Driving Home His Point

Tony Hauck
Church on the Rock Melbourne

In Matthew 21:12-14 and Mark 11:15-17 Jesus does three things in quick succession. First, He drove out of the temple the money changers and vendors who had set up shop in the court of the gentiles. It was supposed to be set apart for the gentiles (nations). Next, He declared that the purpose of His house was prayer, for all nations. Finally, He sat in the temple healing the sick.

Maybe this order of events is significant. Perhaps if His church returned to the primary purpose of prayer, He would once again sit in the midst of it healing the sick.

God Help Me Pray

Tim Franklin

Freedom Christian Center

Luke 22:45 “…and had come to His disciples, He found them sleeping...” NKJV “Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God does nothing but in answer to prayer.” John Wesley

John Wesley knew well the place of prayer, and was often criticized by the church because of his rigid commitment to prayer and his demand that new believers be disciplined to prayer and the Word. Wesley knew the power of prayer, he walked in the spirit of revival and looked for those men who would give themselves to the place of prayer. God still looks for those kind of men, for communities that give themselves to Him in prayer. He can work through a praying church―not a prayerless one. He can work through praying Saints―not prayerless ones.

Is it no wonder, that Jesus would declare “My house shall be called a House of Prayer”? He did not call it a house of planning, a house of strategic thinking, a house of pleasure or a house of ease. He called it a House of Prayer―because that is what He wanted us to identify with. He was imparting to those who would follow Him, that if you desire anointing, supernatural strength, God’s help, God’s favor, then you must give yourself to prayer.

The apostles knew and esteemed the prominence of prayer in their lives. Jesus personally taught them to pray. He left His prayerful mark on their lives with the example that He lived before them. Long before daybreak; long after the sun went down; slipping out during the day; Jesus taught His disciples to pray. After their failure to pray in the garden, on the night Jesus needed them the most, their hearts were eternally marked with commitment to the place of prayer. Never again will we fail like that!

In Acts, they now began to understand that the Kingdom of God had been entrusted to them. Jesus was counting on them. They could not afford to be found prayerless, again. They put prayer first in their lives. They put prayer first in this new community called the church. They esteemed prayer in order that they would bring the people of the region to the highest place of faith and holiness. They ‘stirred themselves up’ to take hold of God. They prayed like Elijah who prayed until his prayers squeezed rain out of a drought. They ‘gave themselves to prayer’ and it was obvious to all. Even smart, well learned men took note that these uneducated men had been with Jesus in the place of prayer, continued to be found in the place of prayer and were turning the world ‘upside down.’

Oh, that Brevard County would experience the presence of praying Saints. Saints who will not say “NO” to prayer, be distracted from prayer, or give up on prayer. May this county know the fierceness of a people who call on God. May it live under the conviction of the Holy Spirit, brought on by tireless Saints, crying out for mercy in prayer. Oh, that Brevard would be awakened to the Presence of God brought on by the thunderous praying of the church. God works through men, men who depend upon Him and seek His counsel and strength in the place of prayer.

Where is the church that boasts of power?
Is she too weak to rise this hour?
Will she sit here idly by,
While souls to a Christless hell go die?
God forbid! Don’t let it be!
Lord put your holy fire in me!
Let it burn and blaze so bright and
Wake me to pray both day and night
Crying out for the souls of men
Crying out for the souls of men.
Give me a holy passion that will not end.
―Song written by Tim Franklin & Dan Walton

MyHOP! Join us this Friday night April 1st, 7 p.m. at Our Father’s House to pray.

As We Went To Pray

Tim Franklin

Freedom Christian Center

Acts 16:16 Now it happened as we went to prayer…. Isn’t it fascinating the number of things that happen in scripture on the way to prayer. Now it happened! Say those three words to yourself out loud. Now it happened! Those are three exciting words! They imply movement, are filled with action, and resonate with a “kairos” moment—a moment in time where God’s timetable and plans intersect with man’s plans. Paul and Silas were on their way to the place of prayer—when “it” happened. Paul and Silas were not your typical, stay at home and pray, kind of guys. They understood the power of corporate prayer and gathering together with other Saints to call upon the name of the Lord.

In Luke 9:28 “Now it happened/came to pass…” This time, Jesus is taking Peter, James and John up on the mountain to pray, and suddenly—Jesus is transfigured! Elijah and Moses appear with Jesus and God audibly speaks the disciples. Not a bad day, for just being on your way to prayer.

Acts 3:1 and following, Peter and John are on their way to the temple to pray at the ninth hour. Who do they meet, but a lame beggar. They do not have any gold to help the man, but what they did have they gave to him, and the lame beggar began running and leaping and praising God. All this happened on the way to prayer.

The early church was so alive with the Presence of God that ‘things’ happened on the way to prayer. What we have in these accounts are men who were deeply connected to the power of prayer, particularly corporate prayer. The walk to prayer, did not inconvenienced them. They did not have more important things on their calendar--because prayer was important. They knew they could pray at home, alone, in quiet. But, they deeply understood what happens when men pray together, so they choose to go to prayer. Lev 26:8 Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight your enemies shall fall by the sword before you. NKJV Prayer increases exponentially in power when we pray together.

Maybe, when corporate prayer meetings are once again filled with people seeking God, then our corporate gatherings will be filled with the Presence of God. Maybe, when Saints look forward to praying together things will happen on the way to prayer.

Blessed Be The Name Of The Lord

Pastor Gary Stebbins
Church on the Rock-Melbourne

Faith is often a battle with our thoughts and our emotions. Our thoughts at times can be filled with unbelief and doubt, and our emotions can be driven by fear, anxiety, and hopelessness. God created us to be creatures that think and experience emotions. Our thoughts and our emotions are an important part of who we are. They help to define our personality and how we view and respond to life. However, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:5, there is a place to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (NIV). There are times in our lives when we must struggle to bring our thoughts and emotions into alignment with God’s Word. It is in this struggle that we will grow in our faith.

I was recently reading in the book of Job. I cannot imagine the pain and suffering that Job experienced. At one point, after losing his children and much of his wealth, he “fell to the ground and worshiped.” He cried out to God and said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21). The word Job used for “blessed” means to kneel, to bless God as an act of adoration. In the middle of extreme difficulties Job remembered His God and reaffirmed his love for Him. This was an act of devotion and prayer as Job turned to God in his crisis. He was bringing his thoughts and emotions into captivity to bless and thank God for who He was and all that He had meant to Job over the years. Learning how to bless God and thank God, in any season of life, should be an important part of our prayer life. Turning to God in times of crisis builds our faith in God. Throwing ourselves at His feet in prayer and offering up our devotion to Him draws us close to God. When you walk through difficult times with other people, it can bind you together at a deep level. The same is true in our relationship with God as we allow Him to be a part of our difficult times. We can do this by offering to God our love for Him and expressing our thanksgiving for who He is and has been in our lives. Our hearts are united together with God in a deep and intimate way. He becomes not just a friend, but a “strong tower” and a “place of refuge” from the troubled times swirling about us.

The expression of devotion and thanksgiving to God through prayer is an important part of building our relationship with Him. When my heart aches, I have found much comfort in getting before God and offering to Him my love, devotion, and thanksgiving in prayer. I may not be able to make sense out of my situation in the natural, but I can find comfort and hope as I cry out to God in prayer. I always come away strengthened.

How about you? In difficult times have you been able to cry out to God in prayer and find comfort? What part has thanksgiving played in your prayer life and your relationship with God?

Help! I Don’t Know What to Do!

Tim Franklin
Freedom Christian Center

Jesus declared in Mt 21:13, “My house, will be called a house of prayer.” We often focus on the prayer part of that passage, and we should. But think with me for a moment: Jesus is the one speaking, and His statement is “My House!” Wow! Jesus has a house! He has a dwelling place that has an identity and it can be found! It is called the House of Prayer. David initiated the House of Prayer under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God wanted a house and He found a man to build it—David.

Prayer is not an option! Worship is not an option! These represent the place of encounter with the Living God! It was David who said, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.”

What I often find in the House of Prayer are people who do not know what to do. Let me try to answer this: “What am I to do in the House of Prayer?”

1. Intimacy. It simply means to engage God. In other words He has your attention and you have His. You can compare it to intimacy in a marriage. Intimacy in a marriage is when a couple engages each other. You have her attention, she has yours.
2. Intercession. In its simplest form intercession is me finding/hearing what God is praying and then praying it back to Him. It is a powerful form of agreement in prayer. What is Jesus praying about? Hearing that prayer and praying it back to Him. The prayer targets we cover in our MyHOP gatherings are things that we as leaders feel like God is putting on our hearts to pray and we pray it back to Him.
3. Antiphonal praying/singing. Many people get lost here! Because they are now singing they feel they are no longer praying. The power of antiphonally singing our prayers is that we are filling the bowls of heaven (Rev 5:8). We hear the worship team sing a prayer that has been prayed at the microphone. Most generally they repeat it several times in song format. During that time we who are engaging God begin to sing the same prayer. “Lord we delight ourselves in You!” One singer can sing that and 200 people can antiphonally sing the prayer back at them! Heaven hears! Instead of ‘one cup’ of prayer going into a bowl it now becomes 201 ‘cups of prayer’ going in the bowl.
4. Devotion. Many times in the atmosphere of Corporate prayer, we simply soak/get immersed/or positioned in the Presence of God. Interesting spiritual dynamics are released when we gather corporately together to seek Him and declare His greatness. In a crowd, I can suddenly find myself alone with God—enjoying Him, or He enjoying me. In a crowd, I can be alone receiving revelation from Him for my family, my work, or ministry. In the corporate anointing we are stimulated to pursue God because we are in a room with a bunch of like minded people who going after Him.
5. Dwelling. If His house is a House of Prayer, it is His dwelling. If we come with the mindset of entering His dwelling, not a church building, we then walk straight into the first two points on our list: intimacy and intercession. He lives forever to intercede and His love is eternal toward us!

There is plenty to do while in the House of Prayer if you know what you should be doing. If you feel lost in the House, follow the team; they are going somewhere and you will be glad you came along!

Persistent Faith

Tony Hauck
Church on the Rock, Melbourne
July 19, 2010


I had called a government agency to get information I really needed before taking a fairly long drive to said agency without knowing if I could accomplish my task. I had been on hold for about 20 minutes without actually talking to a human, and would have hung up much earlier if it hadn’t involved something important to someone I was trying to help. But I had things to do and couldn’t sit on hold all day. I had decided to hang up, and was just about to put the phone down when a person answered on the other end. And not just any person, but a nice and helpful person who got me the information I needed. I was off the phone two minutes later, mission accomplished. I was really struck that I had almost hung up and would have had to start over or find another approach. Twenty minutes wasted, and I’d never know I only had to hold on another few seconds. Now it was just time invested in an important task. I thought of a parable Jesus told.

Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, saying: "There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. "Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, 'Get justice for me from my adversary.' "And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, 'Though I do not fear God nor regard man, 'yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.'" 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 18:1-8 emphasis mine)

This parable is clearly a call to persistent prayer, implying some time before the answer, but notice how it ends with a faith question. Will we still be waiting “on the line” in faith for the answer when it comes? I wonder how many times I’ve “hung up” just when heaven was about to answer. And consider that she was asking for justice from an unjust judge. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? (Gen 18:25)

MyHOP is all about persistently asking the Righteous Judge to get justice for our region. Is that the cry of your heart?

MY HOUSE! A thread through the Word

Pastor Tim Franklin, Freedom Christian Center
February 26, 2010

Zechariah 1:16 'Therefore thus says the Lord: "I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it," says the Lord of hosts, "And a surveyor's line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem."' NKJV Haggai and Zechariah are two prophets sent by God for the purpose of rebuilding the House of Prayer.

Jesus declared in Mt 21:13, “My house, will be called a house of prayer.” We often focus on the prayer part of that passage, and we should. But think with me for a moment: Jesus is the one speaking, and His statement is “My House!” Wow! Jesus has a house! He has a place that has an identity and it can be found! It is called the House of Prayer. David initiated the House of Prayer under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. God wanted a house and He found a man to build it—David.

David vowed to create a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob! (Ps. 132:1-8) He vowed to live in extravagant devotion to seek the Lord with all his resources—time, talents, and money in order to see God’s house built. David literally shifted history when he created the tabernacle of worship! Night and day prayer, seven days a week, 24 hours a day! This was not a plan of man in the heart of David; this was the plan of God as revealed to David—“All this’, said David, ‘the Lord made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans.” I Chron. 28:11-19. The plan: a revelation of 24/7 worship led by full time singers and musicians! When David became king he initiated the Tabernacle of 24/7 worship. When his son Solomon was about to become king, David gave him the plans that the Lord had given him for the temple along with the vision of 24/7 prayer and worship. And every restoration of the Old Testament Kingdom of Judah (7 total) was hallmarked by the restoration of David’s vision of night and day prayer and worship. Amos 9:11 declares that we will see once again at the end of the age a restoration of David’s tabernacle—24/7 worship! God will have His house and it will be called a House of Prayer! Jesus simply said, “That is My house—A House of Prayer!” I want to build that House!

Prayer is not an option! Worship is not an option! These represent the place of encounter with the Living God! It was David who said, “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the LORD.” I want this region to encounter God. I want you to encounter God! I want to see a strong House of Prayer in East Central Florida! Why not here? Why not now?

So -- what do you think? Has your heart been stirred? Let me know, I value your comments!