Yesterday’s meditation was a call of God to His people to build His Temple. Today the Lord emphasizes the purpose to be served in this temple. During the dedication of the first temple, King Solomon prayed to God : “…that Your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which You have said, 'My name shall be there,' that You may listen to the prayer that Your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.” (1Kings 8:29 -30)

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The expected purpose of the Temple of the Living God was to dedicate it as a House of Prayer for all the nations. God's heart goes out to the cry of His people. He loves to answer their petitions that are offered according to the commandments of God. This key verse is also used by the Lord  Jesus during His coming to the Temple  to cleanse it; Jesus said: “It is written, ‘My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers."(Luke 19:46 ESV)

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Combining both the verses, we get a clear picture- God's Temple has an express purpose to serve, that is -it is a house of prayer. The first and foremost purpose served in the Temple of God is that it was the place where God and man met and entered into a covenant relationship. This relationship becomes dead if there is no proper communication. Time of prayer is the time of intimate communion and communication, where the relationship between God and man is built up. Without this, any amount of rituals has absolutely no meaning at all. In Christianity, the God-man relationship stems out of a relationship of love. And love has to blossom with a proper channel of communication. God also says that He will make them joyful in the house of prayer. The joy of Christian life lies in the loving and lively relationship of His chosen ones with the Lord at all times.

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The Temple of God built up on the relationship between God and man in love, is kept with all the intimacy by the prayers offered and answered. A proper relationship requires a proper prayer life for which the Temple of God should be kept holy; it should not be defiled. 1 Corinthians 6: 19-20 says: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”  We, the children of God being the Temple of God in New Testament times, need to be kept holy to have a proper prayer life— all that distracts us from our prayer life have to be removed and the temple cleansed, to continue in relationship with the Lord through prayer and meditation of His Word. Besides, a personal prayer built up with our Lord should also lead to our temple being a house of prayer for all peoples, for all nations!

Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus, today I offer myself for a dedicated prayer

life and all that distracts it, I decide to remove them.

Please help me to keep a steady prayer life.

In Jesus name, Amen.