What is the House of Prayer?

“And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant - these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” Isaiah 56:6-7 (NIV)
First and foremost, the House of Prayer is the biblical model of the form and function of the house God has designed for His people, and the primary activity of heaven.

In scripture, the mandate for the Church to corporately be a House of Prayer is almost overwhelming. Throughout the Bible, we see that God’s consistent desire was that His people be a people of His presence, a resting-place for His glory (Isaiah 56:7).

Today, the need is great for us as the Body to become balanced and mature in our intercession, not praying out of human understanding or emotion, but praying out of a deep grounding in the Word of God, and in the history of prayer. The end-time battle for the  culture of the nations will be fought in the arena of prayer and worship. The leader of this great end-time prayer movement is no less than Jesus Christ Himself, who “lives to make intercession for them.” Hebrews 7:23-26 (KJV)

The House of Prayer, then, is a paradigm – a way of thinking and understanding our walk with God. We must shift from prayer as an activity to prayer as a lifestyle. Prayer must change from something we do, to something we are. It must never serve as merely a preamble, an opening or closing, or even as the response to a need – prayer must become our lifestyle, it must become the central focus of every congregation, every family, and every believer.

"The House of Prayer is a paradigm – a way of thinking and understanding our walk with God."

“The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering... The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.” Leviticus 6:12-13 (NIV)

“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.” Revelation 5:8 (NIV)

“Pray continually.” I Thessalonians 5:17 (NIV)

The Metro New York House of Prayer seeks to be a series of locations and an infrastructure to see this understanding and experience of prayer flood the Body of Christ across the Eastern Seaboard and throughout the nations of the world.

The chief goal of the MNYHOP is to provide a network and a context that facilitates 24-hour prayer and intercession while also exporting this understanding and lifestyle to other portions of the Body of Christ. Our heart is to spread the message and lifestyle of the House of Prayer, not just to draw a certain group of people to a meeting or a gathering. The MNYHOP is not, nor does it seek to be, a local church – rather, it seeks to come alongside the Body of Christ, the primary expression of which is the local church, and strengthen its arms and knees in intercession.