The "House of Prayer" Attitude


Prayer: Gracious Lord God, I bless Your name. I join with all of the heavens to declare Your praise. Thank You for meeting me here today for meditation, adoration, study, worship, and edification. Please fill my heart and mind with thoughts of You and from You. Expand my understanding of Your Holy Word and build my faith. Increase my love for You and create in me a heart that seeks after You. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Read: Matthew 21:12-17
http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew 21:12-17

Think about It: Somewhere along the line during the last few decades we have lost the value of reverence and respect. Perhaps it is merely misplaced nostalgia that causes us to believe things “were better back then.” Perhaps people have always been this way. Maybe that’s why Jesus had to remind the people in the temple 2,000 years ago that there were things that were appropriate in God’s house and things that were not. Maybe we could use a little bit of that same admonishment today.

As Jesus tips over the tables of the money changers and those who would sell sacrificial animals at a greatly inflated rate He reminds everyone within shouting distance that His Father’s house is supposed to be a place of prayer; a place where God’s people come and meet with Him. Reverence for God and respect for those trying to speak with Him should be preeminent in each person’s mind.

Isaiah 56:6-7 says, “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to Him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant —  these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” This is the passage that Jesus quotes as He drives off those who would use God’s house as a place of business or really anything else that doesn’t further His kingdom. Each of us may do well to examine our own hearts and minds each time we enter His house to see if we are there to seek Him and serve others, or are we there for self-serving motives that have nothing to do with worship and prayer.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, please teach me how to enter Your house every time in the right frame of mind. Holy Spirit, please come and enable proper worship and an attitude of respect and awe as I bow down before You. Keep my heart centered on You and help me to  honor Your house of prayer. Heavenly Father, please receive the praises I bring with my whole heart and accept those praises from someone who loves You so very much. In Your name I pray. Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excusez-moi

Image
2 Kings 23:31-37 31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 32 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. 33 And Pharaoh Neco put him in bonds at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem, and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 34 And Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But he took Jehoahaz away, and he came to Egypt and died there. 35 And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to give the money according to the command of Pharaoh. He exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, from everyone according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco. 36 Jehoiakim was twenty-fiv
Read more

יהוה שָׁמַר--Yahweh Shamar (God Watches)

Image
Psalm 121 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. There are numerous passages I cling to when stress takes over my life. I would be hard pressed to declare a favorite, but this psalm would come close. So this morning I listened to Psalm 121 about 20 times as I meditated through the verses. First, I want to point out that the word or idea of shamar appears in every verse expect 6. The NIV uses the word "watch" while the ESV uses "keep". The
Read more

Narrow Door

Image
Luke 13:22-30 22 He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to him, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them , 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out. 29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at tabl
Read more