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.  

God's word says in Acts 15:16-17 and in Amos 9:11-13 that in the latter days God would rebuild David's tabernacle and set it up so the rest of mankind could seek the Lord.  The restoration of David's tabernacle is the key to the end time harvest.

Now, when I say David's tabernacle, I'm not talking about the literal tabernacle.  You see the main thing was not the tent as much as it was what King David did to make God's abiding presence welcome on MT Zion, in the city of Jerusalem in Israel.  He tasked the Levites, who are a type of the five-fold ministry, with the responsibility or organizing teams of people to offer up continual prayer, praise and worship.  By continual I mean 24/7/365 prayer, praise and worship.

Why?  Because David and the leaders determined in 1 Chronicles 13:2, that God's abiding presence was essential to their success and survival.  Therefore, they sought to make God's presence welcome by recreating the atmosphere of heaven on earth through continual prayer, praise and worship.  

God's plan is for His house to be a house of prayer for all nations.  

Isaiah 56:7
Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices Will be accepted on My altar;
For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

The house of prayer is God's vision.  I sincerely believe that what David did his tabernacle on MT Zion was the blue print for this house of prayer.  That's what 1Church1Day is all about.  Mobilizing, coordinating, facilitating teams of teams such that continual prayer, praise and worship is offered up in a city, region, county, state or nation. 

Three Critical Elements Found in David's Pattern 

1. The king and the leaders both civil and religious decided God's presence was absolutely essential.  1 Chronicles 13:2
2. The whole process was kicked off and maintained with extravagant worship.  2 Samuel 6:13
3. The first thing the King did once it was set up is he delivered his first Psalm to Asaph.  1 Chronicles 16:7

In Hebraic culture kings and elders sat in the gates and made decisions with prophets giving God's counsel.  Elders consisted of civil and religious leaders.  These leaders decided to bring back God's presence. 

The second part of these three critical elements I rarely emphasize but it is a vital part.  In 2nd Samuel 6 David begins to bring back the ark of the God on a new cart.  They are thousands of people along with lots of instruments, singing etc. But it did not work as when the ox stumbled Uzzah put out his hand to steady the ark.  He died.  David had to leave the ark of the Lord in the house of Obed-Edom for three months until they had consulted the Lord on the right way to handle God's presence.  

We find two things in 1 Chronicles 15 and 2 Samuel 6:13-18.  First, the ark of the Lord had to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites.  The second thing that was missing was offerings.  David began the second successful attempt with offerings.  

This article was first published on Kingdom League's old blog in 2011.  I'm re-posting it here because 1Church1Day is the same strategy as ORT.  It's just a different name and the lessons learned are still true 14 years later.  ​

It’s been over six years since God spoke to me on December 14, 2004 about the Operation Rolling Thunder (ORT) strategy.  I spoke that strategy first to three leaders.  It is October 5, 2011 today.  I quit trying to keep up with all the statistics in participation in 2009. It became overwhelming.  By then we'd seen leaders in 23+ nations and over 10,000+ churches participate.  At last count leaders in 34+ nations have utilized this strategy to mobilize and deploy the body of Christ to engage the seven spheres of society and to establish 24/7/365 prayer in a city or region.

Proven Results
Recently our National CONECTer in Kenya, Pastor Thomas and our National CONECTer in Myanmar, Apostle John Mark provided me an updated report.  Between these two updated reports we discovered that there are churches from 21+ denominations, in 35 cities, with over 61 churches working together, 25 city prayer centers launched, and 19 church plants between them.  Neither time nor space permits me to share the supernatural signs, salivations, water baptisms, and healings that they report as well.

Corporate intimacy with our heavenly Father produces supernatural corporate fruit.  Operation Rolling Thunder (ORT) is a strategy going strong and serving those who utilize the wisdom of God's strategy found in it.  At the same time I could point to numerous examples where the strategy seemingly only worked for a short time or failed.

Lessons Learned
After 6+ years of overseeing ORT, training and consulting with ministers, mayors, state representatives, fire chiefs, business leaders, doctors, etc. I've learned some lessons about that is takes to begin to transform and continue that transformation process long term.  In fact, I will share some common characteristics and lessons learned from churches, cities, counties and states where in we see long term results that we'd all agree speak to some level of transformation (ie. decreasing crime, church growth, economy effected, abortion rates decline, adoption rates rise, etc.).

We are thrilled and rejoicing with the One Hope Team in Lane County Oregon!  They now have 45 churches praying every month with 10 strategic councils providing direction to their 24/7 prayer. 

One Hope was founded by Steve and Patti Bus.  Here's their leadership team today click here.  They launched 1Church1Day in May 2015 click here wherein God marked their Kick Off with some amazing signs and wonders just like you see in my book Operation Rolling Thunder.  They say 225 lightning strikes followed by 5 earthquakes. 

What I've found over the years is that when God's people obey His voice, they make "His-story" (history) and sometimes God chooses to put His signature (sign-nature) on that page of history.  I've learned He does this to encourage His people to continue until they see measurable results such as:

March 17, 2019 - Answers to Prayer Produced through 44 Churches who do 1Church1Day in Lane County OR!
March 22, 2017 - City Manager says "What we see are answers to prayer, not just serendipitous acts!
March 22, 2017 - 1Church1Day Testimony - Record Low Employment!

If you are a leader and you'd like to see your community transformed like this then click here to learn what we've done to equip 300 new leaders to mobilize the Church to transform their community through our Kingdom Academy.

Or, contact our office and ask about what it would take to host a 1.5 day 1Church1Day Kick Off in your city or region.  Click here.

It's amazing what God's people can accomplish when we collaborate together.  In the last 36 days we saw those using the 1Church1Day app mobilize: 

• 1000 hours of prayer
• 3 Churches/Ministries taking a day of prayer
• 108 new people
• 6 Churches/Ministries 

To cover one month in prayer requires 744 hours.  Each person who simply reported the time they prayed using the app says we mobilized the equivalent of 41.66 days of prayer.  Add in the 3 from the churches and ministries who took a day of prayer and that raises it to 44.66 days of prayer.  But then If we add in the corporate prayer calls or prayer gatherings which included ministries like Washington State Prayer Caucus, Prayer Strike Force, Church of Truth, the WA ST Business Council, Father's House, The King's Fisher we add in another 153 hours.  This brings our total days of prayer to 51 days of prayer.  

That's a lot of power and it only comes when we the Church cooperate, collaborate and communicate together.  Now this is just a SMALL FRACTION of what is available.  If you understand the principle of exponential power found in God's word then you will understand just how important your prayer watch, or adding your voice to a prayer alert is.  Click here for the Revelation of the Power of One More!

Prayer Power + Honoring Jurisdictions = Results 
That's a lot of "prayer power."  We saw 9 new testimonies or answers to prayer recorded during this same time period as well.  We pray for results and the strategic councils we are forming (Church, Government, Business, Family, Life and Evangelism so far) help direct our prayers with insight gleaned from leaders within that sphere with actual jurisdiction.

Isaiah 2:2-3 says:

The books of Ezra, Esther, Daniel and Jonah all share a common truth very clearly and that is, kings issue decrees.  King David even has some of His decrees proclaimed through the Psalms. Decrees are always written under the order of the king.  In Revelation 1:6 and 5:10 we find that Jesus has called us as kings and priests. 

Jesus provides us the best example of the role of a king in Revelation 19:11 where it says …”in righteousness He judges and makes war.”  In other words, He makes decisions based upon what is right and then wars to enforce it. 

I learned through the Navy War College that armies exist to project power to enforce the will of the government they represent.  That is why Jesus taught us to pray “kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven” in Matthew 6:10. The word “kingdom” introduces jurisdiction.  It’s the authorized domain the king is responsible for.  This is why in the 1Church1Day strategy we seek to form councils within these two domains or jurisdictions in mind.
​

1. Geographic – Cities, counties, provinces, states or nations.
2. Spheres or Mountains of Cultural Influence – Family, Religion, Government, Business, Media/Arts/Entertainment, Education & Healthcare

​You’ll find all through scripture that boundaries serve as lines of jurisdiction.  There is a place for every family, tribe (Numbers 2), nation (Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua) and people (Acts 17:26) on earth.  Many have asked why God allows certain evil events to occur on earth!  It’s because of He has delegated that responsibility to mankind.  Psalms 115:16 says:

“The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord's; But the earth He has given to the children of men.”

Since Christ has called us as “kings” and “priests,” we are called to make decisions about what to pray and proclaim.  To do that as effectively as possible we need to draw upon God’s wisdom.

​The Process of Developing a Decree

As I waited upon the Lord I heard "the power of one."  He showed me why you, your prayer and your voice matters. I discovered the supernatural equation for exponential power.  Trust me, numbers matter especially when the exponential power of Holy Spirit comes upon those numbers.   

Here is how the revelation unfolded.  As I meditated upon this phrase the Lord reminded me of:

John 17:20-22
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

Luke 3:16
John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

Luke 24:49
Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

Acts 2:1-4
​ When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

1 John 5:7-8
For there are three that bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.

Here's the Revelation of "The Power of One" 

Isaiah 2:2-3 
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

​How can we build a mountain of prayer?  It's accomplished one person, one hour, one church/ministry, one day at a time.  Every single hour, person, or ministry who prays contributes to that.

In 1Church1Day we've developed a way to help us see how we are doing.  Inspired by our heavenly Father who even counts the number of hairs on our head (Matthew 10:29) we track every hour a person reports that they pray in the calendar as well as every day a ministry or church covers with 24/7 prayer. This way we can see how we are progressing building our Father's house of prayer for all nations. 

What's the key?  Isaiah 22:22 spoke of the key of David.  David's key combined communication and teamwork through a little administration to facilitate 24/7 continual prayer, praise and worship on Zion in Jerusalem.  

Why?  Power to Rule & Reign

From KLI's monthly newsletter!  Click here to become a partner.
​You know, the Greek word that Jesus borrowed from Greek culture for the Church is “ekklessia.”  He first introduced it in Matthew 16:18 saying ….”I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” 
 
The church has a government established by Jesus Christ.  In fact, the origin of ekklessia sheds light on this and it’s purpose.  Prior to Jesus choosing to use this term it was used by the Greeks.  According to Wikipedia, it was actually the principal assembly of democracy in Athens.  It was open to all who qualified for citizenship and was responsible for declaring war, military strategy and electing government officials.  
 
So, the historical purpose of the term translated “church” was to:

• Govern which requires making decisions
• Declare war and develop strategy

 
When you understand this and combine that with another word that Jesus borrowed from the Greek/Phoenician seafaring community, apostolos.  Then you will understand the church’s call to spiritual war and some of the reactions in Jesus day. You see they understood EXACTLY what those words meant in their culture.
 
Apostolos first referred to the leader of a convoy, later the commander of an invasion force and finally it referred to the role of an ambassador general.  It was like Pontus Pilate was the ambassador general sent to represent Rome in Jerusalem.  Jesus basically called his 12 disciples ambassadors, admirals and or generals.  They were messengers sent to represent God’s government on earth as it is in heaven.
 
Why?  Revelation 12 provides context. It describes the spiritual war in heaven which spilled on to earth.  It says Satan went to make war with the remnant of God’s seed and those who obey Him and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
 
Armies Exist to Project Power on Behalf of Their Government
That is what the Navy War College taught me.  Ephesians 3:10 says, “to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places…,” Principalities and powers refers to demonic governmental offices.
 
So how does the Lord project power today?