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October 12
A HOUSE OF PRAYER

Scripture: Matthew 21:13 “And said unto them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.”

     Prayer, though not confined to one place, has a special relationship to the House of God.  Here in the text we see Jesus cleansing the temple in Matthew 21:12 and in verse 13 He refers to the church as the house of prayer.  Quoting from Isaiah, Jesus makes the statement that His house shall be call the house of prayer.  Prayer surely has a special place in the church today!
    E. M. Bounds says:  “Prayer is always in place in the house of God.  When prayer is a stranger there, then it ceases to be God’s house at all. Our Lord makes prayer preeminent, that which stands above all else, in the house of God.  They, who sidetrack prayer or are seeking to minimize it, and give it a secondary place, pervert the Church of God, and make it something less and other than it is ordained to be.”   
     Prayer allows the house of God to become a Divine sanctuary.  When the people of God unite in prayer in the house of God, the Lord is pleased.  With no praying, the church becomes just another building.  No power is there because God has been left out.  Nothing is accomplished because the distinguishing feature of the church has been set aside.
    “Without prayer, a church is like a body without a spirit; it is a dead inanimate thing.  A church with prayer in it, has God in it . . . As God’s house is a house of prayer, the Divine intention is that people should leave their homes and go to meet Him in His own house.  . . . Prayer is the one distinguishing mark of the house of God. 
    Where can we pray?  We can pray anywhere, but a special effort should be made to pray at the house of God. At the house of God we have special promises that God will meet us there!