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Jesus came to restore God’s house of prayer. Even at the end of His ministry Jesus zealously cleaned out the house of prayer and declared, “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations,” (Mark 11:17). He was quoting the 1,000 year-old prophetic word of Isaiah “I will… make them joyful in my house of prayer… for my house shall be a house of prayer for all the peoples,” (Isaiah 56:7).   

 

Jesus frequently gathered His own disciples to form their own house of prayer. While they rarely met in a house, they explicitly gathered for God-encountering prayer. See Luke 9:28.

 

The Book of Acts contains many houses of prayer, including the house of Cornelius (Acts 10:2; 11:14), the house of Lydia (Acts 16:15), the house of the Philippian Jailer (Acts 16:31), and the house of Crispus (Acts 18:8).

 

Jesus further established the house of prayer by promising His manifest presence to His disciples: "For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18:20).

 

The apostle Paul planted many house churches, and all of them were houses of prayer (Romans 16:5; 1 Corinthians 16:19; Colossians 4:15; Philemon 1:2.).

1. Pray. Ask your loving Father for help and guidance. You can expect God to meet with you because He has already promised, “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” James 4:8 (ESV). If you are meeting with a small group, He has further promised you, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” Matthew 18:20.

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2. Pick a time, date, and frequency. Most houses of prayer will meet once each week, some a couple of days each week, or even every weekday.

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3. Start small. It is more important that you start and gather in your house of prayer consistently, than you try to pray long. In other words, as you build your house of prayer, habit is more important than longevity. As you begin, you may want to start with 10-15 minutes of prayer. If you desire to go longer, God will certainly fill your time with increased joy and increased blessing. 

1. Be brief. Particularly when you get started, don’t try to pray for an hour when five minutes is enough.

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2. Be bold. God wants you to know that He loves you just the way you are. You are fully accepted in Christ and He wants you to approach Him every day with childlike wide-eyed wonder and faith.

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3. Be biblical. The easiest and best way to structure your prayer time is to pray Scripture. You will find below the primary structure God has given us, the Lord’s Prayer Pattern. In addition, every psalm in the Book of Psalms is a prayer. Feel free to use them! Throughout the Bible there are great and precious promises that you can pray at any time. 

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4. Be a blessing. God is bringing over blessing and every day He wants to pour out blessing into your house of prayer. 

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5. Be creative. Our God is a creative God with unlimited resources. Not only is every person on earth unique, every house of prayer is unique, and to some extent every single time we meet in our house of prayer will be unique as well. Variety is vital to insure the longevity of your house of prayer. 

6. Be consistent. Bottom line, the key to a healthy house of prayer is to gather consistently. If God is calling you to meet once a week, then be consistent. If you sense that He is asking for you to meet more frequently, again, be consistent. 

While each house of prayer has similarities, no two houses of prayer are identical. You will certainly learn from other models, but your house of prayer will be unique. Different stages of home life require different strategies. 

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• Single adults. If you have a roommate, you’ve got a core to start with. If not, you can gather your house of prayer by phone, freeconferencecall.com, Zoom, or some other platform.

• Newly married. Most couples never learn to pray together before they are married. Therefore, this is a perfect time to begin.

• Families with small children. This is perhaps the most challenging season of life to build a house of prayer. Smile. Relax. Keep it fluid. Keep it short. Keep it real. But be consistent at least one day a week, if not three to five days.

• Families with school-age children. For some families, this becomes even more complex. Smile. Again, keep it short. Keep it real. And do your best to keep it relevant. Activate older children to lead the younger children.

• Families with high school students. Every family needs to find their own cadence. You can’t fight the complexity of your schedules, but you want to be consistent, even if you are consistently inconsistent. You will soon discover that regardless of how much effort is required, the rewards are worth it! 

• Single parents. For those who are raising children alone, it can feel overwhelming at times. Don’t make your house of prayer more complicated than it needs to be. Learn to activate your children to lead.

•  Empty-nesters. This is unquestionably the easiest time of life to not only establish your house of prayer, but to develop and mature it. 

• Older adults. While you are physically unable to do some of the things you used to do, prayer is not one of them. Do not allow the enemy to tell you that you are past your prime. This is when your prayer life can thrive. If you live alone, schedule a time with at least one friend with whom you will pray consistently each week either in person or on the phone. 

The best way to strengthen your house of prayer and gain prayer muscle is to use the Lord's prayer pattern as the structure for your prayer time at least once a week. No matter how big or small your house of prayer is, this pattern will work for you, and it is the way Jesus taught His disciples to pray in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. We recommend following this seven-part pattern as follows:

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1. Relationship "Our Father"

2. Worship "Hallowed be your name"

3. Lordship "your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven"

4. Sonship "give us today our daily bread and forgive us our debts"

5. Fellowship "as we forgive our debtors"

6. Leadership "lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil"

7. Ownership "for yours is the kingdom, power, and glory forever."