WHY WE PRAY
Why Harp & Bowl?
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Harp and Bowl is not a familiar term for most of us. It is not a phrase that we use in our speech, nor is it something that most
people understand. This teaching explains the biblical meaning for the term “Harp & Bowl” and defines why we feel it is
such an important part of the prayer movement.
1. Harp & Bowl defined:
Revelation 5:8 – “…the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp and golden bowls full of incense,
which are the prayers of the saints.”
A. Harps represent music and worship; bowls represent the work of intercession.
B. This verse gives us a glimpse at how heaven is functioning and flowing around the throne of God.
C. This scene illustrates the significance of united of worship and intercession before the Lord
2. Why Harp & Bowl?
A. Harp & Bowl unites worship and intercession, creating an environment for sustainable prayer and agreement
with God.
B. Worship is agreement with who God is.
C. Intercession is agreement with what God has promised to do.
D. Repentance is coming into agreement with God’s heart.
E. Healing prayer is coming into agreement with God’s heart for healing.
F. Serving is coming into agreement with the servant heart of Jesus and breaking our agreement with selfish pride.
G. Rebuking, binding, tearing down is not sustainable and is mentally, physically and spiritually exhausting.
H. Our warfare must be God-centered and not devil-centered.
3. Why we pray apostolic prayers from the Bible
A. God’s language, the language of His heart (of Heaven)
B. Positive in nature
C. The 3-month restraint order (speak nothing negative personally)
D. Operating in faith
E. Encouraging to the spirit
F. Directed at the Lord
G. A point of unity
4. Harp & Bowl is refreshing and joyful
Isaiah 56:7 – “[I will] make them joyful in My house of prayer.”
5. Harp & Bowl releases a prophetic spirit inside of the church
A. Worship creates an atmosphere for God to speak to our hearts.
B. Intercession becomes the declaration of what the Holy Spirit has spoken.
C. Prayer ministry teaches people how to flow with the Holy Spirit.
D. A prophetic spirit is a contagious spirit. [1 Samuel 10]
6. The power of the prophetic anointing in intercessory worship
[Harp & Bowl] was declared by David in Psalm 149.
A. We must enjoy God.
Vs.2 – Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King.
Vs.5 – Let the saints rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. God enjoys us.
B. God enjoys us! (He is pursuing us!)
Vs. 4 – For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation.
C. Prophetic worship defined: declaring God’s greatness and His Word
through song.
Vs. 6 – May the high praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands.
D. Releasing God’s judgment and justice against darkness. This is the same concept Jesus taught about justice being
released through night and day prayer in Luke 18.
Vs. 7-9 – …to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with
fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them. This is the glory of all his
saints. Praise the LORD.
7. Is Harp & Bowl anywhere else in the Bible?
A. The Tabernacle of David
B. The Tabernacle of David is the name given to the tent that King David set up on Mount Zion in Jerusalem to
house the Ark of the Covenant. It was the center of a new order of joyful worship which stood in sharp contrast to
the solemn worship of Moses' Tabernacle.
C. Instead of the sacrifices of animals, the sacrifices offered at David's Tabernacle were the sacrifices of praise,
joy and thanksgiving (Psalm 95:2, 141:2).
Psalm 100:4 – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”
D. The Tabernacle of David is a type of the worship of the Church.
E. Jesus fulfilled the sacrificial system of the Old Covenant by His death on the cross (Hebrews 7:27, 9:12, 9:24-28).
Hebrews 1:1-4 – “God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in
these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the
worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word
of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become
so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”
F. The sacrifices of the Church, the New Covenant priesthood, are the sacrifices of praise, joy and thanksgiving
(Hebrews 13:15, 1 Peter 2:9). Hebrews 13:10-16 – “We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle
have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood,
suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we
have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of
praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share,
for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”
G. In addition to the worship of the Church, the Tabernacle of David points to the proclamation and authority of
Christ through His Church, thus foreshadowing the priestly, kingly and prophetic ministries of the Church
(Revelation 1:6, 5:10, 19:10, Acts 2:17, 1 Corinthians 14:1,3-5, 24-25, 29, 39).
Revelation 1:4-8 – “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits
who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the
kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests
to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with clouds, and
every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so,
Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to
come, the Almighty.””
The Harp & Bowl model, as found in the Tabernacle of David, is our continuing model of our priestly calling before the
Lord. Regardless of church affiliations or ministry titles, are you willing to offer your body as a living sacrifice to the Lord?
Ask the Lord for an understanding and revelation of your priestly calling so that you may offer to Him a sacrifice of praise
and be a facilitator of His anointing.