A House of PRAYER for All the Nations
Prayer (UP) signifies Jesus’ expectations for the atmosphere and fuel of the spiritual family of God. He desires a people of prayer. A spiritual family that would pray early, pray late, pray without ceasing, pray in times of blessing and pray in times of difficulty and crisis. The defining characteristic of these people would be prayer. One overriding responsibility of the followers of Jesus is to cultivate a continuous atmosphere of prayer in our individual lives and our corporate expression of life together.
We want to model our prayer life after our teacher and master, Jesus. Just as He often slipped away early in the morning to pray (Mark 1:35), we believe each individual should take responsibility to maintain a “flowing heart” like Jesus described in John 7:37-39, “if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” This “flowing heart” is characterized by an inward resonance of the presence of Jesus during our day. It is something that must be quietly cultivated by protecting intimate, consistent time alone with Jesus.
Each individual should also find ways to gather with their House Church family and pray together. In Luke 18:1-6, Jesus tells a parable for the express purpose of showing the disciples “that they should pray and not give up.” Jesus ends the parable with the statement “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” While He is speaking of His second coming, Jesus clearly links one of the manifestations of faith as praying and not giving up. In these words of Jesus he defines “faith” as persevering prayer.
Prayer is literally an expression of our level of dependence on God - both individually and corporately. We are actually depending upon God in direct proportion to our level of prayer.