House of Prayer
Prayer Series Part 6 – House of Prayer
It was a common practice during ancient times where people could pray and worship God under a tent, on top of the mountains, or wherever their heart desired.
(Go back to read Part 5: Answered Prayer)
Jewish people can worship God anywhere as long as they have ten people present, while Christians take only two; Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am in their midst.” Prayer can be done by an individual in their private room, as described in Matthew 6:6, while in public prayer, as stated in John 11:42. Anyone can pray anywhere without ceasing; pray as frequently as you can—I Thessalonians 5:17.
Acts 2:46-47— the practice of meeting together aside from the temple; they also meet in their homes praising God, and in Acts 20:20, they preach in public and from house to house. Meeting believers to praise God in their homes is biblically allowed.
Christ’s body was the house of prayer himself and was talking (praying) with His Father continually and drawing strength from that intimate relationship with the Father, especially when He was in the completion of his mission on the cross to pay the price for us with his life.
Christ came and ministered to us in the Kingdom of God and was falsely accused of blasphemy, humiliated, tortured, shed his blood, died, and was buried for the forgiveness of all our sins.
Through the Son, we know who the Father is “For God so loved us, that He sent His only begotten Son, so he can show us the way to be saved, the truth of the Word of God was delivered with authority and whoever believes that he is the Son of God will have the right to have a new life, born from above and a promise not to perish but have eternal life— John 3:16-17
There are good reasons to have a house church where prayer can be held; we can dedicate our house rented or owned, to a house of prayer or a house of God. God is omnipresent; he is where we are; we can form a small group which can bring greater intimacy compared to a more prominent congregation, stronger ties, family-like a relationship, comfort and convenience, and easy-to-establish personal relationships with members and leaders as opposed to to larger gatherings and most of all it is an advantage for the less fortunate that do not need to travel, dress to the level of the members and feels outcast. Some churches cannot hide to favor the givers, and some, even in the middle of the service, will call the names of the favored.
Large churches, especially megachurches, have difficulty reaching Pastors on a personal basis; sometimes, we end up watching from the monitor in an overflow room. They usually organize small groups that meet in homes without the presence or involvement of the Pastors, just the delegated leaders or the group elects a leader. Without the supervision of a knowledgeable person, they might be learning false teaching. Many, if not all, when the Pastoral group does not favor a member, will not even visit when they are sick.
The house of prayer was first mentioned in the Old Testament in Isaiah 56:7 “For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples” Other versions of the Bible use “nations” as a group of people. In the New Testament, Jesus quotes the passage from Isaiah “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a robbers den”— Matthew 21:12-13; Mark 11:17 and Luke 19:46. The church leaders and even the affluent members must treat all the believers on the same level, God will not be pleased when someone leaves the congregation and walks out of faith for this reason.
A learned individual must lead a House of prayer or house church to learn the truth of the Word and not just guesswork that might lead to the blind leading the blind. We must also be aware that the Word being preached is in line with the Scriptures, not just lesson plans organized for their gain. Plagiarism cannot be avoided, but it should not be an issue when it is the truth; the truth must be preached. King Solomon, the man of God, said: There is nothing new under the sun.
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Jesus Christ is a sinless Son sent by the Father accused of blasphemy and judged to die a horrible death, whose only mission is to share what the Father has told him to share with his authority. He offered the shedding of His blood to wash out our sins and be forgiven. Through this blood, the world has been saved, and we became children of the highest Almighty through him. For God did not send the Son to judge the world; Jesus did save it.
How long will the world exist if we will continually sin? How long will we realize that without God, we are nothing? And for how long are we going to submit to wickedness? Are we going to wait till God declares that enough is enough?
Remember, before the deluge, God gave the people in Noah’s time 120 years to come back to Him and walk away from wickedness, and they did not change, and all perished except Noah’s family of eight, which extended humanity’s life on the earth. God is so grateful to us that the judgment is not handed down for decades. We must repent now with sincerity, be baptized by the Holy Spirit, and be blessed.
Prayer is a perfect connection between the Father and the Son after everything has been said and done; modeling this form of connection with the Father is a must and just the right thing to do.
Jesus, the Son of God, restored our relationship with the Father. Our body which houses our soul is the house of prayer installed for us by the Son when we believe that he is the way, the truth, and the life and promise that whoever obeys the will of the Father will be his brother, his sister, and his mother. The Son Jesus Christ, our redeemer and brother restored and reconciled us to God and become children of God and a member of the family of God; our citizenship is not in this world but in the kingdom of heaven—Philippians 3:20.
All who believe that the authority of the Holy Spirit confirms the Word of God are authorized to minister and spread the Word of God and stand witness of God’s goodness and glorious work to many people and form new lives; we can recover from afflictions, we can be victorious to any form of spiritual battles and can mend a broken heart.
We are more confident of winning, for we are the head, not the tail. We are the brain and not just a thought; we are honest and not an illusion; we are optical, not virtual; we have the strength for we know the Word; we have the courage because it is the Will of God; who else will be against us if they know that the LORD is in us, with us and upon us. His Spirit covers us, guided and protected.
The will of the Father is to believe in His existence and obedience to His commandments with love and humbleness. God wants us to Love Him, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.” Proverbs 8:17. God wants us to keep His commandments that are not burdensome 1 John 5:3.
Our body is the House of Prayer; we are the Church. After we receive Jesus Christ as Savior, we become the temple of the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?
You are not your own.” The Church is us. Our heart which was once a stone softened by the Word of God through the guidance of the Holy Spirit becomes part of the Rock—The House of Prayer; as we assemble together in one accord praising God, any word that comes out of our mouth is an expression of prayer we should watch our mouth from then on and always ask for forgiveness when something wrong got out of it.
Hebrews 10:24-25 puts it this way, “And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our assembling, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Peter added in 1 Peter 2:5 said; “You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
“Anyone who comes to him (God) must acknowledge that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews11:6(NIV). God will not leave or forsake us— Deuteronomy 31:8, and wants us to spend eternity with Him! God is with us wherever we go.”— Joshua 1:9
Philemon 1:1-2 “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker— also to Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier—and to the church that meets in your home.”
Paul made it clear in this passage that the Church is the people that can gather in a house to worship our Creator, the Father Almighty. God is everywhere and all-knowing; acknowledge Him, and He will give us rest (depend).
Jesus cited a passage from the book of Prophet Isaiah God says, “These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” a place where prayers would smell like sweet aroma from the hearts of the faithful to the presence of the living God.
Sadly, it is happening until now that the house of prayer was being used by those who love the desire of their lust and continue to devour the pocket of the believers. These hypocrites continue to live in luxury at the expense of those that believe heartily in God but lack knowledge of the Word of God because they heard a divided word of God—Isaiah 56:7.
God knows, and nothing can be hidden from Him; in Jeremiah 7:11, God says, “Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching it! declares the LORD.” The prophet Jeremiah rebuked the temple leaders for abusers who take advantage of those who fear offending God; Believers were being taken financially advantage of by oppressing the needy. They keep the collections as if they were given solely to them. What should have been a sanctuary for the righteous had become a refuge for the wicked, the temple of God was being robbed, and the house of prayer who saw all these things may start to walk away and be seen no more.
There is no doubt that the house of prayer was put to shame; a place to meet God and worship Him becomes a place for thieves who love using His Name for their glorious living. God saw all these abuses and promised to deal with these abusers when the time came. The Son of God was not going to put up with it and will be the faithful witness of all these corruptions. Whether it’s the temple, the Church, or the kingdom, we are all groups of believers, and we all belong to the faithful and merciful God. We will benefit the Spirit of Life if we remain in God’s space.
We should honor God’s ownership and follow His will and purpose; any perversion will meet the LORD’s wrath. It’s always good to remember the LORD through the Son. We are family and avoid quarreling about Scriptures to avoid confusion or doubt that the Word of God is accurate. Also, remember that prayer has its own power— stay connected.
“And then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? ‘Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the Lord.’ ‘Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel”. Jeremiah 7:10-12 (NIV)
Thank you, LORD Almighty. Thank you, Jesus, for the mighty Son and Holy Spirit that dwells in us that made our body the house of prayer; how great it is to be loved by the Father and cared for by the Son.
How marvelous it is to be called Children of God. To God be the Glory
Continue to Read Part 7: In Jesus’ Name
Part 1: Power of Prayers
Part 2: An Act of Obedience
Part 3: Act of Submission and Dependency
Part 4: Posture in Praying
Part 5: Answered Prayer
Part 6: House of Prayer
Part 7: In Jesus’ Name