Good Morning Friends,
“Jesus entered the temple area and drove out
all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money
changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘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 21:12-13)
God longed to see His temple used as a place of
prayer and some did use it so. The early days of Jesus’ life includes a short
story about a woman named Anna. Luke says, “There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived
with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she
was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting
and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and
spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of
Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:36-38) Anna spent all of her time at the temple and was
devoted to prayer. God rewarded Anna’s faithfulness by allowing her to see and
know the Christ-child.
But God no longer has a house! Paul declared to
the people of Athens, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the
Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.” (Acts
17:24)
God dwells in a “house” made, not by human
hands, but by Himself, for He dwells in the people who are His. We are His
temple, His dwelling-place. (1 Corinthians 3:16)
God still longs for His temple to be a place of
prayer! God longs for His children to be people of prayer.
His, by Grace, Steve
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