Yes, Cory and Matt have finally come out with their CD, "Holy". So many of you have hit my blog or my site by googling for them, so I figured I would post the news about their CD :)

I was one of the leaders in Cory's internship, and Matt was in my internship here at IHOP-KC back in 2004. I love these guys. Their CD is a clear and pure reflection of how they carry their hearts before the Lord in the secret place.

It's available here from the IHOP MP3 store or on iTunes.

Hope you enjoy it!

PS: And so you know, not to be offensive or anything, but Cory is married, and Matt Gilman will not marry you. :)

This post is continuing a series on my blog entitled "Prophetic Musician Interviews". Today's thoughts are from Justin Rizzo, a worship leader here at IHOP. I play keys for Justin's worship team, and I'm privileged to be able to post some of his thoughts.

Josh: Hey Justin. I know you would agree that there is a war raging in the spirit realm today through the common language of music. Just as we see the Satanic movement being raised up, we are entering into a time in history when the Holy Spirit is specifically setting apart musicians like never before. Give us some of your thoughts on what the Lord is doing on the earth today, and how you posture your heart as a worship leader leading musicians in the Lord's worship movement.

Justin: For so long we have settled for simply listening to the ‘other guy’ and playing whatever they play. But in this day and hour God is giving many musicians a higher vision and releasing the cry within them, “There must be more than what I’ve known.”

Around God’s throne in heaven we are told that there is lighting, thunder, and voices which are proceeding from His throne (Rev. 4). There are four living creatures and the twenty-four elders who never stop crying out, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” They are not robotically programmed to say, “Holy.” They are saying it because they are constantly seeing new expressions of God and fresh waves of His glory are being released. My point is that God is the creator of all sound and all music and He is not lacking in new ways to express Himself.

One of the primary ways that I believe the understanding and expression of Christianity is going to change in this generation is through musicians (and singers) who consecrate their ears and watch what they feed their spirits, and also those who are faithful in cultivating their life in the Spirit. More and more I am hearing about musicians who are shutting out other musical influences because they want the influence of heaven upon their playing. There is such dissatisfaction with what they’ve known and they are committed to spending time playing their instrument before the Lord and communing with the Holy Spirit. I have experienced times when the Holy Spirit is breathing upon a musician as they play and I am convinced that these times happen as a result of the hours spent before Him alone at home in their rooms; playing before Him when no one else is watching. (Isa. 42:10-13)  read more »

This is another post in my "Prophetic Musician Interviews" series. Today's interview is part 2 with Francisco "Paco" Arteaga, a drummer here at the house of prayer. If you haven't read the first one with Francisco, read it here.

Josh: Hey Paco, glad you're able to continue giving us more of your thoughts on prophetic music and drumming. You gave us some great tips on what you do to connect with the Lord while playing a worship set, but do you think there are any lifestyle practices we can walk in to cultivate the spirit of prophecy on our music?

Paco: Totally. The most important thing as a musician who loves Jesus is to have first things first; to love God with all our heart (1st Commandment, Matthew 22:37). We cultivate a spirit of prophecy as we cultivate a life of intimacy with Jesus and walk out the Sermon on the Mount. The two things (prophetic playing and a life in God) are not separate issues to me. It’s not like pursuing to be a prophetic musician is over here in one corner and a life in God is over there in the other. There are both in the same, and you cannot take one from the other. Our pursuit of cultivating a spirit of prophecy is in context with loving God with all our hearts, mind, soul and strength. If we have this as our number one priority, I can assure you, you will play different than before. I look back at seasons of my life when this was not my number one priority and things were hard. I began to complain and got angry over small things - and worst of all my heart was dull, not tender, before the Lord. I got in a routine of doing "the thing".  read more »

This is another post in my "Prophetic Musician Interviews" series. If you haven't read the first one with Gabriel Hancock, be sure to check it out, and be sure to check out the next one with Jordan Vanderplate here. Today's interview is with Francisco "Paco" Arteaga, a drummer here at the house of prayer. Paco and I used to play together with Todd Ganovski before he moved to Nashville to help with the house of prayer there. Paco has most recently been playing for Misty Edwards, one of the main worship leaders here at IHOP.

Josh: Hey Paco, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us. Before we jump in, give us a little of your story.

Paco: I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and moved to the states when I was about 12 years old, first landed in Michigan then moved Orlando, Florida. There was when my parents heard Mike Bickle preaching about the house of prayer at a conference and that’s when they decided to move to KC. My parents moved us to Kansas City around 8 years ago to join IHOP. I didn’t like it at all at first, but after a couple of months I began to see what was happening here and my little world changed. I did the very first Fire in the Night Internship (I got saved there, no joke). I tried to go to college after the internship for about a year to get degree in either music or culinary arts (I couldn’t make up my mind) but that was re-routed by God because He had a different plan for me. I've been here at the House of Prayer full time ever since. In June 2005 I got married to my beautiful wife Liesl and now we're about to celebrate our 3 year anniversary. Time is flying by! I’ve been playing drums now for about 8 years and my favorite thing in the whole wide world is “Reggaeton” music; that beat just never gets old to me even after 15+ years of every song using the same beat (just kidding)...  read more »

This post is continuing a series called "Prophetic Musician Interviews". If you haven't yet read part one of Gabriel's interview, make sure you check it out.

Josh: Gabe, how do you keep things fresh for you and for those worshipping with you day after day? And are there any other thoughts you want to pass along to your fellow drummers?

Gabriel: As a drummer, I find it so easy to get caught up in the pursuit of the next cool drum lick. Or even worse, simply checking out and falling into cruise control. Lately I have been feeling the weight of what the Lord desires to do through music and rhythms.

It takes much more energy to communion with the Holy Spirit and seek to communicate what is on the heart of the Lord then to try to fall into a pocket. (A pocket being a tight groove.)

But I believe that the Lord is calling musicians to ask for melodies and rhythms from heaven. These melodies and rhythms will bring forth healing and deliverance.

Drums have always been an instrument used for communication dating back to the ancient tribes. Even those in the world know this and recognize its power to communicate to people. The problem is that apart from the word of the Lord, this communication is infinitely shallow. The highest vision is to simply communicate to folks that it is time to dance and be happy or stressed.  read more »

This is my second post in my "Prophetic Musician Interviews" series. If you haven't read the first one with Gabriel Hancock, be sure to check it out. I'm so privileged to have Jordan Vanderplate be a part of today's interview. Jordan plays with me on Justin Rizzo's worship team as our electric guitar player. We both used to play with Marcus Meier and Tim Reimherr's worship team (Merchant Band) last year.

Josh: So you've been playing guitar for a while now, and you've been a musician at IHOP longer than I have. You've been through ups and downs, many "good" sets and many "bad" sets, and several different worship teams. What keeps you going? How do you stay engaged and keep your heart connected to the Lord?

Jordan: When I'm on stage I simply think about the fact that It's just me Jesus there alone and I sing in the Spirit as I'm playing. So many times I get distracted and weighed down by the cares of life especially when I'm on stage but then I remind myself that God is so worthy of praise and so much greater and stronger than any of my problems so I need to just give Him my anxieties and worship Him. Especially when I'm on stage and leading people in prophetic worship and intercession I must remember that I'm standing in a place of authority and I have the an anointing to prophesy through music.  read more »

This is the first post in my new series “Prophetic Musician Interviews”. Today’s interview is part 1 with Gabriel Hancock, a fellow full-time missionary here at IHOP. Gabriel plays drums on Jon Thurlow’s worship team here in the prayer room.

Josh: So tell us a little bit about yourself. How long have you been playing the drums?


Gabriel: I have been playing drums for about 14 years. Some of those years I have played more consistently than others. I played in a band for 4 years and was able to tour the country right out of high school. 3 out the 4 guys in the band were Christian. I had vision to do ministry through playing music even though we never preached the Word from the platform. I would try to talk to kids about the Lord and love on them off the stage. In retrospect, I feel as though there was some ministry that took place. However at this point in my life it is clear that the Lord desires more from His musicians. I feel the Holy Spirit calling me to a higher vision than that which I once had. Music is simply too powerful to limit it to entertainment. Kids will listen to music for hours but fall asleep or check out the minute the pastor starts his message. Why do you think that is?

Josh: There’s definitely something more to music than just being a form of entertainment! As someone eagerly wanting God’s power to come forth from your music, I’m sure you would agree that the only way forward in that is to connect your heart with the Lord at a deeper level. Tell us a little about that.

Gabriel: I have heard it said before that connecting with the Lord is so simple that most people miss it. There must be a complicated formula in which to connect with the God of the universe. Thankfully the Lord is fully aware of our weakness and therefore established a method that anyone can follow regardless of skill level, gifting, health or age. All we must do is humble ourselves, quiet our hearts and simply talk to Him who holds the seven stars in His hand. To connect with the Lord off stage I will take a deep breath and say, “Holy Spirit, I love You. Thank You for Your presence.” When done throughout the day alongside gently praying in the Spirit your heart will begin to connect to the heart of God.

  read more »

Over the past year, the readership of the prophetic music posts on my blog has gone up tremendously. I really feel like the Lord is forming part of my life message as I've written on it. I've connected with several other musicians here at IHOP who have the same heart and mind when it comes to the spirit of prophecy on their music. Because there really are not that many other people writing consistently on these issues, I've decided to start a new series - "Prophetic Musician Interviews".

My goal is to give you, my reader, another voice and perspective on prophetic music at the end of the age. I'll be interviewing worship leaders, singers, and musicians from IHOP who have a heart to see the spirit of prophecy on their music and song. I'll be asking them both theological and practical questions relating to their journey into the heart of God through music.

Some of the interviews to come include ones with Gabriel Hancock, drummer for Jon Thurlow, Seth Yates, electric guitar player for Cory Asbury and Matt Gilman, and Justin Rizzo, worship leader. Keep your bookmarks handy and check back often. I hope you are encouraged by them!

In the meantime, be sure to read the rest of my posts on prophetic music.

In a 6am prayer meeting briefing late last year, my friend Joel made up the word “moracles” to describe musicians prophesying under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. At IHOP-KC, when a singer prophesies and sings over the room in a declarative way, we call it an “oracle”. Joel’s thought was “why not have a musical oracle where all of the musicians prophesy together?” We call that a “selah” in the spirit of the Psalms, but I think a “moracle” is distinctly different from a “selah” in concept. Rather than a “let’s pause and meditate on what this was saying” contemplative posture, a “moracle” is a declarative prophecy from one or all of the musicians emphasizing something last sung or something entirely new. Music is a language in itself that has the power to transcend the cultural language barrier to touch hearts at a deeper level.

Only a few of us knew about Joel’s new word, but I had someone prophesy the very same word over me a few weeks ago. He spelled out the word “m-o-r-a-c-l-e-s” and said “does that mean anything to you?” It took me a second to realize what he was saying as well as to realize that only the Lord could have given him that word, because only two or three others knew about it. My friend Jordan was in the room and, being a part of the original conversation with Joel, instantly knew what he was talking about as well.  read more »

I love the way Jesus set up His kingdom. He makes things easy so that anyone, regardless of position, culture, race, age, or education can pursue Him. But for our fallen, darkened hearts, simplicity is often our worst enemy. The Lord operates His kingdom through principles of such simplicity that very few actually walk them out with consistency. It’s one of these simple principles that is often neglected that I want to talk about briefly. Paul writes:

“…be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.”
(Eph 5:18-21 NKJV)

He’s giving us a huge tip-off to the primary ways we release the spirit of God on our hearts. We all want to feel His presence and power on our hearts more and more. Paul is saying that if we do these things repetitively, we are increasingly filled with the Spirit at the heart level. I want to mostly address the first point Paul makes. He says “do you want a heart that’s tender, clean, washed, and receptive to the presence of God? It’s so simple. Sing.”  read more »