A House of Prayer

By Donald Gibson

We keep hearing people say, “We need revival!”

“If the United States doesn’t have revival we are in trouble.”

“We are on the cusp of revival.”

Revival, revival, revival. Is that really what we need? Or is that a byproduct of what we need?

We look at our culture and say it needs revival, and I would agree, it does. But what does revival mean and how do we get there?

Let me define my idea of revival so there are no assumptions. Revival, for me, is a sustained move of God wherever there is a Jesus follower. It is where we see God move more in individuals, in the marketplace and homes than in the church. If we are to see that in my generation, it will be because people pray, develop and live out a personal and corporate culture of prayer. So, let’s talk about prayer and revival as an ecosystem instead of a formulaic system. 

The difference between a formulaic system and an ecosystem is that a system can become sterile, while an ecosystem by its very nature brings forth and sustains life. Too often, we develop a system and then ask people to serve that system. When an ecosystem is truly developed in any organization, it serves people and continues to produce life-giving, sustainable results. 

Consider scuba-diving for a moment. When you enter the water, you had better take your atmosphere, and your ecosystem, with you.

Scuba diving has a system, but it also has an ecosystem and an atmosphere that you take with you. If not, you do not survive the dive. 

I have had the honor of diving in some of the most beautiful places in the world, from Belize, Hawaii, Grand Cayman Islands and across the Caribbean. To dive down below the surface of the water and see the ecosystem of coral, fish, reefs, the multi-prisms of color and sheer beauty is breathtaking. That type of experience and beauty is what prayer should produce in our lives. Prayer that explores the nature of God and enters His ecosystem.

Revival has an atmosphere, and that atmosphere is prayer.  Prayer is a part of the ecosystem not just a formulated system.

This ecosystem of prayer connects us to God and others. It is created, cultivated, and maintained through prayer. The byproduct of prayer is revival, not the other way around.

We cannot seek revival. If we seek revival above seeking intimacy with the Lord, we place it before Him, which in turn makes it our goal, when ultimately to know him and make him known is our goal.  

Prayer is not a good idea, nor is it a religious exercise. Prayer, according to Jesus, is a marker of His house. He said, “My house shall be a house of prayer.”

Prayer is the spiritual oxygen bottles that bring the connection of life to an individual as well as the church. If we do not pray, we will not stay in God’s ecosystem for very long. If you do not connect intimately with the Lord, you will not have personal revival. And without personal revival, there is no corporate or national revival. If we are ever to have revival, we must focus our hearts, minds, and churches on becoming a culture of and house of prayer.