King David
Around 1000 BC, as an outflow of his heart, King David commanded that the Ark of the Covenant be brought up on the shoulders of the Levites amidst the sound of songs and musical instruments to his new capital, Jerusalem. There he had it placed in a tent and appointed two hundred and eighty-eight prophetic singers and four thousand musicians to minister before the Lord, “to make petition, to give thanks and to praise the Lord” day and night (1 Chronicles 15:1–17:27). This was unlike anything that had been done in the history of Israel, but it was God's plan for Israel.
The Moravians
In 1727 Nicholas Ludwig Von Zinzendorf, and a group of 24 men and 24 women experienced an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that sparked them into 24/7 prayer and worship. Known as the Moravians, this community of people quickly grew in numbers as they offered prayer and worship night and day refusing to let the fire go out on the altar. This prayer meeting lasted 100 years and was responsible for thousands of missionaries going all over the globe to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were also a tremendous inspiration to men like John & Charles Wesley who are tied closely to the great awakening. Many people believe the Moravian prayer movement was the spiritual driving force to this awakening and to countless thousands coming to the knowledge of Jesus.
David Yonggi Cho, Yoido Full Gospel Church
In 1973 David Yonggi Cho, Pastor of the Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, South Korea, established Prayer Mountain with night and day prayer. Prayer Mountain was soon attracting over a million visitors per year, as people would spend retreats in the prayer cells provided on the mountain. Cho had a commitment to continuous prayer, to faith and to establishing small discipleship cells in his church. Perhaps as a result, Cho's church rapidly expanded to become the largest church congregation on the globe, with membership now over 780,000.
International House of Prayer KC
On September 19, 1999, the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, Missouri, started a prayer and worship meeting that has continued for twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week ever since. With a similar vision to Zinzendorf, that the fire on the altar should never go out, there has never been a time when worship and prayer has not ascended to heaven since that date.