why ?

God's Desire

From the beginning, God has been calling humanity to Himself. In the primal alienation, we find Yahweh Elohim crying out - Adam where are you? Motivated by love, He is calling today. He is calling the church to Himself. It is becoming axiomatic that, almost like a first fruits, God is calling intercessors and worshipers to Himself on a regional basis. He wants to see our face. He is calling to bring about unity based on who He is and our love for Him. Father is bringing about the unity for which His Son prayed.

As the Lord looks upon the church and our society He is moved with compassion. The Greek form of this word teaches this: what Jesus saw affected Him. The state of humanity stirs Him to action. To meet the need, God is calling the church to come before Him to offer up intercession and petition on behalf of His purposes in the church. Through the Body, God intends to affect the heavens and the earth.

Our Thirst

When the cross is at work in the life of the believer, it produces a spiritual thirst. The work of the cross leads the believer to thirst for God and the outflow of His life.

God recognizes that need and calls the thirsty to Himself. In Isaiah 55 He calls the believer from living a life of vanity into the overflow of His life resulting in personal covenant. John 7 records Jesus calling anyone who thirsts to come to Him and drink. The result of that imbibing will be that the thirsty will become a source of living water himself.

The believer thirsts for the eternal state, for Heaven’s environment here on earth. He thirsts for the honor due to God in one’s life, the church & the earth to be freely, continually offered to God. The believer thirsts for the life of God to touch the people around him.

Many saints are longing to see a spiritual and practical unity in the Body and for the life of Jesus to minister to and through them to both the church and world.

The regional House of Prayer is a place where many of these desires can come to fruition.

Attitude Caveat

Not every first-love, worship and prayer oriented, regionally burdened, revival-hungry, Presence loving believer will be attracted to this. But that is the type of believer that will be attracted to the House of Prayer. The Spirit filled believer will gravitate to an environment that is Word and Spirit filled and is overflowing with His life.

what is harp & bowl ?

Revelation 5:7 And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. 8 When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song …

In the Highest Place, behind the scenes, beyond the seen, is continual, dynamic, fervent worship and prayer before the Throne of God. Harp and Bowl is a deliberate patterning of ourselves after the invisible. We’re able to do this because the invisible is revealed in the Scriptures. In Revelation 5 we find that at the revelation of the Lamb’s authority, the most spiritually mature beings in the universe worship God with a harp in one hand and a bowl of incense in the other. The harp represents worship and the incense represents prayer. We see that worship and prayer are to be employed before Him.

Our heart’s desire to glorify the LORD and for the Name of the Lord to be glorified

The first aspect of the Kingdom that we desire is for the Hallowing of His Name to increase on earth! As in heaven, so on earth. The pattern of the invisible realm's worship is revealed in the Word. What a blessing to see by faith heaven's worship through the written revelation of eternal reality. It is a joyful discovery to read how the Eternal One has always labored to reveal this pattern through tabernacle, temple and now in the living temple - the Body of the Messiah.

As we enter into this pattern, we are growing into our inheritance and calling to be priests to our God. Let's look at the topic of the priestly ministry. One of the highest titles given to the Messiah was that He would be “a priest after the order of Melchizedek”. Jesus is the prophesied King/Priest with the counsel of Shalom between the two offices. He ever lives to make intercession for us. As brethren to the First-born, we find that part of our utter destiny is to be priests forever. He is the first born of many brethren, we are those brethren - we've been born into an eternal priestly family.

Values and Skill

There are certain values and skills that are fundamental to the House of Prayer. The first of these values is worship. The second is that the Scriptures are valuable for the framing of prayer that pleases God. In fact, the framing of priestly prayer comes from the heart of the Word. When we submit our prayers to the Word of the Lord, we are taking our cues from the apostles. As we conform our 'form' of worship and intercession to the revelation of heavenly worship and prayer, we are taking our cues from the angels and the spirits of just men made perfect.

Another value is that of Faith. It takes faith in the revealed Word to believe that this is worthwhile. It takes faith to receive and respond to the prophetic heart cry to and for 24/7 intercessory worship. The exercise of faith is necessary for the priestly ministry to be truly valued as the foundation for the next level of prophetic intercession.

For this to take place, there are certain ministry skills of both leading and flexible loyal cooperation, which must be developed. The heart of the Servant, Jesus, is highly esteemed for these skills to be developed.

It is an emphasized value that we are called to focus upon God at the utmost revelation of His Holy Glory.

In honoring the Scriptures, we, by faith, honor the antiphonal spontaneous song.

Those of us who are involved in cooperating with the Lord in establishing the House of Prayer are convinced and committed to the following values: the house is HIS and the House of Prayer is fundamentally regional in burden and function. As a regional expression of worship and intercession it is a place of surrender, reconciliation and communion with the Beloved One and provides a forum for regional intercession on His behalf. Ultimately the House of Prayer is a place of Awe while at the same time a place of joyful communion with Him.

Vision for the House of Prayer

Primarily, this is a ministry of love & desire. The desire to be with God provides the motivational fuel that is foundational to the pursuit of God. Those who love God desire to see the Body come into unity and fullness burdens the intercessors and causes them to cry out to the One they are seeking. Finally, the desire to see the Harvest on a scale that has never been seen before stirs the soul with a love for the lost. This Harvest will happen as a result of the Church coming into unity and fullness.

In addition, this is a ministry of faith. Those who give themselves to the Regional House of Prayer believe that God desires us to come before Him in worship and intercession. Right along with this is the conviction that our Father answers prayer. The certain prophetic assurance that only God can accomplish that which we desire sparks desperation along with the certainty that He desires the same things we do, and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

In Luke 18:7Jesus' word is recorded: "Now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them? 8 "I tell you that He will bring about justice for them quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Here we read that faith and prayer are challenged at the end of the age. Messiah promised that Abba will answer the importunate petition for those who cry out "day and night”.

Will there be faith at the end of the age? Those who have determined to give themselves to worship and intercession are also determined, by the grace of God, to be faithful to the end, manifesting that faith in concerted, importunate prayer - day and night.

how is this done ?

Material & Personnel - A place, the Text, the Team. The place is anywhere the believers are gathered around the Word unto the Lord. The team is composed of worship leader and team, prayer leader, chorus leader (worship leader can double as this function), singers, a congregation (not always necessary).

The form which we are emphasizing is made up of several components that are Biblical and which we believe have been the subject of the Holy Spirit's emphasis.

First of all is worship. The worship team leads those who have assembled for intercessory worship in a short initial segment of praise and worship in song. This is a vital time in the session. During this time, the worship team is seeking to cooperate with the Holy Spirit as He draws each heart before the Father to worship and focus on Him. “To God and to the Lamb!” - This is a time when the emphasis is to minister to the Lord. We gather, and are gathered, as one Body, to Him

Then the worship team chooses a simple chord progression and the congregation and singers are encouraged to sing a new song, singing in the spirit and singing special portions of Scripture. This serves two purposes – the first goal is to release our spirits to the Lord, singing to Him. The second is so the prayer/singers may become familiar with the progression and find melodies that they may employ during intercession.

Then the prayer leader opens the Word and reads the portion of Biblical prayer he wishes to pray through and begins to pray it. The prayer leader is releasing his heart and burden, informed by the text, to the LORD. Then follows a season of antiphonal prayer between prayer leader and singers. The prayer leader, taking the text in smaller segments, prays the prayer again, taking small portions at a time, in order that the prayer/singers can join in and sing/pray in agreement with the prayer leader.

In the midst of this spontaneous choruses will be chosen out of the midst of the spontaneous song and the worship leader or chorus leader will lead the singers and congregation into a season of singing petition or praise together to the Lord. At the end of the time of prayer, the participants enter into a time of praying in the spirit for a few minutes before the worship team leads into another time of corporate song.

Someone may ask, “How is the Biblical text chosen?” There are many ways of choosing a text; it should be subject to the Lord and the leadership in any given situation.

In the midst of this process, humility is being exercised. It is seen in the following ways. The prayer leader, who may be used to praying his own burden, is under the Word. The leader is exalting the Scriptures and not merely the burden of his own heart. Meanwhile, the singers are humbling themselves as they sing in harmony with the heart of the prayer leader. At the same time, the worship team is serving both the singers and the leader. The worship team is playing the same simple chord progressions, providing a foundation for the singers and the prayer leader to bring united prayer. The congregation is participating in agreement as they say yes to the prayer and worship, entering into the choruses chosen by the chorus leader.

There are many venues and variations to the Harp and Bowl form of worship and intercession. This essay is concentrating on a foundational form and emphasis. This form, along with many others, was developed in Kansas City at the International House of Prayer. The foundation of this form is the use of the apostolic prayers.

where is this going ?

Its immediate direction is up - towards the Lord. The focus is ministering to the Lord. Then we are praying according to His revealed will (the Word). We enter into this service with a heart turned toward the Lord. A heart that honors the Holy Spirit, the Word of the Lord, the establishing of the believers as a Priesthood and honoring the Body as worthy of prayer.

This is also moving towards the Body. Those given to Harp and Bowl view themselves as representing the Body. These priests are praying for the Body. They are also prepared to be a blessing through being willing to join together with others who are doing the same thing.

This intercessory worship will release ministry that will impact the World. This is oriented towards the Lost. The object of our prayers are that many will find the value of the blood and sacrifice of Jesus. These prayers will ultimately release the Heart of God in the gathering of the Harvest, raising up those who will disciple others and be discipled through grateful submission to the King. Our prayer is that this harvest and discipleship will also tend towards the transformation of our culture.

-David Harwood