A House of Prayer – Values (Part II)

In continuation to my post last week, the four remaining values that I have found to be present in houses of prayer that God is raising up around the globe:

4) Holiness

Be perfect. Sermon on the Mount. 1 Peter 15-16.

“but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’” 1 Pet  1:15-16.

Holiness – being set apart, your life wholly given over unto the Lord to become more like Him. It’s not just about being good or keeping the commandments so that He let’s you into the pearly gates; if that is the substance of our concept of holiness, we have missed the point entirely. Holiness is not fulfilling a requirement, just passing a test. Holiness is becoming more like God, learning to love what He loves and hate what He hates. It’s not a heavy thing that God mandates in order to get us to be clean enough that He can put up with us. Holiness is a divine invitation to become more like God. Seeing as how so many human beings want to be God (or think they already are), you’d think that we’d all be chomping at the bit to become holy.

One of the primary expressions of holiness is behavior - the way that we think, act, and live. It’s easy to say, much more difficult to do. Fortunately, God gave us a ton of practicals in His teachings during the first session of His earthly ministry (Jesus’ first coming). All throughout the gospels, He gives us little snippets of what it means to be holy. The Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5-7) is probably the most concentrated group of chapters on the subject of holiness.

In the house of prayer, we are convinced that holiness is key to becoming closer to God – to hear His voice and to become more like Him. It’s not religious legalism – I know that my salvation is not dependent upon my patience with my roommates, how much I give to the poor, or by the frequency that I gawk at a scantily clad woman on the street. I am secure in the blood of Christ, and I am convinced that no height nor depth nor argument nor dollar bill nor super model could ever cut me away from His love. Although those things don’t affect His love for me, they definitely affect my love for Him. Whenever I choose unholiness, I am putting up a barrier between Him and me that keeps me from walking in the fullness of His calling for me. It’s like there is a part of Him that I am rejecting and saying, “I don’t want to know You in this way” when I choose unholiness.

I want to know God, and be like Him. I want to be able to receive the fullness of what He has for me, and to give fully of myself to Him. Therefore – I want to be holy as He is holy.

Value #4 of the house of prayer – be holy, pursue holiness. It’s so worth it.

5) The Forerunner Calling

“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” Isa 42:3

In John 1, the Pharisees & Levites come to John the Baptist and ask him who he is and what he’s about. John responds by quoting this verse. “Who are you?” “I’m the one preparing the way for the Lord to come.”

Forerunner -
1. A person or thing that precedes the coming or development of someone or something else.
2. A sign or warning of something to come. (www.dictionary.com)

A forerunner is one who goes before the King, crying out, “Hail the King! He’s coming, make way!” Now, we don’t know the day or the hour when Jesus will return, but we can know the times and the seasons. There is a lot of debate in the Church and in the world on how close we are to the end times. My personal conviction is that it will be in my lifetime, but if not, it’s not the end of the world (pun completely intended). No matter how far away His coming be, though, there is still action that we can take today to prepare the way for Him. I believe that when we walk as forerunners, we actually hasten the day of His coming (2 Pe 3:12).

Now, to bring it down to the practicals. First, a forerunner must be intimate with God. Above all else, they must feel His heart and have His love fully inside of them. This means spending a lot of time with Jesus, in prayer, fasting, and reading the Word. Second, a forerunner must be filled with the Word of God – this includes knowing the Bible, the times and the seasons, and personal revelation that God has given them to share. Third, they must take the Word, the message that God has given them, and proclaim it. Sometimes this may look like evangelism, sometimes it may be ministering at a church Body, sometimes it’s being a grandmother and talking with your grandkids about what the world will be like when Jesus comes back.

In a nutshell, a forerunner is someone who is intimate with God. From that place of intimacy, God shares His heart with them, and they can’t help but share His heart with everyone else.

Value #5 of the house of prayer – Jesus is coming back, we need to get ready for it ourselves, as well as helping the Church and the world do the same.

6) Unity

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,  endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Eph 4:1-3 (emphasis added)

It’s great to be worshiping and praying and fasting. It’s awesome to embrace holiness, and to be a forerunner for Jesus. There’s something that’s even better though – it’s when we all are doing those things together, with one another. God loves His kids as individuals, but He really wants for us to learn to play nicely together.

In Luke 1, the angel visited Zacharias when the group of people outside were praying together in unity. In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit comes in response to the faithful praying and worshiping together, in unity. And of course, in Revelation 22, we see the Bride (the entire church) crying out in one voice, with and full of the Holy Spirit, “Come Lord Jesus.”

There are lots of different cultures, backgrounds, and theologies that make unity really difficult. Most of the time, we don’t want to deal with it. However, there is a measure of the love of God that we cannot understand until we are walking in unity with one another in Him. We will not encounter the fullness of God (love, power, manifestation, holiness, any of Him) until we are unified with the rest of the Body around us. There is a reason we are called the body, as Paul talks about in Romans 12. We have different functions, looks, and abilities, but we are all one in Christ.

Some of the practicals on this one: worshipping and praying together, corporate bible studies and discipleship, intentionally helping, loving, and forgiving one another, connecting with other ministries and churches.

Value #6 of the house of prayer – be in unity. Love one another, help one another, and keep doing it and working for more of it.

7) The Word – Jesus

“In the beginning was the Word [...] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” John 1:1,14

“I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, If you find my beloved, that you tell Him I am lovesick!” SoS 5:8

Above all else, loving Jesus. You can’t rightly participate in any of the previous values mentioned if He is not your Source, your Love, your Light and your Song. We can worship and prophesy and fast and pray, we can do all of it – but if we have not fallen in love with Jesus, what is the point? It doesn’t matter what we have accomplished with our lives or our ministries in the end, only knowing Him. The reason we have a life and a ministry is unto knowing Him better. It’s not that we’re supposed to be holy for holiness’ sake, or worship just because the world needed another person singing. It’s because in being holy, in worshiping and praying, through fasting, through being a forerunner and being unified, we can know Him better and love Him more. That’s what it’s all about. He is the reason and the center of it all.

The Greatest Value of the house of prayer – Love Jesus.

A House of Prayer – Values (Part I)

In my experiences with multiple houses of prayer over the last five years, I have found some core values that are similar to them all. There can be different emphasis and focus, however they are all present to some degree. Because of my involvement with the house of prayer, these are all core values to me now as well. So – without further ado, here they are:

1) Worship
Whether hymns or modern, worship is always a present reality in the house of prayer. Exaltation of Jesus and love to the Godhead – simply because He’s worthy of it. In 1 Chronicles 23, David assembled 4,000 different musicians whose ministry was to worship the Lord without ceasing. They built teams to go in hour-long shifts round the clock, going into the tabernacle where the ark was kept, and minister to God. We want to worship God in spirit and in truth, in a whole-hearted worship where it isn’t about what we get out of it, but about praising Him just because He really is that awesome. We see a glorious picture of this in Revalation 4 & 5:

“The four living creatures [...] do not rest day or night, saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!” Rev 4:8
“The twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, ‘You are worthy[...]‘” Rev 5:8-9
“[...] ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice: ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!” Rev 5:11-12

Value #1 of the house of prayer: Worshiping God with all of our heart and being – simply because He is worth it.

Mt. Zion from Succat Hallal

2) Prayer & Intercession
“So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found no one.” Eze 22:30

In Genesis 18, God is talking with Himself and says, “Shall I hide from My servant Abraham what I am going to do?” (v17) He then talks about how He’s planning on taking out Sodom. Abraham responds by asking God to have mercy on the land for the sake of the righteous, and God hears Him. In the gospels, Jesus said to keep petitioning God in prayer:

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” Mat 7:7
“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: ‘There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. Now, there was a widow in that city, and she said “Get justice for me from my adversary.” And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, “though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this woman troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” ‘ Then the Lord said, ‘Heard what the unjust judge said. And shall not God avenge his own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’ ” Luke 18:1-8

God wants people who will stand and ask Him constantly for His will to be done. In Isaiah 62, God says “You who make mention of the Lord, give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” God is looking for intercessors who will come before His throne day after day and ask Him for His kingdom to come.

This sounds pretty glorious, and it is in the big picture, however in daily life it looks quite monotonous. Generally, it means going and sitting in a room or a closet, telling Jesus I love Him, and asking Him to pour out His Spirit. Most days, it feels like nothing happens. We get distracted and lose heart easily, but in the house of prayer we want to be ones to rise to that challenge in Luke 18:8, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” The context of this verse is continual prayer and petition being linked to faith. Jesus is almost daring us, “When it all hits the fan, are you still gonna be praying and believing?”

Value #2 of the house of prayer: Prayer and Intercession – God’s kingdom will come in the end, we want to be found faithful in asking for it to happen.

3) Fasting
There are many different types of fasts and reasons for fasting that are given to us in the Bible. Daniel fasted for revelation (chapter 2) by only eating veggies & maybe some fruit. In his later years (chapter 9), he fasted to intercede for the nation and in repentance, he didn’t eat any meats or sweets. Esther called a 3-day fast of no food or water (chapter 4); she wanted to receive favor with the king and be able to save all of the Jewish people.

We can fast for revelation or direction, because we want breakthrough, in repentance, or because we want to avert coming judgement. Another fast that Jesus gives us:

“Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them [Jesus' disciples], and then they will fast.” Mat 9:15

We fast because He is the bridegroom, He is gone, we miss Him and we want Him to come back.

In the house of prayer, we are convinced that some form of regular fasting should be a part of our lifestyle. We also try to take this beyond just the realm of food – a denial of legitimate pleasures for the sake of being closer to God. This doesn’t mean that you have to live under a bridge and sleep on the ground because your cardboard mat is too comfortable. For me – it looks like the practicality of not buying a video game console even when I could afford it; I would be distracted and spend time on it. Although I would enjoy owning one, it’s not necessary for me, and I grow closer to God by denying myself of that pleasure.

Value #3 of the house of prayer – Fasting. God cares when we skip a meal, and we can receive more of Him when we do it.

The Remaining Values

Next week I will talk about the four remaining values that I have received from the house of prayer:
- Holiness
- The Forerunner Calling
- Unity
- The Word

Next Week: Values of the House of Prayer – Part II

A House of Prayer – Some Background

When I was 18 years old, I felt that God was calling me to be an intercessor. In the summer of ’06 I went to a Salvation Army youth camp  with a friend; he was telling me how once God had called him to a season of prayer where he was to pray during the fourth watch (3am – 6am) every morning. My spirit was stirred, something about that calling was crying out to me. I prayed that God would set me as a watchman, that I would pray in the middle of the night or whenever, but I wanted to be set like Ezekiel (Eze 3:17).

Later that year, I found myself going to the International House of Prayer in Kansas City for a three month internship – Fire in the Night. From 12-6am, 6 days a week, I was in the prayer room for intercession, bible study, and contemplative prayer / meditation. It was the sweetest season I have ever had with the Lord. Though I was certain I was only going to be there for three months, I decided to stay for another three. After that, I decided to move to Kansas City and join the house of prayer staff.

For the next three years, I was on staff with the Media Department at the house of prayer (May ’07 – May ’10). My time was split between prayer and live video production. God taught me many things about leadership, servant-hood, and excellence during this time. I also got to visit two other houses of prayer in the United States during this time –  the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace in Virginia, and the Zadok House of Prayer in South Carolina.

Directing at IHOP-KC

Last summer (2010), I began to feel drawn to visit Israel. There is a local prayer room that I had connections with through the house of prayer in Kansas City, so my friend Connor and I decided to visit for three months. Just as when I went to Kansas City, three months turned to six, and now I find myself relocating permanently to Israel to be a part of the house of prayer here.

In my nearly five years of being in the house of prayer, I have had many responses about my involvement – ranging from ecstatically positive to declaring its heresy. Extremes removed, the vast majority of people (whether in or out of the Church) have a difficult time grasping what the house of prayer is about, why it’s so important for the Church, and how dear it is to God’s heart. In light of this,  I’m going to take some time over the next few weeks to write about the house of prayer – defining what it is, its biblical roots, and why God is globally establishing His church in the lifestyle and values of consistent and corporate prayer.

Next Post: Values of the House of Prayer