The Cleveland House of Prayer exists to minister to the Lord day and night to create a dwelling place for Him in Cleveland and to advance His kingdom across the earth.
What we do
We minister to the Lord day and night. In the Old Testament, God picked Aaron’s family to minister to Him as priests. (Exodus 28:1) They ministered to the Lord by offering burnt offerings on the altar and incense on the altar of incense. (Exodus 29:38, 30:7-8) The New Testament makes it clear that now all believers are priests. (1 Peter 2:5,9) However, we no longer minister to the Lord by offering animals or incense on an altar, we do it by offering spiritual sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving, and prayer. (Psalm 141:2, Hebrew 13:15, Revelation 5:8) Therefore, we are seeking to unite believers from across Cleveland to worship the Lord and pray 24/7.
The heart behind what we do
Why are we seeking to minister to the Lord day and night?
God likes it and it moves His heart
God refers to the burnt offering as a sweet smelling or pleasing aroma to Him throughout scripture. (Exodus 29:41) The burnt offering is a picture of our worship and praise to the Lord. Therefore, as we worship and praise Him, it creates a sweet smelling aroma. Furthermore, Psalm 45:8 says that the music of the strings make Him glad. In other words, He enjoys it. We want to worship and pray night and day first and foremost, because God enjoys it, delights in it, and is moved by it.
He is worthy of it
Jesus is worthy of our praise day and night because of who He is and what He has done! He is more beautiful than the sons of man (Psalm 45:2), He is altogether lovely (Song of Solomon 5:16), He is the Desire of All Nations (Haggai 2:7), and He was slain and redeemed us to God by His blood! (Revelation 5:9) That is why the Psalmists say His name is to be praised from the rising of the sun to its going down and give Him the glory due His name! (Psalm 113:3, Psalm 96:8-9) It is our joy and honor to give Him what He deserves!
We love Him
We want to minister to Him day and night because we love Him! He is so beautiful and has done so much for us! It is our response of love to Him to sing to Him of His beauty and to sing to Him in thanksgiving for what He’s done. We believe our response of worship, adoration, and praise is the first fruits of love for Him and thankfulness to Him. Loving Him is the greatest commandment and greatest thing we can do.
It establishes a place for His presence
God wants to be with us! This is our greatest joy, being with Him. We see a pattern in the Bible that when we draw near to God, He draws near to us. This is especially true if we minister (worship and pray) to Him day and night. This is why David says in Psalm 22:3 that You are enthroned or inhabit the praises of Israel. We love God’s presence and we want to be with Him! We recognize that God lives and dwells in us now by the Holy Spirit, but we also want to create a place for Him to dwell in Cleveland, a place where He is tangibly felt and experienced.
Not just a place for His presence, but a place for His throne
Not only is the place where God is ministered to day and night the place where He dwells in the midst of His people, it is the place of His throne. This is clearly seen in Revelation 4. The four living creatures and elders never stop worshiping the Lord who is sitting on His throne. As we do the same here on the earth, it establishes His throne in the spirit over the city. This is important because as Jesus’ throne is established in a place, His kingdom goes forth. He begins to rule as king in that area.
It creates a place for people to seek the Lord
David’s one desire and pursuit was to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of his life so that he could gaze on the beauty of the Lord and inquire of Him. (Psalm 27:4) This is our heart, we want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and inquire of Him. We want to know Him more and be more fascinated with Him. We understand that you do not need to seek the Lord in one specific place and can do it anywhere. We encourage you to do so. However, we also recognize that there is a difference when we do it together as a community. In addition, we know that not everyone has a distraction free place to seek the Lord where it is easy to focus on Him and spend time with Him. Part of our goal is to create a space for people to sit as His feet like Mary did. (Luke 10:38-42)
It causes those who do not know God to seek God
God promised to reestablish the tabernacle of David so that the rest of mankind would seek Him. (Amos 9:11/Acts 15:16-17) The tabernacle of David was the first place of day and night, 24/7, musical worship and prayer. As we engage in day and night worship and prayer, it shifts things in the heavenly places and causes more people to repent and be saved. We want everyone in Cleveland to come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved. Therefore, we worship, inviting God to come to the city, and we pray, we ask Him to save souls and change the city.
God promises to send justice as we cry out to Him night and day
In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus tells a parable that men always ought to pray and not lose heart! In it, He says that God will send justice speedily as His elect cry out day and night. (Luke 18:6-7) There are many areas in our city, nation, and world that need God to bring justice. We want to partner with His heart to bring justice to the earth by crying out night and day and asking for His kingdom to come and His will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.
God promised that night and day worship and prayer would fill the earth
God promises in Malachi 1:11 that incense and pure offering would be offered to His name in every place (day and night). We say yes and amen to this promise and want to see incense and pure offering offered to Jesus night and day in Cleveland!