The House of Prayer
7 Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar;
For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:7
The Lord Jesus Christ is looking for a place to live, a place where He can dwell, not just a place to visit. He wants to come and make His dwelling among us until His church, His body is called a House of Prayer
Wherever you find night and day prayer ascending to the Father, that's the place Jesus is going to be found. This not only brings great joy and delight to the Father's heart, but it will be enjoyable for His people as well. Enjoyable prayer is coming to a church near you! And God will be the source and sustainer of this joy. Here are some features of enjoyable prayer:
. It's rooted in the assurance that God not only loves you but also enjoys you!
· It's throne-room-centered prayer flowing out of the beautiful realm of God prayed by lovesick worshippers who see God as their very great reward! It's prayer that finds its true reward in Him, not just in revival, miracles, or healing, but in Him as we see Him in His indescribable beauty.
2 In that day the Branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious;
And the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and appealing
For those of Israel who have escaped.
Isaiah 4:2
17 Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will see the land that is very far off.· Its prayer based on His holiness, flowing from the throne room. It has abandoned every dark way and crooked thought. The enemy stands accusing the brethren day and night, and those accusations must be answered by night and day intercession! The church must stand before the Father in agreement. This night and day agreement will topple the strongholds of the enemy over our hearts, churches, and nation. We are the house that Jesus built, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it! The church must be a house of prayer, a prayer center for all nations. As we pray around the clock, just watch as the harvest comes in and the Great Commission is fulfilled!
A HABITAT FOR DIVINITY
From heaven's throne room, we must build a habitat for divinity! As the city church invites God to dwell in their region, the life and glory of Jesus will come. As we partner with the Lord Himself, God's highest purposes for our cities and nations will be realized. The church in each city will become a divine stronghold, a place where God's manifest presence is established. For the Lord has a burden to rivet His presence to the earth in twenty-four-hour-a-day prayer centers. These habitats for divinity will release a continuum of God's radiant presence over regions and territories of the earth.
Divine strongholds will one day be known as places where the Lord's power is manifested in healing, regional unity, extraordinary signs and wonders, and worldwide harvest. The Lord has promised to rebuild David's fallen tent, the twenty-four-hour prayer model that began on Mount Zion with an unveiled ark and God in David's backyard! This prayer model will be recaptured in the end times, and churches will fill up with worshippers and intercessory gatherings in all the major cities of the world.
Imagine what will happen when we begin a ministry on earth that's modeled after the ministry. There are twenty-four elders mentioned in Revelation 4 and 5, and there are twenty-four hours in a day and twenty-four time zones around the earth. Global worship and intercession will release global harvest as we cover the earth with praise and fill the golden bowls of heaven with fragrant incense. Worship in the high place will move outward, releasing victory and triumph to the earth! Does your heart leap with joy over joining such an orchestra of worship?
WATCH AND PRAY
Words relating to watching-such as watchmen, watchman, watch, watching, watchful, watcher, and watches-are found 165 times in the Scriptures. Jesus tells us to watch and pray, implying that watching and praying would be distinct but similar activities. Every believer has the ministry of one who is to watch and pray. God is the one who has divinely set this before us. It's God's will to raise up faithful watchmen and to set them in place as holy sentinels for His purposes. You must become one who watches for the Lord. We're His divinely posted lookouts who will see the enemy before he attacks. We'll be those who catch the first glimpses of the Lord as He approaches His people with revival. The cities of our land and the nations of the earth are waiting for these God-appointed watchmen to take their place. Our charge from Isaiah 62 is simply this:
· Give yourself no rest. Don't stop until the answer comes.
· Give Him no rest. We must wrestle in prayer until God lets you "pin Him down."
Our intercession is to be persistent, deter- mined, intense, energetic, and prevailing. As God's secretaries, we remind Him of His appointments. We come before Him night and day on behalf of God's people. And the understanding of salvation is released as we pray and keep watch for the nations. Fiery, holy intercession must be the pattern of our lives. We are to be those who make up the hedge and build up the wall in a time of battle.
, we learn from this that God expects somebody to stand in the gap and rescue the oppressed-to come before Him pleading the people's case. And He is surprised when this doesn't happen. If there's no intercessor, evil and judgment may fall. Intercession turns back evil and makes a hedge of protection around the people.
The Word doesn't say that God looked for an evangelist or a pastor; He looked for an intercessor! Our God is so eager to hear your prayers and answer them that He says
In fact, He wants us to constantly come before Him and "give Him no rest." He so loves being asked by His longing church that He sets people on the wall and appoints them to "never be silent day or night!" God the Father is the watchman who keeps watch over the cities, nations, and peoples of the earth
He watches over His Word to perform it
He watches over the destinies of His beloved ones
15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”16 Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.” 17 And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!”
He watches over the heavens and the earth to assure that all is going according to His plan.
14 From the place of His dwelling He looksOn all the inhabitants of the earth; Psalms 33:14
He watches us when we are hurt and need a miracle
There is no watchman like God Himself! Every wise watchman on earth has an example in Father God. We can be watchmen because He is watching! We are created in His image. And He is the chief watchman!
We find many different watchmen in the Scriptures. The Magi that came to Jesus at His birth were watchmen. They were watching the heavens for a sign. The shepherds who were watching over their flocks by night were a prophetic sign of the watchman, the Shepherd-King who would come and keep watch over His flock. And today He is calling His pastor-shepherds to keep the night watch as they guard the precious flock of Jesus.Simeon and Anna were watching for the coming of the Lord as His parents brought Jesus to the temple to be dedicated to God. They were intercessors who fasted and prayed for eyes to see God's eternal purpose as it was brought before their eyes. What a great privilege it was for them to see and hold the baby Jesus as they gazed into the eyes of the God-Man. At twelve years of age, Jesus was a watchman who had to be in His "Father's house"
Jesus spent His life watching the Father and doing only what He saw the Father doing. He spent nights in prayer and days in prayer. He had fellowship and communion with the one who meant the most to Him, the Father. Jesus was the Watchman the Father looked for. Jesus was the one who would build the wall and stand before Him in the gap.
Jesus was the one who interceded and intervened on behalf of you and me. As we follow in His steps, we too will become watchmen on the wall. The Lord Jesus is still wanting disciples to come alongside Him to spend a night in prayer, just as He did with Peter, James, and John in the garden of Gethsemane: "Stay here and keep watch with me"
Jesus could sleep in a boat on a troubled sea, but in the garden, it was time to watch and pray. Jesus' eyes were so much on the Father, He could not be distracted by a spirit of slumber. Jesus laid awake all night to pray. He is coming to you and me to help us stay alert so that we can watch with Him until He comes as a bridegroom.
