A Place of Prayer for All Nations

Mark 11:17 He taught them, "The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a place of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves."

What we think of God is reflected in how we think of His Temple. I believe that we have for the most part gone too far in our comfort with being in church. We ask the Lord to be in His house. We long for the Lord to dwell with us as we gather for worship. We do things that we hope will draw us near to God. And yet, the Lord often seems so far away. Why is that? Could it not be that we have lost the sense of the sacredness of being in the presence of God? Could we be going through the motions of worship without really worshipping?

I suspect that if we gathered for worship with more of a sacred mindset that a lot of changes would be made. When we approach God we need to do so with a higher regard for what it means to be in His presence. How we conduct ourselves in church does reflect the respect we have for Him. How we think about Him matters. If we don’t have an overpowering sense that we are approaching God in His holiness, majesty and glory, can we really say we are worshipping Him? I wonder.

What about our daily worship of God in our living? Does our living reflect our devotion for God or what we think about Him? The Scriptures tell us that it does. We should live always with a sense of God is in us and with us in all we do.

All of us fall short in this. None of us pause like we should and regard God as being holy like we should. None of us capture like we should the awe of being in God’s presence. None of us show the Lord the respect He deserves.

May the Lord help us to be better worshipers. May the Lord help us to take more seriously what it means to be in His presence. May He help us to recapture the sense of what worship is really all about, both in His house and in our daily homes. May our lives be living houses of worship where God dwells and is seen.