August 11, 2003 - The House That Prayer Built

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The House That Prayer Built
By Joe Stephens
August 11, 2003

I work as the youth pastor and associate pastor under the Rev. Ron Pickard in Boswell, Oklahoma, a town of 600. We have experienced revival from our first youth rally on Feb. 14 with an attendance of 68 to our present monthly youth services, and we have seen growth up to 98 in the last one in June. Isn't God good?

But none of this would be happening had we not built our temples on prayer. God gauges
a church's temperature by what happens in the prayer closet. Every Tuesday night at 7 p.m.
the church gets hotter or colder, depending on what happens at that sacred hour in which the church gathers for prayer. We have been experiencing an awesome move of the Holy Ghost at each prayer meeting. I want to see the thermometer blow its top this year. Our church baptized 39 souls last year, and we are believing to double that this year!

In Hebrews 11:10, the writer explains that Abraham was looking for “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” God is looking for a temple whose foundation and maker is prayer! In II Corinthians 6:16 Paul wrote, "Ye are the temple of the living God." Prayer is how we must build our temples. When we build on the rock, we build by prayer.

In II Chronicles 6 and 7, we read of King Solomon’s finishing, furnishing, and blessing the temple. He began by putting only the best in the building: gold, silver, and great pillars of cedar. It is the place in the middle that intrigues me, for He prepared the heart of the building for the presence of God. We must make sure that our outsides are right! We have to prepare ourselves by repentance. This will clean up the inside of the temple. Then we have to prepare our hearts!

No longer does God dwell in the Holy of Holies on the Ark of the Covenant. Instead, He made a blood covenant that He would dwell in the central part of man, in our hearts. Like Solomon, we must prepare our central building, the temple. We must keep it ready for the continual presence of God.

Then he (Solomon) began his blessing, thanking God for the covenant that He had made with his
father, David. Let’s praise Him for His promises! Then he began crying out for Israel. That is when God came in and worked! When they began, in one accord, to cry for their cities, God invaded the temple. He spoke to them and said, "If my people, which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (II Chronicles 7:14).

Only after prayer, supplication, and praise did God give them the keys to revival. The theme of our youth group this year is P.U.S.H., Pray Until Something Happens. We need to push this year for:

Revival
Souls to be saved
Healings and miracles

The world needs a praying church in this hour.

I am reminded of the story of a preacher who had felt the need to begin a new building
program in the inner cities of New York. His church had experienced sustained growth for several years, leaving him with a membership of almost four times his seating capacity. He began to hold four services each Sunday and two each Wednesday. What a problem to have! But when he went out to break the ground on his new building, the Lord spoke to him while it began to rain, and they had to go inside. The ceremony couldn’t go forward, and he began to question God. The Lord spoke to him, “This is not what I want. I will provide the building, but, right now, I don’t want broken ground and new auditoriums; I want broken temples and hearts.”

If we will become broken for our cities, for our loved ones, and for revival, we will experience the presence of God in our midst. God will bring the increase, which will lead to the new buildings and auditoriums. We can have not just a divine visitation, but a divine habitation.

In Acts 2, they prayed until something happened. They were in one mind, one accord, one place, and suddenly . . . you know the rest of the story. Let’s pray until something happens!

ninetyandnine.com

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Joe Stephens is a full-time youth pastor. When not busy chasing kids in the youth group, he chases his son and daughter (ages 7 and 2) and enjoys an occasional fishing trip.