Over the years I've discovered several keys to building our Father's house of prayer.  But today I am going to share a key that I've never seen addressed.  It has to do with the role of the kings and priests.  It's based upon a pattern King David first modeled.  It's the blue print for our strategy.  By 2012 leaders from over 38 nations had reported it had been responsible for establishing 31 houses of prayer from which 40+ churches were birthed.  However, there have been hundreds if not thousands of places  un-impacted because the did not follow the pattern. 

I'm going to share it today and risk offending you because I love my heavenly Father, I love His Church, His people, and the world. David's pattern is the key to the end time harvest of souls.  So with that in mind...

Every reformer in scripture followed King David's plan for inviting God's abiding presence on MT Zion.  What King David did on Zion in his tabernacle provides us the keys.  It is the pattern and that is why God says through Acts 15:16-17 that in the latter days David's tabernacle would be restored.  What is the purpose?  So that the rest of mankind can seek the Lord.   

Who are some of the reformers?  Solomon, Asa, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah and Hezekiah!  What is the pattern?  

Kings Initiated the Building of God's House!
The pattern begins with kings, not priests, who initiate building the house of God.  King David's first decision as king was to invite God's abiding presence through 24/7 prayer, praise and worship (1 Chronicles 13:1-2).  That decision included the king inviting other leaders to join him. The priests were charged with overseeing the building of this house of prayer and the kings and leaders gave first to this effort.  In other words, they put their money where their mouth was. There was action behind their words that God and men could see.

In 2 Samuel 6 we find his David's first attempt failed as they began with music and moving the Ark of the Covenant (type of God's presence) on a new cart.  Uzzah died when he touched the ark so the move of God had to stop.  It spent 3 months in Obededum's house before David discovered the proper way.  

David discovered that the ark had to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites which are a type of the fivefold ministry today (this topic is addressed in "Addressing the Issue of Pay to Pray).  The next key was modeled in 2 Samuel 6:13. They took six paces and then sacrificed offerings. 

Offerings are worship and one of the important signs of covenant to God from man.  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.  The passion for God's presence will be reflected in your giving of time and your monies.  These actions reflect what is really in your heart.  Jesus says in John 15:13 that greater love has no one than this, than to lay his life down for his friends.  Then Jesus proceeded to the cross.  He love and He gave.  Bottom line, love gives their life and this includes time and money. 

Someone shared with me about a ministry concept that involved a team of ministers who would offer a "courts of heaven session" which I assume meant they'd interceded upon someone's behalf and utilize their gifts to hear what God's decision was and then then pray, declare or proclaim in response to that to the word of the Lord.  This kind of ministry has actually been offered for centuries through those with a prophetic gift.  Only in the last two decades has intercession begun to be explained from a courts of heaven perspective.  I believe it is part of the manifold wisdom of God being revealed in this day.  It's a new look at an old discipline from a different perspective.

Candidly, I distinctly remember God speaking to me about this concept in the early 2000s and the ORT/1Church1Day prayer strategy incorporates that revelation. In the strategy continual prayer, praise and worship seats the courtroom of heaven so you can come and plead your case and await to hear God's decision.  Now, back to the purpose of this article.

As I recall, they said something to the effect that there was a fee and that it just did not seem right to them.  They were uncomfortable with it as it seemed like they were charging for prayer.  It seemed like "pay to pray."  

When they asked me about it I had to qualify my answer because I did not have time to address this subject and cover all the bases.  You see, I was hearing things second hand and I did not have all of the information.  I did not know the motive of the ministers nor how things were actually being handled.  But I can tell you the way it was presented did not sound good to me either. 

It caused me to remember prosperity ministers who would use manipulation and violate trust in order to get more for themselves kind of like Eli's sons did in 1 Samuel 2:38-30.  Eli's sons took the very best for themselves.  Their greed defiled the altar.  Greed is typically accompanied by compromise and manipulation.  Why Paul even warns in 1 Timothy 6:5 that in the last days corrupt men would seek to use godliness as a means of gain.  But let me be clear, I do not know if that was the motive of the ministers offering the service.  It was the statement of "pay to pray" that inspired that the thought.  (Click here for Purifying the Altar.  This book impacted my thoughts about the minister's responsibilities years ago.)

The Bible is also clear that the the giver has responsibilities as well.  It is possible for the worshiper to have wrong motives and which is manifested when they try to use their offering to manipulate God or the ministry.  It's one thing to appeal to God's covenant exercising your faith but it is quite another to resort to a formula devoid of relationship with God.  This often descends into a form of witchcraft if left unchecked over time.  Galatians 5:9 teaches us that faith works by love while James 2:20 teaches us that faith without works is dead.  

Why we had a donor just weeks ago attempt to do that very thing.  They thought the could use their large offering they gave months before as leverage to manipulate our ministry into compromise.  Here's the truth.  

Do you know what KLI did?  Why we gave the offering back with a stern warning to never ever do that again. It was a  defiled offering which could lead to a defiled altar had we allowed it to lead us to compromise. 

The reason I am focusing on offerings and worship is because I have found this to be one of the consistent keys to answered prayer.  It has to do with honor and covenant.  You see, God is seeking those who will worship Him "in spirit and in truth."  

The Goal is to Hit the Mark!
Our adversary the devil seeks to make people sin.  People includes the ministers who are responsible for the altar and everyone else. Satan seeks weaknesses to exploit.  Sin literally means to miss the mark.  I don't care if you go to far to the right, or to far to the left, or to low or to high these all miss the mark.  The goal is to hit the bullseye.  

Personally, I like to use the term "hit the mark."  God's word is my standard and defines the mark.  In my worldview, the Creator of the Universe designed all natural and spiritual laws.  The Bible is like the manufacturer's warranty and owner operators manual.  It describes how things work and what will happen if I operate life within the parameters of the Creator's design and what the consequences are of operating outside of designed parameters.  

Candidly, I have found that tithes, offerings, first-fruits and alms speak to the four basic types of giving in the Bible.  These are signs of a people keeping covenant with God.  With each form of giving you will find God gives the worshiper a covenant promise to go with it.   The reason I share this is because I've discovered that when handled rightly, these are some of the important keys to answered prayer which I've observed over the last twenty seven years in ministry.

Here are the challenges we face: imperfect people, ignorance, mis-understandings, demonic influence.... and the list goes on.  Our goal is to hit the mark.  

Have you noticed how many Christians, well actually, how many ministers seem to struggle with keeping their word?  I have!  It grieves my heart and it grieves the heart our heavenly Father as well. Why is this?

At the start of this year the Lord gave me a word saying it was time to recalibrate our moral compass due to deviation introduced through the magnetism of the world. Three days later God marked that message with a sign and wonder at the North Pole (click here). 

Bottom line, the world was losing its way because their moral compass was skewed.  It was skewed because they had a wrong worldview and I don't think that it is their fault.  It's the Church's fault because one of the roles of the Church should be to serve as a conscience for the nation they reside in. However, I lay the majority of the blame at the feet of those who stand in the pulpit.  We've failed to make disciples and to speak the truth.  

The Church lost her influence because of compromise in the pulpit.  Forgive me!  Forgive us for failing to make real disciples.  

It seems as it the world has become more successful at influencing the Church more than the Church is at influencing the world.   This is a leadership crisis.  We've failed to disciple people after our Lord Jesus Christ.  He was the Word made flesh in John 1:14.   Did you get that!  Jesus, was the WORD, made flesh.  He was in the beginning (John 1:1)​ and in fact Hebrews 1:3 reveals that everything in this world is upheld by the "word of His power."  Check this out! 

The Scripture Says: