A House of Prayer - The King Returns
What a phenomenal week of prayer and fasting we just had! I hope you were able to engage with all that wentnon in the week. Regardless of whether the week left you on a high and fired up or somewhat disappointed because some of your expectations were not met, the good news is that prayer and fasting are not just one-off events. Instead, they form part of a lifestyle we are encouraged to embrace. So, we will get to do it again as the Lord permits. A little encouragement to the people who felt underwhelmed, prayer and fasting sometimes are like investments, you might not see the dividend immediately, but they are never a waste, I promise you!
The Bible paints a rather intriguing portrait of Jesus filled with a holy anger as he cleaned out the temple. John2:13-22 and Matthew 21:12-17 would be a good read. I particularly wish to highlight Matthew 21:13
“He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21:13 ESV
It is instructive that there were lots of activities in the temple which the Lord did not approve of and whilst Jesus himself did other legitimate things in the temple like teaching the scriptures and healing the sick, he wanted his house to be defined by prayer.
God's intention for the temple - a concept now applied both to individuals (as per 1Corinthians 6:19-20) and to the collective church body (according to 1Corinthians 3:16-17) - is for it to serve as a sanctuary of prayer. This designates the temple as a sacred space where believers can meet with God and engage in ceaseless worship to Him. But when Jesus stepped into His house, He found activities, but they were far from being sacred, and no prayers.
As we prayed and fasted this last week, the King returned to His temple once again and did a massive clean out.He called us to a fresh devotion and now we must keep the clutters out and anything that rivals God’s reign on the throne of our hearts. As a kingdom of priests, let us prioritise ministering to our Lord and filling His house again with the sweet aroma of our prayers.
“And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb.Each one had a harp, and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.” Revelation 5:8 NIV
A final thought, our Christian life and ministry is powered by prayer. If we want to keep our consecrations and live holy, mere willpower will not do; if we want to see souls saved, mere eloquence and good preaching won’t do and if we want to see the sick healed, we must keep in step with the healer. So, when we pray, not only do we minister to the Lord, but we express our utter dependence on him which causes grace to flow to us from His throne.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray all the time” MSG.
I would like to challenge us to step out and dare to outwork this scripture. Let us pray in the morning and at noon time, let us pray while in the aisle shopping and when on a walk, turn up for Connect and Sunday meeting all prayed up, pray on school runs. Pray while waiting your turn at McDonalds, the salon, and the GP. After you have prayed and another opportunity presents itself, pray some more!
May the spirit of prayer and supplication rest on us as a people and may our altars be constantly consumed with holy fire. Amen!
All blessings in Christ!
Tunji Martins
