Justin Rizzo's blog

The sleep of death

Posted on July 12, 2011 - 11:37am
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"Enlighten my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death” (Ps. 13:3)

Right now you are very muh awake. Your using your eyes to read each letter that I wrote which your brain is automatically turning into words as your brain is instantly recalling words from the thousands stored up in the word bank of your brain. You’re following the flow of my writing as I’m using words to form sentences, and sentences to form paragraphs of completed thoughts.

But do you know that even as you’re reading this and your externally senses are awake it’s still very possible for you to be asleep in the place that it matters most? Your heart.

The List (Prayer list part #2)

Posted on July 8, 2011 - 10:54pm
in

"The List" (this is part two from my earlier post) 
You’ve cleared your schedule. You’ve set aside this time. You’ve gotten everything done that you needed to do and you finally sit down to pray. You close your eyes and there is silence. It’s you…. and the Lord? A few minutes pass by. It’s still silent. Lord? Are you there? The thoughts begin to go through your brain, “Why am I not feeling anything?” “Why am I not feeling His presence like I did yesterday during my prayer time?” 

Onething LIVE: Before His Eyes

Posted on June 27, 2011 - 8:32pm
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“onething LIVE - Before His eyes”was recorded LIVE in December 2010 in downtown Kansas City.

My team has one track on this CD called “Living for another age”. This song was written back in 2008 during one of my Saturday 8am sets in the prayer room and is a very personal song to me because of the season I was in when I wrote it. We all have times in our lives when circumstances in the natural force us to cling to eternity because we have nothing else left to hold onto. I’ve prayed and sung this song hundreds of times in the past four years asking the Lord to help me truly live as a pilgrim and a stranger in this life abandoned to Him and Him alone. I pray that this song becomes as personal of a prayer to your heart as it has to mine. 

CD is available for pre-order on July 4th and releases on July 12th on ITUNES

Two worship movements

Posted on June 27, 2011 - 7:34am
in

We have all heard sermons on worship, we’ve read books, we’ve seen shirts that say “created to worship,” and in the past ten years we’ve more than likely seen our favorite Christian artist release a worship CD. You could say that in the past ten years we’ve witnessed a worship revolution. 

I believe this is a sign of the times in and of itself and is speaking of the day of the Lord when Philippians 2 will be fulfilled - “Every knee bowing and every tongue confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord.” The agenda of the Father and the Holy Spirit is to see that Jesus is given the worship that’s due Him (Col. 1:18). 

With all that being said I want to look at a passage that mentions the word ‘worship’ five times, Revelation chapter 13.

The Journey of Prayer (Prayer list part #1)

Posted on June 15, 2011 - 1:00am
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Whether you’re new to prayer, or whether you’ve done it for years, there are those days when it just feels so hard! Of course there are many reasons why this can be, but I’m stirred this morning to share one of the main reasons I’ve found prayer to be hard for myself over the years. It’s gonna sound weird at first, but one of the main reasons prayer was hard for me was because I didn't have structure to my prayer time. Now, lest we begin crying out “legalism!” let me explain.

A deep prayer life is something that is not easily gained. Of course everyone can pray. But not everyone has the sustaining will power to continue praying for months and years. Therefore prayer is something that we must continue to labor in and press into for the long haul. So that means even when I don’t feel His presence, I must keep praying on a daily basis.

They're all gettin' it from Him

Posted on May 30, 2011 - 11:32am
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The biggest glimpse that we’re given into the throne of God is found in Revelation chapter four. Many will be familiar with this chapter but if you’ve never read it I encourage you to do so now before you continue reading. Upon reading Revelation chapter four we find several things that are described about God’s throne and what’s going on around the throne:

Upcoming conference in Edmonton Canada

Posted on May 16, 2011 - 9:41am
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Wes Martin, myself and a whole team from IHOP-KC will be ministering at this conference June 10-12, 2011.

This is the second time I'll be ministering at this event hosted by the House of prayer Edmonton  (HOPE). They have an amazing team of people who love Jesus and are committed to prayer and seeing revival come to Edmonton and the surrounding region.

Please pray that there would be many hearts touched and changed by the worship and preachings times during this conference. 

See pictures from last years conference here
 

"From Patmos" recap

Posted on May 16, 2011 - 9:28am
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Directing the band during one of the nine performances

 

Fasting is foolish

Posted on February 2, 2011 - 7:13am
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The (so called)foolishness of God is wiser than man’s (so called)wisdom, and the (so called)weakness of God is stronger than mans (so called)strength…God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the strong (1 Cor. 1:25, 27)

Fasting is not one of the spiritual practices that you do if you’re one of the “super radicals.” Fasting is what is supposed to be done by every single believer. Jesus talked about fasting in the Sermon on the Mount as something that everyone is supposed to do regularly. Not just when you need an answer to prayer, etc.

From Patmos

Posted on January 31, 2011 - 12:22pm
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I wanted to take a minute and let you know about an exciting new project that I am a part of here at IHOP. I am currently serving as the musical director of an original musical that is being produced by Joel Sorge and Forerunner Arts called ‘From Patmos’.

Told from the memory of John the Beloved while enslaved on the Island of Patmos this musical gives you a glimpse into the joys and trials experienced by some of Jesus’ closest friends and how their lives were forever changed.