May 23rdA House of Prayer

When my husband and I came back from Marion to live in our own house again, I was pretty sure that rather than slip back into the comfort of my old church, I was now supposed to get to know some of the people and churches closer to home.  During our previous years in this house it had occurred to me more than once that if I was ever talking to one of my neighbors about Christ, I had absolutely no idea if there were any churches nearby that I could recommend to them if they didn’t want to travel 15 miles to go to church with me.  Suffice it to say that I now know there are at least 2 Gospel preaching churches in my own little one-stop-light town.

But on a similar note to my post in 2009 about looking for a church in Marion, I think I’ve found the place where God is going to park me for a while, and for a lot of the same reasons that I was attracted to my church in Marion.  The overwhelming impression after barely a couple of months there is that this is a house of prayer.  That’s because every time I turn around these people are praying for each other.  Both my first pastor and my pastor in Marion would also gather the church around individuals to pray for specific ministries or needs.  In fact, the church in Marion sent me out with just such a prayer when it was time for us to leave there.  It’s truly a blessing to be on the receiving end of the prayers of your entire church body.

During my 2nd visit to the church here, the pastor gathered everyone around a young Middle-Eastern family who were enduring some persecution for sharing the truth about Islam.  Later it was a man being deployed to Afghanistan and his wife.  Today, a man who is launching a new ministry and his family.  And all I can think of every time I’m witness to these things is what Jesus said when he cleared the thieves out of the temple:

“It is written, my house shall be called the house of prayer.”

The passage Jesus is quoting from in Isaiah actually calls God’s temple “a house of prayer for all people.”  No matter who I am or where I come from, because I love the name of the Lord and have taken hold of his covenant, I can come into this house of prayer and know that my burnt offerings and my sacrifices – whatever I bring to the altar – are accepted.

Lot’s more that could be said here, but it’s late, and there’s a long day coming as soon as I wake up.