Mark 11:15-17. Here Jesus is telling, My house shall be called a house of prayer. Which is the house of Jesus?
1. Church.
2. We are His house or temple of God.

If so what a great blessing for us to be the house of God, or the temple of God, for God to dwell and move in us! But here in Jerusalem temple, they made it as a den of thieves. The thief or devil comes to steal, to kill and to destroy. He will kill and destroy our soul.

What did Jesus do in the temple at Jerusalem?

1. He began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple. Do we sell and buy in our churches today? Let us search ourselves. According to the word of God, there is no place for business to earn money in the churches. Let us drive this business from our churches.
2. He overturned the tables of the money changers. Yes, we should overturn such money changing deeds from the churches.
3. He overturned the seats of those who sold doves. Dove was sold only to offer as sacrifice. But the temple of God is the house of our Holy God. They can buy the dove from outside and bring it with them. If we are doing such business or transactions in the church, remember that God will overturn our seats.
4. He didn’t allow anyone to carry wares( goods) through the temple. This reminds us, how much our churches and our body which is the temple or the house of God should be holy.
5. Also Jesus told, My house shall be called a house of prayer. He wants inspite of our daily duties, our soul should be walking and talking with Jesus. Being a family man, if Enoch could walk with God , definitely we too can walk with Him with the help of our Holy Spirit. Let us always remember that we are the house of prayer and try to walk with God. Definitely God will bless our life from the den of thiefs into house of prayer. May our Lord will use us to pray for the nations. Amen, Hallelujah.

Dr. Padmini Selvyn.

Mark.11.
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Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem.
He carefully and deliberately sent His disciples to make arrangements for His arrival into the city.
He came as a suffering servant so He chose to come on a colt.
Jesus was the Creator came into the scene as a man and as such all the lower creatures are subject to Him.
It is important that we praise God as He wants to be praised.
He came as a Messiah to Jerusalem not as a mighty general to conquer the people.
The old Testament is filled with miracles of destruction and judgment, but Jesus showed perfectly as the nature of God.
Jesus was extremely courageous by boldly entering Jerusalem and driving out the corrupt merchants from the temple courts.
The people were not sincere seekers of truth.
They cared more about pleasing the crowds than in knowing truth.
We have a perfect God ,who is able to lead us through an imperfect life with unfailing
strength, impeccable wisdom and infinite love.
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Maby Sundar India group no.7070

We are a house of Prayer Mark:11

❇️ My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations. But you have made it a den of robbers (v17)

❇️ Jesus Christ was indignant about the misuse of the Temple of God in Jerusalem.

❇️ Our Lord couldn’t stand the sight of his Temple being defiled by the commercial activity for profit making which was not the purpose of Church rather it was meant to suffer loss. What was happening there was that instead of Temple of God making inroads into the world the world was making inroads into the Temple of God. What a reversal of purpose!

❇️ Our Lord called the Temple of God as his house of prayer where prayers of people from all nations were to be offered but it was made into a den of robbers to rob people.

❇️ For the same reason God called us as the Temple of God where we are expected to offer prayers for people of all nations.Hence we are in effect a house of prayer.When we fail to be a house of prayer the world takes centre stage in our life. Prayer to our soul is what breathing is to our body.

❇️ In the Old testament time an important duty of the High priest in the temple was to take fragrant incense blend made out of gum resin, onycha, galbanum and pure frankincense which was salted, pure and sacred(Exo.30:34&35), in a censer full of coals from the altar, go behind the curtain and burn it before the Lord (Exo.16:12).

❇️ This old testament practice of burning sacred incense before the Lord and Jesus Christ calling the Temple of God as the house of prayer and us also as Temple of God reveal a great truth about our spiritual life.

❇️ Burning of sacred incense figuratively denote our offering of prayers and our offering of fruits of our lips and living a life of love denote the sacrifices offered in the Temple.This is arrived at from the following verses.

▪️ May my prayer be set before you like incense – Ps.141:2
▪️ We may offer the fruit of our lips (praises) – Hos.14:2
▪️ Live a life of love ….. as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God – Eph.5:2

❇️ From the above truths we understand that we are in essence a house of prayer where prayers and praises are to be offered and a life of love to be lived which are as sacred and holy as burning fragrant incense and offering sacrifices in the Temple of God.

❇️ Further the sacred incense was salted to preserve and keep it pure. Here the salt denotes the word of God.Thus our prayers and praises are to be salted with the word of God and our life to be lived as per the word of God which will then remain pure and acceptable to God.

✅ Insights learnt:
▪️We can be either a house of prayer or a den of robbers
▪️Our prayers are equal to burning incense before God
▪️Praises of our lips and a life of love are like sacrifices offered to God

Dr. E. Christadoss
Vellore 🙏🏽

Mark 11:25
“And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Forgiveness begins when we put ourselves in other people’s shoes and see the world from their perspective. It begins when we sympathize, empathize and analyze.
The best model of empathy is our Saviour and Christ Jesus himself because the son of God chose to become one of us.
If we are ever going to overcome a grudge against others and offer a genuine prayer on his or her behalf, it is going to be because we practised empathy and learned to forgive.
Licy John, Hyderabad – 7067