The Gethsemane House of Prayer is a ministry of Swallow’s Nest Ministries – Southeast Asia.

Swallow’s Nest Ministries – Southeast Asia holds eight core values as foundational in fulfilling the Great Commission and foundational in our obedience to the greatest commandment to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The eight core values are composed of four core spiritual disciplines and four core spiritual fruit.  They are biblically-based and non-negotiable.

THE FOUR CORE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

We actively carry our cross by daily practicing four core spiritual disciplines, two disciplines focused on loving God and two disciplines focused on loving others.  

THE DISCIPLINES OF LOVING GOD

1. INTIMACY

We believe that we are hand-created by God for the purpose of satisfying God’s desire for intimacy, union, communion, and companionship.  We are empowered to accomplish this purpose through the Holy Spirit revealing to us the desires of His heart and surrendering ourselves, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to share His desires and His love for righteousness.  Every aspect of our lives flow from and serve this purpose.  Our greatest desire and joy is to love Him to the fullness of what He deserves.

2. UNCEASING WORSHIP

We believe that the prayer Jesus prayed, “on earth as it is in heaven,” (Matthew 6:10) includes within it a command to minister to the Lord through unceasing adoration on earth, modeling the way He receives worship unceasingly in heaven. (Revelation 4)  We commit ourselves to the place of unceasing worship believing that unceasing worship is the only fitting response to His worthiness.

THE DISCIPLINES OF LOVING OTHERS

3. UNCEASING PRAYER

We put our trust, faith, and hope in God’s promise to “bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night.” (Luke 18)   We commit ourselves in obedience to the place of unceasing prayer believing that unceasing prayer is how we are called to hold fast to Him in love and, in doing so, He will deliver, protect, answer prayers, rescue, honor, and bring many to the saving knowledge of Himself because we know, acknowledge His name, and lift it high. (Psalm 91:14-16)

4. LOVING THE LEAST

We recognize that a necessary evidence of an authentic relationship with Jesus is that it compels us to the lowest place to joyfully love the least in the darkest and dirtiest places.  Revival, we believe, begins with the broken, humble, poor, lowly, and despised; the people that Jesus chose to spend His time with on earth.  Following His footsteps, we choose to spend our time with those people.  Following His command, we choose to freely give ourselves away to the orphan and the widow.

THE FOUR CORE SPIRITUAL FRUITS

As we practice the four core spiritual disciplines, we expect, through the work of the Holy Spirit in us, to produce four core spiritual fruits in our lives; two inward fruits in our pursuit of Christlikeness in our inner man or women and two outward fruits in our pursuit of Christlikeness in our lifestyles and relationships.

THE INWARD FRUITS

5. HOLINESS & CONSECRATION

“If it’s not worship to God, don’t do it!”  We highly value the honor that King Jesus has given us by bringing us into His inner chambers, paying for our access at the highest price of His life, and we make a stand to refuse to allow any other ‘lovers’ to have the rightful place He alone deserves. (Song of Songs 1:4)  We commit ourselves to the privilege of daily carrying our cross and we pursue having clean hands and pure hearts so that we may ascend the hill of the Lord, stand in His holy place and, more than simply ‘not sinning,’  be visibly set apart for Him, made beautiful for our Bridegroom King, in radical consecration. (Psalm 24)

6. VALUE FOR SUFFERING & JOY

We value, cherish, and rejoice in the opportunity to suffer in the Christian life.  We recognize that learning to love the way that God loves necessarily requires a joyful willingness to carry our cross daily, keeping our eyes fixed, as His eyes were, on the joy of greater intimacy set before us. (Psalm 24, Hebrews 12:2)  Also, we believe that suffering is an opportunity that we only receive during our earthly lifetime.  When we rejoice in suffering, it “overwhelms” the heart of God and we consider it a great joy and honor that Jesus would count us worthy of moving His heart. (Song of Songs 6:5)

THE OUTWARD FRUITS

7. TOTAL DEPENDENCY

We completely depend upon God for everything.  If He doesn’t ‘show up,’ we can’t do it and we won’t do it.

8. A FAMILY ROOTED IN HUMILITY

We desire, as a family, to fully live out the model of fellowship as described in Acts 2 and 4:32-34 by each individually living out the principles of Philippians 2:3, doing nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility counting others above ourselves.  We draw three practical principles from the Acts model of fellowship: living a lifestyle of radical generosity, daily corporate worship, and maintaining favor through living a lifestyle and maintaining an attitude of blessing toward all people.