Tag Archives: House of Prayer

Preparing the Way for God’s Presence in Your City

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“In every revival in history we read a similar testimony. When God responded to His people by sending His presence, He didn’t just work Himself into their routine religion – He overtook them by His power and glory! He left a trail of glorious chaos in His wake – weeping, repenting, rejoicing, reconciling, changing of habits, healing of families! Nobody wondered if Jesus was involved in these meetings. There was no doubt in their minds and no lack in their hearts.” Rhonda Hughey

God wants to invade our cities with His glorious and powerful presence. He wants to overtake our lives and change our plans and routines so that they are fully in line with His purposes. As we think about the Kingdom of God and preparing the way for God’s presence, the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest test to measure our personal success. How well do we live out the 8 beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-12, and how well do we obey all of Matthew 5-7? Do we seek to obey God in every area of our life? Do we declare war on all compromise? This is the test. This is the great personal challenge we are all facing as we prepare for 24/7 prayer worldwide.

We are made for personal holiness and to intimately know God.        

This is what is so fantastic about a House of Prayer. God begins to change you, and you begin to prioritize prayer in a way you have never done before or even imagined possible. Prayer begins to take center stage in your life. We experienced this at our 24/7 House of Prayer in Spain. Prayer suddenly became a priority. God began to deal with our lives – our speech, our time, our money, our relationships, and everything. There was an internal calling in God to love and follow Him with all our heart. God wanted our hearts and a life of complete obedience so that we would be perfect and complete, not lacking anything (James 1:4). I was personally challenged to make quality decisions for holiness and to let God challenge my motives. I still have a long way to go, but at least I am on the road. It definitely is a life-long journey.

We were challenged in our prayer lives as the Holy Spirit begin to reinforce the importance of personal prayer and the absolute necessity of corporate prayer for the region. There was a lying down of secondary priorities for many. We were becoming very hungry for Jesus and His presence (Matthew 5:6). Through prayer and praise, we were welcoming God into the region. But many of us began to treasure the presence of God above all else, as we realized deep in our hearts the truth of John 15:5, “Without Me you can do nothing.”

You may be thinking, “Well, how do I even begin to think about a House of Prayer in my city?

The first step is to PRAY! You start by praying about a House of Prayer in your city. Even if you are not the one to start it, you can pray for others who will. Pray that God raises-up the right ones to begin, and you be the one who supports them in prayer. You may want start with a one-day, weekend, one-week, or one-month House of Prayer. In starting to plan towards a House of Prayer and beyond, there are several initial steps to pray and work towards. Every city needs a House of Prayer but there always needs to be a few who start it.

Think about some of the things you want to see accomplished. You want to create an unbroken string of focused intense prayer of entreaty to God for a week-end, week, or month. Now this may seem overwhelming at first, but you will be surprised at how God helps you. After all, it’s His idea and desire in the first place. You want to provide times and places for many to come together for prayer, asking the Lord to visit your city with His presence. Ultimately, you want to role out a red carpet for the King of Kings, inviting Him to come and do His work.

In Biblical and church history, united prayer has been proven to be the single lifesaver of a nation during times of danger and uncertainty. The Lord commands His people to seek His face
(2 Chronicles 7:14). God warned Noah concerning the flood even when there was no visible sign of it, not even a raindrop! He took heed and diligently and reverently constructed and prepared an ark for the deliverance of His family (Hebrews 11:7).

It is difficult to predict exact results in a House of Prayer. The key is to be faithful in doing what God shows you to do in prayer. In our one-month House of Prayer in Spain, I believe that many were radically changed in their prayer lives, but there were also those who went back to their previous life styles, and life as usual. We have to be willing to pay the price for God’s continual presence in our city. It’s up to the Church to decide long-term how much of God they really want. It is important that churches and intercessors continue to pray and anticipate the ongoing development of God’s plan for the city while the discipline and blessing of united prayer is still fresh.

In Spain the glory of God was visible in the church of one of the most spiritually needy areas in the world, but the churches needed to continue asking God to help them develop the prayer movement in their area. Outsiders who came to help could not do it. It has to be those who live in that city.

The following results will follow when Christians do accept the challenge of continual united prayer in their city:

  • A united praying church develops that is pleasing to the Lord.
  • There is a breaking of the spiritual darkness that is invading the nation.
  • The church demonstrates an example of corporate prayer that challenges others in cities around the country to do the same.
  • A movement of the Spirit occurs, bringing salvation to thousands of people.
  • A continued growing movement of prayer arises, sweeping thousands of tired Christian into a fresh new vitality in Christ.

Imagine the future of your city when a 24/7 House of Prayer is operating day and night. God will pour out His spirit. There will be the manifest presence of the Lord scattering His enemies and ours. Signs, wonders, healing, and deliverance from demonic oppression will become the norm. There will be the revival of the church, and the church will grow. Sinners will come under conviction and will open their hearts to the message of the Gospel.

A House of Prayer welcomes God into your city! As I traveled from nation to nation as a young missionary on a ship, upon arrival in a new country we would often have a great welcome from the people of that city. In New Zealand we experienced a special dance form the Mori Indians. It was quite impressive, and one I will never forget! At the end of that unique tribal dance, the staff and crew of our ship received a beautiful lay of flowers around their neck and the Mori greeting of rubbing noses. It was quite a cultural experience for many of us, I can assure you. In other countries we had special greetings unique to each culture – everything from other cultural dances, to gifts, to songs and banners – that was a beautiful welcome to the ship into their unique city. It made all of us on board feel very welcome in that country and city. It made us deeply desire to stay there and interact with the people.

Perhaps God feels the same way.

When He sees His people eagerly praying for His presence – welcoming Him into their city day and night in prayer – He is delighted and wants to invade that city with His presence. When He sees your desperate cry for His presence, He feels like a welcomed and longed-for guest and wants to make your city His home.

Begin now to prepare the way for God’s presence. Start with increasing your prayer life and find a few others who have a vision for transformation in your city. Get together regularly, and God will lead you and add others to your prayer meetings. Transformation will occur in your lives, and you will become consumed with a hunger for God’s presence. The Lord will hear your cry for your city, and God will begin to move in your midst.

Early in our last month of 24/7 prayer in Spain, God made his presence known to us in a very special way. There was no rain outside and as I was having my prayer time early in the morning, I suddenly looked out the window and there in the sky surrounding the House of Prayer was a big, bright colorful rainbow. It was as if God was speaking to us and saying, “See, my desire is for citywide, united prayer, and I love your House of Prayer – Keep it up for I shall surely come with my presence – I have heard your cry.” It is time that we change our life styles and become desperate for God and His ways. It is time that we welcome God into our cities!

“To be desperate means to be without hope in your current condition and to know that in your own power you don’t have the necessary resources required to change it. People who are desperate become determined to find help, often taking great risks to meet their desperate need. In the communities where transforming revival has occurred the people of God were desperate enough to change their lifestyle and their priorities and to commit their time and resources, making everything secondary to the desperate pursuit of God in their midst. They cried out in desperation, and the Lord heard their cry.” Rhonda Hughey

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Harmony In Song And Intercession

10259321_1071106532952453_5814208157818095195_n-2 “In the unity of faith, love, and the Spirit, the power of the name and of the presence of Jesus acts more freely, and the answer comes more surely. The evidence that there has been true, united prayer is the fruit – the answer, the receiving of the thing for which we have asked. ‘I say unto you… it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.’ What an extraordinary privilege united prayer (and worship) is! What a potential power it has!” Andrew Murray

There is a harmony that God is creating among His people throughout the earth, and you and I are a part of it. This harmony that is beginning is powerful as 24-7 prayer is spreading from city to city and nation to nation. And within the circle of prayer that you are involved in, creating this harmony is of extreme importance. The enemy loves to bring disharmony and disunity, but the new thing God is creating is a beautiful song of unity that will break through tremendous spiritual strongholds of the enemy.

So as you attempt harmony in your own prayer room, remember you are part of a bigger whole that will bring tremendous effect in the spirit realm all throughout the earth. And in your city in particular, you are the ones called to bring the release and freedom of the Kingdom of God into your sphere of influence. This is absolutely exciting.

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (Matthew 18:19-20).

God is a musical God, and He has created us as people who function best when there is a song in our heart. Music motivates us. The greatest entertainment in the world is music, because the human spirit is musical. There is power released in song. If you question this, for some of you in mid-life, think back to the songs you heard on the radio as a teenager. If the music comes on the radio now, you know the words to the songs just as if it were yesterday.

The devil wants to rule the domain of music because he knows that there is power in it. This is why intercession combined with music and the Word is a dynamic combination and of utmost importance at this time. When the Word of Christ dwells in our hearts richly through psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, nothing will stop us from God’s purposes in our lives both individually and corporately. Music combined with words of truth move us deeply into spheres of active commitment that we would never imagine otherwise.

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3:16).

Antiphonal Singing

“Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”
(Ephesians 5:19-20).

Antiphonal singing is responsive singing. The antiphonal singers interact with the intercessors and musicians in singing the Word. 24-7 prayer is team ministry where the team works together. Nobody gets the spotlight except God Himself. This is the beautiful thing that God is doing with his end-times Church. He is beginning to get all the glory. Therefore everyone takes part in 24-7, and nobody takes the spotlight. Everyone gives way to one another because there is the understanding that all of us in harmony are better than one of us alone.

This is a learning experience for some of us who like to be up front because we are good musicians or strong intercessors. We realize that we must give way to others. But in the end God brings a beautiful harmony that we couldn’t have done on our own. There is no more room for lengthy ten-minute prayers or a personal concert showing off our musical talents. No, it is all for God and Him alone, an audience of one, and we all work together to bring about His will in the prayer room for His glory.

It is time that we join in unison as with one voice.

“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: ‘He is good; his love endures forever.’ Then the temple was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God”
(2 Chronicles 5:13-14).

God will invade your prayer environment with His presence and power. This will eventually spill over into your city and nation. This team ministry is God’s end-time way. He uses musicians, antiphonal singers, spoken intercession and proclamation. Worship and prayer become dynamic. It makes prayer enjoyable and not boring. It brings about intensity without exhaustion. And revelation takes place right in the midst of it all. Every meeting becomes a joyous occasion. I say this because I see it happening and personally experience it myself. I have seen worshippers and intercessors come in with the burdens of the week and leave with the joy of the Lord. Some find it hard to wait until the next prayer meeting.

This corporate setting for 24-7 is so important because there needs to be an actual place where God’s presence dwells because the world is getting uglier by the day, and we need this breath of fresh air to carry us through with power. This also enhances our own prayer times during the week.

24-7 “harp and bowl” prayer is not a burden; it is a gift of God for the end-times church. 

Singing and praying the Word partners with God’s heart. The worldwide prayer movement needs to learn that this is key in the final days. The Word of God provides fuel for prayer and keeps it alive. His Word is His will. Praying the Word connects with the singers in singing the Word, and there is a powerful interaction that takes place.

I am an intercessor and when the singers sing what I have prayed, it moves me into more intensity and faith in my next prayer, and this goes on and on. The prayers and singing together rise up to a new level. This really does happen in a most marvelous way. You will see it yourself as you begin. There is no greater strength than the power of the Church with one heart and one goal united before the throne. The diversity of types of intercessors, the diversity of different musicians, and different singers intensifies this oneness.

It’s powerful, it’s dynamic, and it inspires awe in God because He creates it, and it’s all of Him.

“Christians cannot reach the full blessing God is ready to bestow through His Spirit until they seek and receive it in fellowship with one another. It was to the hundred and twenty praying together in full agreement under the same roof that the Spirit came from the throne of the glorified Lord. In the same way, it is in the union and fellowship of believers that the Spirit can manifest His full power.” Andrew Murray

What happens when intercession and singing is combined? When these two come together with the Word, then revelation increases, the intercession hits the mark, the body of Christ is encouraged and empowered, and evangelism takes place as one leaves the prayer room.

As I left a prayer meeting for Israel, I went to the post office. I could not contain the joy from that prayer time and began to witness to a woman standing in line. She accepted the Lord on the spot and two other Christians standing in line were greatly encouraged. I felt the glory of the Lord in that post office. 24-7 prayer is definitely going to lead to dynamic evangelism because the human heart will not be able nor want to contain what happens in the prayer room.

5 Keys in Antiphonal Singing

“They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: ‘Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages” (Revelation 15:2-3).

  • Sing short – This is not the time for singing a whole song. Short phrases are the key and should be only a few words in length.
  • Stay on the same theme – Keep with the theme that is prayed in the Word.
  • Pay close attention to what is happening – Remember you are a team, and the Holy Spirit will give you a natural flow. It may take time but stay in tune with what is happening.
  • Sing one at a time – This will keep from confusion. Antiphonal singers alternate in their singing. The prayer meetings I have been involved with usually have three or four antiphonal singers. Especially in learning, it is good to go from one to the next and then the next.
  • Echo phrase, paraphrase, repeat or develop the phrase – The singer may want to sing exactly the same phrase as the last singer or what the intercessor prayed. A repeated phrase can be powerful. A singer may want to paraphrase or summarize the phrase. He may want to develop the phrase by expanding the same idea or repeat a phrase for impact

“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation” (Revelation 5:8-9).

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC