MY HOUSE IS NOT FOR PROFIT, BUT FOR PRAYERS

SCRIPTURE:

“When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. 46 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’; but you have made it a den of robbers.  47 Every day, he was teaching at the temple. But the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him. 48 Yet they could not find any way to do it because all the people hung on his words.” (Luke 19:45—48)

OBSERVATION:

         Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out those who were selling.  Sometimes we are caught doing the wrong thing in the wrong place.  The guilty group here is the religious leaders.  They allowed people to misuse the temple’s purpose and reason.  The chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the leaders among the people were trying to kill Jesus because he exposed their activities in the temple. 

         Jesus boldly claimed; MY HOUSE WILL BE A HOUSE OF PRAYER!  Wrong businesses were conducted in different places.  So often, we confuse the sacred and the secular in our lives.  The religious leaders were permitting the people to use the house of God, NOT for the purpose of which and why it existed. 

         There is a danger when we lose sight of God because we drift away from the purpose for which we were created in the first place.  Jesus said, MY HOUSE is not for PROFIT but for PRAYERS.  Our lives are Jesus’ house and property.  We are to be always connecting to his purpose and life.  Our temples must be about the father’s purpose. 

         I am reminded of how important it is when Jesus enters my life that my priorities must change to reflect His priorities.   Jesus laid claim to the temple as his house for his prayers.  Likewise, my life, this temple, must be bustling and filled with the sound of God’s purpose of creating me so I may be filled with prayers. 

APPLICATION:

         When Jesus enters my life, I want him to have his way with me.  I want to allow him to turn things that do not represent his purpose upside down.  I want him to help me return my life in the direction of his will and purpose so that I may be useful for his glory.  I will continue to have Jesus make changes in me and help me grow more and more in him. 

PRAYER:

         Jesus, I am the temple in which you desire to dwell.  I ask that you continue to turn things upside down in me that do not reflect your purpose and will.  Help me guard against things I allow in my life that rival your purpose in me.  I look to you to lead and guide me and speak to my life of things I need to be attentive to.  May this life, your temple, bring glory to your name.  Amen!