A Place of Prayer

© 2012 Jasper Life Publications 1st Edition in English – July, 2012 1st Edition in Portuguese – January, 2011 A Place of Prayer UM LUGAR DE ORAÇÃO

Translated from Portuguese with permission of Editora Árvore da Vida All rights reserved by Jasper Life Publications Inc. 725 Viscount Road London, Ontario, Canada N6J 4G9 Phone: (519) 472-6620 www.jasperlife.com ISBN 978-1-926970-39-4 Printed in Brazil All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Bible text from the New King James Version® is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.

A PLACE OF PRAYER

The Apostle Paul: Separated to Preach the Gospel

As a coworker of Christ, Paul visited many different places throughout his life. If he were a man living today, he would surely be recognized at airports and bus stations. It is possible to write a portion of his biography from letters he wrote to different churches and reports of his various trips at that period of Christian history. The conversations he had with brothers and prominent people from different societies he passed through would also add to his biography.

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Being a quick and dynamic person, Paul crossed rivers, seas, and far-away lands. He visited key cities in important trade routes. Paul was especially separated by God for the preaching of the gospel to Jews and Gentiles (Acts 13:4648; Rom. 11:13). From that time on, not being disobedient to the burden he received, he began to preach first to those in Damascus, Syria, then in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea. He preached to the Gentiles that they should repent and turn to God (Acts 26:19-21).

Preaching the Gospel in Philippi

During his second ministry journey, Paul and his coworker Silas went to Troas, a port along the Aegean Sea, in Asia Minor. A vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us� (Acts 16:9). Now after he had seen the vision, they immediately went to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called them to preach the gospel.

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Having crossed the sea, they arrived at Philippi, which is the foremost city of Macedonia and a Roman colony. It was the first time they visited that place, so they didn’t know where to go. They stayed in that city for some days, and on the Sabbath day they went out of the city to the riverside, where there seemed to be a place of prayer. They sat down and spoke to the women who were meeting there. One of them named Lydia, who worshiped God, heard them. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira. The Lord opened her heart to take heed to the things spoken

by Paul. And when she and her household were baptized, she begged them, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay. So she persuaded us” (Acts 16:15).

A Place by the River

When Paul came to a big city, he usually went first to a synagogue. He would preach, argue with people, and speak boldly in the name of the Lord.

But perhaps there was neither a synagogue to visit 5

in Philippi, nor did he come across men with whom to debate about the faith. Therefore, the Lord was able to lead him to a simple point: to be among people who would get together to pray instead of to argue. It was on that occasion that the apostle noticed a place by the river where some women got together to pray. They sat down there and were able to fellowship regarding God’s purpose.

It was something simple, but complete. Lydia listened, believed and was baptized, as well as her household. She ended up receiving her brothers in Christ into her house.

We must overcome the concept that only the formal church meeting halls or temples are fitting for such gatherings. This place of prayer by the river can certainly represent the many places where we can get together to preach the gospel, to pray, and to have fellowship with God and the brothers.

The River of Water of Life

We find throughout the Bible many points that seem isolated at first, just incidental 6

elements of certain facts. However, as we go deeper into this matter, we realize that there are very meaningful links between them. Let’s find out how the reading of this booklet can help us connect some of these points.

In Genesis we see a river that watered and supplied all trees in the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10). In Revelation we see that the river of water of life is there for the tree of life to grow and to bear fruit abundantly (Rev. 22:1-2).

The New Jerusalem mentioned in Revelation 21 is cubical: “Its length, breadth, and height are equal” (v. 16). The river of the water of life proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb, which is located at the city’s highest place (22:1). This river does not flow downstream as a waterfall. If this were the case, it would be very hard to drink its water. Access to it would be complicated and restricted. We believe that its watercourse is not a straight line but it is like a spiral, passing through all of the New Jerusalem.

On either side of the river there is the tree of life.

As the river runs downstream like a spiral, we can 7

see the tree of life thriving on both sides. In this way, both riversides are available to the tree, so everybody in the entire city can be supplied by the life of God. The Spirit is typified by the flow of this river’s water (John 7:37-39).

Four Riverheads of the River Flowing out of Eden

After man disobeyed God, he was driven out of the garden of Eden (Gen. 3:22-24). Some of his descendents ended up going later to Cush, others to Assyria, and others to Babylon. Because God is sovereign in His arrangements and also has an eternal purpose, He made the river flowing out of Eden to be parted and to become four riverheads that reached all these places. In this way, man would be rescued and brought back to God, back to the way of life.

The First Riverhead: Pishon

A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there, providentially, it “parted and 8

became four riverheads” (2:10). That was for the fulfilling of God’s plan. We must notice that the emphasis was the river watering the entire garden at first, but after man was driven out of the garden due to his fall, this one river was parted and became four riverheads. That happened for the express purpose of reaching men in whatever place and condition they were so that they could be brought back to the river’s main stream. The name of the first riverhead is Pishon; which skirts the whole land of Havilah (Gen. 2:11). Land of Havilah means “the one that causes the growth”, and Pishon means “the flow of grace”. So there is growth of life wherever this river goes. We can consider this riverhead as a regular watercourse or stream, because its flow produces gold, bdellium and the onyx stone (v.

12). These are precious materials for the building up of the house of God, with its consummation in Revelation 21.

Gold typifies the nature of God the Father.

Bdellium is a pearl-like material of a plant resin which originates from the abundant sap of a 9

certain tree that breaks through the bark and overflows. When the Lord Jesus was pierced on the cross, the divine life flowed out of Him. This is typified by the water which regenerates us and supplies us eternally (John 4:10; 19:34; Rev. 22:17). Because sin had already entered into mankind, we see in Revelation 21 that the bdellium is replaced with a pearl originated from an animal. This pearl can be, for instance, a result of a wound produced by a grain of sand inside the oyster. The formation process of this pearl typifies the Lord Jesus wounded on the cross for our sins.

The flow of this river also produces the onyx stone, which is formed when a regular rock reacts to the effects of time, pressure, and temperature.

When it becomes a precious stone, it typifies the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in our life.

Therefore, the flow of this river indicates the work of the Triune God. His goal is to bring man back to the normal way, back to God for the building up of His house.

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The Second Riverhead: Gihon

The second riverhead is Gihon, which goes around the whole land of Cush in Egypt. Egypt typifies the world of sustenance, where man gives all his time and energy in the attempt to live a more comfortable life.

Besides, this region was inhabited by darkskinned people. This reminds us of a verse in Song of Solomon: “Do not look upon me, because I am dark, because the sun has tanned me” (1:6). We certainly go through situations in our life when we try not to pay attention to our real condition but rather search for excuses and reasons. However, it would be most prudent to repent, not wasting any time. Some things, such as our skin color, are so evident that everybody notices. However there may be some hidden things in us that need to be exposed by the Lord (Luke 1:17).

We can say that the people living in that region also represent the natural man, who doesn’t like to be exposed. That is why he is always looking for a way out, a good excuse for his situation. This 11

is an extremely important point: whenever we are enlightened by the Lord, by the light of His word, we ought to humble ourselves, repent, and confess our real condition. We shouldn’t either justify ourselves or reason with God. Neither should we show dissatisfaction for this can create strongholds in our mind, which are against the knowledge of God. As we read in Genesis 2:13, Gihon River flows out to Egypt and reaches the ones living there in order to bring them back to the normal riverstream, to Pishon River. Praise the Lord! All this is related to the work of the Spirit in us. The river flowing out of Eden could flow directly to the New Jerusalem, but there is a riverhead that reaches the ones living still in Egypt and leads them back to the Lord. Hallelujah!

The Third Riverhead: Hiddekel

The third riverhead is Hiddekel which runs by the east side of Assyria. The capital of Assyria is Nineveh. According to the book of Jonah, that 12

city was so sinful that God wanted to destroy it.

When God sent the prophet Jonah to warn the people living in Nineveh, it was as if this riverhead had reached them. When they repented, the Lord brought them back to the normal way of the divine life, the “Pishon River”.

The Fourth Riverhead: Euphrates

The fourth riverhead is the Euphrates River, that runs through Babylon, which refers to a world of idols. Babylon was the capital of Chaldea, from where God called Abraham (Gen. 11:31). It was a land full of idolatry and religion. That is why the river of living water has parted and its fourth riverhead reached the ones worshipping idols to rescue them back to the one and true God. Hallelujah!

The Flow of this River Leads Man Back to God

It is wonderful to see that according to God’s original purpose, the river of water of life was 13

there to water the garden of Eden. However, in His foreknowledge, God had designed four riverheads because it was His intention to reach man in his own place and condition in order to bring man back to Himself: “But there the majestic LORD will be for us a place of broad rivers and streams” (Isa. 33:21).

The ones in the land of Cush, in the world of sustenance, full of excuses and just concerned about themselves, can be rescued by the flow of the Gihon River. The ones in Assyria, in the world of sin, can be led back through the Hidekkel River. All the ones in the religious world can also be rescued, because the fourth riverhead reaches people in such a condition. Praise the Lord! No matter what situation we find ourselves in, there is a river full of life that reaches us: “everything will live wherever the river goes” (Ezek. 47:9c).

God has created man to rule over the world in coordination and harmony with Him, but mankind fell into sin. God then has provided both the redemption, through His Son’s death and resurrection, and also an environment, the 14

church. Such an environment prepares and perfects the redeemed man, enabling him to rule over the coming world with God. Hallelujah!

An Open Door to All

We praise the Lord for His move on earth throughout the ages, leading us to move, to respond, and to show signs that we follow Him. Up to a very recent time in the past, it was our understanding that in order to establish a church, we needed to arrive in a city and preach the gospel. It was enough to find a good place afterwards, preferably close to the majority of saints, where the newly saved Christians could gather together. Everyone would meet in this place a couple of times a week for many years.

It is possible that the joy of gathering the saints to enjoy the word, pray, sing, and sometimes even share a meal together has made it hard for us to notice the ones passing by and neighbors that might feel attracted by the sound of songs and prayers.

The door, usually closed, day after day, has made 15

the church meeting hall a bit useless. In other words, we were not able to take the best advantage of what the Lord has offered us. Moreover it looked like we were not totally according to God’s desire, “who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4).

Many Places of Prayer in Each City

In order for the majority of people to have access to the word of God, it is important for each city to have many places of prayer. The bigger the city, the more places of prayer there should be.

Even though many of us have already thought that way, we believe that now is the time for everyone to participate, because we all realize the desire of God’s heart for this age. It was Him Who has awakened us. As we saw in the beginning of this booklet, the apostle Paul travelled to many places.

Even though he was dynamic and always ready, he was able to sense the simplicity of a place by the river where women could get together at any time to hear the word of God. 16

The Lord is delivering us from all our old concepts, habits and traditions so that we will reach people for Him. When we study this portion of the Bible one more time, we feel very impressed by the four riverheads flowing out of Eden, which illustrates very well what happens with us today.

Paul’s experience in Philippi, when he met Lydia in that place of prayer (Acts 16:13-14), has enlightened us concerning our gospel preaching practice, in which we need to advance and be perfected.

God does not require any payment for our salvation, as we read in Isaiah 55: “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price” (v. 1). We don’t need to spend either money or much of our time to receive the Son of God Who is given freely to us. The Lord is now helping us by pointing out a practical way for us to bring His word and the opportunity of salvation to others through places of prayer.

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A Testimony

Besides taking the opportunities we already have, we need to learn how to create new opportunities to preach the gospel. After they heard about the importance of places of prayer, a couple from a certain city took the following initiative: they covered a shoebox with nice paper and made a slot on the cover, like a ballot box.

They went out to visit their neighbors, from house to house, asking them to write down their prayer requests on a piece of paper and place them in the box. They all accepted this idea very well and placed their requests in the box which filled quickly. The couple also informed their neighbors that their own house would be open for them that evening for them to pray together.

Many accepted the invitation and then enjoyed a rich moment of prayer from one another. Such gatherings became usual among them.

This proves the effective results of places of prayer in bringing God’s life to other people. This couple’s testimony indicates that whenever we 18

hear the word of God, we need to receive it in spirit and practice. In this way, it will gradually become more real to us. We don’t want just the doctrine or the theory of gospel preaching; rather, we want to carry out this practice by using all available resources and also to create new ways to share this burden. Some people always find difficulties before practicing the word. They create a series of obstacles which hinders their growth in life. This also makes them unable to help others to receive the divine life and to have the opportunity of allowing this life to grow in them. O Lord Jesus!

A Way to Speed up the Gospel Preaching

Many brothers are testifying in these days that the place of prayer has been a very efficient way to speed up the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom of heavens. Thus, if we have a suitable place in each street of every neighborhood where people could come in, sit down, pray, and have fellowship with us concerning their needs and 19

difficulties, we would hasten the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In this place of prayer, we could also present them with some spiritual books, Bibles, and even serve them some coffee or refreshments.

Having such a place of prayer is not only God’s need. Many people need our prayers in order to be brought before God and receive the divine life so that they will mature in loving the Lord and denying their soul life.

Our heart needs to be enlarged in order to be fruitful throughout the city where we live until everyone is reached by the gospel of life. If we follow the conventional way of gospel preaching, even if we have many meeting halls, especially in big cities, it will be impossible for all to be reached. But praise the Lord, many saints are working hard and making an effort to bring the good news of salvation to all, searching for people in every way in the cities and neighborhoods where they live.

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A Cozy Place

Our feeling is that we should follow the example in Philippi to have many places of prayer.

We need to establish a place of prayer in each street or neighborhood in our city. We can’t hide ourselves behind closed doors of our houses or a few church meeting halls. Instead, we need to offer people a cozy and inviting place—a place with doors always open where they can meet God’s servants and books to help them to read and understand the Bible and know God’s will.

Only having a library with an organized display of spiritual books is not always attractive. Our desire is for people to come in and be helped through prayers and books and also find there a place for them to be supplied with the divine life.

Leading Many to the Faith

We can name this place Book-a-fé. We have the English word book followed by a (a in Portuguese means to)¹, a preposition that indicates movement, direction, meaning to bring, to lead. The word fé 21

(the faith)1 is the content of God’s New Testament Economy, which is the very Triune God given to us. The goal of this place is to bring the divine life to all people through books, prayer and fellowship with the brothers. Any of us can establish a place of prayer for people to be strengthened. By means of reading the books and prayer, they will have the opportunity to grow in the divine life.

We are very happy in the church life but feel that God is not yet satisfied. He has placed us in the church life, not only for our enjoyment, but especially for us to grow in life by denying ourselves, taking up the cross and following the Lord. If our houses are open as a place of prayer, the gospel of the kingdom will reach the farthest corners of the earth and the Lord will come back.

To Reign with the Lord in the Coming World

Our hope is to reign with the Lord in the coming world (Heb. 2:5). That is why we also 1 This text translation was adapted to convey the meaning of the original text.

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need these places of prayer today. Our goal is not to open a coffee shop, as the name would suggest, but instead to have a place dedicated to prayer. We want to turn this space into an attractive place for people to receive spiritual care and inward comfort. This gives us the opportunity to preach the gospel of life to all.

God has called and separated us especially for this gospel (Rom. 1:1).

We believe that Paul’s example in Philippi applied to our living today, through many places of prayer in various parts of the cities, is one of the practical ways to speed up the preaching of the gospel of life. In this way, the ones who receive this gospel will also have the opportunity to gain the reward of reigning with Christ in the coming world.

Later, when Paul wrote the letter to the Philippians, he opened his heart to them: “For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ” (1:3-8). He was thankful to the Lord for every remembrance of the brothers who had been fellowshipping with 23

him in the gospel from the first day, when he was by the river, in that place of prayer.

Paul was confident that God would complete His work in those brothers, which He began when a “riverhead� stretched out to Philippi as well, providing a place of prayer in a sovereign and simple way. Praise the Lord!

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