Tag Archives: Prepare

Counting the Cost

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11049476_964514350278339_5040186320063747893_nEstablishing a House of Prayer in every city worldwide is now becoming a real possibility. It’s beginning to happen in various parts of the world. This involves local churches, individuals, prayer groups, and youth groups that unite for day and night prayer on a citywide level. But we must realize that a longer prayer time—for example one month instead of one week—takes a lot more people and planning. It requires working with all your heart for the Lord and for His glory.

We must be willing to count the cost.

You may only need thirty people for a week-long House of Prayer, but you need many more for a month-long House of Prayer, or for a continuous 24/7 in your city. You also must have enough dedicated intercessors. For year long Houses of Prayer, you must plan well and provide adequate motivation and guidance.

Keep in mind that you must continually recruit new intercessors because people do drop out and move away. Try to keep the intercessors encouraged and provide training in prayer for all involved. The Intercessors Arise International Website and this Nations House of Prayer Equipping Center provides training that you can teach and print out for those in your House of Prayer. New material will be continually added to both of these websites for your use.

It’s easy to get under attack or discouraged when involved in 24/7 prayer, and that’s why we emphasized a lot about laying a solid foundation. It takes steadfast and persistent prayer. Start with what you can handle. Ask yourself or your team:

  • How strong is the prayer community in our area?
  • Are the people used to prayer, or is it new to them?
  • Are they mature Christians?

Don’t be overly ambitious if the individual community is not used to praying. Start smaller and work your way up over time. A week may be a good idea in starting. Ask God for the right pace for your community. If you are starting a long-term House of Prayer, start with only a few hours a week. Remember that God is delighted with any increase in prayer, big and small. A successful week of prayer builds momentum for more prayer and delights God’s heart.

Look at the individuals in your community. Some want to pray an hour a day while others will pray once or twice a week. Some people will come once in a while. Some churches will want to take one-hour slots (sets) while others will want two. Then you will find churches that won’t want to get involved at all, at least initially. Some Houses of Prayer will ask churches to pray one day a week or one day a month. It varies everywhere. Some will be more organized and disciplined than others. So if yours is different than in another city, that’s ok.

Rejoice in God’s plan for prayer in your city, and do it with all your heart and strength (Colossians 3:23).

In Gibraltar, the churches started with a one-week House of Prayer. Then they did it again successfully. They want a long-term House of Prayer and several are praying for it. This is exciting because the population of Christians in Gibraltar is very small. They chose a neutral location and picked a conference center called Europa Point, situated at the very uppermost tip of the rock of Gibraltar, overlooking Spain and Morocco. We were recently there praying with several of them at Europa Point. What a great place to pray.

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOP-KC

Preparing the Prayer Room for the King

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11221818_990272137702560_8036744011765555433_nEvery person is different, but we all need to find those people and places that enable us to re-center on Christ regularly, so that the reflex reaction of our lives remains prayerful all the time. A season of 24-7 prayer provides a place, a time, a context, and a catalyst for this conscious and persistent prayer to continue, both individually and corporately. The prayer room is a picture of constant activity in the heart of every believer. It helps us maintain the flame of worship on the altar of our lives. We leave the prayer room encouraged and enabled to keep on praying consciously and subconsciously through the trials of the day ahead… A regular hour in a 24-7 prayer room is both an expression of and an inspiration for a lifestyle of continual prayer.

Preparing a place for the King of kings, the Creator of the universe to come and dwell, is an awesome privilege. We should take great care in such a wonderful undertaking. We want the prayer room to enable every person to center on Christ, and maintain a flame of worship that carries them through the ups and downs of daily life outside the prayer room. You may wonder:

  • How do we create an atmosphere of prayer?
  • How do we decorate the prayer room attractively so people want to come to pray?
  • What should it look like so that it attracts God’s presence?

The most important key throughout the whole preparation phase is to seek God together with other like-minded people. Pray about every detail and every need. Before our one-month House of Prayer in Virginia, a group of people got together to pray every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 5:30-7:30 A.M. to prepare for it. We prayed about everything again and again. We brought before the Lord our hearts and our desires for our city and the entire region. We prayed about every need.

As we started, God put everything together just in time. It was as if we were flying the plane as we built it. This takes faith because everything did not fall into place as early as we would have liked. But it kept our dependence level high and our prayers fervent.

God knows every need and is fully aware of every challenge in setting up a House of Prayer.

As we look back to these initial times, we are amazed at how God worked things out even at the last moment. We must learn to depend fully on Him because only He can work out the details. It is God who makes things grow in the spiritual realm.

At the time I wrote this, we were working towards three simultaneous one-month Houses of Prayer. You can imagine how completely dependent we were on God to work it out in all three cities. But as we fervently prayed, God gave us guidance. We simply obeyed His leading step-by-step.

We also met together regularly with the prayer leaders in these locations and kept in close connection, but it was totally up to God to work out all the details and answer our prayers. Although we didn’t have 24/7 prayer going continuously in all three locations, we felt it was successful anyway. Our faith grew through the tests we faced during that time.

More prayer in a city is a big success to God.

By Debbie Przybylski
Intercessors Arise International
IHOPKC