that we will meditate on for about
3-4 weeks at a time. We have meetings before and after
meditation times to share what we have received from the
Lord. Right now we are meditating on Zechariah 9:11.
_As
for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I
will set free your captives from the waterless pit. -
Zechariah 9:11
Insight
from one of our team members, Mercy Falkner:
As I was meditating on this
verse, I couldn’t help but feel Go’ds intense love
over me. I couldn’t get off of the blood. That phrase
was stuck in my mind. “Because of the blood of your
covenant” was going over and over again in my head.
What is the covenant? Whose blood is it? Is it God’s
covenant or is it ours? Whenever I meditate, the first
thing I get are tons of questions, which is good. It
drives you deeper into the Word looking for the answer.
I didn’t get all my
questions answered, but I have gotten a deeper
understanding about the blood. Blood is life, because
life is in the blood. God shed His blood/life for us on
the cross, but I don’t recall a point where we have
shed blood for God. I mean not as a nation. I believe
through living a culture of life, being life, giving
life, standing for life, this is our calling. And not
just for the unborn even though that is a big part, but
to stand for truth and righteousness. Our calling is to
not give ourselves to the things of this world because
this world is living a lifestyle of death. We were made
to have life, not just in our mortal bodies but also in
our spirits. We were made to have the eternal spirit
living inside of us. Then it all goes back to the cross
where Jesus came and actually dwelt among men, gave His
life so He might give me life, now the same spirit that
dwells in Him lives in me.
Now you may be wondering
how I got all that, well I just believe that even if I
don’t get any profound revelation, or new
understanding, if I encounter the heart of God and fall
more in love with Him while doing it, my time was not
wasted. Even if none of my questions were answered.
Trips
From
December 9-11, a team from 7 Thunders went to Chicago,
IL.
Here
is a report from Rebekah Myers, one of the team members
who went on the trip:
7
Thunders took a team of 3 to Chicago, Illinois, December
9-11. We went and visited our friends at The Furnace.
Our main goal of going there was to teach finances to
that House of Prayer. The Lord taught our team to trust
Him along with a deep revelation of Him as our provider.
We took 3 days and taught on Funding the Prayer Movement
and also about the Prophetic Priesthood. Kirk Bennett
taught that we are first priests before God and out of
that we must believe that Jesus wants houses of prayer
and people freed up financially to minister day and
night. There were many testimonies from those whose eyes
were opened and their hearts set free for the first time
in their lives because of this new way of thinking about
funding a prayer movement. We had a few really good
times of worship where the Lord was speaking about
righteousness and seeking first the kingdom of God and
all else will be added. We grew in friendship with the
people there and had fun seeing people’s mentalities
changed.
To
buy our cd series of Funding the Prayer Movement please
go to our online store at 7Thunders.org.
Upcoming
Trips:
Hampton,
VA- January 26-29
Johnson
City,
TN - February 17-18
Events
January
12-16 The Rumble USA
_Join
us as we fight to raise up a house of prayer to contend
with every other house that challenges the Lordship and
supremacy of Christ over all affairs! _ _ Lou Engle
Join
us in Washington D.C. as we gather together with the
Justice House of Prayer in contending for justice in our
nation.
http://jhop.org/rumbleusa/
Prayer
Requests
*
The 7 Thunders staff
_ Luke Ahrenholtz, Courtney Arrington, Katie
Bennett, Andy and Bek Hickman, Rebekah Myers, Mercy
Falkner, and the Zadok House of Prayer team. That the
Spirit of Grace and supplication would continue in them
to pray and prophesy; especially as they are getting
ready to move. Also be praying for Michael and Angie
Koppola and their 2 kids, Abby and Joshua, and Jonathan
and Heidi Mills and their two kids, Kai and Salem , Two
families who are moving with us and will be on the main
leadership team of ZHOP.
*
Kirk - Pray that he has understanding and revelation on
eschatology of a culture of life.
*
Dee- for renewed grace and strength to enter into these
next couple months of settling down.
*
Isaac and Morgan - that God gives them new revelation
each day as they embark on this new journey of marriage.
*
Katie –for grace and strength to lead, as she is one
of the main worship leaders at ZHOP.
*
Abby - Increased joy and zeal for God as she moves to a
new environment.
Something
of real power is continuing to happen with our children,
and we’re asking for the Spirit to guard and disciple
them in it.
* The I.H.O.P.s - There are
houses of prayer springing up all over the world. We
have had the extreme privilege to be friends with an
amazing number of them. Pray for ways to keep those
friendships alive, viable, and strategic.
*
The Bennett’s - Pray for the health and well being of
our family, our finances, and understanding in our
lives.
*
Pray the 22 word Prayer 7 times daily _ Jesus, I plead
your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation, God
end abortion and send revival to America!
Trips
- guidance and direction concerning this year.
