Praying for Your Church to Become a House of Prayer

Praying for Your Church to Become a House of Prayer

Six Prayer Targets for Change

A paradigm shift is needed in the minds and hearts of American church leaders if their churches are to become houses of prayer.  According to Frank Damazio, pastor of City Bible Church in Portland, Oregon, six areas within the church need to change.  Why not make these a matter of prayer?

1.     The heart of the senior pastor.  Only the senior pastor can cast the vision on Sunday morning to the whole church. No one else has that place of visibility or authority. When the pastor’s heart is captured, the whole church is affected.  Pray that the Lord will draw your pastor’s heart to the place of prayer as his daily priority.

2.     The heart of the congregation. A house of prayer is made up of living stones--the prayer lives of God’s people. Through a pastor’s example and prayers, a congregation’s heart can be moved to spend more time with the Lord. In fact, it’s important to see this happen even before establishing a prayer ministry. Pray that your pastor will catch a vision for your entire church to become a house of prayer, that his fervent prayer life will be contagious,  that the spirit of prayer will permeate the heart of the congregation, and that their hearts will be captured with desire to spend time with Him.

3.     The spiritual atmosphere of the church. When the prayers of God’s people focus upon the things which open the heavens over a church, the spiritual atmosphere will change. Damazio asks his congregation to pray over twelve specific goals, some of which are: biblical truth to lead the church, strong prayer and intercession, awesome worship, liberal giving, healing and miracles.  Pray for God’s presence to fill your church, that the people will exhibit the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit.   

4.     The worship service. When prayer is a priority of the church, it will be visible in the weekend service. When Damazio realized the announcements were taking more time than the prayer time, he made a radical change in the service agenda. Now the church makes as much room for intercession as they do for worship.  Pray that the weekend worship service will make significant time and place for instruction in prayer, modeling of prayer, and opportunities to pray.

5.     Intentional prayer mobilization. Start a prayer ministry--one that ignites the whole church to pray. Then select a pastor of prayer or church prayer coordinator to lead it. Even though the pastor is the church’s primary motivator for prayer, it’s helpful if someone other than the pastor is given responsibility to lead the prayer ministry. Pray that the Lord will raise up His choice of a church prayer coordinator and an effective prayer ministry in your church. 

6.     Outward, not just inward, focus. In addition to praying for the church, it’s important to include an outward focus of prayer. This includes prayer warfare for cities and nations. A house of prayer has a heart for the world. Pray the Lord will put the whole world inside the heart of your church and that the prayers of your congregation will focus not only upon the needs of the church but those of your community and world. (From the book "The Prayer Saturated Church" by Cherryl Sacks)