It is written, “My house is the house of prayer.” — Luke 19:46
Through the years, we have often hosted small group prayer gatherings in our home. I love doing that! It is part of an ongoing vision God is giving us for reaching our city and region, which I talk about in my book, House of Prayer ~ House of Power. I encourage everyone to be part of a prayer group, and even to start one, if possible. It is not all that hard, but it does take consistency and perseverance. The impact for the Kingdom of God is great!
However, whether you ever host a prayer gathering or not, your home can be a house of prayer — even if you are the only one there who prays. The concept of our individual homes each being a house of prayer has been building in my spirit for over a year now, and it started as revelation while I was engaged in worship in my living room.
I saw our house, as it was filled with worship, as a “temple mount.” The Lord revealed to me that the worship going up from our home was damaging satanic strongholds over our city and local region. I didn’t even necessarily need to identify what those strongholds were, in order for them to be weakened and pulled down. The worship going up from our house acted like missiles to break up the strongholds in the heavenlies above us. In that moment of revelation, I prayed, “Lord, let the strongholds over this valley be removed in the atmosphere of worship being released here.”
Why worship, rather than focused intercession? The Lord specifically spoke to me about worship, and I am faithfully reporting what I received, as it was given to me. Intercession for our local regions and beyond is very important. I am not minimizing that in any way. But pure worship — the adoration of the Lord simply for Who He is — has been biblically shown to be a catalyst for God to intervene. We see this most clearly in the story of Jehoshaphat’s victory over Moab and Ammon (2 Chronicles 20). Please see my series, Worship and the Intercessor, for how worship and intercession go hand in hand.
Since receiving that revelation about the spiritual impact of worship going up from our home, the Lord has helped me understand that this is not a message exclusive to our family. It is what He desires for every prayer warrior who will receive it. God is already using the worship and prayer going on in individual believers’ homes to transform neighborhoods, cities, and regions, but when we have the knowledge that our homes are actually meant to be houses of prayer, we become more intentional in consecrating them for that purpose. We expect to make an impact in our city/region. We see with new eyes of faith that we are accomplishing Kingdom things.
Here are some steps you can take to make the concept of your home being a house of prayer a reality:
- Ask the Lord to give you personal revelation of your home as a house of prayer. Ask Him to help you know or “see” it deep in your spirit.
- Dedicate your home to Him for that purpose. Tell Him you are yielding your home to Him, and that you want it to be a holy place set apart to Him for His purposes. Even if you live with nonbelievers who are bringing unholy things into the home, you can begin to change the atmosphere of your home through your dedication. Perhaps you have a special spot — a favorite chair, for instance, which you can make the seat of your house of prayer. Give to the Lord whatever you have, and He will use it.
- Begin to consciously release prayer and worship into your neighborhood/city/region. Meditate on the idea that you are impacting your locale through your house of prayer being established there.
- Make a concentrated effort to establish worship in your home. My husband and I do this by playing a lot of intimate worship music during our hours of prayer, but also while we are at work around our home. If you don’t own that kind of music, I am in the process of compiling a lot of my favorite worship music at my YouTube channel. Please feel free to avail yourself of it.
- Share the idea of a house of prayer with other members of your family, and do this together. Pray and worship together as much as possible. (If you are the only believer in your household, that’s OK. The Holy Spirit will join with you in this. He honors your presence as His vessel in your home. He takes your dedication seriously!)
As you deliberately dedicate your home to be a house of prayer, you will develop a new mindset, which will make your prayer and worship more effective in bringing about change in the world around you. When we grasp the truth that we carry “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), it suddenly becomes much easier to lay hands on people for healing and see it happen for them. When we get hold of the reality that God has already “made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6), we start praying from a position of expecting to receive answers. It is the same with understanding that your home is a house of prayer: new levels of prayer authority begin to emerge — not because God is giving any more than He always wanted to, but because you are now making yourself open to receive from Him in a greater way.
I hope you will catch the vision to make your home a house of prayer. May God make it a living reality inside of you, and as a result, may you impact your city in ways you never dreamed possible.
House of Prayer ~ House of Power,
by Lee Ann Rubsam
Out of the Fire 
I received a prompting to establish our home as a house of prayer in 2011. Another group asked if they could come once a month on Sundays to teach. They said it would be on the subject of Spiritual Gifts but it ended up being about deliverance. So I wised up a little from that experience. I would love to open up my home in the way that you portray–but I am not comfortable with people going around shouting and carrying on. I am a Spirit-filled believer but I feel that we attain the Lord’s heart more by listening and perhaps sharing verbally–but not in an angry method. Do you have any tips for me regarding this? Thank you so much for this post–the Lord spoke to me this morning about the very same thing that you mention. He also has been telling me to worship and all that you mentioned. Example of how it has been working for us: We had a terrible time with our next door neighbors. When we opened up the window closest to their house and played Christian music on a radio all day and night and then in the morning I would read Psalms out the window. They moved to Belize!!!!!! Thanks for your post!!
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Hi Patty,
I am so delighted that you have been hearing some of the same ideas! 🙂
As to your questions: When you open your home for others to come and pray with you, you are the one who should be leading, guiding, and directing. I would say, before you allow someone else to come and teach there, make sure you know them and what they are all about. Make sure they give you some idea of what they will be speaking about, and if you don’t know them very, very well, ask for a detailed synopsis of what they will be teaching on. If they are recommended by people whom you trust, that helps too.
I would also caution that people who are eager to come in and teach or lead worship who have not taken the time to find out what your vision is and how you do prayer should often be avoided. It’s also a good idea to raise up people from within the group who have invested themselves in the group to use their gifts there (which takes time, but pays off in the long run).
You are never going to be able to completely keep weird stuff from happening, but if you teach and reteach your group of intercessors, they will catch on. Some things need to be corrected in the moment, but I personally like to take the approach as much as possible of dealing with stuff that shouldn’t have happened behind the scenes privately. I’ve often told our intercessors that if somebody does something goofy at one of our prayer meetings, not to worry about it, that we will take care of it privately, even if I never mention the outcome to them. I also encourage them to give people grace and let them grow.
I hope those thoughts help. You may find my book, House of Prayer ~ House of Power to be helpful in answering some of your questions in greater detail.
Blessings, Lee Ann
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Words of wisdom, indeed! Thank you for your response. I do plan to purchase your book that you mentioned.
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Thank you! 🙂
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Wonderful and encouraging teaching, thank you! Even our children playing and dancing to worship music can advance His kingdom – that awes me!
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That’s a beautiful thought, Emily!
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Thank you Lee Ann. I have been worshipping for many months now. It is what brings the victory. Thank you for your confirmation. Love your blogs. Many, many blessings on you and your family. Marie
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Thanks so much for reading at the blog, Marie. I’m so glad the latest post resonated with you. 🙂
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Lee Ann,
Christ is risen!
(Our Orthodox greeting from the feast of Pascha and lasting until Ascension Day).
I agree, making the home a house of prayer (worship) is extremely important and vital. For those of us who can not do so, you are on target when you point out we can make a certain room, chair, or special spot a place of worship.
As for myself, during my lunch hour at work, I am able to retreat to my car and make it my “special place of worship.”
And of course, as we go throughout the day either quietly praying in our prayer language or worshiping the Lord with hymns, songs or psalms, we are making our “temple” – ourselves – “the special” place of prayer. Truly, we can say “we have become a house of prayer”.
I always enjoy your posts!
Blessings!
Costa
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Excellent points, Costa. Thank you for expanding the perspective. 🙂
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