Thursday, January 3, 2008

Biblical Precedent for Day and Night Prayer

There is very clear biblical precedent for day and night worship and prayer throughout scripture. The Bible also speaks about a emergence of this ministry on a global scale in the hour of the Lord’s return.

Leviticus 6:12-13- “The fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not go out. Every morning the priest is to add firewood and arrange the burnt offering on the fire and burn the fat of the fellowship offerings on it. The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.”

King David was a man “after God’s own heart, who did all that was in God’s heart and mind” (Acts 13:22) Around 1000 BC, as an outflow of his heart, he commanded that the Ark of the Covenant (the presence of the Lord) be brought up on the shoulders of the Levites amidst the sound of songs and musical instruments to his new capital, Jerusalem. There he had it placed in a tent and appointed two-hundred and eighty-eight prophetic singers and four thousand musicians to minister before the Lord, “to make petition, to give thanks and to praise the Lord; to minister regularly before the Lord day and night” (1 Chronicles 15–17).

Almost 2/3 of the book of Psalms was written in that tent. Every king that proceeded David that followed “after the order of David” in prioritizing this ministry was blessed and favored by God. Every king that did not was overrun by their enemies and found wicked in the sight of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 29)

Isaiah 56:6-7- “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him,, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."

Isaiah 62:6-7- “ I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem;
they will never be silent day or night. You who call on the LORD,
give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem
and makes her the praise of the earth.”

Joel 2:12-17- “Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests, who minister before the LORD, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations.”

Amos 9:11-12- “In that day I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and build it as it used to be, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations that bear my name, declares the LORD, who will do these things…”

Malachi 1:11- “’For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place incense [worship and prayer] shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations.’ Says the LORD of hosts.”

Luke 18:6-8- Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”

Luke 21:36- “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy[ to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Ephesians 6:18- “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— “

1 Timothy 2:1-4- “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

James 5:17- “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”

Revelation 5:8- “Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”

Revelation 8:3-5- “Then another angel, having a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. And there were noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake.”

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