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Jesus Passion Week - Monday

Jesus Passion Week – Monday

Matthew 21:12-16

      On Monday of His passion week, Jesus entered into the Temple at Jerusalem.  The Jewish Temple was very important in the life of the Jewish believer.  It was the center of their worship.  The Jewish male was required to come to the Temple at least three times a year to worship, offer sacrifices, and to celebrate the different feasts the Lord had given to them in the Law of Moses.

     This event is recorded in three of the four Gospels.  We learn that He overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves.  The outer court of the Temple had become a place of merchandising.  The merchants were profiting from God’s people at the expense of their worship.

      Notice Jesus words, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’”  The reference to “den of thieves,” has to do with those who would hide themselves in caves and steal from innocent people as they passed through the mountainous areas around Jerusalem.

     What happens when Jesus enters the Temple?  He restores prayer to its rightful place.  In this week that remembers His sacrificial death and His victorious resurrection why not ask God to restore your personal temple.  The Apostle Paul teaches that our bodies are now the “temple of God.” 

      Let me challenge you to invite Christ to cleanse your temple today. What will He find?  What will He turn over?  And then ask Him to restore your prayer life.  He longs to communicate with us in prayer.  He longs to fellowship and commune with His children. 

    What happened when Jesus cleansed the Temple?  Prayer was restored to its rightful place and became a priority in God’s house.  The blind and the lame were healed, and the children began to cry out in praise to God. 

   The same will happen in our lives.  When Christ visits us individually and corporately prayer will become a priority, we will experience His healing power, and our children and those around us will cry out in exuberant praise to God.

Today's Prayer

Dear Father:
Visit us. Search our hearts, restore our priorities.  Empower us to rebuild the broken altars in our lives.  Reveal the little foxes who spoil the vine. We long to experience Your healing. 
In Jesus Name,
Amen

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