Making Prayer Visible

“Making prayer visible in our churches makes it more likely to happen and encourages more people to participate. We must do everything we can to make prayer appealing, from investing first-class prayer materials to raising up comfortable, inviting places for people to seek God. Prayer does not have to be mercenary in order to be spiritual.” Terry Teykl

Making prayer visible will help promote prayer and intercession in your church. There is something that is extremely motivational when we see a place that is designated for prayer and for prayer alone. Recently we were in a large church in Mexico that had a wonderful prayer room and it was called “Casa de Oracion“ (House of Prayer in Spanish). My husband and I were staying for a week in their guest apartment not far from that prayer room. I remember hearing the loud prayers of the pastoral staff and at another time awaking to the fervent prayers of the youth in that church. What a pleasant joy to hear the cries of passionate prayer in a room designated and designed just for the purpose of prayer. It was powerful - it was strategic - it was inviting - it was fruitful! That church is seeing 35-50 individuals accept the Lord every Sunday! In addition, they have churches planted throughout the city of Puebla, Mexico which are equally fruitful! When we make prayer visible in our churches, God makes His name known throughout the city.

Making prayer visible can touch the lives of the lost in a most amazing way. Terry Teykl shares a testimony about prayer when his small church was in an obscure storefront along a small strip of businesses. He was praying alone at 10:00 AM when suddenly a man came to the door wanting to find Christ. This happened again at 4:00 PM when he was praying alone at the church during the next week. He was the pastor, and this happened without him preaching. God was speaking to him and said, “If you will find Me, others will find you.”

“Prayer evangelism works. When we pray targeting the Great Commission, people are drawn to Christ, not by our sign or our building, but by the Holy Spirit.” Terry Teykl

Why a Prayer Room?

“Prayer must have organization and accountability to be effective. The greater the order, the more likely the ministry will last.” Dutch Sheets

The above testimony is one big reason why we should have a prayer room in all of our churches. But there are many additional reasons. Here are a few:

• You can schedule prayer in a systematic way - Prayer does not happen if you don’t plan it. There are too many things that will crowd in for your attention because the devil will always try to keep you too busy. A prayer room provides a regular place to pray consistently. Scheduled prayer is Biblical!
  
  
• You have a place where prayer can be practiced and can grow - Everyone needs to grow in prayer, even well-seasoned intercessors. When there is a place where individuals know they can go and pray at almost any time, it becomes a tremendous encouragement for growth in prayer. It becomes your church’s prayer training center!
  
  
• You have a room where everyone can come to one place to pray - This becomes a place where the presence of God is nurtured. How much easier it is to pray spontaneously when everyone knows where to go and when everyone knows that it is the place where God’s presence dwells.
  
  
• You have a room where prolonged, persevering prayer can be encouraged - Prayer rooms encourage perseverance and become places of breakthrough. God answers persistent prayer, and this takes time. A prayer room can make all the difference in creating this type of environment.
  
  
• You can promote the church’s vision for prayer in a tangible way - This also becomes an encouragement to your city of the importance your church places on prayer. Prayer becomes central to your church and others learn of it both inside and outside your church walls.
  
  
• You can record and remember God’s answers to prayer as a church - Often it is easy to forget God’s answers to our prayers. But when there is a place where you can record His answers, your church become more thankful. This encourages fervent praise.
  
  
• You can gather prayer requests from your church congregation to pray over - This promotes agreement in prayer. It is easy to forget to pray for a particular need because the distractions of life are so demanding. But when the requests are gathered and displayed in the prayer room, there is a tangible reminder of the need to pray for specific requests.
  
  

· You have a control center for the strategic prayer ministries in your church - Prayer becomes central to your church. All the ministries represented in your church know that they have a place where they can gather to pray for the needs of their particular focus. This empowers every ministry in your church, whether it be evangelistic, youth oriented or for the children.

“One of the simplest and yet most profound things a prayer room offers is a place to be alone and still before God. It promotes humility and a visible dependence on God. Prayer rooms also generate and facilitate other prayer ideas given by the Holy Spirit to affect the whole ministry of the church in the community.” Terry Teykl

Recently our pastor preached a message on prayer in a most amazing way. He preached only for 15 minutes about prayer, using the example of Daniel. He then stressed that we probably don’t need to hear another sermon on prayer, but we need to pray! We then practiced various methods of prayer - prayer for the nation, group prayer, silent prayer and prayer together with worship (“Harp and Bowl”). It was powerful - it was strategic - it was inviting - it was fruitful! All the prayer meetings in the church were printed in the bulletin, and church members were invited to participate. This can be an initial step in making prayer visible in your church because you begin to spark an interest in the powerful ministry of prayer.

Aren’t you convinced? Will you not consider and pray towards making prayer visible and having a prayer room in your church? Designating a room for prayer is of great value and extremely strategic for any church. If you put a high priority on prayer, I promise you that God will use your church in a most powerful way. When God enters into our every purpose, we enter into His Kingdom plans for our church, our community, city and nation.

“It is not enough for the pastor to pray fervently, or is it sufficient for a leadership team to pray ardently on behalf of the congregation. Until the church owns prayer as a world-class weapon in the battle against evil and cherishes prayer as a means of intimate and constant communication with God, the turn-around efforts of a Body are severely limited, if not altogether doomed to failure.” George Barna