Thursday, January 3, 2008

Night and Day Prayer in the 20th Century

Night and Day Prayer in the 20th Century

In 1973 David Yonggi Cho, Pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, established a Prayer Mountain in night and day prayer. The Prayer Mountain was soon attracting over a million visitors per year, as people would spend retreats in the prayer cells provided on the mountain. Cho had a commitment to continuous prayer, to faith and to
establishing small discipleship cells in his church. Perhaps as a result, Cho’s church rapidly expanded to become the largest church congregation on the globe, with membership now over 780,000.

On September 19, 1999, the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, started a prayer and worship meeting that has continued for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week ever since. With a similar vision to Zinzendorf, that the fire on the altar should never go out,
there has never been a time when worship and prayer has not ascended to Heaven since that date.

At the same time in 1999, a movement of continual prayer erupted in Europe known as 24-7 prayer (www.24-7prayer.com). This movement of ceaseless prayer has seen 24-7 prayer rooms emerge in many nations. Right now the prayer and worship movement is reaching unprecedented levels globally. This is not hype, but a widely acknowledged reality being orchestrated by God for the salvation and healing of the nations. On the Global Day of Prayer over 250 million people gathered on one day to pray for global harvest. There are currently night and day prayer rooms in many major cities across the earth from Jerusalem to Seoul to Washington, D.C.

Now through a series of clear words from the Lord, the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace is being developed to facilitate sustained, creative, effective prayer and worship with a missional focus in the Fredericksburg region!