© 2012 Jasper Life Publications

1st Edition in English – July, 20121st Edition in Portuguese – January, 2011

A Place of Prayer

UM LUGAR DE ORAÇÃO Translated from Portuguese with permission of

Editora Árvore da Vida

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ISBN 978-1-926970-39-4Printed 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.

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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 13:46-

48; 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 dark-

skinned 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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

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(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

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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!