Lou Engle: ‘Heaven is Invading Earth Through 24/7 Prayer’

Today as I look into the rearview mirror of my life and from there look on the panoramic view of the prayer culture arising in the earth…

I’m in awe of God’s great faithfulness in taking a seed from which a great tree springs and fills the earth.

As I am caught up in remembrances of my early house of prayer days—the dimness of my prophetic view, the absolute weakness of my heart, and the small community that dreamed with me—I realize I am privileged to witness the explosion of 24/7 prayer all over the globe. I stand amazed at a new generation of prayer leaders who are going far beyond what we in those days could have dreamed or imagined.

Corey Russell, a dear friend and fellow champion of prayer and revival, stands in blazing technicolor as one of those prayer generals who, having saturated themselves in the Word of God and spent countless hours in personal and corporate prayer, are now fueling the prayer movement worldwide. This book springs from the overflow of Corey’s spiritual encounter through a life filled with the Word of God. I remember longing to see 24/7 prayer in a place called Mott Auditorium in Pasadena, California. I wanted to do what King David did—night-and-day prayer and worship (1 Chronicles 9:33)—because that’s what’s going on in heaven, and Jesus is worthy. I was captivated by the one-hundred-year, 24/7 prayer vigil of the Moravians (began in 1727) that helped launch the modern missions movement and has been an inspiration to many prayer ministries in the earth today.

One day in my office at Mott Auditorium, I read an article by a man named James Goll. He had recently returned from the Moravian settlement in Herrnhut, Germany. While sitting on one of the graves of the Moravian saints, he heard the Lord say, “Son of man, can these bones live?” (Ezekiel 37:3). In the article, James prophesied that God wanted to establish houses of prayer in many cities and cover the earth with His glory. These houses of prayer would carry the same heart for prayer and missions as the Moravians. When I read this, I was gripped with the burden of the Lord. I ran down into the auditorium wailing, “Here, Lord! Mott Auditorium! Twenty-four-hour house of prayer!” As I was crying out, the phone rang. It was a friend. I told him that at that moment I was reading James Goll’s article and crying out, “Mott Auditorium! Twenty-four-hour house of prayer!” My friend responded in excitement, “Lou, that’s why I’m calling you! I’ve been listening to James Goll preach, and he just stopped and began to prophesy, ‘Lou Engle, Mott Auditorium, twenty-four-hour house of prayer.’” I knew immediately that this prophetic whirlwind was a sign that bones would rattle all over the earth (Ezekiel 37:7), and the day would come when Isaiah 56:7 would literally be fulfilled: “My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.” In January 1996, we established a 24/7 house of prayer in Mott Auditorium. The first morning, I was suddenly awakened at 5:15am.

I knew the time pointed to a Bible verse, but didn’t know which one. I cried to God, “Raise up a Moravian lampstand!” Later that morning, the Lord riveted my attention on Matthew 5:15.

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house (Matthew 5:15).

Then I saw it: God was going to take 24/7 prayer and put it on a lampstand, and the whole world would see the light. That little 24/7 prayer room in Mott Auditorium was humble in its beginnings, but God loved it, and it birthed The Call—a ministry through which hundreds of thousands have gathered in city arenas to fast and pray.

Heaven is invading the suffocating atmosphere of earth, and Jesus is changing the expression of Christianity in one generation. Saints united in prayer are challenging the injustice of abortion and sex trafficking, and the fire of prayer is burning in all parts of the globe. Praying saints are none other than the welcoming party for the kingdom of God and, ultimately, the return of Christ. Arthur Wallis, the great father of the charismatic movement in England, once said, “Find out what God is doing in your generation and throw yourself wholly into it.” By reading Corey’s book, you will find out what God is doing in your generation. Throw yourself into prayer, personal and corporate, and you will do the best thing for your life, because this is what God is doing right now.

Today, intercessors are joining God in writing the script of history, as prayer precedes manifestations of the glory of the Son of God on earth. Prayer teams are going into the hardest and darkest places on the planet to challenge hell and open heaven, even for the seven thousand unreached people groups that must hear a witness of the gospel before Jesus returns. Many today have been caught up in the great summons of Jesus to His disciples: “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out [Gk. ekballo] laborers into His harvest.” Andrew Murray, on the strength of these verses in Matthew 9:37–38, forcefully stated, “The number of missionaries on the field depends entirely on the extent to which someone obeys that command and prays out the laborers.” We’re calling a million believers worldwide to pray this verse daily, so that laborers will be thrust forth to the remaining unreached people groups. Oh, what a privilege to partner with God in the last-days narrative and storyline of history.

I feel like I have been caught up in the great vision of His harvest, but vision without implementation cannot keep a generation on course, nor can it sustain or perpetuate a life of faithfulness.

Thank God for young men like Corey who have seen the vision and can write it in such a way that those who read it may run after it. This book is bread on which the hungry heart can feed. It unveils the glory of the intercessor in the life of biblical characters and prayer warriors of history. It calls us to something greater than prayer experiences that leave us unchanged. It puts a demand on a generation to walk in the shadow of the Great Intercessor Himself, who, for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.

Friends, we stand today at the dawn of a historic fulfillment of Psalm 110—the mobilization of the last-days intercessory and worshiping army that gathers to the King-Priest Jesus and will see the enemies of the King crushed in His day of battle. Now is the time to give ourselves without reserve and in voluntary love to our Christ and to His global prayer advance. Read this book, and let it arm you with strength, fortify you with motivation, and summon you to heavenly encounter.