Dinsmores @ IHOP

June Update

dinsmore — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 01:16:11 +0000

A brief update:

God has continued to lead us in his faithful and loving ways (Psalm 25:10). We have been learning even more about persevering in prayer and pressing into Him for all that we need and all that we have before us.

Support: We are really only just starting to get back in touch with all those we have sent letters to and we now have over 50% of our budget pledged for next year. We are very encouraged by that. Thanks so much to all of you who have responded with such encouragement and generosity.

Prayer request: Please join us in asking God to bless our efforts in selling the house. We have listed it with a super realtor we have known for years. Once we have a contract, we can begin the steps of locating a new home and begin the packing process. We have roughly three weeks to get a contract before we would have to move to plan B. (Plan B is to postpone the move until January in time for the spring Intro to IHOP program). Both Linda and I believe God has led us to commit to the August date however, so we are pressing on in prayer accordingly (Luke 18:1-8).

Grace and Blessings to you all

Craig and Linda

July Update

dinsmore — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 23:42:00 +0000

Peace to you all, God has continued to bless and encourage us during this time or preparing to go out to Kansas City.

Current Status: According to the best plans I could think of with help from others, we were hoping to sell the house by the end of June in order to move by late July. That would give us a couple weeks to settle before we start the semester training program in mid August. We saw that as the last reasonable time frame to have an offer on the house and still do all we need to do to find a place to live and move to Missouri. Now that we are past the “reasonable” time frame it is of course entirely possible that God will still make it all happen by mid August. We are asking Him to do just that. Proverbs 16:9 says ” the mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps”. Please pray for us over this next week that His will be done in regard to the timing of our move. If this fall is not His timing for us we are looking to postpone the move till January. The beautiful thing about all this is that His timing is the best timing, so we are in a place of peace and thanksgiving either way. It has been exciting! The Kids:

All but one of the kids has been looking forward to moving. The one who is not so excited about it continues to where his “IHOP” tee shirt….I can’t imagine he is too upset….=). Luke (6 years old) continues to talk about what we will be doing in Kansas City when we move there. Once we convinced Nic that we are not moving to a “hick” town and that we actually live in a hick town compared to the urban setting we are going to, he has now compromised his stance. He believes it isn’t entirely a hick town but is convinced that there will be “John Deere tractor drive by shootings”. Truthfully though, It has been a wonderful time for the family to gather around the vision and mission and talk about what it it means for each of them and what we will all be doing together. Linda and Craig: God continues to show us that Psalm 25:10 is true ” All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful, for those who keep the demands of his covenant.” Truly all His ways are loving and faithful, and it has been a privilege for us to have a sense of calling and to walk in faith in this way. Many of you have encouraged us to press on, and we have been strengthened by that. Thank you!

Finances: Thanks to many of you our the level of our financial support has been very encouraging. We are well over our halfway point and closing in on the final 30% of our budget, and we have many who we haven’t had a chance to talk with yet. I have met with a couple small groups and some churches and I have really enjoyed sharing the mission of intercession God has put on our hearts. We are in the process of setting up more of those meetings, so if your interested in having us come and share with you, your church or a small group your involved in we would love to be able to do that. Just let me know.

To our financial partners: To many who have pledged to begin supporting us in August we will keep you up to date on the timing and will communicate with you all soon. Grace and Blessings to you all,

August Update: He has opened a door.

dinsmore — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 10:01:30 +0000

Please ignore most of our last post. Our house has sold, and we are planning to be in KC the first week in September. We signed a contract on our house on August 15th. We called the IHOP office that day to determine what our options were since it was now possible for us to be there a couple weeks late. They let us know that all was well and we could come two weeks late, and unknown to us, Aug 15th was the deadline for everyone to confirm if they were coming to the program or not. Nothing like coming in at 11:59!

We also just landed a very affordable and “timeframe flexible” house to rent.

Once again God brings deep joy to us by leading us with His mighty hand.

New temporary address as of Sept 6th:

3003 E 107^th Terrace

Kansas City, MO 64157-1716

We are very excited, and we are also very needy for these next two weeks… =) For those who are local and would like to help us pack out, please see below:

Areas of need:

1. We need boxes. We are about to purchase what we need, but if anyone has or knows of some we could get immediately that would be great.

2. House packers. Linda needs help packing the house this week. Our goal is to pack everything by next weekend, Aug 26th. Please call her directly if you can help this week.

3. Truck packers for a truck loading party: We are hoping to pack the moving truck Thursday night, August 31st starting around 6:00. Everything will be boxed and ready, we just have to move it into the truck. It should only take a few hours with enough hands. (Date may change so please verify with me if your planning on coming)

September Update (Click here for full story)

dinsmore — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 01:40:40 +0000

We are in Kansas City! Our small caravan of vans rolled in Wednesday night. Again we are so thankful for all the ways God has provided for us throughout the trip, we have been supported again by so many hands:

- My sister who put us up Monday night and sent us on with gifts after our Labor Day goodbye family party.

-My parents who helped us pack, housed us for a week since our moving truck took everything, and drove out our second car with us to KC.

-Linda’s parents for providing a DVD player that was mounted in the van. (Easiest long distance trip with kids in Dinsmore history!)

-The nice Sears Servicemen in PA who fixed our alignment problem,

-The Lahmon’s (Kasey Erhard’s parents) who so warmly welcomed us, fed us, and slept us in their beautiful home in Ohio.

-The Leonard’s in KC who have put my parents up for two nights until truck arrives with our stuff.

We are now in our rental home awaiting the arrival of our belongings. We have met a couple neighbors. Just next door there are three woman, all involved with IHOP. Across the street is a family with 7 kids (oldest is 11, youngest is 1). They have been praying for friends to move into the neighborhood… This weekend we will be moving in and on Monday we will start in with the training program.Caravan Leaving Mansfield:

The new Dinsmore Den in KC:

What are we here for anyway? (click here to expand article)

dinsmore — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 02:28:53 +0000

I really struggle when I don’t understand the purpose of things… Why do I do this or that? This past month a cry in my heart has continued to come out: “Lord, why are we here?” I mean really. It seems all so pointless at times…we live to just work, love, squeeze in a little fun, and accomplish what seems to be very little….

I was recently reminded about the chief end of man: To glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever. The lights began to go on again for me. I have known this truth for a long time, but was crying out for more understanding to the “enjoy Him forever” part… What is the purpose?

I could write much, but will spare you the length and give the key thoughts that have helped light the fires of fascination of God for me again.

1. God’s highest gift to us is Himself… the revealing of Himself to us. There is nothing more valuable on earth or heaven than communion with God, the revelation of God from God. 2. God longs to reveal Himself to us. He really wants to enjoy us. He purchased us with a great price…his blood. He wants to enjoy what He treasures most.

3. We are designed to search out His heart, and be fascinated by Him. He made us to seek out the magnificent mysteries of His heart.

4. His Spirit that now abides in us, searches the depths of God, and makes them known to those who seek them out.

5. The highest value “work” we can do here on earth, is to “work” the garden of our hearts so that it is prepared for God to reveal Himself. Spritual disciplines of fasting, prayer, meditation of scripture,..etc… are the work of tending that garden, where He can walk with us in ‘the cool of the day’.

Enjoying him forever doesn’t start after we die…it is part of our inheritance right now…it is part of God’s expectation for our life in Him right now: John 17: 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

The eternal course…(click here to expand article)

dinsmore — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 03:54:56 +0000

Have you ever taken a course in something where you just don’t ever want the course to end? I am in a Christology course, being taught by Allen Hood, of the Forerunner School of Ministry, and it is like that for me. We are studying Jesus. Sounds really basic and possibly boring you may think, but it is anything but. To hear and reflect on His attributes, the King of Kings, the perfect reflection of God the Father, Jesus the head of all, of whom all things will be brought under, is absolutely life changing…. I have a new appreciation for the reason why God wants us to have a simple devotion to Christ. Not only am I being encouraged in Him, but people have been being healed right in the midst of the class….As Jesus is preached and exalted issues with joints, backs, gastro-intestinal, exema and others have been made whole. Right in the midst of us…Jesus is making it clear to us that yes, I am your King, your redeemer, your healer and your friend. He continues to blow my mind and cause me to tremble at His word.

One snippet of encouragement: We will forever be fascinated by Him. For eternity we will be exhilarated to know more and more about Him. Seek Him out by taking a little time alone to reflect on Him, as you do you will be given revelation from God (as He has promised). Then you will become more like Him as you behold more of Him, and then becoming more and more fascinated with Him. Fascination with God will lead to seeking more, which will lead to more revelation and then more fascination….He is unsearchable, but His Spirit reveals things of His heart. Take a segment of scripture that talks of Christ and reflect on it before God. Ask Him to reveal Himself to you. Ask Him why He did things the way He did. Even just pondering the mystery of Him being both God and man all together is enough to contemplate in awe and wonder. The course of learning of Him will never end.

Intercession 101: Ever struggle on just how to pray? (click here to expand article)

dinsmore — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 10:10:58 +0000

Intercession 101: Ever struggle on just how to pray?
Lord, isn’t it enough that you know all that is going on and you will, according to your great mercy, take care of everything Yourself?

This past month we have been learning one method they use at IHOP on how to hold a prayer meeting that mixes worship, intercession and antiphonal singing. They call it the “Harp and Bowl” model after Rev 5:8 (…the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a HARP, and GOLDEN BOWLS full of incense, which are prayers of the saints.) We focus on learning, praying, and singing through the new testament apostolic prayers for people and churches. We spend time before our prayer meetings doing bible study on these prayers by simply cross-referencing them so that we can gain more understanding of them. Here are some key snippets I took away from our recent training sessions:

1. All the apostolic prayers are positive prayers. They are not prayers surrounding needs, but they are prayers for building. 2. All but one of the apostolic prayers are for the Church! The one that is different is a prayer for Israel.3. I already knew that it was God’s plan to extend His kingdom through the Church. However, the fact that almost all of the apostles documented prayers were for the church just makes it ever more so clear. God desires a vibrant living church that will be able to accomplish all that He has called them to do. 4. We can pray through these prayers for others and churches with complete boldness and faith that He will do what we ask. Since God has these prayers documented in the scriptures we know for a fact that they are His will.

5. As we pray for our churches, (especially those that may have offended us), God not only blesses that church with more love and power, but He also causes our hearts to grow in love towards the church as well (lining up with His heart).

6. The government of God is not like our own. He desires intercession to release His work. So yes, He knows very well what is needed, and He is looking for those who will partner with Him and intercede and ask Him to act according to His will. Matt 9:37-38 37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

So if you struggle on what to pray like I do, open up your bible to an apostolic prayer like Eph. 3:16-19 and pray with full confidence knowing that God will do as you ask in these areas. Also know that intercession is how His government works…we must partner with Him and ask Him to move. By doing so you are effecting lives and moving the heavens as you were made to do as an image bearer of the King! (Apostolic Prayers: (click here for document)) A quote from Jack Hayford – The Church on the Way “ The Church today needs to be mobilized with continual prayer and fasting to release the harvest of souls waiting to be garnered from among the nations….”

Intercession 101: The affections of Christ (click here to expand article)

dinsmore — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 11:51:01 +0000

If you watched any cartoons back in the 70’s you may remember an expression that went something like “sharp as a bowling ball”.   As I have spent some time praying through the prayers of the apostles I was struck by my own dullness of heart and the term “dull as a bowling ball” continues to come to my mind.

Phil 1:8 Paul writes: “God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” Then Paul goes into his heartfelt prayer for them. Paul was living with and experiencing the “affections of Christ” for the Philippian church. I found, before God, that I am severely lacking in this area, but long to grow and learn from Him who “lives to make intercession”.   I know God is passionate. He has emotion, affections, passion and zeal. I realize that I am a bit afraid of entering into that. I like my safe world of objectivity. My heart says “ I can endure the low level pain of long distance running, swimming and biking, but please don’t ask me to be emotional for more than 5 to 15 seconds at a clip, more than once a day…it will kill me.”

He is an incredible Shepherd, He encouraged me with: Lev 3:22-23 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Essentially, I can trust that He is able to keep me and refuel compassion in me each day…I won’t be consumed, however am I willing to be poured out over the long haul?

So in weakness and trembling I have begun to pray: “God I want to know your affections for people and intercede in line with them”. The first time I prayed that, immediately my mind began to play pictures of the lost and hungry and my heart was moved. As I interceded for them, I began weeping and was greatly moved. I was also given some insight into a scripture I had been meditating on earlier about ‘those who cry out being rescued by Him’ (summarized and paraphrased). I realized that I was to stand in the gap for the suffering who were either too young or in such darkness they didn’t know how to cry out, or whom to cry out to.

He continues to lead me in this way, and I am not consumed!!! Imagine that… J (Although I must admit, after my first day of this I did go home and take a two hour nap…it wiped me out more than any triathlon). So a word of encouragement, especially to those who are more advanced in the area of compassion and affection, when you’re moved in your heart for people rejoice that you’re most likely experiencing the affections of Christ for them. Begin to intercede with boldness knowing you have His heart and his attention….He is just waiting and longing for us to partner with Him in intercession and ask Him to stretch out His hand and extend His kingdom.

Intercession 101: Turn on the lights (click here to expand article)

dinsmore — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 14:49:27 +0000

Turn on the lights (Ephesians 1:16-20)

Initially I understood the importance of memorizing and studying the prayers of the apostles. I’m called to be an intercessor…I have to at least know the basics right? In the back of my mind I believed that once I get these down I would move on to more “advanced” things to pray. I mean, God you don’t really expect me to pray these “basic” things over and over again for years to come…do you?

Well, since I have been here now for all of a month and a half, I’m finding people that have been praying these very things every day for years. Of course the direction of the prayers are spread across nations, tribes, churches, individuals, and self. But they are the same request.   (Thank goodness I never vocalized my foolishness…what would everyone think of me then!;-)

In my own personal devotions I have also hungered and sought God to give me the “spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him”. Amazingly, He has already granted me my request in small but significant ways. Lights are turning on in my mind, my heart and my spirit. It has become clear that I didn’t know how darkened my mind was and how much light I need, and continue to need. I guess that is the catch 22 of darkness and deception…you don’t know when you’re in it until someone turns on the light…Since I will continue to need more and more light, I guess I really need to make this a key daily request for others and for myself…

Lord give us wisdom and revelation. What else is there for us without revelation from your throne? Knowledge without revelation will only puff us up and actually distract us from Your leadership. I must have revelation from your Word from You, I am helpless without it.

There is so much more to this prayer… knowing our calling(vs18a), knowing how treasured we are(vs18b), and experiencing His Power(vs19).   But this is just a snippet so here I stop.

Consider pressing into Him with all your heart with this prayer/promise for yourself and those that are on your heart. Pray with expectation, He is just waiting to turn the lights on according to your hunger for it.

Intercession 101: Help Lord! I need a higher vision. (click here to expand article)

dinsmore — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 13:31:59 +0000

What does the vision for my life in Christ look like? Since He lives to intercede for us and we are called to be like Him, what does that look like?    I know it is not to be a life of dry obedience. With prayer that is simply empty repetition to a distant cold God. I know that the government of heaven is built on intercession, (Jesus lives to intercede and so does the Spirit)….I know there is heavenly power and majesty in intercession initiated by God himself, flowing through and integral to the fabric of the Trinity. I know that is where the longings and groanings of God are expressed as He looks upon the state of all He created, those He loves more than we can understand. I know I am to enter into that reality and partner with Him in His intercession. I know I am to be directly responsible for laboring for the salvation of souls and taking part in extending His kingdom on earth in power, moving angels and demons… But I am weak, and dull. Lacking power and desire. I need hunger, and a clearer and higher vision.

There are a few scriptures that stick out to me, calling me higher:

Luke 3:16 “ I baptize you with water, but there is another coming, who is mightier than I, who will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.”

Gal 2:20 “ I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…”

Phil 3:10 “ That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death”

I want to be like Him in His death, with His fullness living in me so that I can partner with Him in His ministry of intercession for that which is on His heart. I want to be gripped with what grips Him. I want to enter into the labor He labors for. I want to hear what the Spirit is communicating about the deep things in His heart.

Therefore I see that I am in great need!!! So, I am contending for the full habitation of God in my life. I need the Holy Spirit to take over my spirit, my soul and my flesh, to posses my whole being. I need fire from heaven to consume me. I know that this means that I need to be completely dead. It is a 100% death warrant. I can only die to those things the Lord shines His light on (everything else is hidden until He does), but I need to die to 100% of the things He reveals.   There is obedience in my life, but these last percentages I am holding out on must go. There are just some areas I like to hold on to, they “comfort me”…areas in my thought life, with my mouth, with my eyes….OK, maybe more that a few percentage points…. :-) but I must die to all of it. What else am I living for?

I want this full habitation of God that He speaks of, but I am so weak. I want to be known by You, to be called a friend of God, to know the longings of Your heart. To share in your pain and suffering. I know you are looking for friends to share your Life with. Here I am. Please fill me with the hunger I will need to go after You.