Why would God desire to build a house of prayer when every church should be a house of prayer?

Insights and observations from a Redneck Mystic


In our modern view of the world we tend to think more of the Church in terms of organizations and buildings. It is quite natural for us to drive around town and judge a church according to a building, grounds or even location in the city. Based on physical observations we make spiritual assessments. As you journey across Peoria you may be amazed by the 250 plus churches that already exist and wonder why do we need one more?
But if you looked at the Church as the body of Christ and wondered what God was doing with us, we might come to some different types of conclusions, if not revelation. All across our area the people of God are joining together for evangelism, food pantries, worship celebrations and teaching conferences. Numerous church bodies have community special events, special times of united focused intercession, and neighborhood ministries of mercy or discipleship. Even among the numerous local churches, God is collecting and connecting people together beyond their local expression and mission.
Turing to the House of Prayer question, we need to ask if God is calling people in this region to work together in a House of Prayer. Sure each body or church should have a healthy and expanding life of prayer. But can any one organization be and do all that God is doing in the city or region? Was the local church supposed to be a self-sufficient organization or was each organization to be a vital part of God in the city?

Well here is by expanded bullet list of what I think God is doing.
• God is establishing specialized prayer centers so that people can be discipled at a quicker pace. Whenever we specialize in an area in the body or church it is to assist others more rapidly. This has happened in the past with the roles of teaching, worship, children’s ministry, youth ministry. When God calls people to give their lives to an area it is not just for a “personal calling” but for a building up of the body.
• Unity, in all the walks of life, is a manifestation of the regional body seeking the Lord together. The people who gather together for intercession need a place to work through their differing views and expressions. Personal desires need to be lovingly separated from the will of God. The reality of seeking the Lord together is verified by our actual love toward one another in everyday life. Much of what happens in a regional house of prayer is the Cross being applied to a person’s life who is actively seeking God.
• God can use a local community House of Prayer or Prayer Room to validate prayer in a region. Just as church buildings, Christian recreation centers, hospitals, food pantries and shelter all witness to the city that the people of God care, so too can a public place of prayer proclaim God’s heart for the region to be prayed for and for the city to know it. Just as the 40 days of Prayer witnessed to our city that calling on God is a viable solution. So too an ongoing house a prayer can be a witness and solution for those with sickness, disease, unemployment and all the pains of life. Just as a food pantry can help minister to the region, so can the community prayer room.
• A house of prayer in the city also serves to remind us that we are made up of different parts. This is not a pride in the part we are but humility that we are only a part of what God is doing. We all should love and be devoted to our part as well as prefer and honor the other parts as better than ourselves. I believe that out of the context of a corporate prayer room a people of God will emerge that love others as much as they love themselves. I mean that the people of prayer will pray for, cover, bless and intercede for those in the market place, in the arts and media, in teaching and education, in government and church leadership just as intimately and passionately as they pray for themselves. This intercession will be for saved and unsaved, our nation and the enemies of our nation; love will abound as real intimacy and unity develop in the place of prayer.
• I also believe God is being tricky, or wise. A part of the regional house of prayer is offering to a community an alternative on how to spend our time. Sports, recreation, entertainment all have a community that supports those often “individual” efforts. A person of prayer or praying has often been an isolated endeavor. Even if you go to a prayer room and pray in private, doing that in the midst of others is encouraging. Isolation and loneliness can be confronted by community.
• My final point here is this. The house or dwelling of the Lord that God desires to be called a house of prayer for all people, is people. We, the people of God are His dwelling place. Deeper than all the organizational and institutional efforts, our Father is seeking a resting place within each of us that results in a transformed life living out His ways on the earth. Even if we have all the stuff we want, the right building, sound system, musical equipment, media links…all that stuff is only as effective as the people who serve in the place of prayer. We, the people of God, must become desirous of an identity that includes prayer. This identity is not at the expense of any of God’s callings, but rather to the blessing of them all. This identity is not so that we are esteemed by the world, but so that the whole world is esteemed through us.