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Luke 19 English Standard Version (ESV)

Jesus Weeps over Jerusalem

⁴¹ And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴² saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side ⁴⁴ and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

⁴⁵ And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold, ⁴⁶ saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”

⁴⁷ And he was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, ⁴⁸ but they did not find anything they could do, for all the people were hanging on his words.

 

REFLECTION:

1. Our churches are centers for many good things, but is prayer an overriding concern or simply a nice extra? Is it the heart and soul of the body of believers who meet there?  It is the people who are the temple of God in the New Testament; it is us who are the house of prayer.  But how much of a house of prayer are we?  Are we full of buying and selling?  Are we a place where spiritual greed, theft, and religious manipulation are firmly lodged?  Jesus probably felt without prayer – communion with God the Father – nothing else would make any difference, the lost would not be found, the enslaved would not be freed.
2. Do you share that same passion for prayer in yourself – “a temple of the Holy Spirit within you”(1 Cor 6:19)? Do you believe it is so critical, so essential that everything else is at risk without it?
3. Use our church’s Weekly Prayer Guide to pray for church, different ministries, people’s needs, missionaries, and other matters. May you become a true “house of prayer”.

 

PRAYER:

Dear Lord Jesus, please teach me how to pray because many times I do not know how to pray. My prayers often lack depth and only ask You for things that are not good for my growth in life. Lord, cleanse my heart from filth, greed, pride, and lies like driving out those who do business in the temple. May the Lord live in the temple of my heart, sit on the throne of my life, and let me worship You in spirit and in truth, pray to You constantly, and strive to live a holy life. Please help me make prayer the core of my faith, listen to Your will in prayer, and put it into action to do my best for the ministry of the church and the needs of my brothers and sisters. Amen!

 

HYMN:

Sweet Hour of Prayer – youtu.be/Sh8BDRPzL2g