House of Prayer….
Mar 11:17 And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves.
As soon as Jesus entered Jerusalem on what we call Palm Sunday, Mark tells us and before He took any action, He went to the temple and looked around at everything – verse 11. It was late by then and Jesus and the 12 disciples went out of the city for the night. During this time Jesus undoubtedly prayed again and had time to reflect on what He had seen and what had profoundly shocked Him – namely the commercialism of the sanctuary of God, the very centre of the religious life of Israel.
Most of you know what Jesus did after the next day in the temple – He ‘sorted’ it out!
The gathering of God’s people to pray is the most powerful force in the universe. I read today the statistics of what are the three main things people are going to seek counsel about today in Western Australia – 1. Stress and the Inability to Cope 2. Quality of Relationships 3. Family breakdown and Divorce.
What a day it was for Jesus that first Palm Sunday – tears in His eyes as He rides into the city of Jerusalem and to a people, His people, and they are not ready for Him and ignore Him. Then brandishing a whip , a symbol of judgment He ‘cleans house”, His Father’s house.
We are living in the most desperate of times and the time for God’s house to become a house of prayer again is surely upon us.
Prayer enlists and releases God’s power and it is this and this alone that can bring healing, forgiveness, patience, calm, love and restoration to relationships miraculously. Will you be part of the housekeeping and house cleaning?
Will you be the catalyst for God’s House being a House of Prayer once again?
It will be the greatest work you could ever do!