I have a confession.

The first sermon I ever preached, as a young youth pastor at a little country church in college, was titled "Get Up Off Your Knees."

I picked a passage where God tells someone to stop praying and get moving. I was a doer. I loved action, results, and getting things done. Prayer felt like something you did before the real work started.

God has a sense of humor. Today I lead a church that hasn't stopped praying — every hour of every day — since 2021.

Here's how that happened.

Offended Into Prayer

In the early summer of 2017, I was in Egypt and began reading my first books on revival. In one of them, I came across Leonard Ravenhill's challenge that a minister who doesn't spend two hours a day in prayer isn't worth a dime a dozen.

I was offended. Twice. My first thought was, "He obviously doesn't know how busy I am."

But in my experience, being offended is often the invitation to the altar.

I had time on that trip, so I did it. I prayed two hours a day. And I began praying for revival as part of it.

It was like God had been waiting to put me on a fast track. Within about a week, my heart and mind felt cleaner — less prone to sin. I became more sensitive to the Holy Spirit's presence. Then God began to burden me to pray with groans and tears I knew weren't coming from me. It was a supernatural anguish to see God's heart and will done on earth.

A Promise at the Altar

When I got home, that burden spread to our pastoral team. We began praying together every day, crying out from 2 Chronicles 7:14 — humble ourselves, pray, seek His face, turn from sin.

That fall, I was praying with our elders. The prayer time ended, but I couldn't leave. A few stayed back with me. And in that moment, the Lord gave me a picture of Jesus, the way John describes Him in Revelation 1 — white hair, eyes like fire, feet glowing like bronze. It felt like a fiery rebuke, making room for Himself. He planted His scepter in the ground, and power radiated out.

And I heard: "You shall surely see it."

When God gave the promise of revival, He also gave the path. It was the path of prayer.

The Cost of Calling a Church to Pray

We taught an 11-week series on intercession, and at the end of it, we launched our first 40 days of praying for revival.

During those 40 days, our team began hearing from God unlike ever before in our prayer times — visions, dreams, words. In our gatherings, God began healing people supernaturally and spontaneously during worship. No one prayed for them. No one even expected it.

I want to be honest, though. Calling a church to become a house of prayer came with a cost. Not everyone wanted it. By the numbers, I was now leading a church in "decline" — attendance went down.

Yet we were ascending.

Answered Prayers (and Honest Ones)

For years I've kept a record of what I've asked God for and what He has done. It's one of the most faith-building habits I know.

In 2019 I prayed, "Raise up a prayer movement — make every one an intercessor." He did. Many of those intercessors came with us when we planted Revolution Church.

In 2020 I wrote, "House of prayer — continual, 24/7, and increased devotion and hunger. An army of lifelong intercessors, every one."

Next to that entry today, I've written two words: "It's happening."

Now, to be clear, not every line on that list says yes. Next to some prayers from that same season, I've had to write "No," or "Not yet." Some prayers are still waiting. But most have been answered, either fully or in great measure. And keeping track has taught me that testimony fuels faith, faith fuels prayer, and prayer leads to fresh testimony.

"Do Not Let the Torch Go Out"

Revolution Church was planted in 2020 in the middle of a very painful season. God was faithful in astonishing ways — within weeks we had a place to meet, and within about nine months we had purchased a 50,000-square-foot building in Lone Tree, just south of Denver.

In the spring of 2021, as we prayed for God to provide that building, prayer began running around the clock again. And while praying over that place, God spoke a simple word: "Do not let the torch go out."

So we didn't.

24/7 prayer came back to life in 2021 — this time with only a fraction of the people we'd had before to sustain it. That was the real cost. We went from doing what we were capable of, with some measure of God's grace, to believing God for the impossible.

Imagine God calling you to do anything 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Not for a day. Not for a week. Going forward. With no notice, no planning, and only a portion of the people it took before.

That's what it felt like.

And yet here we are. As of this writing, 24/7 prayer has gone up from Revolution Church for more than five years without a break. It's a miracle — an only-God miracle.

What It Looks Like Now

Our 24/7 prayer ministry is simple.

• Anyone can sign up for a one-hour slot each week through our website.

• You pray from wherever you are — home, work, the car, or one of our campuses.

• Each week, we send a fresh prayer guide, in English and Spanish, so you know how to pray for your hour: testimonies, confession, what God is doing across our campuses, listening prayer, the local church, and salvations by name.

• Our elders and campus pastors also pray together for an hour on several mornings a week.

It isn't big. Often one person holds an hour. But in the two years after 24/7 prayer began, God also led us into 24/7 worship. Our campuses in Colorado Springs, Mexico City, Quito, and Puerto Escondido have been birthed and carried in prayer. And every breakthrough we've seen — in worship, healing, hearing God, and His presence — has come out of seasons of intensified prayer and been sustained by 24/7 prayer and worship.

Take Your Place in the Story

The torch is still burning. It stays lit because ordinary people keep showing up for their hour.

If you're in Lone Tree, the Denver metro, or Colorado Springs, we'd love to meet you. If you're anywhere else, you can still carry the torch from where you are.

Take your hour: https://firstloverevolution.com/24-7

Read next: Part 5 — Not All Prayer Is Prayer: 4 Convictions That Make Prayer Powerful

Go back: Part 3 — 24/7 Prayer and Revival: What History Teaches Us