BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER!

BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER!

…for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. —Isaiah 56:7

“It is written,” he said to them, “’My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” —Matthew 21:13

And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” —Mark 11:17

            The temple in Jerusalem was always meant to be “called a house of prayer for all nations.”  Today, the western wall of the last temple, the temple in Jesus’ day, is still partial

standing.  People still go there to pray. 

In Jesus day, may went there for the wrong reasons.  It was turned into a place of commerce and “Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me” (John 2:13-17). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQTYU3O6H3o

            Today only the western wall, called the wailing wall, exists.  But there are temples that are to be temples of prayer.  “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (I Corinthians 6:19-20).  Prayer is one way we honor God in these body temples.  Oh, that we would be temples of prayer, seeking His face, honoring Him and that our bodies would not just be concern with commerce!

“Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a edjudge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’  “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”  And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” — Luke 18:1-8

Oh, Dear Father, may I be a “house of prayer.”  May I listen to You often and speak with you often.  Yes, may this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Your Son Jesus.  Yes, may this be so! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_FGVDVp6b8