A House of Prayer
I wondered today if we would continue talking about prayer in church since it was Palm Sunday, and wouldn't you know, there is a connection. Pastor Amy read the story of the Triumphal Entry from Luke 19:28-46 and talked about how Jesus was trying to get his message to the people. As Jesus approached Jerusalem, He wept over the city and said,If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace--but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."
They weren't getting it. After Jesus enterred Jerusalem, He went in to the temple, drove out the money changers and told them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it into a den of robbers'" This actually comes from Isaiah 56 where God tells Israel that even foreigners would find joy in His house of prayer for it would be a house of prayer for all nations. Israel was trying to fit into surrounding cultures, and then they went the opposite direction and closed themselves off from other nations. God told them through Isaiah that they still had it wrong - what is really important is that my house is to become a house of prayer for all nations. What we can learn from this is that there is a way to live as God's people right in the middle of the culture we are in. Don't keep His message to yourself.
So what did you hear today that tugged at your heart? What I have been thinking about is what it means to be a house of prayer for all nations. We have been talking a lot about prayer lately and I think prayer is a place where we recognize God's sovereignty and our place in our relationship with Him. Since the coming of the Holy Spirit, His temple is in our hearts, and so, we want our hearts and our attitudes to be such that we believe God is sovereign. We look to Him for our needs, our hurts and our wants, we confess to Him and we repent; and we thank Him for who He is and what He has done for us. Now, if all nations, all people believed this message, what a wonderful world it would be.
Labels: Prayer
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