Building A House of Prayer Through Praise & Worship

The way to build a house for God’s manifest presence is through worship.

God promises to be present when we worship Him.

3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel. Psalms 22:3 (NIV)

There is the omnipresence of God, which affects everyone because He is everywhere.

There is the promised presence of God, which comes when He guides us, walks with us, and speaks to our hearts.

There is the manifest presence of God, which is seen at a group level when people move together in a spirit of worship that welcomes the presence of God’s power.

As the church of the Lord in this world, we are in battle against forces of evil that want to see us brought down. But the Bible promises 37… in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37 (NIV)

When we praise God, the Holy Spirit comes in power and defeats Satan. Everything that tries to destroy each one of us, like sickness, pain, poverty, sin, discouragement, strife, and failure, can be reversed with praise. When we worship God, He works powerfully to defeat anything that opposes us.

“There is peace and resource of strength and confidence in the presence of God, no matter what else happens in the world around us, but it doesn’t happen without praise and worship. Praise destroys the atmosphere in which sickness, defeat, futility, and discouragement flourish. Praise upsets the climate which furthers the growth of so much of life’s suffering, confusion, turmoil, and strife. Praise beats out hell’s fire and breathe heaven’s life…” Pastor Jack Hayford

We are not just trying to get God’s attention and stir up God’s interest by praising Him. He is already attentive and interested. We are not just trying to flatter Him so He will favor us and answer our prayers. He already favors us and has promised to answer our prayers. By praising Him, we are expressing our love and reverence toward Him and being obedient to what He asks us to do.

Building a house for God’s presence happens when we set ourselves to worship God His way and make it our first priority.

We are not interested in building a big church but building big people!

The church is not just a building, the church is the people. The church building is a place where believer can gather to be nurtured, grown and prepared to go out and do God’s work.

It’s impossible to grow and develop to your fullest potential independently of other believers.

The Power of Two

19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. Matthew 18:19 (NIV)

The word “agree” is the Greek word “unity” [sumphoneo] where we get our English word “symphony.”

In order to have harmony in our prayers, there are a number of things we need to agree on.

1. We must agree that Jesus is “the way, the truth and the life”
2. We must agree that the Bible is inerrant and inspired by God.
3. We must agree on certain foundational truths.
4. We must agree on what we are praying about.
5. We must agree on how we are going to petition God in prayer.
6. We must agree on what we are believing God for in prayer.

The power of a praying church is a formidable force with unlimited and untapped possibilities.

“The church needs to be unified in believing that the invisible realm is real and that they have been given a place of privileged authority and access in it. Most people know they should pray, but many don’t believe it’s going to make a difference. If they recognize there is a very real penetration in the invisible realm, it emboldens them, they can believe with greater faith. Jesus came to change things, to save people, to heal the sick, to transform families and circumstances, and to impact nations with a moral turnaround in the souls of people. And the power of a praying church is the key to that.” Pastor Jack Hayford.