One of the most important aspects of the House of Prayer is our corporate prayer room (we meet in the Marketplace Chapel in West Edmonton Mall every weekday from 9-12 and Friday nights from 7-9PM). Our prayer room is multi-denominational, multi-generational, and really all about glorifying Jesus! It is not a personal prayer room, where people come to be prayed for. We believe in corporate expressions of prayer and worship, so we have prayer and worship leaders that facilitate both whenever the prayer room is open.

But what exactly goes on in the prayer room? What should you expect if you choose to come out? One of our missionaries, Maria Collett, wrote an awesome article about this, so if you are interested in checking out our prayer room, take a moment to read this article.

What to Expect When You Come to the Prayer Room

At House of Prayer Edmonton, we have two different formats that we use. Intercessory Worship is the format that we use when we have a Worship Leader/live music. The other format is what we call the Web-Stream Format. Regardless of the format, our prayer meetings or cycles last from 1 1/2 – 2 hours.

Intercessory Worship Format
The intercessory worship format is used when we have live music. Usually, there will be a worship leader, a singer/singers and a prayer leader for this format. The worship leader will do some traditional worship for approximately 25 minutes.

At this point we do what is called “spontaneous” worship. The worship leader
encourages everyone to sing their own song to the Lord. You are welcome to “sing in the spirt” or “in your own understanding”, according to 1 Corinthians 14:15. We believe the spontaneous component is a great way to prepare for intercession as we are connecting intimately or personally with God during this time. We are singing praises from our own heart. We value not only singing traditional worship songs but also singing personally to Him. When we sing our own words, we are engaging with God in a way that is intimate and personal. It doesnʼt have to be eloquent or sound beautiful, but know that God loves to hear our thoughts and our voices! When we sing in the spirit (tongues), the Word says that we are are “speaking mysteries” to God (1 Corinthians 14:2). The bible also talks about speaking in tongues in 1 Cor. 14 as a way that we edify ourselves. What better way to start intercession than being strengthened and edified in the spirit!

After a time of spontaneous worship we begin the intercession portion of the cycle. A prayer leader will come up and establish a theme to pray on. The theme will vary based on what the prayer leader is sensing. For instance, the prayer leader might come and say, “We will be praying for wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God for the Body of Christ in the Capital region (Ephesians 1:17-19). At this point he would read the Ephesians passage and then pray according the the theme. Usually, prayers are between 2-4 minutes long. The prayer leader will wrap up his prayer by ending with a summary statement.

At this point, the worship leaders and singers will develop the theme by singing short phrases that fit with the summary statement or prayer. At some point, a chorus will be developed for everyone to sing. The purpose of developing a chorus is to engage everyone in the prayer time. We will sing the chorus for a time and then it will go back to the prayer leader to pray again.

The prayer leader usually prays 2-3 times and then opens it up to the congregation to come up to the mic and pray. We value the Word of God and as such, encourage you to pray from a portion of scripture. If this is an unfamiliar concept to you, we provide a sheet that has apostolic prayers on it that you can use. Praying Godʼs Word provides an environment that believers from all sorts of denominational backgrounds can agree on.

We believe that it fosters an environment of agreement and unity. We alternate between the spoken prayers and the antiphonal prayers of the singers. When the prayer leader opens it up to the congregation, you are more than welcome to come up and pray on the mic! We encourage you to keep your prayers short (1-2 min) as we find that people tend to disengage if the prayers are too long.

Usually a theme will last 25-40 minutes. At this point, the prayer leader will indicate that they are concluding the prayer time and we go back into a short time of congregational worship, then start another theme.

Web-Stream Format
The web-stream format is used when we donʼt have a live worship leader. For this
format, we use the iHOP web stream found at ihop.org. This is a 1 1/2 hour cycle and there are three components to this cycle.

The first component is congregational worship via the web-stream. This usually goes for half an hour. Because we donʼt know what the worship leaders will be doing, we donʼt have written words on the screen. If you know the songs, you are welcome to sing. You can also soak during this time, read the Word, write in a journal or pray quietly to yourself. The idea is for you to connect to the Lord so however you best do this is fine. After the worship time we go into our second component “Devotional Prayer”

A prayer leader facilitates this next component. The prayer leader will establish a
particular passage. It is usually a chapter out of the Psalms. The prayer leader will
pray and then read the chapter (or portions thereof), pray again and then open it up to the congregation. As you reflect on the passage, there might be a portion that is highlighted to you, or the Holy Spirit might speak to you regarding the theme. You may then read the phrase aloud and pray a short prayer (1-2 min). Keep in mind this is a devotional time so the prayers should be about your own personal response to the Word.

For example, lets say we were praying out of Psalm 27. Psalm 27:1 says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of
whom shall I be afraid?” You would read the verse or a portion of the verse and then a prayer to follow might look like this: “God, I recognize that you are in control, you are the rock on which I stand and you protect me. Iʼve been struggling with worry lately. Please help me to focus on you, the stronghold of my life. I give up my worry, lay it at your feet and look to you!” Sometimes, there will be many that want to pray out loud and sometimes there will be silent periods where people are just meditating on the word or praying to themselves. The main point is that we are connecting with Jesus Christ and personally responding to the Word of God.

The last component to our web-stream format is intercession. The prayer leader will wrap up the devotional component and then establish a theme of intercession for the last half hour. The prayer leader will pick a scripture and a theme just like in the worship/intercession format. They will pray once and then open it up to the room. In this format, you do not need to come to the mic but just pray from your seat. Again, we want to encourage you to pray from the Word.

Benefits of Prayer and Worship
Regardless of the format used, there are so many benefits to spending time with God! You may have felt like God has lead you to pray and worship more so youʼve come to do that. Sometimes, the benefits come immediately but more often, they take time to develop. At times, we need to “de-toxify” from the constant stimulation that we are used to, having our senses over-loaded with images and sound. The prayer room is a quiet environment where you are interceding for others and seeking the Lord personally. Lets face it, our world is a busy place where “getting quiet” is very difficult. It may take time to develop the ability to sit and focus on God for an extended period of time. Sometimes to begin with, it can even seem boring. We want to encourage you to be persistent. To keep drawing near to God. We have a promise that when we draw near to God, He will draw near to us (James 4:8).

If you choose to come and draw near, if you choose to spend the time seeking Him, it is guaranteed that you will find him. The desire for more will be satisfied. We are
constantly praying for wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God (Ephesians 1:17-19). There is a desire in each of us to experience more of God. God had a plan and it was for intimacy and personal relationship with us. He desires it just as we do – itʼs why Jesus was willing to die for us. As you continue to seek Him, you will find Him. All of a sudden the Word of God will come alive to you, there will be revelation. God might speak to you personally through a dream or vision. You might begin to hunger and thirst for righteousness. The Lordship of Jesus Christ will be more real and tangible. As the Lord begins to work on your heart, you might find yourself needing to deal with past hurts or unforgiveness. You might find yourself way more sensitive to His leading; you might be more bold about your faith. The benefits to spending time with God are endless. We invite you to begin a journey of discovery in God as you worship and intercede!

There are also the benefits to the Capital Region and Body of Christ as we intercede. As we lift up our petitions to God, He has promised to respond. Our prayers truly make a difference. Our desire is to see the Living God transform this region and we want to do our part by interceding. We also recognize the Jesus Christ is worthy to be worshiped day and night. We want to provide an environment where eventually, this will happen in our region. You are invited to be a part of this exciting vision!

“So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you: seek and you will find: knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” -Luke 11:9-13

Article Written by Maria Collett. Click here to learn a bit about Maria.