Song of Songs 1:15

Have any of you read the Song of Songs?

It’s one of the tougher books of the Bible to get into in a serious way, but it’s so rewarding! Especially when you approach it with the perspective of a love-journey between Jesus and His Bride, meaning you and me!

Tonight I’m stuck on 1:15:

Look at you, my love! How beautiful you are!
Your eyes are doves –”

In this verse, He is affirming his love for her, and how he sees the bride (us) as beautiful. This is still early on in the journey, and she is far from mature in this love. She is easily distracted (see 2:15), yet he says her eyes are like doves eyes.

Doves eyes… What does that mean? Birds have much better vision than humans, and doves in particular have a huge range of vision, up to 300 degrees without moving its head! It’s called monocular vision. The downside is that they have a harder time judging distances.

But in the context of the scripture, of speaking of beauty, I’m sure he was not talking about how effective her eyesight was.

So what was he talking about? Biblically, a dove can be speaking of a few things: hope, like with Noah; purity and peace, like with the sacrificial system, or the Holy Spirit as it descended upon Jesus.

The common interpretation, which I am focusing on tonight, is that a doves eyes are focused and pure.

It’s interesting that He says she is focused and pure, even before she has really achieved that. It’s called a prophetic declaration. He says, “You are pure!” because he sees her future. He looks at her, and sees destiny. He sees maturity, focus, and passion, even where there is only a little. But it is her desire, her internal ‘yes’ that he sees, and says, “You are beautiful.”

Onething Minneapolis is Near.

Unfortunately, I could not arrange a ride for the Onething Conference in Minneapolis this weekend, but rest assured that I am interceding on their behalf.

If any of you -- my readers, my people -- are in Minnesota, I strongly urge you to go. These conferences have done so much for me personally, and so many others. There is so much prayer behind these things, and I believe that God is using them to fuel a mighty change in this nation.

I personally am praying heavily for this thing. I know many people who will be there; many people who need to hear from God, who need wisdom from heaven, who need to be reminded and strengthened in His love.

If you cannot attend, I ask that you would join me in praying for God to establish his kingdom in the hearts of men and women, and to purify and strengthen his bride in that region.

"My people are destroyed for want of knowledge.
Because you rejected knowledge,
I will also reject you...
Because you forgot the Word of your God
I will also forget your children."
Hosea 4:6

For this reason, I fall on my knees before the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth receives its character.
I pray that from the treasures of his glory
he will empower you with inner strength by his Spirit,
so that the Messiah may live in your hearts through your trusting.
Also I pray that you will be rooted and founded in love,
so that you, with all God's people, will be given strength to grasp the breadth, length, height, and depth of the Messiah's love.
Eph 3:14-18

7.7.7 The Call

I won't write too much about it, but this was a significant event in history, so I thought you might want to know a little bit about it.

Here's a pretty decent news bit to watch:

http://wkrn.com/nashville/news/the-call-draws-100000-plus-to-lp-field/105951.htm

see also:

The Call

Bound 4 Life

Also read 2 Chronicles 7:14, the book of Hosea, and Joel 2. 

I'm famous.

This week six people have told me that they have seen me praying on the webstream. I don't even pray on the mic that often, only during the rapid-fire 10 second prayers and then once or twice a week for the longer 5 minute prayers. Some of them may have also seen me in the room, but most of them said they saw me on the mic.

Also this week we switched the webstream to our new system, and everyone had to re-subscribe. The demand was so high, even at 4AM when we made the switch, that it actually caused problems for our systems. They estimate that there were thousands of people clicking their mice at 4AM to sign up.

Our old clunky webstream had around 6,000 subscribers at $10/month, and we had many, many more use the free-trial that we had for a month. The numbers aren't in yet as to how many we have now, but even though the sign up is online our phones have been off the hook (because of the down-time and glitches). 

Oh, and did I forget to mention the 128 MILLION potential god.tv viewers all over the globe that could be watching? I'd guess that at minimum there are 10,000 people who see me, David Andrew Gagne, pray on the mic. Scary.

Many of you didn't know me back then, but as a kid I was shy. I remember taking a public speaking class and wanting to drop out because I was so scared to talk in front of 10 people my own age. After class I would walk through the halls looking for a quiet corner where I didn't have to be around people.

And now? I'm still scared out of my mind, but I still do it. Why? Because I want God to be famous. 

I don't really know how to love those 128 Million people, and to be honest, my heart has a hard time loving them. But God loves them. Not only that, He desires them, He wants them to come to Him. He wants to forgive them, He wants them to walk in righteousness, He wants them to walk in His presence.

My most important audience is God. If He hears me, that's all I care about. So I sit in a room and pray 24+ hours/week. I am an intercessor.

It's Over.

6 Months. Roughly 576 hours of prayer, 480 hours of classes and teachings, 4 conferences (I missed the fifth), and 50 days of some-sort of fasting. I'll miss it...

Or will I? Life is just one long internship. Why waste it?

I intend to keep a similarly busy schedule, although it will be filled with slightly different things.

I will be working 9-5 M-F in the tech dept., as well as maintaining a diligent schedule in the prayer room at night. Basically what I'm doing is trading hours I used to waste for hours put to good use. Nationmaster.com statistics show that the average in the US is 28 hours a week watching television. Just removing television and movies from my daily diet gives me a lot of time. Not that I'm boycotting or anything, it's just better for me not to. Cutting down frivolous internet usage, video games, etc., helps too.

Henry Nouwen in his book, Clowning in Rome, describes Celibacy as creating vacancy for God. He uses Celibacy to describe much more than just sexual abstinence, but rather a setting aside of "space" in our life for God. We can abstain from many of the things of this world, but if we don't fill that space with God, there's not much point. I could cut out television and replace it with another false comfort, like eating. The point isn't just total abstinence, but to create a heart alive with God. Many can abstain from things by sheer willpower, but this will not benefit you long term without filling it with something better.

P.S. I changed the layout here, what do you all think?

The word: may 07

Hey Everyone!

I've got a lot to update you with, since it's been a while, so brace yourselves!

Since many of you will not read the entire thing, I'll just put this first -- I need your support. The Lord is calling me to a life consecrated to Him, and Him alone. He has made that clear to me in the past, and is making that very clear again. What exactly that looks like is not quite certain, but I know the Lord is good, and will provide -- and he chooses to do that through many of you. I praise God for the generosity He has already shown me through all of you, and for all the prayers and emotional support many of you have given me.

My immediate needs are:
$1,000 tuition for FSM summer courses
$700 month for rent, food,etc

I will also be looking for $1,500 for tuition in the fall and winter semesters.

I am really looking for some of you to partner with me long term, and commit to supporting me on a monthly basis.

I want to make it clear, this is not just about my needs, but this is part of something much larger -- a prayer movement throughout the earth, and a chance for revival. The Lord is on the move, calling for one of those major generational changes that we all read about in the old testament (and the new). I know the Lord is calling me to be a part of this, which is a difficult thing, but something that I cannot ignore.

We already are seeing parts of this, with 24/7 prayer movements starting up all over the earth, with people crying out to God for mercy and repenting for their nations.

Another sign of this is in our own nation is The Call, http://thecall.com. The call is a gathering of believers to fast and pray for our nation, to turn our nation back to God. There is a huge event taking place on 7-7-07 in Nashville, you can find more about it on fastandpray.com.

From The Call website:

• TheCall Nashville will be the eighth Call in America.
• The first Call was held in Washington,DC in 2000 where over 420,000 people gathered to fast and pray for America.
• Other events have included TheCall Boston (50,000), TheCall NY (85,000), TheCall San Francisco (40,000), TheCall Los Angeles, (30,000).

So there is a lot going on, but what's my part? I will be praying. This is my primary job, with at least 24 hours per week in the prayer room, here at the International House of Prayer. I am an intercessor, one who will cry out to the Lord on behalf of the people, and one who connects with the Lord's heart in return.

I will also be taking classes at the Forerunner School of Ministry, continuing in a year Apostolic Preaching Program. I will be preparing for what the Lord has in store. I may also work part time, but I am praying to be released to serve the Lord full-time.

Will you help, will you partner with me?

Non-tax deductible checks can be made to:
David Andrew Gagne
3517 E. Red Bridge Rd.
Kansas City, MO 64137

Tax deductible checks can be made to:
IHOP-KC Support
(my name cannot be on it for tax reasons)

Thank you all, I love you!

Psalms 27:4
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.

Wednesday Night GPR*

Wow, are you as surprised as I am to see another post so soon? This one is more of a diary entry from last night, nothing major.

Thoughts:

• God is merciful!
• Our hearts are dull, our ears are hard of hearing, our eyes are closed. (Isaiah 6.9-10)
• God, wake us up! open our ears! Soften our hearts! We need you!
  
• How truly lost are the lost!
• Praise God for the strength of His arm to save, Yeshua the messiah, the shepherd rescues his sheep

Verses:

• Acts 28:26-27
• Isaiah 43:8-13
• Psalm 6

Quote:

Standing up is intense!
- Bryan Jung about standing up for an entire 2 hour intercession set

*: GPR stands for Global Prayer Room, which now needs the "G" because we soon will have the FPR as well, when the "F "stands for Forerunner; it will be a training prayer room - but our prayers still count!

Mini Update

I'm going to try to post more often, and more briefly, so that you guys are motivated to come back. Please leave me comments so that I'm motivated to post. I've been praying for a lot of you, let me know what God is doing!

This week, (and somewhat last week), God has been pumping me full of Jeremiah. Which means I've been crying out. So again, another "rough, but good" week. I've been also praying for opportunities to share some of this back in Minnesota, so please pray that God would open the doors for this. At the same time, I'm not sure if I'm ready, so pray that it would all happen in God's way and at His time.

Ah-men.

A hard week,a good week.

Yes Yes.

Let's see, this week I was quite soft before the Lord, and he of course challenged me, in a few different areas.

One was excellence and humility, meaning, living a life where I please God by doing the small, seemingly unimportant things to the best of my ability as a pleasing offering to God. It was one of those moments when all the things my Mom told me to do flooded back, like cleaning my room, picking up trash, etc.

The thing that really got me was, if I can't do the small things well, how will I ever do the large things well? And what are my motives in the things I invest in? Just to impress others or because they are righteous in God's eyes?

And on the humility side, this has been something I've been working on forever it seems, but there's so much more to it. Like, as Dwayne Roberts pointed out, not putting yourself "out there" to be noticed when it comes time for promotions, or new projects, and not puffing yourself up.

Moses [Moshe] blows my mind. He is truly a servant leader, who was "the most humble man alive." He led a very rebellious people, so rebellious that he asked God is he could just die and not deal with them. God had given him authority over these people, and he could have at any seed of rebellion just have them killed. But instead he actually interceded for them to God, when God was ready to destroy them! He truly put them before himself, and that is why God used him to lead his people.

My thoughts on servant leadership, humility, and excellence are just growing, and I have a lot more than that on my mind, but I'll spare you guys the rest. Be praying with me that God would raise us up to be people that truly live in the teachings and example of the Messiah.

Sometimes it seems so impossible, or not worth it, but then I encounter Adonai, the Almighty One who loves me and has given me his Holy Spirit to help me. Praise him.

Amen.

Life in General

Lately I've been realizing how unique my life is here at Ihop. How many people get to wake up and spend 2 hours worshiping a real living God? And then get to hear 3+ hours of solid biblical teaching, and studying the movement of the Lord globally? And then get to spend 4 hours praying and meditating on the word of God?

Such a blessing. Thank you God! And thank you to all my supporters!

St. Patrick's Day recap

<-- this is our group
Image from TheKansasCityChannel.com

We made the news! We were on the front page of atleast one newspaper today, and also online, check it out on TheKansasCityChannel.com. The official number of people attending was 200,000.

We met at IHOP at 7AM on Saturday of St. Patrick's Day, to brief before going out. We all had our green IHOP shirts on. At 8:30 we arrived on the scene, and spent another half hour praying for the event and to prepare ourselves to share God with strangers.

We had a number of teams that went out to do all kinds of evangelism from 9-11, with direct sharing of the gospel, surveys, prayer teams, wandering minstrels, face painting, st. patrick facts with the gospel handouts, and more.

Many people accepted Christ or recommitted their lives to him, some received healing, and it's safe to say that almost everyone was impacted. In the 9-11 pre-parade outreach it was difficult to go anywhere without seeing our people talking to people. Most people were very receptive, and would at least let us pray for them and tell them about God, even if they might not understand or agree.

I prayed with two of the girls in my internship with 3 women in a coffee shop who had 3 close relatives in the hospital and were a bit worried. They had already been praying about it with people in their church, but it was good to pray more and encourage them.

The parade itself was amazing. Since I was in it, I didn't get to see any of the other floats, but that's okay, because ours was the best. We had a giant green mountain with St. Patrick on top, played by Daniel Dunmore, an evangelist from England who had a huge booming voice. He held a giant cross, and looked very authentic (i.e. not a leprechaun). He preached the gospel loudly and boldy in between choruses of Grace Like Rain performed as an Irish Jig from the band on the back of the float. Behind the float were the 400+ singer/dancer/flagwavers you see above. I was one of them.

It was incredibly exciting, especially when we saw the faces of the people in the crowd. Everyone was shocked by the site of St. Patrick 12 feet up, preaching boldy, and the 400 people behind him, who would yell with excitement when he proclaimed "Jesus is alive!" We saw many different reactions, from wonder and awe, to excitement (especially with the kids), to conviction (I saw two separate old women crying softly), to hatred.

After the parade we had the opportunity to go out and talk to more people. I talked to one guy right after the parade who was SO EXCITED by our float and our song, as well as the preaching. I asked him if he knew Jesus. He said "yes," so I asked him "what do you know?" He knew a little, and went to church sometimes, so I just walked him through the gospel real quick and prayed with him. He was still super excited, and even excited about going to church the next day.

It was a fun and exhausting day. It's incredible talking about God with people who often know so little. Many of our fears of being rejected can keep us from sharing our faith, but it's SO GOOD, and most people are so grateful.

I'll try to get more pictures up soon, but for now you can go look at some random pictures that I took.

PTL (Praise the Lord), and leave me some comments!

St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's day is coming up, and for me, that means sharing the gospel!

We have a huge parade here in Kansas City each year (I think it's the 2nd or 3rd largest in the nation), and we expect to see around 200,000-300,000 people. We (IHOP) will have a giant float, with an authentic English evangelist on top, proclaiming the gospel in 45 second intervals interspersed with "Grace like Rain" sung to an Irish Jig, with 500 or so singers and dancers behind the float.

We will also have many different outreach teams, doing various stuff from interviews, to face painting, to street evangelism, and more.

Be in prayer for this event, we have been praying for a huge impact on this city. If we even gather the 1 sheep out of 100 that would be 3,000! How great would it be to bring 3,000 into the Kingdom of God?

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.
[Acts 2:40,41]

February

Well, yesterday was the last day of my first FSM class, The Way of Intimacy. I have finished reading the book, Deep Unto Deep, by Dana Candler (our teacher), and only have one assignment left. The last two sessions of the class were great. One was on fellowshipping with the holy spirit and how the spirit lives inside us, the other was on the life of David. I think I would like entire classes on those two subjects.

My next class starts on Monday, and it's The Excellencies of Christ, with Allen Hood. I think he's my favorite teacher, so I'm really looking forward to this one. Our next book is "A Man After God's Own Heart", by Mike Bickle. I've read it before, but I'm looking forward to reading it again.

Also, we are working through Knowledge of the Holy, by A.W. Tozer on Wednesdays. I've read that a couple times, but Tozer blows me away every time. I should say God blows me away every time.

That's one of the things that's been hitting me a lot while I've been here, how incredibly great our God is. Great and Terrible, you might say. We've been looking at the accounts from the Bible of people who met God. Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel, John, and others... and they couldn't even come close to describing him. I could write a long long post on this right now, but instead I'll just encourage you on your own to go and contemplate:

Who is this God? What is he like? Where does he live? What would I say to him if I met him? Would I be able to say anything? What does he think of me? How does he want me to live?

Off and Running

Hey everyone. I'm here, alive, doing well.

There's so much to say, and so little time, so I'll take care of the necessities first.

My new address is
David Andrew Gagne
3517 E. Red Bridge Road
Kansas City, Mo. 64137

So please mail all letters, goodies, and checks there (no cash please).

I don't have time to give you guys the rundown of what's happening here, maybe next time. But for now, just know that God is good, and his word is alive! Seriously, it's amazing, and I can't put it into words.

I'll just leave you with a little piece of God's heart that has blown me away recently (inserts and emphasis mine):

Hosea 11:7-9
My people are bent on backsliding from Me.
Though they call to the Most High,
None at all exalt Him.
How can I give you up, Ephraim [whore]?
How can I hand you over, Israel [defiled]?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I set you like Zeboiim?
My heart churns within Me;
My sympathy is stirred.
I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;
I will not again destroy Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man,
The Holy One in your midst;
And I will not come with terror.

God is amazing, and this is a hard thing to grasp, but he has granted me his spirit of wisdom and revelation.

Until next time,
Shalom

Does that make me crazy?

Faced the real difference between the way that God wants me to live and the way that others live, I often ask myself "who is right?"

I am convinced that the more you become like Christ, the more foolish you seem to those who do not believe. And if we're honest, the Bible is a bit crazy too. Do you really believe that God spoke through an ass? Or that God parted the red sea? Bread from heaven? Virgin birth? Craziness.

Too crazy to be true? Well, without a strong belief in the Almighty or extraordinary naivete it's hard to believe. Yet when you begin to know Him, to know the creator, the savior, and the one who speaks to our spirit, it starts to make a bit more sense. It's just so foreign to believe in miracles, to believe in something unseen. Is it true that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains?

I'm starting to believe it. Does that make me crazy? Probably.

1 Cor 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."

Take the cross as the example. Well before his death Christ preached that in order to follow Him, you must pick up your cross, surrender all, die to self, and be reborn. Then he actually did that in the flesh. He calls us to do the same. He asked the rich young ruler to sell all he had to follow him. Crazy!

27But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29so that no one may boast before him. 30It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."

It takes a humility to admit you're a little bit crazy... But I boast in His wisdom, a wisdom that nobody living could contend with when he was on earth and continues to shame those who think themselves wise.

Come on now who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you Think you are, ha ha ha, bless your soul,
You really think you're in control! - gnarls barkley

as seen on lookatthesound.com

Year Two: Pursuit in Action

Yes, it's been a while. Six months! I'll try to catch you up quickly so that we can move forward.

Since I wrote, I completed two real-estate transactions, which both happened spring and early summer. This summer I started working a part time job at Madden's on Gull Lake in the golf proshop. This turned into a full time job (6 days a week) in September, and the 31st of October will be my last day. It's been a good job, but in retrospect it has been too time-consuming and not payed well enough. But then again, it paid the bills with a little to spare, and God provides, so I do not complain. I've met a lot of people and shared my faith with some as well.

I've been a leader for Trailblazers, a local young-adult bible study group that regularly has 30-50 people. I have spoke a couple times, but my main focus has been on prayer and helping develop the other leaders. God will be doing great things through this group, and his promises to us will be kept. I often get discouraged when I look at our group and see a lot of spiritual lacking (I always want more), yet I am encouraged when I listen to God's voice and he speaks of the future.

Moving forward. As for me, I have been praying a lot about his leading on my life and the direction he is taking me. And finally I am seeing some of it come to reality. In January I will be moving to Kansas City, MO. to start my schooling at the Forerunner School of Ministry (FSM). I will be starting with the Onething Internship for six months, and then continuing on towards the four year Apostolic Preaching Program. Many of you may not know what this is all about, so stay tuned and I will fill you in on what God is doing in me and where He is taking me.

I'll also try to update you with some of those interesting personal stories that you love so much, including the recent death of my Grandfather, Wilfred (Bill) Gagne.