A House of Prayer

We don't see Jesus getting really angry very often in His time on earth. Most of the time, He was very loving and forgiving. However, there were some things that caused Him much anger. One of those things happened when He was entering Jerusalem before He was crucified later in the week.  (Luke 19:45-46) Jesus went into the temple and began to throw out the ones who were selling things. Then, He made the pronouncement of why He was angry. He said, "It is written, My house will be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." I believe it is very important for us to hear this statement and apply it to our lives today, as believers.

We don't really have a building today that is like the temple in Jesus's day. That was where God resided with His people. It was the only place to make sacrifices to worship Him according to His directions for His people. Today, we have church buildings, but God doesn't live there. Church buildings are where His people come together to worship Him, though. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves if our church is a house of prayer? Is talking with God and hearing from the Lord one of the main things we do there? If not, it should be. We can't worship the Lord correctly without pouring out our hearts to Him and hearing back from Him about what we are to do. However, the Bible is clear that now every believer is the temple of the Holy Spirit. (I Corinthians 6:19) God lives in us. Therefore, we need to ask ourselves if we are a house of prayer? Is prayer the main thing we do? If not, it should be. We are told to pray without ceasing. We are commanded to pray about everything and not to worry about anything. Jesus told us to pray and never faint or give up. I believe, if we, as believers, are not houses of prayer, we upset the Lord very badly, because He sees that we are filling our hearts with all the wrong things, selfishness, materialism, and other worldly things. Let's decide today that we will be houses of prayer, trusting fully and always in God first. Then, let's see what God is able to do in and through us.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Luke 20-22.