10/19/2024
Our devotional study this morning is on what our church should be called, and it is centered on the words Jesus spoke as He was throwing the money changers from the temple...
“And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”
Matthew 21:13 KJV
The focus of our church should be on prayer and the establishment of personal relationships with God through Jesus Christ. How often do we subvert that purpose and replace it with other things?
On a normal volunteer night I know that I will serve dinner to over 500 men who come to the Nashville Rescue Mission hungry. The mission of that place is to feed the hungry, give them a safe place to sleep, and teach them of Jesus. As I work with the team in the kitchen, we filled tray after tray with food, but at the end of the night a few men will come back asking for more to eat... they are still hungry.
One night something happened that has kept me in repeated prayer... the young man who was running the kitchen turned away those seeking a second helping for fear he didn't have enough food. Yet, it was the end of the feeding shift and we had food remaining. I have prayed for the hungry men and I have prayed more for the young kitchen manager who turned them away. He lost sight of the mission; the will of God that had established this place. It hurt my soul, and thankfully I have never seen that happen again.
I want to talk about our churches and what we do there... it is very similar to the Rescue Mission in this simple fact... NO ONE SHOULD LEAVE HUNGRY! No one should leave our churches hungry for the Lord! If we are not feeding those who are hungry for a satisfying relationship with Jesus and the Father, then we are no better than the money changers and we have missed the mark like the young kitchen manager did. It should hurt us deep within our souls. Our churches should be known as places of unceasing prayer where no one leaves hungry.
Pastor E. M. Bounds says this about prayer in church:
"Our Lord put particular emphasis on what the church should be when He cast out the buyers and sellers in the temple. He makes prayer the most important thing above all else in the house of God. Those who sidetrack prayer misrepresent the church of God and make it into something less than what it is meant to be." - E. M. Bounds
When we come to church, we shouldn't come to do other things, or to just say a prayer... no, we should come to live within one. That is what Jesus meant when He said we should pray without ceasing. Prayer ceases to be what we say and becomes who we are. Our church should be a place where that is taught and where that is the mission… to pray our lives, and live our prayers.
Bounds had one more thought I would like to share...
"Prayer is always welcome in the house of God. When prayer is a stranger there, it stops to be God's house.
Prayer is perfectly at home in the house of God. It is no stranger or guest; it belongs there. It has a divine appointment to be there." - E.M. Bounds
So, whether we are the pastor, a deacon, or the church secretary... whether we are a Sunday school teacher, a nursery worker, or someone sitting in the pews... our mission is to live a life of prayer and to teach and encourage others to do the same. All other jobs within the church pale in comparison. When we say that we want a relationship with Jesus, and the Father, but we don’t talk to them then that relationship will never manifest itself. We will come to church hungry, and leave hungry. Are we believers who pray? Is our church a house of prayer, or just biding its time as it waits for Jesus to turn over our tables and evict us from His house?
Prayer:
Father thank you for feeding us your love, and Holy Word, with a spoon made of prayer. Thank you Jesus for walking with us, and for teaching us how our prayers join us together in relationship with our Heavenly Father. Thank you Holy Spirit for giving voice to our spirits when our minds are unable to find the words. Father, satisfy our hunger for you in silent prayer from within the temples of our bodies, from the sacred holiness of our prayer closets, in the quiet places, the secret places, the desperate places, and especially from within our churches, cathedrals, and temples. Father, help us to transform prayer from something we do, into who we are. Help us to live lives of prayer in which our prayers are as natural as our next breath, the beat of our heart, and the rush of blood through our veins. Lord, give us the knowledge and wisdom it takes to encourage others around us to seek you in their prayer lives too, and to come to that place where their prayers become who they are as well. Open our eyes Abba to this divine mission, and journey, that we, and our churches, have been called to undertake; bless us Lord in the fulfillment of your desire to be joined with us in prayer. Let no soul come into your sanctuary having never spoken with you, and leave without witnessing prayer, or having had a personal conversation with you that will lead to their salvation and an eternal relationship with you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who bends low to lend your ear to us as we pray, and to whisper your will and thoughts into our ears. Holy are you who leads us to believe through a single prayer, and into eternal sanctification and righteousness through a life of continuous prayer. We thank you now Lord for your mercy and grace that leads all of us who will believe in Jesus to you in prayer, and for the sweet smell of the incense that carries our prayers from the angel’s hands to you in the wafting smoke that rises from the golden bowl of prayers. Hear our prayers Father, witness our belief in Christ, and pronounce us worthy of eternity with you.
Amen
Rich Forbes