Posts Tagged ‘house of prayer’
Are solemn assemblies working? When will God pour out in our nation?
Are solemn assemblies the answer to revival?
First, I MUST encourage you again to listen to one of the most important messages you may hear this year. It’s spreading around the internet… listen and share it with everybody you can. Listen here: https://burton.tv/2012/10/01/listen-now-a-sudden-outbreak-of-the-spirit-of-revival-in-detroit-last-night/
Charisma Magazine just posted a great article on the effectiveness of large corporate prayer gatherings and solemn assemblies. You can read that article here.
As I shared in my previous post, there have been many prophecies about stadiums in Detroit being filled with intercessors and revivalists. I agree with that prophecy.
I agree with Jennifer Leclaire, the author of the article on prayer rallies in Charisma Magazine, that large corporate prayer gatherings and solemn assemblies absolutely do work and are wildly necessary.
She said, “I believe every prayer lifted to heaven in the name of Jesus makes a difference. I believe every intercessor’s Spirit-inspired utterance is making up a hedge of protection around this nation. I believe if the prayer stopped, the skeptics would start asking us to pray again.”
I couldn’t agree more.
We need the stadiums full, but, there is a much more challenging and costly strategy that revival is tightly hinged on.
The church must become a house of prayer again, and the corporate body must live a life of such extreme sacrifice that the prayer house is filled most every day of the week.
Yes, the price is our time and the costly surrender of our American lifestyle and the eradication of the cares of life.
Again, let me make it clear:
The average American Christian who works a 9 to 5 job, who has kids in sports and school programs, will need to shift most everything in their daily schedule and gather together under key apostolic and prophetic leadership to pray and respond to instruction most every night of the week.
The stadium level prayer events must happen, but, they won’t have lasting impact if we don’t also live a disciplined life of white hot, deep corporate prayer most every day.
We often talk about Easter Christians who only attend church on Easter and Christmas.
I want to offer a comparison. Today we have event Christians who trust in the conferences and stadium events to carry them and to advance the Kingdom on the Earth. That strategy alone won’t work.
We must pray together continually.
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46-47 ESV)
I’ve said this countless times, and I’ve written about it in my book 20 Elements of Revival: The 24/7 church will arise again and Christians will gather together every day to pray and contend for Kingdom advance.
I don’t know if it will take a national calamity or if it will come as the church suddenly awakens, but the 24/7 church is coming—and it will require a passionate, disciplined, undistracted people.
Ephesians 6:16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance…
As we are driven by faith, pray ALWAYS in the Spirit…persevere and stay alert, we will establish a biblically normal church: A house of prayer that’s filled continually with zealous, surrendered Christians who feel the weight of the hour and intercede with passion for the nations.
We can’t meet in a stadium once a year and hope for revival. It’s time to gather together with the fear of the Lord provoking us into intimacy with God and bold Kingdom action.
THE CITY CHURCH
When this biblical model has matured, we’ll see it function on a city level very powerfully.
The apostolic/prophetic leadership of the city will call regular corporate prayer events and the entire city church will show up. Stadiums will be filled regularly.
Then, between events, the local expressions of the city church will be together day after day in prayer and response to local apostolic instruction.
I want to encourage you to order 20 Elements of Revival as I go into detail on the structure of a revival ready city church.
You can order it for print or Kindle at www.johnburton.net/resources.
Has revival bypassed Detroit? A voice of reason…
Has Detroit failed in the opportunity to initiate and steward one of the greatest revivals known to man?
Jer 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
That’s an amazing, invigorating promise! Our God is a very good God and he has very good plans to prosper us. Amen!
Wait just a minute. Let’s look at the context of this popular, biblical word of encouragement.
Just because God is indeed very good does not mean we have carte blanche rights to provide false encouragement to others. We see this quite a bit in the prophetic movement. Well intentioned people desire to encourage others and, instead of giving the pure prophetic message, they focus solely on the positive.
Now, of course, when handled rightly, this has precedence.
1 Cor 14:3 …the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.
So, it’s very good and right to prophesy with a motive of encouragement. However, the prophecy must also be accurate. We can’t depart from the truth in order for people to be encouraged.
In Jeremiah 29:11 we see an extremely encouraging word… but consider the larger story:
Jer 29:7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.
First, God, in response to the unsatisfactory condition of Israel, is the one who led them into exile! A very good God did something that we might call bad!
Notice how the “church” was listening to the prophets that gave them the words they wanted to hear? God was clear. He did not send those prophets.
In fact, in stark contrast to the words of quick freedom from exile the false prophets were communicating, God tells them to get cozy in their current situation in captivity. They are going to be there for a while:
Jer 29:4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease.
What? We’re believing for freedom! For revival! God is telling us to get use to our captivity? We are to build houses? That takes a long time! Plant gardens? Get married? What?! Have kids? That takes years! Woah. Wait a minute! Then we have to wait for our kids to get married and have kids? This isn’t at all what we are praying for!
No wonder they wanted to listen to the false prophets.
Then comes the accurate prophecy:
Jer 29:10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity.[b] I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
What a story!
God has a plan, but the process may be very different than we might presume. It may take much longer than we might hope.
REVIVAL IN DETROIT
I believe the Detroit region is still on the radar, but the first sweep, the first ping, has passed. How long will this region remain on target? I’ll say this—we can’t risk the time even to discuss it. It’s time to work.
The question is, what is God’s prophetic word for Detroit?
Are we to listen to words that declare that revival is unavoidable and then kick back and wait? Or, is there are greater, more inconvenient plan that God wants to reveal to us?
My view is that Detroit has missed it for this season, and we will need to regroup quickly and prepare for the next sweep. If you look at the radar image I’ve included with this post, you might consider it to represent God’s perspective as he is looking down on America, looking for a city that will rise about the others. Which city church will unite and initiate the greatest revival strategy since 120 people holed up in an upper room 2000 years ago?
It may take a year or five years before the next sweep of the radar comes and Detroit has the opportunity to send an unmistakable ping of revival vibrations heavenward. What will we do between now and then?
CLEAR, UNAVOIDABLE STRATEGY
I’ve heard it prophesied many times that stadiums would be filled with praying people in Detroit—and I agree with this prophecy. But, it’s a ways off. Stop and consider this. If we can’t even fill churches on Sunday with fiery people, how in the world do we think we’ll fill stadiums with people who are disciplined in fervent prayer? It’s insanity. We couldn’t even fill a stadium at The Call after months of preparation and alarms being sounded! The strategy must change.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein
Take a moment and pull your head out of any mystical, hyper-spiritual fog you may be swimming in and consider reality:
There are over 19,000 cities in America and NONE of them are experiencing revival. We are zero for 19,000! There aren’t ANY! AT ALL!
That means the strategies must change with such extreme and sudden shock that anybody who isn’t locked in with God will be radically disoriented. It’s a necessary disorientation.
Can we be honest with ourselves? The strategies in Detroit, though often extremely honorable, and truly impactful to a degree, have not resulted in revival. In fact, I wonder if the region is spiritually worse off now than it was just a few years ago. The talk of revival is rare and the urgency to contend is falling on mostly deaf ears. People are experiencing hope deferred and sickness is hitting this region.
For this to change, a simple yet costly strategy must be initiated now. The cost is so extreme that anybody who is devoted to the typical American lifestyle just won’t pay it. The cost of revival includes the surrender of personal dreams, lifestyles and plans.
If you are a Christian, now is your time to lock in with great passion and without excuse to the corporate mission of prayer. Be together with other Christians and pray in the Spirit, with fire, continually. Upper room style. No excuses allowed. Cares of life can win no more. Cancel your life. Change your schedule. Your job now, every single day, is to gather and pray.
Check out the plan, and notice how similar it is to the passage in Jeremiah:
2 Chron 7:11 Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. 12Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. 13When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, 14if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. 16For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
- Step one: (verse 11) Leaders must build the house of prayer. In the last year alone at least two houses of prayer in this region have closed. That’s the wrong direction!
- Step two: (verse 12) God will make it clear that Detroit has been chosen. I believe supernatural visitations will help confirm this.
- Step three: (verse 13) A difficult season will come that will provoke the people and provide a clear mandate to them. Notice that leaders already built the house of prayer, and now it’s the people’s turn to step into position.
- Step four: (verse 14a) The true followers of Jesus will be revealed via a mass movement of humility, prayer and holiness. It will overwhelm this city.
- Step five: (verse 14b) A movement of healing will initiate not only on the people but on the city, on the land.
- Step six: (verse 15) The precedent of prayer and intimate communion between God and his people will be established.
- Step seven: (verse 16) The city will be known as a holy place that hosts God himself, exalts his name and has his attention forever.
THE PLAN SIMPLIFIED
The church is a house of prayer for all nations. The primary, most dominant activity in the church must be deep and continual prayer. It’s not a house teaching, a house of evangelism, a house of relationships or a house of anything. The church exists for prayer fueled people to conquer the world!
With this in mind, if you want to experience revival in your lifetime, start doing the following:
- Pray in the Holy Spirit at least an hour a day personally.
- Gather together multiple times a week to pray in the Holy Spirit corporately with your local church or an intercession movement in the region.
- Mirror the commitment of a fully devoted senior leader in the church. Never miss a service. Show up early. Stay late. Never gossip or complain. Take ownership of the mission.
- Pay attention to regional revival events—and attend with expectancy.
- Be responsive to leadership as they prayerfully give apostolic direction to the movement.
- Give extravagantly to the house of prayer (the church).
- Be humble.
- Live holy. Stop sinning. Stop watching most movies, TV shows and other forms of entertainment.
- Eliminate every distraction, even good ones, that keep you away from the costly, inconvenient daily mission of prayer and service.
- Stir up your faith, walk in the Spirit and prepare to build. There’s a lot of work ahead!
We can’t take a wait and see approach. Stop playing it safe. Dive in and pay the price and take the risk and participate in the mission of revival with a level of devotion that will help calibrate the church back to the fiery heart of God!
And, do it quickly. The next sweep of the radar is approaching. Fast. And it may not sweep again.
Come full, alert and ready
Sunday’s at Revival Church are geared more toward facilitating a holy staff meeting than a typical church service—we must set a pattern of arriving full, alert and ready to pour out and then to receive key instructions. As a revival command center, we must all assume a military mindset and be exceedingly discerning and ready for advance.
The reason we planted this church was to gather together likeminded people who are contending together for a weighty move of God in Detroit. As we meet and encounter God together in a prophetic atmosphere, we’ll all receive divine mandates and strategies.
THE MOST IMPORTANT HOUR OF THE WEEK
We would like to see as many people as possible rushing through the doors at 5pm every Sunday evening. From 5-6pm we have the opportunity to initiate and facilitate a deeply prophetic atmosphere. As we all pray with passion an hour prior to the service, we’ll be ready for God’s plans for the rest of the night.
A FULL TIME MANDATE
Come full. This is such a key directive for all of us. We have to change the trend in the church world where we burn out through the week and try get refilled on Sundays. This pattern of living is extremely self-defeating and it threatens the mission of Kingdom advance.
Every day be in the place of extreme prayer and intercession. Dive deep into scripture. Listen to sermons from anointed men and women of God online. Be so full and deeply burning in the passion of the Holy Spirit that we experience a spontaneous explosion when we connect on Sundays.
THE OPPORTUNITIES
Revival Church is not a ‘Sunday only’ ministry. We’ll never even begin to fulfill our mission by connecting for a few hours one day a week. Be encouraged to connect at several different points every week so we can compare notes, grow together and stay on the same page. We’ve made it easy by having several of our connect points online, so people can participate from their homes.
- Mondays- Join our weekly Prophetic Revival radio broadcast. At 8pm EST every Monday head on over to www.detroitrevivalchurch.com/radio.
- Wednesdays- Head on over to Revival Church for prayer at 7pm.
- Fridays- Connect at the International House of Prayer East Detroit at 7pm for prayer, worship and teaching.
- Revival Teams- Join with others each week for discussion, prayer, strategy and other mission critical activities.
THE PLANS
There’s a lot of vision for the future that are connected to our ability to build a strong foundation now. As we grow and develop with fire, love and passion, we’ll watch some important ministry launch in the months and years ahead. Some examples:
- Revelation Driven House of Prayer- We will be functioning as a 24/7 prophetic prayer center for the region and the nations. As we gain prophetic intelligence from people from around the world, we’ll intercede, proclaim and release the life of Jesus into those situations. This will result in serious shifts in cities and atmospheres around the world.
- Revival Teams- As we take this fire into churches, conferences and events in cities around the world, we’ll want a team of people who know how to walk in the Spirit, pray with passion and impart the fire of God.
- Revelation Driven Ministry Project- We’re launching this now, but for it to thrive we’ll have to give it a lot of attention. The call is for everybody to connect at least twice a week with us. Once by submitting dreams, visions and prophecies to www.propheticpulse.com and a second time by participating in the weekly Monday 8pm EST radio show where we’ll discuss those prophecies.
There’s more, but that will give you an idea of the scope of the mission. As we all contend together, with smiles on our faces and fire in our eyes, we’ll be right in the middle of a consuming end-time move of the Living God!
And, in case you haven’t seen it, check out our welcome magazine here!
See you TOMORROW for a night of fire!
Jeff Garvin Friday-Sunday
First, a new audio teaching has been uploaded- it was quite a powerful night at Revival Church this past Sunday. At one point people were groaning and crying out, “Jesus!” The anointing was heavy, deliverance was happening suddenly in the middle of the teaching. Head over to www.praytherevolution.com/teaching. It’s titled Six Enemies of Fulfilled Destiny Part 3.
I BELIEVE you very well may experience spontaneous personal deliverance, suddenly, as you listen to this message. I think it's funny when I get engulfed by the Holy Spirit when I listen to my own recorded teachings- and this happened as I was listening as I was lying in bed late Monday night.
It’s almost time! Jeff Garvin will be with us for THREE NIGHTS beginning tomorrow, Friday, December 4th!
Invite everybody you know who needs a powerful breakthrough into the presence of God. Jeff operates in a very strong anointing of prophecy and healing.
Jeff will be at:
- IHOPE (www.ihopedetroit.org) on FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4TH at 7PM (come early to get a seat!)
- REVIVAL CHURCH (www.detroitrevivalchurch.com) on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 5TH at 7PM
- REVIVAL CHURCH on SUNDAY, DECEMBER 6TH at 6PM
Is the House of Prayer movement running out of steam?
FIRST—This afternoon (Sunday, November 22) at 4pm is the Revival Church Thanksgiving Dinner! Come on out and make some new, hungry (for turkey AND revival!) friends! Then, we’ll kick into strategic pursuit of revival at 6pm. www.detroitrevivalchurch.com.
Is the House of Prayer movement running out of steam? That question is sure to elicit a wide range of emotions and reactions, from radical disagreement to a yawn of indifference.
Here’s my thought: The House of Prayer movement is a strategic and divine plan of God. However, the House of Prayer movement in its current form is to bring 
recalibration to the church—it in itself is not meant to be an enduring structure.
Now, allow me to bring some clarification. The church is to be a house of prayer for all nations. Those of you who follow my ministry know my heart on this topic well.
I feel it is utter insanity that prayer is nearly non-existent in churches today. I mean, lets talk about this. Churches that don’t have prayer as the primary ministry and activity is like encouraging people to stand in a shower with no water. It’s so obviously nonsensical.
Prayer is the clear, tangible connecter between man and God. It’s the conduit of relationship that Jesus made possible for us on the cross.
Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV) 21 "Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
The clear idea here is that it’s possible to align ourselves with God, work for him, be dramatically involved in his business, while also not knowing him, not ‘saved’.
So, the problem is that we have churches full of devoted people, people who are working, serving and ministering, who don’t intimately know God. This is a more serious issue that we can imagine.
In my book The Terror of Hell I wrote about a dream that shook me to my core. As I prayed for interpretation of that dream, God wrecked my theology and comfort level. He said, “John, many people in the church will be shocked one day to find themselves in Hell.”
I believe the House of Prayer movement is a necessary shock to the church system. It must bring recalibration to a prayer-starved church.
It’s re-emphasizing the call to return to our first love. Check out this striking scripture:
Luke 10:25-28 (NKJV) 25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" 26 He said to him, "What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?" 27 So he answered and said, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and ‘your neighbor as yourself.' " 28 And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
This should be our primary salvation scripture. This should be our primary salvation strategy. The question was clear: What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Love God! Deeply! With every part of our being!
If we do this, and let that love reach others around us, we will be saved.
So, with prayer being the vehicle of relationship and intimacy with God, we must be severely alarmed when that vehicle is out of service.
The Global Prayer Movement and the House of Prayer Movement are not one in the same, though, of course, they are uniquely connected. The Global Prayer Movement is ramping up and gaining momentum. Right now, it seems that the House of Prayer is its primary driver.
However, this cannot remain. The church, with its governmental authority and biblical mandate inherent in it, must receive the baton of intimate, prophetic prayer from the House of Prayer movement.
I don’t believe Houses of Prayer, in their current form, can survive indefinitely. They must transition into or merge with churches.
For example, we see the International House of Prayer in Kansas City functioning as a keenly focused prayer ministry. People there pray hours a day as their primary life activity. However, it also functions as a church. They meet that need for people. They have no need to send people to a ‘real church’ because IHOP is a church.
Additionally, this year, they moved from an 80%/20% model of prayer/ministry to a 50/50 model. Their prayer is enabling and infusing church ministry.
I know this is a provocative and even offensive question, but if we at least consider it I believe we’ll be well on our way toward reformation in the church: Is it possible that IHOP and prayer-fueled ministries like it have a radically higher percentage of people who are truly saved than a typical church?
I’m not saying they have better theology or that they are somehow elite. I’m decreasing this issue to the lowest foundational level. They pray. The are intentionally applying the Luke 10 salvation strategy. They are focusing on the call to intimately know God.
This strategy and primary focus must return to every typical church on every street corner. That’s what the House of Prayer movement is doing. Rick Joyner says that if house of prayer leaders do their job well, they will work themselves out of that job. The true, biblical structure is the church, which is a house of prayer for all nations.
If houses of prayer succeed in their mission, there will no longer be a need for houses of prayer as we now know them.
Thoughts?
John’s interview on the Miracle Channel : Watch tonight
I was interviewed back in October on Canada’s largest Christian television network, The Miracle Channel. It was an awesome experience.
I talked about my book Revelation Driven Prayer on an hour long episode of The Bridge.
You can watch the show as it airs tonight at 10pm Eastern. Head on over to www.miraclechannel.ca and click the ‘Watch Us Online’ banner on the top right.
You will also be able to view the archive starting tomorrow by going here: www.miraclechannel.ca/thebridge
Let’s pray that this message of encountering God reaches millions of people and impacts them powerfully.
ALSO: I’ll be preaching tomorrow (Friday) at IHOPE at 7pm. Come on out for a night of intercession, prophecy and fire!