¹²And Jesus entered the temple of God and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹³He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you make it a den of robbers.”

John, to my dear friends in Christ; in Matthew 21:12-13 (shown above) we see Jesus clearing out the temple of God and He declares the temple to be called, "a house of prayer".  In first Corinthians 6:19 we see the Apostle Paul, inspired by the Holy Sprit, saying, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God?".  If we are to understand that the Old Testament is a foreshadow of what is to come in the New Testament, then we can only assume we ourselves are called to be "a house of prayer".  In fact Paul confirms this in Ephesians 6:18 saying, "With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit...". 

My friends is your day an attitude of constant prayer?  I know, this is so hard to do, because it is extremely hard for me to do, but that's what God asked us to do, to always to be in an attitude of prayer.  Do you need to clean out your temple?  Then confess your sins to Jesus and you will receive forgiveness and cleansing.  Don't let sin prevent you from praying to God otherwise your temple will become a "a den of robbers".  Jesus will not drive out our sin without our asking Him, though He will convict you of your sin.  Becoming a "house of prayer" is something we must actively start and continue on our own, however, we are not alone because we have the Holy Spirit to help us.

Dear Heavenly Father, give us the strength to be a "house of prayer", show us our sin so we may clean out our temples, and teach us to pray with the Holy Spirit at all times, in Jesus name I Pray, Amen.

God's Many Blessings to You,

john
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Encouragement From The Heart Website updated January 11, 2001.
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Scripture references (unless noted otherwise): The Open Bible, New American Standard
copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977
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