Ironbridge Church | Pastor’s Corner

Jesus has a holy passion for the house of God!

On two separate occasions, both at the beginning and at the end of His earthly ministry, Jesus was outraged by the crass commercialism that had invaded the house of God. Rather than a quiet place of worship and prayer, the house of God had become a place of profit. Holy hucksters had made a mockery of all things sacred. In John 2, we relive the dramatic moment when Jesus confronted the moneychangers, “And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables.”

Near the end of His ministry, Jesus again “cleansed the temple.” In Matthew 21:13 Jesus said, “It is written, ‘ MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN.”

Today, on the Lord’s Day, let us strive to truly make our church a house of prayer. If anyone comes to you with a heart-ache, a problem, a concern or complaint—don’t just talk about it. Talk alone could lead to negative speaking or worse—gossip! Instead, make the church a house of prayer by praying about the situation. As one writer has put it, “God calls us to be a house of prayer for all nations—a spiritual community that is mature, fully capable of seeing what is wrong, but positioning itself to release redemption into the world.”

If we discuss what is wrong for ten minutes, let us pray for redemption for twenty!

Today’s Scripture Promise: “Even those I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7)

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 26th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under 77 Days of Prayer and Fasting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.