Experiencing God’s Emotions in Prayer
Introductory passage: Matthew 26:36-46
What does it mean to experience God’s emotions in prayer, to be His friend in this hour?
“The things that horrified the prophets are even now daily occurrences all over the world. Indeed the sort of crimes and
even the amount of delinquency that fill the prophets of Israel with dismay do not go beyond that which we regard as
normal, as typical ingredients of social dynamics. To us a single act of injustice-cheating in business, exploitation of the
poor-is slight; to the prophets, a disaster. We rarely grow indigignant or overly excited while to the prophets even a
minor injustice assumes cosmic proportions.” (Heschel, “The Prophets” Pgs. 3,4)
Hear this, you who trample upon the needy, and bring the porr of the land to an end, saying: “When will the new moon
be over that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small
and the shekel great, and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a
pair of sandals, and sell the refuse of the wheat?”. The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I WILL NEVER
FORGET ANY OF THEIR WORKS. SHALL THE LAND NOT TREMBLE FOR THIS AND EVERYONE MOURN WHO
DWELLS IN IT? (Amos 8:5-8)
“The prophet’s words are outbursts of violent emotions. His rebuke is harsh and relentless. But if such deep sensitivity to
evil is to be called hysterical, what name should be given to the abysmal indifference to evil which the prophet bewails?
Our eyes are witness to the callousness and cruelty of man, but our heart tries to obliterate the memories, to calm the
nerves, and to silence our conscience. The prophet is a man who feels fiercely. God has thrust a burden upon his soul,
and he is bowed and stunned at man’s fierce greed. Frightful is the agony of man; no human voice can convey its full
terror. Prophecy is the voice that God has lent to the silent agony, a voice to the plundered poor, to the profaned riches
of the world. It is a form of living, a crossing point of God and man. God is raging through the prophet’s words.”
(Heschel, Pgs. 5,6)
“My heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man
whom wine has overcome, because of the Lord, and because of His holy words. For the land is full of adulterers; for
because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil,
and their might is not right.” (Jeremiah 23:9,10)
I. BEARING UP UNDER THE WEIGHT OF COMING JUDGMENT
O my soul, my soul! I am pained in my very heart! My heart makes a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you
have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried, for the whole
land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, and my curtains in a moment. How long will I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet? (Jeremiah 4:19-21)
“They (the prophets) suggest a disquietude sometimes amounting to agony. Yet there are interludes when one perceives
an eternity of love hovering over moments of anguish; at the bottom there is light, fascination, but above the whole soar
thunder and lightening. His one not only with what he says; he is involved with his people in what his words foreshadow.
This is the secret of the prophet’s style: his life and soul are at stake in what he says and in what is going to happen to
what he says.” (Heschel, P.7)
1 Alive to the pain of the inevitable judgment.
2 Painfully longing for conditional judgment to be averted.
3 Pain for human suffering in judgment
*A child’s definition of the burden of the Lord: it’s a heavy weight that makes you have to walk slower than everyone else
because you are having to work for it. You have to work to carry the burden of the Lord, and you sweat and you walk
slower than everyone else and they think you are weird. (from a 7 year old kid I met)
II. COMMANDED/INVADED/INTERRUPTED LIFESTYLE
A. Marriage invaded one way or the other
1. Hosea : a marriage invaded by divine love and wounding
Go, take yourself a wife of harlotry and children of harlotry, for the land has committed great harlotry by departing
from the Lord. (Hos 1:2)Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery JUST LIKE the
love of the Lord for the children of Israel, who look to other gods (Hos 3:1)
2. Jeremiah: called to celibacy as a warning of impending judgment
You shall not take a wife nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. For thus says the Lord concerning the sons
and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning their mothers…and their fathers….they shall die gruesome
deaths (Jer 16:2-4)
B. Social Life Massively Affected and Invaded Jeremiah
- Celibate
- Cannot go to funerals (Jer 16:5)
(1) Cannot grieve for those who die whether family or not
(2) Cannot go, lament, or bemoan
(3) For the Lord has taken his peace from the people
- Cannot go to any parties (Jer 16:8)
(1) Cannot go, sit with them, to eat and drink
(2) For the Lord will cause the voice of joy to cease in the future and His friend must embrace this now
-He must take sides with God and let only those who turn come to him in intimate relationship (Jer 15: 19,20)
(1) Let them return to you, but you must not return to them.
(2) I will make you as a fortified bronze wall to this people
*See Ezekiel, Hosea as well as the apostle Paul for further illustrations of lifestyle disruption and possession.
III. LIVING UNDER THE DIVINE PATHOS: ZEAL FOR THE COVENANT
Elijah said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God o fhosts; because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant,
torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword” 1Kgs. 19:14
Divine injection of Love, Jealousy and Zeal overcome the friends of the Bridegroom as they plead, cry out, weep, shout
and rage with the Words that flow from Holy Love. Paul experienced this as a continual travailing and laboring for souls
and a Divine impartation of God’s affections that caused him to suffer when one was called to stumble and to intercede
with emotions set ablaze in suffering/sacrificial love. Every friend of God that has gone before us has drunk from this
river of fire that proceeds from the Throne of God called, “His Zeal for the Marriage Covenant!”
IV. INHERENT ALONENESS AND SUFFERING OF THE PROPHETIC CALL
A. Daniel says “I alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision; but a great terror fell
upon them, so that they fled to hide themselves. (Dan 10:6) and then again in verse 7, “Therefore I was left alone when
I saw this great vision, and no strength retained in me…”
B. Jeremiah says, “I sat alone because of Your hand, for you have filled me with indignation. Why is my pain
perpetual and my wound incurable?”(Jer15)
C. The feeling of loneliness that came with the burden was go great for Elijah that he stumbled into actually
thinking he was the “only one”. This was a lie that led him into false isolation and fear of the enemy. (1Kgs 19:14,
Rom 11:1)
IV. KEYS TO CULTIVATING A SENSITIVTY TO THE BURDEN OF THE LORD
1 SILENCE Lam 3:27-33, 1Cor 12-14
2 Having done all STAND Jn 3:29, Eph 6:13, 14, 1kings 17:1, 2kings 3:14
3 Let His WORDS be your Delight Jer 15:16, Jn 3:29
4 The Sweetness of BELONGING TO HIM no matter what Jer 15:16
5 Embrace the burden as your gift! Jn 17, Jer 23
6 Lock into Jesus’ three desires in John 17 as your life calling (with Him, see Him, love Him)
7 Be STRENGTHENED by recognizing the prophetic burden in others
8 Follow the footsteps of the flock, follow the shepherds the Lord gives you (SOS 1:8)
9 NEVER STOP INTERCEDING! Ex 34:9 Jer 27:18 let them now make intercession
10 Mention often the lovingkindness of the Lord Is 63:7
What will be our fate if we want to try to be prophetic but not be ready for the mourning lifestyle?
Jeremiah 5:12 They have lied about the Lord and said, “It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, nor shall we see sword
or famine. And the prophets become wind, for the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them. Therefore thus
says the Lord God of hosts: Because you speak this word, Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this
people wood, and it shall devour them.
Jeremiah 23: 21 I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
26 How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of
their own heart who try to make My people forget My name their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their
fathers forgot My name for Baal.
Ezekiel 13:3 Woe to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing! 5 You have not gone up
into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the Lord. 6They have envisioned
futility and false divination, saying, “Thus says the Lord!” But the Lord has not sent them; yet they hope that the word
may be confirmed.9 My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in
the assembly of My people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter in to the land of
Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord God.
Ezekiel 13:10-15 Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, “Peace!” when there is no peace
and one builds a wall, and they plaster I with untempered mortar-say to those who plaster it with untempered mortar-
it will fall…..13 Therefore thus says the Lord God…I WILL BREAK DOWN THE WALL…I will accomplish My wrath on
the wall and on those who have plastered it.
On September 29th, 2002. I was in my room praying at around 7:00 Sunday night when I was gripped by the
presence of the Lord and a vision.
[This vision returned gripping me over and over again throughout this visitation with the Lord]
RECURRING ‘TURN’ VISION:
I see myself on an enormous cruise liner boat. There was no one else on the deck (top) with me. I was the only one standing
there. Its heading right into a massive storm/whirlwind/hurricane. I dive out into the stormy water and swim towards the
front and I am trying to turn the entire boat myself, I am yelling TURN, TURN, TURN! I felt so small but the labor was
upon me.
A spirit of preaching and intercession came on me. I started shouting “Turn” to IHOP and preaching, “If you do not feel
yourself rebelling and resisting the general flow of the direction YOU and others around you have taken then you are
not following the Lord. If you desire to be on the right side of the Judge TURN! IF you are not causing others around
you to change/alter their direction…you are not a forerunner. FOR THIS IS THE CALL! The job of our house this: to
ourselves turn, then our city, nation, western church, nations….CAUSE THEM TO TURN. Are you standing in the
counsels of the Lord? Have you turned? Are people turning around you?”. I went from preaching to intercession
all there in my room related to the House of Prayer.
>2 Kings 17:13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying,
"Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded
your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets."
>Jer 23:14 Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies;
They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like
Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
>Jer 23:22 But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned
them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings.
VISION OF TWO TORCHES:
I immediately saw the Lord. Fire was all around Him and He Himself was a flame of fire. He was the Angel of the Lord.
Lightning shot out of His face and eyes. Out of His mouth came a sword of light. Lightning was flashing everywhere.
He was carrying two burning torches one in each hand. Lightning was flashing everywhere and I hit the ground and
started screaming. Then He shouted at me,
STAND AND DELIVER!
Give THIS to the people!
(as if in response to a request like ‘the people wanted something from God, well give this to them) As He said this He
thrust the two torches inside of me. One was the First commandment and the other was the Fear of the Lord.
They seem a little foreign don’t they?
Yes, like two foreigners in the land
(because they are virtually non-existent)
Without these
(in every division of FOTB: school, prophecy, conferences etc)
you WILL be just like the rest and I will turn my face against you
>>Ezek 14:6-9 Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. 7 For anyone of the
house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart
and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me,
I the LORD will answer him by Myself. 8 I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will
cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
I understood the simplicity and harshness of what He was saying. Its not too mysterious (Deut 30) we either have these
two (fear and love) shining or not. If we do then He is with us, if we do not than He is against us. Its not a question of
salvation but instead it is a question of His activity as the Judge: partnering with Him or being broken by Him. If we have
these two lamps we are on His team if we do not we become exactly like the other religious systems in this nation that He
is fighting against. The current is heading for destruction…turn!)
break down your walls
>Ezek 13:9-16
9 My hand will be against the prophets who envision futility and who divine lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My
people, nor be written in the record of the house of Israel, nor shall they enter into the land of Israel. Then you shall
know that I am the Lord GOD. 10 Because, indeed, because they have seduced My people, saying, 'Peace!' when
there is no peace--and one builds a wall, and they plaster it with untempered mortar-- 11 say to those who plaster
it with untempered mortar, that it will fall. There will be flooding rain, and you, O great hailstones, shall fall; and a stormy
wind shall tear it down. 12 Surely, when the wall has fallen, will it not be said to you, 'Where is the mortar with which you
plastered it?' " 13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: "I will cause a stormy wind to break forth in My fury; and there
shall be a flooding rain in My anger, and great hailstones in fury to consume it. 14 So I will break down the wall you
have plastered with untempered mortar, and bring it down to the ground, so that its foundation will be uncovered;
it will fall, and you shall be consumed in the midst of it. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. 15 Thus will I accomplish
My wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it with untempered mortar; and I will say to you, 'The wall is no
more, nor those who plastered it, 16 that is, the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and who see
visions of peace for her when there is no peace,' " says the Lord GOD.
and shatter the fruit of your labors.
>Ex 23:16-17 the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.
>Deut 28:14-15,33
14 So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right hand or to the left, to go
after other gods to serve them. 15 "But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to
observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today,33 A nation whom you have not
known shall eat the fruit of your land and the produce of your labor, and you shall be only oppressed and crushed
continually.
GO AHEAD, be like the rest…if you desire.
I cried and said,
Oh NO God, this is not our desire! We desire you O God!
Oh look upon this house with mercy!
RELATED TO THE FEAR OF THE LORD:
WHEN will you realize with one heart and one mind,
That you are living in the land of my judgment?!?
I have set my face against this nation and
I WILL NOT RELENT!!!!
>Jer 4:28 Because I have spoken I have purposed and will not relent, Nor will I turn back from it.
>Ezek 24:14 It shall come to pass, and I will do it;I will not hold back, Nor will I spare, Nor will I relent;
>Ezek 12:28 Thus says the Lord God; None of My words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done
I changed the atmosphere on September 11th…DOES ANY ONE FEEL IT?
DOES ANY ONE PERCEIVE IT?
>Jer 23:18 For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His
word and heard it?
>Acts 27:10 saying, "Men, I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship,
but also our lives."
>Isa 6:9 And He said, "Go, and tell this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do
not perceive.'
BEHOLD, I SET BEFORE YOU THIS DAY
> Deut 30 See, I have set before you life and death…choose life…love the Lord your God, obey His voice, cling to Him!
>Deut 30:15/Deut 11:26-29 See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil…in that I command you today
to love the Lord your God…Behold, I set before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the
commandments of the LORD your God which I command you today; 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the
commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way which I command you today, to go after other
gods which you have not known.
>Jer 21:8 "Now you shall say to this people, 'Thus says the LORD: "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the
way of death
BEHOLD, I have made known to you my desire
(accountability…we have heard, we should know better)
NOW WILL YOU KEEP MY WORD?
*I believe that the Lord was speaking of our calling to Deut 30. Our calling to the One Thing that He has already
made His desire known to us meaning He has already formed us. We know the DNA that He has called us to have.
Will we keep His word?
>2 Chron 34:21 "Go, inquire of the LORD for me, and for those who are left in Israel and Judah, concerning the words
of the book that is found; for great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not
kept the word of the LORD, to do according to all that is written in this book."
Will I find you burning with the fire of faith: love and trembling?
>Luke 18:7-8 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?
8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?"
RECURRING “TURN” VISION AGAIN:
I went back into the gripping the “turn” vision again and I began to understand that our House’s commission is to “TURN”
the people. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart as I was caught up in the vision, Shelley, the true voices will labor to
TURN the people, change the direction!
This is how you measure success in your life, have you turned? Have you turned others?
The voice of the Lord came strongly again as I was weeping and groaning on the ground.
IF they had stood in my counsel,
and had caused My people to hear My words,
THEN they would have TURNED the people!
Directly quoted from Jer 23:18-20,22
For who has stood in the counsel of the LORD, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and
heard it? 19 Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD has gone forth in fury--A violent whirlwind!It will fall violently on the head
of the wicked.
20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the
latter days you will understand it perfectly 22 But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear
My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.
RELATED TO FIRST COMMANDMENT:
Then I felt the presence of the Lord change and I was able to look up from the floor where I was laying prostrate. He
was weeping and He had His hand extended. I felt His meekness and His mercy.
Come to me oh weak ones
Come…come to me…I will gather you up,
>Matthew 11:28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. NKJV
>Matt 23:37-38 How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,
but you were not willing!
I will teach you.
You deny my power to transform you by your
Undue/unrelenting focus on your weakness.
Oh come!
I can make you just like me, you can be changed,
Your wounds ARE NOT incurable!
>Jer 15:18 Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me
like an unreliable stream,
As waters that fail?(I think Jesus quoted this passage because He was correcting this type of attitude in the prophetic.
This verse comes from what is referred to as the ‘complaints of Jeremiah’ and the Lord corrects him for it)
I am the Lord (2x)
He said this with so much meekness!
VISION #1
I saw our IHOP staff. He was standing at the front of the prayer room saying,
WHO WILL STAND AND BE NUMBERED WITH THE RIGHTEOUS?
I knew that it was not enough to be counted among IHOP staff. Within our midst (the dedicated prayer types) stand
and make yourself known to the Lord.
Do you desire to be changed?
>Proverbs 2 :1-5cry out, lift up your voice…find the knowledge of God
Jesus handed out new ID cards to all those who stood. It was a new identity that they were receiving.
>Mal 3:16-17 Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, And the LORD listened and heard them; So a book of
remembrance was written before Him For those who fear the LORD And who meditate on His name. "They shall be Mine," says
the LORD of hosts,
"On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him."
>while giving this word to IHOP on Tuesday when I got to this part in the visitation, the Lord showed me that these people
were closet forerunners that needed to come forth and that I was the #1 guilty one in this area. It was at this point in
sharing the word that I began to weep and cry out “I turn, I turn, for I have known that this is the hour of His judgment
yet I have remained silent. I will not be silent any more! I do not care about the cost in my personal relationships I
repent for not living out of what I know to be true and for hiding the fact that He has gripped me. Its not just about
Mike proclaiming the forerunner message and us agreeing in hiding, I AM COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET AS A
FORERUNNER FROM THIS DAY FORTH! I know what I was created for and I know what time it is and I will stand,
I will turn. I repent to this house for my silence and for trying to tone down the reality of who I am before the Lord
and for acting like I am not gripped when I AM GRIPPED! I AM UNDONE! I know full well that I am the weakest one
in this house, but I am drawing a line in the sand today that I am taking my place with Mike as one who is called to
TURN the people! I will not sit back and watch Him be a voice of this message while I remain in the closet hiding.
I am asking all those who will hear to TURN with me. No matter what the cost to your personal relationships or what
you see as your weakness and disqualification, you know who you are and you know what time it is. TURN! TURN!
TURN! And TURN THE PEOPLE! JUDGMENT IS COMING!”
[RECURRING “TURN” VISION]
VISION #2
Jesus at a board meeting, smiling he turns the tables over. People shifting from position. People in hiding being called out.
Jesus pointed to new plans, picked people up and set them in chairs.
VISION #3
I saw perfume being poured out over our entire house. I knew that it was the Spirit of devotion being poured out on the
staff. It was perfume that was fragrant but it was also lighter fluid, highly flammable and ignitable. It drenched the staff.
VISION #4
I saw the Lord pull the floor out from under us, we became a supernatural people. I knew this was the release of signs
and wonders. The Lord said,
Now, do you believe in signs and wonders?
This was the end of the encounter.
*I pray that each of you reading this would increase in the Fear of the Lord and the Love of God. I also pray that God
would raise up a company of prophetic messengers whose words would turn people away from sin and back to the love
of God. I pray that we would be content to speak the simple and biblical words that turn people to God while we live out
the Sermon on the Mount values under the prophetic anointing and seek to prepare the earth for His coming!
God bless you, Shelley Hundley