The Dignity of Beholding and Blessing

I was just in the middle of writing a blog entry about the dignity of intercession but as I’m sitting here I realized that before I talk about intercession in the house of prayer, I want to talk about the preeminent purpose of the house of prayer; to behold and bless the Lord.

As I sit in the prayer room right now as the worship team leads in praise and people are doing their thing with the Lord, I’m realizing that the main reason they are here is for one purpose. To gaze. To gaze and bless the Lord simply because He’s worthy. The worth of Jesus should be enough reason to have a 24/7 house of prayer.  It is enough to simply offer unceasing praise, adoration and glory to His name.

The Lord has just really been driving this reality into me this past year. It’s like the lightbulb went on inside of me and I’m finally starting to realize the main point of the house of prayer. It goes beyond interceding and petitioning the Lord for justice. That’s a super important function of the house of prayer and like I was saying, I have a blog to follow this one about intercession, but I’m learning that that’s not the end all of the house of prayer. What the Lord keeps bringing to my attention to show me this is the tabernacle of David and the setting up of the Levites to bless the Lord as their occupation and function in the kingdom.

Sometimes I like to think about what was going on in David’s heart when the 24/7 worship and praise he set up in the tabernacle was first initiated. When he did that, it wasn’t just to change the spiritual atmosphere of Jerusalem. It wasn’t even just because it released grace to have victory in battles. I believe that David beheld the Lord in the beauty of holiness. I believe David beheld the beauty and glory of the Lord in such a way that it caused his heart’s response to be, “HE’S WORTHY TO BE WORSHIPPED FOREVER!” When we behold the Lord rightly, when our hearts get connected to how worthy He is, then 24/7 praise and adoration to Him makes perfect sense, simply because He’s worthy.

…and Aaron was set apart, he and his sons forever, that he should sanctify the most holy things, to burn incense before the Lord, to minister to Him, and to give blessing in His name.” (1 Chronicles 23:13)

Justin Rizzo explains it this way,

“As the return of Jesus draws near, we can now say with confidence that its larger purpose is unto Jesus being adored on earth as He is in heaven – unceasingly and universally by everyone. The primary reason for the worship and prayer movement is that God has promised a day when His Son will be fully vindicated and that He would receive the praise and adoration of all men.

The goal of night and day prayer or worship meetings is not to organize people to do an activity without stopping, nor should its goal be primarily because there is so much need that we must petition Him unceasingly in hopes of revival. The hope of revival and transformation is good and we should desire it – but that hope will never sustain our hearts in prayer long term. When the breakthrough is delayed and it doesn’t come in the way we think it should have, our hearts will grow sick and prayer will eventually fizzle out leaving us with a cynicism in prayer. Before there were lost souls that needed to be saved and prior to any humanitarian need, the confession of those who beheld Him was that His beauty warranted their undivided attention and incessant adoration. Today as we give ourselves to prayer, this confession must be our primary reason and ultimate motivation.”

I’m just barely scratching the surface on all this so I’ll probably have more thoughts to share down the road but I’m just loving this reality. It’s really clicking inside of me and I just feel more confidence the place of prayer and being someone who ministers before the Lord.

You are worthy of night and day worship. You are worthy of unceasing adoration. You are worthy of, so deserving of all our singing. Let a song be heard throughout the nations, telling of Your worth, telling of Your greatness. You are worhty of, so deserving of the nations singing, “Glory to the Righteous One.” – Clay Edwards

#1. There’s Only One Found Worthy

When I wrote my first post from one of the first few days that I started Fire in the Night, I said that I thought doing the NightWatch would really help reveal to me how worthy Jesus is. Even though that’s going to be an eternal reality that’s never going to get old, I can definately say that being a part of the NightWatch at IHOP has played a foundational role in just making that truth so real to me.

I had this one spot where I liked to pace. It’s all the way in the back of the prayer room, next to the wall with the map on it. It was a little darker and secluded because it led to the emergency exit doors. One of the reasons I loved it so much was because it was the only place in the prayer room where you could see outside a little bit. The doors had shades that went down about half way so you could still see the darkness of the night. It’s back there where I’d have these moments where I’d realize exactly what we were doing. It’s 3 in the morning, most people are sleeping, and yet there’s a group of about 150-200 people that are beholding and blessing the Lord in the middle of the night. Man, just thinking about it again undoes something in my heart. I remember sometimes I would stop pacing and lean against the wall, face the entire prayer room and just look around. It would just hit me, “We are all here for You, for One Man. There’s no one else that the world adores night and day, there really is no one worthy of it besides You Jesus. Who are You?” It just blows my mind. I did this a couple times in the track and when I did it was like the worth of Jesus was being revealed to me more and more.

I’ll always treasure those times and now I’m convinced in my heart that He truly is worthy to be praised night and day. I was able to catch a small glimmer of why those four living creatures in Revelation 4 cry out and worship Him night and day, forever and ever. They never cease not just because they’re not allowed to or anything like that. It’s just…impossible. They’re not able to cease. They couldn’t if they tried.

It’s even begun to make sense to me why David was so consumed to build the house of the Lord and why he did what he did with the tabernacle. I believe that he caught a climpse of what was going on around the throne. His heart connected with a plan in the Father’s heart, that as it is in heaven so it would be on earth. David saw the ministry that was going on in the tabernacle as a necessity. It was actually peoples job to sing to the Lord night and day, he paid them to do it, he was adamant about this. Shoot, he even did it himself! God really is going to restore this to the earth and IHOP is only one expression of how the Lord is going to build His house of prayer and establish night and day worship and prayer. Being at IHOP has just opened my eyes to the reality that God really is doing something. It’s not just Kansas City’s thing either. It’s Holy Spirit’s thing

I think of this passage in Malachi 1:11

“For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense shall be offered to My name, and a pure offering. For My name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord of Hosts

He’s doin a new thing for sure and I can’t wait to see how it gets orchestrated all across the world. He’s just so worthy of it. Here’s to the day the Spirit and the bride cry, “Come!”

Maranatha.