Displaying Strength and Taking Action

11391378_968328796563561_8830578958915931122_n“If we are fully given to knowing Christ intimately, not only will we enjoy His presence, but also we will gain spiritual strength for whatever the future holds! The key, therefore, to living victoriously in the last days is not knowing timetables, but knowing God. Daniel foretold that, in the midst of worldwide distress, those who ‘know their God will display strength and take action’ (Daniel 11:32). From a position of knowing the heart and nature of God, in the midst of great difficulties we will “display strength and take action.”  Francis Frangipane

The King James Version of this verse says that God’s people will do great exploits. The definition of exploits in the Dictionary is “a heroic act, a deed of renown, a great or noble achievement.” This is what we must pray for in the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ will take action, do noble achievements and heroic acts for God that shall be known worldwide! But it starts in the prayer room. The governmental center of the world is in the prayer room. God’s power is released through corporate intercession. What a weapon for the Church! There are three realities mentioned here for the Church:

  • Know God – We will know God in spiritual intimacy.
  • Be strong – We will be strong in spirit to stand victoriously against evil.
  • Do exploits – We will do great exploits and experience the power of God.

In looking at our personal foundation, one of the most important truths that we must individually know is that God loves us deeply. We must know our identity in Christ. We are lovers of God and are deeply loved by Him. This will keep us strong and stable during difficult times. This will give us the confidence we need to do great things for God.

When we are called to lead or support the prayer movement, we must have the foundational knowledge that we are greatly loved by God. Although many believers do not have this knowledge in their heart because of past wounding, spending time in the presence of God in a House of Prayer can make it “real” personally. When we are alone in an atmosphere of praise, worship, and prayer, then we can hear from God more clearly.

Daniel needed to know God’s love personally. He sought the Lord in a 21-day fast (Daniel 10:2-3), got a vision from God (Daniel 10:5-6), lost strength because of the vision (Daniel 10:8-10), and then received a word from the angel Gabriel. He was told that he was greatly beloved and highly esteemed by God three times (Daniel 9:23; 10:11, 19).

Wouldn’t that dramatically affect your life if an angel told you that?

And yet, God wants to affirm each one of us in the prayer room corporately and in our own prayer closets in our home as well. Many times I have gone into the prayer room struggling with a personal issue and have come out with the assurance of God’s love and concern for me.

It is there, in that secret place dedicated to prayer, that we can hear the affirmation from our Father. And when we find it hard to receive His love, others in the body of Christ can help. We must know that God loves us because it will be our strength in hard times. Because Daniel knew in his heart that he was loved and highly esteemed by God, he was able to rise up in strength and do mighty things for Him. He stood up renewed in his spirit (Daniel 10:11).

We all feel the need to be loved and have a bigger purpose outside of ourselves. A visitation from heaven calling you beloved of God would change your life. It would give you an inner strength that would affect everything you do for God. You would become bold and fearless in knowing that God was on your side and highly esteemed you. You would have an inner peace that no storm could destroy.

Daniel had that kind of foundational strength.

It is time for us to align ourselves with God’s heart for us personally and corporately. As the Church of Jesus Christ, let’s build our foundational strength and receive the revelation that we are the “beloved” of God in our personal lives, our churches, and our city. When we truly have this revelation, we will praise Him from the depths of satisfied souls. We will want to be worshippers of God.

God desires that prayer and praise permeate every nation. We must align ourselves with heaven in order to see the powers of darkness broken over our cities and see revival break out. If all the Christians in a city knew their personal identity in Christ, they would be a powerful force in that area against the powers of darkness.

Through developing intimacy in the House of Prayer, we shall do mighty exploits for God’s Kingdom. Jesus is our model who continues to govern through prayer and reaches the nations through intercession (Hebrew 7:25). Let’s strengthen our foundation and align our lives with Him. In the prayer room we build intimacy through worship, reading and praying His Word, quietly listening, and many other ways.

“It is possible for Christ’s church to be so properly aligned with heaven that the Holy Spirit actually displaces the power of darkness over our cities. To the degree that the church is so joined to God, the Lord’s presence guards the city: crime and immorality proportionally decline; revival breaks out.” Francis Frangipane

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOP-KC

A Prayer for Foundational Strength

11377338_964515613611546_2962338252793623659_nLord, give us a heart for a House of Prayer in our city. Like Zinzendorf, make us into men and women who are fervent in prayer and are committed to radical holiness. Teach us to walk in unity, and help us to do everything in love. As we pray for a House of Prayer, give us expectant hearts. Help the churches in our city grow in prayer and commitment. Make the Church of [Name your city] a praying Church. We long to do great exploits for Your glory. Help us to align ourselves with Your heart. Let prayer and praise permeate our city.

As we begin to lay the foundations for a House of Prayer here, make us steadfast and persistent in prayer. Help us to build a foundation that is deep and strong. Keep us from growing weary in well doing. Help us to have realistic expectations and understand that it takes time and patience. Help us to be faithful. Teach us to pray your Word individually and corporately. Give our city a unified vision for day and night prayer, and teach us to seek You in prayer together. Help our churches to grow in prayer, intercession, and worship.

We thank You for being our faithful intercessor who will help us. You will give us guidance all along the way. Thank You that Your peace rules in our hearts. We thank You for the House of Prayer that You will establish in our city. You will give us the burning, driving vision to go deep with the foundation. You will enable us to pursue the deeper lifestyle of abandonment to You and Your vision for our city. We give You all the praise and glory for all that You will do. “We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near” (Psalm 75:1a). In Jesus’ name, amen.

Verses to Memorize

“By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:10-11).

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOP-KC

How to Lay a Strong Foundation for a House of Prayer

Persistent prayer will pay off as you lay the foundations of a House of Prayer in your city. You will move forward by God’s grace because it’s His ability, not yours. Notice these important keys to laying a strong foundation.

  • You must be willing to dig deep – Remember we must dig a big hole first in order to build the foundation. This is not a superficial undertaking. You must believe in the power of prayer and be strong in prayer yourself. Develop a strong personal relationship with God. Strengthen your personal devotional life and love for God.
  • Partner with others – Look for others who have the same vision in your city, and partner with other prayer ministries in your area. God will give you a core group of dedicated and like-minded people.
  • Cast the vision for day and night prayer – Do this week after week. People need encouragement.
  • Realize that there is an incubation stage – In this stage many in the area either have or are getting the vision, and there are many prayer meetings in the city in various churches. This stage may last for some time.
  • Develop your personal prayer life through learning to pray the Scriptures – Practice praying Scriptures in your own devotional time with the Lord. I write about this in chapter four.
  • Develop some corporate prayer meetings in local churches –Unity is essential and adds power to the prayer meeting. Also try combining worship and prayer together throughout some of the prayer meeting. This is called “harp and bowl”.
  • Have realistic expectations – Start small with a few prayer meetings in your church or in your city. Realize the value of a slow beginning. Strategize carefully and incorporate existing prayer activities. Understand the pressure people face in your society. Don’t be critical, but make it easy for others to join in prayer at their own pace.
  • Understand the establishing stage – This relates to the Church in the city or region and is not just one church. There is a need for a unified vision with unified values. Pursue the value of unity in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:3, 13; Colossians 3:14).
  • Realize that faithfulness and a marathon pace are essential – God is not looking for quick starts but for steady faithfulness over time. Keep it simple. Basically you are praying and calling people to pray. God’s strategies are not complex, but they do require faithfulness (Galatians 5:22; Psalm 18:25; Romans 12:12).
  • Know that Jesus is in charge – The House of Prayer will prevail because Jesus is the leader and the eternal intercessor for He rules as King in his high priestly ministry of intercession (Hebrews 7:25; Isaiah 53:12).
  • Go forward in faith and with God’s peace ruling your heart – Know that day and night prayer is God’s desire. He will bless and sustain it. To be a House of Prayer is not a challenge but a Biblical command (Matthew 21:13).

A stonecutter may hammer away at a rock for a hundred times without seeing even a crack showing. Yet it may be the 101st blow that splits the rock apart. It is not the one blow that will lay a strong foundation, but it is the consistent hammering in prayer with a steadfast vision that will do it. God will give you and others that burning, driving vision to go deep with the foundations. He will enable you to pursue the deeper life and the lifestyle of abandonment to Him and His vision for your city.

Laying the foundation will take a long time. Keep the peace of God ruling in your heart. Day and night prayer is God’s desire, and He will bless and sustain it with His power. Trust Him to build a strong foundation. Establishing day and night prayer is the most exalted occupation to those nearest His throne in heaven (Revelation 4:8). Set your heart to persist regardless of difficulties. God desires to find a resting place. Let’s advance with faith and a determination to work. Let’s keep the vigorous, steady glow of prayer burning.

“Praying that influences God is said to be the outpouring of the fervent, effectual righteous man. It is prayer on fire. It does not have a feeble, flickering flame or a momentary flash, but shines with a vigorous, steady glow.”

By Debbie Przybylski

Places of Encounter with God

“Prayer rooms are places of direct encounter with God. So much of our faith, if we are not very careful, can be second-hand experience. We listen to talks that tell us what to think. We read books that inspire us with other peoples’ experiences of God. But alone with God in a prayer room, it’s time to get the Bible open for your self, going straight to the source. It’s time to dialogue directly with God face to face without a middleman. In such a context, God often is able to speak to us and touch us in a way that no ministry session could ever achieve.”

Isn’t a face-to-face encounter with God something you long for and desire? When I was in Germany, I was involved in teaching a course for God’s people who were working in different countries around the world. The course was called “Face to Face.” The goal of the course was to help bring individuals into a face-to-face relationship with God and also with one another.

The prayer room is the place of face-to-face encounter with God. I can’t think of a better description of the 24/7 prayer movement. The prayer room is the place to access the heavenly realm and hear from God. In the prayer room God purifies our life. As you and I spend time in prayer, we carry the very presence of God out with us into the world. Our faces can shine with the presence of God.

Moses is a good example of a Biblical character that sought the face of God. We read about his encounter with God in Exodus 33:11a: The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. When he came down from the presence of God, His face actually shone with the glory of God.

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD” (Exodus 34:29).

There is an increasing hunger for the presence of God, not only individually but also corporately among His people worldwide. People from all denominations, cultures, and ages are beginning to seek after God’s face. Kim Catherine Marie Kollins has established a 24/7 prayer ministry among the world’s 100 million renewed Catholics called Burning Bush International. She says:

“Everywhere I turn I seem to hear this same call to prayer being proclaimed—prayer for cities, prayer for nations. Everywhere I look I see writings calling the people of God to intense worship and adoration and intercession. Many new prayer initiatives are being called forth—houses of prayer are springing up, prayer mountains and prayer vigils are being held in response to this prompting of the Holy Spirit. Now is the time, and the trumpet is being sounded to the whole people of God. We are being called to awaken from slumber and be empowered anew by the Holy Spirit. We must become once again passionate adorers of the Lord and powerful instruments of intercession for the Church and the world.”

God Radically Changes Us in the Prayer Room

When we stand in the presence of God, He does a radical work within our hearts. He removes the sin in our lives as we sit in His presence. When diagnosed with cancer, I learned about the power of radiation and chemotherapy because these are the primary ways the medical world treats cancer. Thankfully I didn’t have to have either one. Sin is like cancer. God’s presence is like radiation therapy on the cancer of sin in our lives. The more we are in His presence, the more powerful the radiation of His life and love. We change in His presence because we are exposing ourselves to the eternal forces of His radiating glory. We begin to die to the sin tendencies in our lives, and we begin to live more fully for Him.

Time in God’s presence is powerful.

“You most likely won’t realize it at first. A person who is exposed to the radiation of the sun’s rays often does not realize that he is sunburned until later. When you spend time in God’s presence, you may feel you are not accomplishing anything. The enemy may say something like this to you, “You’re just wasting your time. God won’t listen to you.”

But if you continue spending extravagant amounts of time in His presence, you will begin to see His life manifested through yours. It takes time, but everything within you begins to change—your desires, thoughts, actions, interests, and passions.

There is no quicker way to change as in the glory and radiation of His presence. I have seen people change right before my eyes as I watch them over time through exposure to God’s presence. We read in
1 Chronicles 16:11 and Psalm 105:4: Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Dr. Timothy John shares a personal testimony about how important 24/7 prayer has been in a small, inner-city church:

“Launching and sustaining a 24-7 prayer room in one of our inner city church properties has probably been the most important thing we have done to date. From inner city youth to suburban “boomers,” each person has profoundly experienced the manifest presence and love of God in their selected hour of prayer in our holy space. Some of our members have actually encountered the Holy Spirit in the parking lot or even on their way to the prayer room. Needless to say, this has resulted in a wonderful spiritual renewal in our midst. Eternity and the heavenly realm are no longer concepts but reality.”

It is the place to leave the problems of earth behind and listen to the still small voice of God in such a way that inner transformation occurs. It happens individually and corporately. I have seen it in myself and in others. You can’t stand in the presence of God without being changed. Most of us are busy people. You can’t spend time in the prayer room without having it change your prayer life. Prayer becomes a delightful reality.

“One of the great things about a well-led season of 24-7 prayer is that it helps busy people like you and me to live up to our aspirations in prayer. It can even enable non-church-goers to prioritize prayer in their daily lives… 24-7 prayer is able to turn the idea of daily prayer from a guilty “should” into an exciting “could.” Suddenly, a regular hour or more of solitude for personal prayer and Scriptural meditation becomes a delightful reality for people who normally don’t find such things easy—people in ordinary places who desperately need an extraordinary outpouring of prayer and a deeper discovery of the glory of God.”