Hello HOPE Church! In light of the recent increase in prayer meetings, we realized that there was a greater need than ever that we understand what it means to be a House of Prayer. There can be a lot of fear about doing this unhealthily, weariness can develop over the months and years, and sometimes even our own apathy can cloud our vision and deceive us into wrong ways of thinking about what we’re doing. There’s also a danger that we begin to take our eyes off of God, and off of His Word, and put them on to some other ministry, and simply try to parrot whatever they’re doing. If we don’t have our own vision for doing this, one that all of us share, there will eventually be divisions among us, as some people really lean into the example of others and others question their suitability for us and pull back.
House of prayer history at HOPE Church
Even when I think about the dialogue inside HOPE Church regarding embracing the identity of the House of Prayer, there’s been a lot of change from our first days until now. In the beginning, I used to hear a lot more about 24/7, about getting something going. Many of us likely saw the first prayer meetings we began as a basic framework from which to quickly build others. Even at HOPE Church’s very inception, there was talk about dedicating all our resources to a prayer room, and attending other churches on Sunday morning.
Fast forward to today, and I’m hearing a lot more questions about this. The vast majority of us would not want to push toward 24/7 prayer given our small size. I’ve heard people question the phrase “house of prayer.” Is it something we have to do? Or are we making a mistake in pursuing it? I don’t want you to get the impression that I think this shift in itself is bad, or good. What I want to call attention to is the shift itself. If we want evidence that we can’t pursue being a house of prayer apart
from a solid Biblical grounding, all we need to do is look back on this shift. All things considering, I thought it was time to put out some teaching on what the Bible says about the house of prayer, and take a good look at how we as HOPE Church can put it into practice.
I’ve asked Wellington to do this with me, because I know him to be a zealous student of the Word and also one who deeply appreciates the value of the House of Prayer.
The goal of these videos
In these videos, our goal is to trace the theme of the House of Prayer throughout the scriptures and build a Biblical understanding of the House of Prayer. We need to be informed what the Bible has to say about being a House of prayer more than simply having our own opinions and feelings about it. (Obviously many feelings and opinions will be strengthened as we dig into the word) We must not pursue merely what we want or what we think the House of Prayer should look like. We are not seeking to be merely part of a Christian movement of 24/7 prayer that is rising in the earth. We are desiring it because it is an ancient idea that originates with God himself and what he desires. In other words, the House of Prayer is not our idea. It is God’s.
The authority of the Bible
Another reason we must look at the Bible is because it lays heavy emphasis on this theme. The House of Prayer is crucial in God’s story and plan. Therefore, we must take it seriously. We realize that not everyone in the Global Church, never mind at HOPE, is at the same place concerning passion or understanding of the House of Prayer. The Bible as God’s word addresses the various attitudes and expectations we all have toward the idea of being a House of Prayer. All of our journeys will look different as we come to terms with God’s word and desires. Ultimately, the goal is that we have a unified vision that is built on the scriptures unto a greater zeal and passion in our hearts for the House of Prayer. We want to start from ground zero, laying aside assumptions, presuppositions, and even pockets of resistance in our hearts as we intently gaze at this topic.
Studying God’s word can, if done in humility, lead to a deeper intimacy with Jesus and greater wisdom for living in partnership with his mission in the earth. We want our love to deepen and our understanding to become clearer. Please note that your journey of learning and coming to love what the Bible has to say about this theme will take years and not the amount of time it takes for your watch these videos. We do not have to be impatient or rushed when studying the scriptures. We are by no means trying to be the experts or give an exhaustive understanding of this theme. These videos are simple steps towards a Biblical understanding of the House of Prayer and we expect that we will expand and refine our understanding even after we have completed them.
Some of you may not feel qualified or intellectual enough to intently study a scriptural theme like this. The truth is that God does not teach only Theologians or Scholars so that they can teach you. God wants to teach you personally by His Holy Spirit. The best teacher in the universe is God and the only prerequisite you need to enroll in his class is humility.
Listen to what David says in Psalms 25:9 “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.” One of your best friends for learning is to ask many questions! Ask hard questions and simple questions! Think of how Jesus explained the meaning of his parables to his disciples only when they humbly asked him to explain them (Mathew 13:36).
A helpful lens or tool we propose that you use as you begin to think of the House of Prayer through this paradigm is:
-
-
Upward: Fellowship and intimacy with God
The House of Prayer is called first and foremost to love God. Having love or passion for God is not an automatic thing that we can conjure up. It takes a miracle to love God. Though this may seem too simple or basic to speak about we need to take this seriously. Moses and Jesus were very clear that the priority of God’s people is to love him with everything that they are (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; Mark 12:30). We must first and foremost seek to grow in our love
for God.The House of Prayer is God’s House. Therefore, God must be the centre of our attention, time, and energy. We see this pattern clearly laid out from Genesis to Revelation.
-
Inward: Unity and Fellowship with each other
The House of Prayer is also called to be a people that display supernatural unity. Jesus considered it a priority to form a community of people that loved each other with the same love that he displayed on the cross (John 13:34-35; 17:20-26). Division and individualistic thinking have seeped into the North American Church. This is a serious issue. We will discover that some of Paul’s strongest rebukes and exhortations concerning unity are rooted in his conviction that the Church is God’s house.
God centered Unity and fellowship with each other is what builds the House of Prayer. We cannot build God’s house without each other. God speaks of his house becoming a “house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7).
-
Outward: Mission in our community
The House of Prayer should never be thought of as merely a retreat center for God’s people to hide away in. The House of God in the Bible was always meant to expand and release blessings on the earth. Again, God declares that his house is a “house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7). We must come to terms with God’s desire to bring more people into his house. How can this happen without God’s House expanding through the proclamation of the Gospel, acts of justice, and discipleship? From the overflow of our love for God and by the display of God’s love in our midst we are called to make God known in our community and in the nations of the earth.
-
The reason we give this paradigm is twofold. First, It is a helpful tool that will help you process lots of information that the Bible has to say about this topic. There
will come times when you will think “That passage doesn’t make sense” or “There is too much information to process. I give up trying to understand it”. We expect these thoughts to come across many of our minds and do not want anybody to give up. Having a basic paradigm can be helpful to come back to when these various feelings come. We believe that this lens is Biblical and want to offer it to you beforehand in order to aid your journey. It is a helpful lens to aid in gaining understanding and that understanding will in return help support this lens.
Second, we want to give you this lens is because it will provide a holistic understanding of what the Bible has to say about the House of God/Prayer. It is easy to give simplistic descriptions of what the Bible says about the House of Prayer which can lead to an imbalance in our belief and practice. We do not want to become a congregation that becomes devoted only to the Biblical practices that we have gotten accustomed to while ignoring others. We desire you to see that the House of Prayer, according to scripture, is an all-encompassing idea that affects the way you love fellow believers, reach out to the lost, and minister to God. We need the grace of God along with clear Biblical understanding in order to live in the fullness of God’s plan for his House.
In the global body of Christ there are thousands of congregations, denominations, and traditions. All of these have emphasized different parts of this paradigm. Some may tend to think of the Christian life as merely fellowship with God away from everyone else. Others may think that the Christian life is merely about doing life together. There also those people who think of Christianity as merely doing good deeds of mission and justice in the earth.
Obviously, there are also many people and congregations who try to have a balance, some succeed and many do not. We at HOPE need to examine our own hearts in light of scripture. We want the whole counsel of God on this subject so that we can respond to it with Biblical balance.
Video Sessions Plan
Here is a brief outline of the videos that we would like to make. All this will be done in 15-20 minute videos. After these, we would like to make a couple more videos addressing some questions that HOPE Church might have concerning how we’re going to pursue being a House of Prayer.
1st Session – What is the House of God?
We want to clarify what the phrase “House of God” means in the Biblical story. We will notice a persistent correlation between this phrase and the theme of God’s dwelling place in the Old and New Testament. Before we come to speak of being a House of Prayer, we must understand what the Bible means when it speaks about Gods’ House (see Genesis 28:17).
2nd session – The Garden of Eden and the New Jerusalem
In this session, we want to give a bird’s-eye view of the entire scriptures by examining its bookends. As we observe the beginning and end of the scriptures, we will notice some crucial themes and ideas that tie the whole Biblical story together. From this place we see that the House of God plays a crucial role in the story of Redemption, a story that we find ourselves in. When we see what God created this world for and what his finished plan looks like, we get a massive clue as to what God desires.
3rd session – The Tabernacle of Moses, the Tabernacle of David, and Solomon’s Temple
Without going into mountains of technical details we want to answer the simple question: “what was the function and importance of God’s house in Israel’s History?” Although it is easy to skip reading these sections of scripture, we must realize that it is part of our story as the people of God and that these accounts of God’s dwelling place with the nation of Israel instruct us as the Church in terms of our practice and theology.
4th Session – The Early Church: Living as the Household of God Part 1
There is no doubt that the portrayal of the early Church in Acts catches our attention. There was such a power, love, passion that enveloped them. This should cause us to beg the question. How did the people of God understand themselves after Pentecost? Why is it such a big deal to Paul that individual believers and the Church as a whole are the Temple of God? The early Church had some clear insight of living as a House of Prayer that we often miss. We. want to see how they understood themselves as being “built up as a spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:4-5) so that we can live like they did.
5th Session – The Church Today: Living as the Household of God Part 2
What does it mean for us to be the House of Prayer almost 2000 years after the early Church in a radically different culture? What is the significance of the House of Prayer for the lives of your average Believer today? Is being a House of Prayer merely about having prayer meetings at a certain place? Do we only build the House of Prayer by adding more prayer meetings? How do we live out the paradigm given (upward, inward, and outward) and build a House of Prayer accordingly?
7th Session – 24/7 Prayer and the Bible
In this session we would like to examine what the Bible says about 24/7 prayer. We will discuss questions concerning King David’s tabernacle and its contemporary significance for us? Was the early Church concerned about 24/7 prayer? Again, we are not seeking to do 24/7 prayer just because there is a movement of day-and-night prayer in the earth today. Sentiment and good feelings will not sustain a vision for 24/7 Prayer and Worship? We must look at the Bible.
8th Session – 24/7 Prayer and the History
In this session we would like to give a brief history of 24/7 prayer. There are periods in Church History where certain groups of people dedicated themselves to this vision (e.g. Moravians at Herrnhut) and we want to learn from their mistakes and victories.