Tag Archives: creativity

How to Build Harmony in Houses of Prayer

Leave a comment

11053165_964488170280957_3100103821663776017_nUnited Prayer Life Application

There is an incredible power in united intercession. God brings harmony through song and intercession in Houses of Prayer throughout the world, and there is great expression of creativity in the prayer room through united prayer. Take time to incorporate this into your own prayer life and House of Prayer by carefully doing the following:

  • Meditate on Psalm 133 – What blessings have you experienced in your life when you have been united with other Christians? In what way do you think there is power in united intercession?
  • Study Colossians 3:12-14 – Look carefully at the values that help facilitate unity in prayer: mature team ministry, inclusiveness, and centrality of the Word. Have you experienced these values in the prayer meetings in which you have been involved in the past? Explain. How can you improve?
  • Study Ephesians 5:19-20 – Have you ever experienced the combination of singing and praying the Word? In what way does this partner with God’s heart? Write down your answer. Explain antiphonal singing from what you have learned.
  • How is the united creativity of God expressed in the prayer room and around the world? – Write a prayer thanking God for what you have learned about united prayer, and ask Him to build united intercession in your city.

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Creativity in the Worldwide Prayer Movement

1 Comment

1619267_964089653654142_2289170929060942269_nGod is up to something big! We must learn to celebrate His united creativity and diversity as Houses of Prayer spread worldwide.

Expect variation and creativity as the prayer movement increases. Some people have thought that Houses of Prayer have to be exactly alike. As you read about what God is doing, you can see that this is not true. The Holy Spirit is extremely creative. Each city and nation is different and is uniquely designed by God. Rejoice in different people and ways of praying. Rejoice in the different instruments and singers that God brings. Rejoice in God’s unity in diversity.

Seek God for the perfect expression He wants for you, your church, and your city. Don’t think it has to always turn out the same way or be done in the same fashion. The important thing is to begin so that you can take your part in the beautiful tapestry of prayer that God is designing throughout the earth. Peter Greig expresses the creativity of God in unique expressions of prayer:

“One of the things that often take people by surprise when they create space for 24-7 prayer is that there is an instant explosion of creativity. Instinctively, it seems, many people choose nonverbal ways of communicating with God the moment they have the opportunity. Suddenly prayers are painted, drummed, enacted, rhymed, choreographed, and even sculpted… The creativity of God is evident all around us, as is the inadequacy of speech amid the mysteries of life. How then can we reduce something as profound as prayer to mere words? Loving God demands the whole of our being: emotion, imagination, and personality.” Peter Greig and David Blackwell

A friend I was visiting was mending a big tablecloth with a beautiful design. There were a few tiny holes in various places and instead of throwing it away because it had no use, she wanted to mend the holes. At one point she told me to take the two ends and help her hold it up to the light. She then looked carefully for any holes that would be hard to see when looking at a small section. We held it up and sure enough, I found a small hole in one of the corners. She quickly mended the hole and there it was, a beautiful tablecloth!

The worldwide prayer movement is like this beautiful tapestry as it grows with united and creative intercession. Each piece is important. The entire piece makes a beautiful design for the world to see. Just as a tablecloth has a purpose for a family to eat and dine together on it, so the tapestry of prayer has a purpose. Believers gather to feast on the goodness of God and pray for the world. Its purpose and design will touch people all over the world with the glory of God and His salvation.

A tiny hole in this worldwide prayer movement will diminish the overall effect and purposes of God in that location. God is mending the nets and preparing the world for a huge catch of fish. It’s time that we each do our part in bringing about this great design of creative and fervent prayer in God’s House.

Let’s do our part and rejoice in the expression of God’s united creativity.  

As you anticipate this beautiful tablecloth of blessing, go to prayer with great expectation. Pray for God’s blessing in each prayer meeting you hear about, and pray for a great increase in 24/7 prayer in every nation. God is releasing a spirit of prayer throughout the earth.

He is raising up Houses of Prayer with great uniqueness and creativity in every land. This creativity does not diminish our unity. This unites us more because we realize that we don’t have to be exactly alike. Our unique prayer meeting adds to the overall unity of the prayer movement. God-inspired creativity is part of God’s plan in the prayer movement (Exodus 35:30-35; Psalm 45:1; Proverbs 8:22-31).

Ask God to show you a bigger picture of Himself through the diversity and creativity of 24/7 prayer. He is zealous for His House of Prayer throughout the world. He will take the full expression of His praying Church and make it a beautiful tapestry for the world to see and desire. When we unite, nothing is impossible.

“The zeal of the Lord of Hosts is loose in the land. The power and anointing in the Church is escalating as God releases the zeal of the Father’s house upon His people. It brings holy boldness, (creativity) and an unquenchable spirit of prayer. It stems from a holy jealousy of God who is declaring in a loud voice, “I’m coming to take over My house and to claim My house for My own.” James Goll

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Creative Approaches

Leave a comment

11018190_990332584363182_4240848183604782477_n“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in every one, it is the same God at work. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good”
(1 Cor. 12:4-7).

There are so many creative approaches to 24/7 prayer all around the world. The same Spirit works so many different and creative approaches to Houses of Prayer. Some examples of various places are homes, basements, shacks, chapels, church buildings, offices, shopping centers, prisons, and dedicated prayer rooms.

Ask God to show you not only the right place, but the right timing. Plan carefully. Ask yourself, “Is this the best time when people will be in town?” Look at the big picture in your city. Are you building up to something bigger evangelistically in your community or church?

We had a month-long House of Prayer in our city right before the 400th anniversary of our nation and before a big evangelistic Graham Celebration. We chose this time very carefully, and it fit perfectly into what was happening—not only in our city—but also in our nation.

Maybe you are thinking about a continuous 24/7 House of Prayer in your city and want to start by creating a short season of prayer and then doing longer ones later. Remember that the local church is the primary cornerstone of the House of Prayer. Some churches and cities like to look at the seasonal approach to prayer. It’s better to quit when you’re ahead than to drag it on too long. You want to leave people hungry and eager for the next time.

Not only are there a variety of places, there are also a lot of different approaches to 24/7 prayer. Some like to sign up for one-hour slots or sets and fill in 24 hours. Some like two-hour sets. Think about how long individuals should be in the prayer room at one time in your House of Prayer.

Here at the International House of Prayer (IHOPKC), the staff is encouraged to spend two hours at a time in the prayer room. The NightWatch spend every night in the prayer room from midnight to 6:00 A.M. and love it. Perhaps one to four hours at a time should be the limit in the prayer room, though as you can see with the NightWatch, this isn’t a fixed rule.

Some churches like to cover a week of 24/7 prayer, or one day a week for a few months that can later grow into more days a month systematically. Churches can then come together with other churches that are doing the same thing. They can each take one day a week for an entire year. This becomes a 24/7, 365-day prayer watch that goes all year.

Young people are starting Houses of Prayer on college and university campuses and even children are mobilizing into prayer watches. People all over the world are becoming willing candidates for full-time prayer for various periods of time. God is presently raising up intercessory missionaries who make prayer their full-time occupation.

Even the names vary for Houses of Prayer. They can be called prayer rooms, 24/7 watches, prayer chains, boiler rooms, prayer towers, power houses, and prayer mountains, to name a few. And the focuses might vary from praise and worship, intercession and warfare, praying the Word of God, silent meditation and soaking prayer, praying for the nations, the needs of the community, the national needs, the local church, or any combination of these.

There is extreme creativity and uniqueness to each House of Prayer. Let’s not institutionalize what God is doing according to what we think is the right and wrong way of doing it. His House of Prayer is extraordinary. He is doing something that is fresh and alive, full of variety and creativity.

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC

Creativity in the Prayer Room

Leave a comment

10469208_968330713230036_3995578248377717720_nThe prayer room can be a life trans-forming experience for everyone involved, but it involves hard work. You are inviting the King into your midst. All of this may sound easy, but it’s not. The prayer room in Spain was quite a challenge. The owner of the hotel was an artist, and the room had been used for storage. It was full of all kinds of old things—wood, curtains, clay, papers, dirt, and everything you could imagine an elderly artist would collect in that room.

Could this possibly be transformed into a House of Prayer?

Our experience of God in the prayer room was both mystical and practical. On the walls there was always so much to see: messages that could move the hardest heart, children’s pictures, intimate prayer requests, poems of worship, Bible verses scrawled as graffiti, prophetic symbols, and, of course, that evolving book of answered prayer. The stories ranged from simple encouragement to a few truly remarkable reports of apparently miraculous intervention. For many people, visiting that room to see such things and meet with God became a mini-pilgrimage even at three in the morning on a cold winter night.

God quickly gave us a mind to work, and He gave us creative ideas to make that room a beautiful place of prayer. With candles, cushions, chairs, flags, maps, instruments, and other items, the room was transformed. The comment we heard so often during that month was, “We feel God’s presence in the prayer room!” God can transform anywhere into a beautiful place where His presence dwells. After all, He is the one who gives the creative plan for each one.

There is no limit to the creativity that can be expressed in a prayer room. Link your hands together with His and watch Him creatively work.

As far as decorating goes, you may want to recruit a decorating team or just one or two artistic people. Some prayer rooms have prayer stations that cover many types of prayer such as: personal prayer requests, meditation and contemplation, worship, thanksgiving, confession, and intercession. We’ve experienced this in a church service where areas were divided into many stations of prayer. The prayer stations can be decorated to help people get involved in prayer. It was definitely a wonderful experience in prayer and a personal encounter with God.

Creativity can be expressed in a multitude of ways. Ask the Lord what He wants you to focus on in your prayer room. Think about the size of your room, the age of your participants, the material available, and so forth.

In some of our Houses of Prayer, we’ve put the Operation World book
by Patrick Johnstone to help people pray globally. The Transformation videos on DVD are another possibility, or a slide projector with pictures from your area. Posters, globes, and world maps are also helpful for prayer. Local newspapers, prayer letters, and prayer guides are excellent for prayer.

Make good use of the four walls in your prayer room. You may want to direct people’s prayers in a new direction on each wall. For instance, you may want a wailing wall for personal prayer requests, a worship wall with verses and pictures, and a world or city wall that is outwardly focused with names of missionaries, a world or city map, community issues, etc. There may be a place of praise with instruments and DVDs or a wall of promise where individuals can pray the Scriptures on the wall. You might have a thank-you wall with testimonies of answered prayer and thanksgiving. You may want a graffiti wall with poems and letters or drawings.

There is so much creativity you can use on these walls. We had a country map on one wall and a place where people could paint, draw pictures, or write verses. You may want to leave lots of white paper and pens or paintbrushes for people to creatively express their prayers. One of the Christians—an artist from Gibraltar—drew a beautiful picture on one wall. You may want pictures of nature or other cultures on a wall or table. Some prayer rooms have an audio DVD or video with an introduction, welcoming people to the prayer room and helping them to focus on prayer.

We made use of the center of the room, and this is very important. As I said, we had a table in the center with a candle lit the entire month. Local Christians donated candles. We never ran out, but it certainly was difficult to blow the last candle out during our grand finale at the end of the month. We all had the urge to keep the prayer room going. It was a place where we had met with God personally and corporately. We knew that the day would come when the candle would be lit again—and maybe—it would be continuous when we had a more permanent location.

“One of the simplest and yet most profound things a prayer room offers is a place to be alone and still before God. It promotes humility and a visible dependence on God. Prayer rooms also generate and facilitate other prayer ideas given by the Holy Spirit to affect the whole ministry of the church in the community.” Terry Teykl

During your week or month of prayer, you may want to have outreaches at schools, shopping centers, or flea markets. You may want to ask people to bring clothing, food, or blankets to give to the needy. You can then pray for those who receive the items. Help with transportation so that the elderly, or mothers with young children, can come in groups during the day.

We had some special young people’s prayer meetings on some of the weekends. You may want to challenge them to spend forty hours in prayer on a weekend. We had the BURN group of young people on the weekend. Their mission statement is:

“The mission of BURN 24-7 is to plant a sustainable furnace of 24-7-365 worship, prayer and explosive supernatural outreach releasing a sound of indigenous creative vertical worship in every community, people group, city and nation in the world.”

They are high in energy and can provide a tremendous momentum to your House of Prayer. See BURN for more information.

You may want to take a prayer team to a dark place in your city to intercede. Praying at the nearest police station, or near a school or business, is another possibility. You may want to have a prayer retreat. We know of a House of Prayer that started by reading through the entire Bible. You may want to pray through the Psalms or pray the promises from the Bible several times during your 24/7 House of Prayer. The New Testament apostolic prayers of Paul  will help you. Soaking music is available at soaking.net.

The creative possibilities are contagious. Just go for it!

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC