brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” I Ki. 6:7
The problem with some of the church today is that non-believers are invited to be members, and worse than that, even ministers. Just as the stone for the temple was chiseled and shaped before it was brought to be a part of the temple, so must people have a genuine conversion and made a brand new creature before they can ever be a part that fits in the church.
“And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Mt. 16:16-19
First came the revelation of Christ to Peter, then came the establishing of the church. The church would have an unbelievable demonstration of unity and power, that would give the utmost glory to God, if all those who call themselves a Christians would really have a revelation of Christ and not just be a card carrying member.
“Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17)
In my estimation, there is not a greater discipline in all of Christianity than to live a life of prayer. Prayer is not one of the favorite subjects of the church. Prayer is one of the most neglected practices amongst believers. On top of that, there are many Christians who do pray, but they don’t pray effectively.
After I was born, again I read my Bible with enthusiasm. Even though I didn’t care too much for reading, I loved my Bible. However, there was something I knew was lacking in my young spiritual life. It was that I didn’t have much of a prayer life. I tried making a commitment to pray one hour like the disciples were asked to do, but that lasted about a day or two. Well, it happened after I was saved a couple of years that I determined to get serious about a prayer life. I am not big on New Year resolutions, but the New Year was upon me so I decided to do a New Year resolution. The resolution was to start off every work day with at least five minutes of prayer. You are probably thinking wow, what an incredible goal. Now I know five minutes is not much time, but it was certainly more than I was doing. Besides that, the commitment was for at least five minutes; I could always go longer. Five minutes seemed very practical because I could miss my alarm, get up late, and still squeeze in my prayer time before heading off to work. I can tell you that I kept that commitment and only failed to miss my prayer time a few times that year. Most of the mornings when I would pray I would go down in my basement rec room. As I kept at it, my prayer time was starting to increase. I was starting to go fifteen and twenty minutes, even longer. I was learning fellowship with God. I was finding a delight in getting to know my God.
My prayer life has grown a great deal since those early days. If there is any great lesson I can tell you about having a disciplined prayer life it is this, discipline will turn into delight. Yes, your prayer life can get to, if it hasn’t already, the place where you look forward to getting into your prayer closet and seek the Lord. It may not always be like that, but the more you know the Lord, the more you will take delight in spending time with Him.
If there is anything I would say prayer is, it is getting to know your God. So many believers think prayer is a list of requests that you bring to the Lord. I would never say that you shouldn’t do that, but quite often people bombard God with all their troubles, needs and desires and they don’t realize they have not taken time out to have intimate communion with the Lord. I have told my church that if they start off their prayer with praising God and seeking His face, then when they lift up their needs, the Lord is more pleased to answer them. It is like a child who wants to hit his dad up for five bucks, and he approaches his dad with a loving attitude before he asks for the money. I fell for that one quite few times. Jesus even gave us a pattern for that in what we call the Lord’s Prayer. It starts with, “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name” (Matthew 6:9). Jesus’ first two words teaches us that we are going before our Father. Praise God, He is not some distant crabby God who is always perturbed with everyone, but instead He desires to be a Father to us. Then Jesus’ next several words exalt the Father to the place that He deserves, He is to be hallowed. One of the meanings of hallowed is to venerate. Venerate means to regard with reverential respect and to honor. Basically you should start off your prayer time giving glory to God. We have prayer on Tuesday nights at our church and once in a while I say out loud to those who are there, “Let’s lift our hands and our voices unto God in praise and worship. Let’s not go barging into His presence, but let’s go before him with respect.” It is after we have done that, that we can ask for His will to be done and for our daily needs to be met.
It is such a shame that the Lord’s Prayer is not understood. So many have made it a prayer that people chant as a part of their church meeting. So many just mouth it without even giving any thought to what they are saying. Have you ever realized the damning effect the Lord’s Prayer can have on people? The prayer goes on to say, “and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Do you realize what is being prayed here? People are actually asking God to forgive them the same way they forgive. Anyone who prays that prayer with un-forgiveness in their heart is asking God to not forgive them. For in the same way they forgive, they are asking God to forgive. If they won’t forgive then they are asking God not to forgive. If they don’t. He won’t. Doesn’t that make you shudder? It does me.
Prayer is serious business. Prayer is one of the most important things a believer can do. Probably most Christians view prayer as something they must do instead of seeing prayer as a privilege. Through prayer, you have the privilege of a one on one relationship with the One who created the heavens and the earth. And even more than that, if your relationship is right with Him, He will hear your prayers and answer them. Of course, they have to be according to God’s will, and if they are, God will.
Jesus was the greatest example when it came to prayer. His ministry to the lost sheep of Israel and His prayer time with the Father were in perfect balance. Sometimes He would rise a great while before sun up. Another time he spent a whole night in prayer. Other times He would sneak off into the mountains to get away from the people so He could be alone with His Father. He knew He could not be effective around the people unless He got away from people to get into the presence of His Father. I think it is very important for believers to have a set time to pray, but Jesus had more than that, He lived a life of prayer. This is a practice I am learning more and more. This is a practice the church needs to learn.
Most of all, the church must understand that she must pray. She needs to pray and believe in the power of prayer. The “house of prayer” has a thousand things going on inside her walls, but very little of what is the most needed, PRAYER!
“I speak not this to condemn you: for I have said before, that ye are in our hearts to die and live with you.” II Cor. 7:3
Paul had a love for the church that our generation does not seem to comprehend. Yet, we could have that love too if we would love Christ as we should. The more we would love Christ the more we would see that the church is Christ’s body. Tell me if you can, have you ever loved anyone just for their head?
“But those that encamp before the tabernacle toward the east, even before the tabernacle of the congregation eastward, shall be Moses, and Aaron and his sons, keeping the charge of the sanctuary for the charge of the children of Israel; and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.” Num. 3:38
It was of the utmost importance to keep the tabernacle, the sanctuary undefiled from the stranger. For the stranger who would even come close to it meant the death sentence. This testifies that there should be an element of the fear of the Lord amongst us when we gather together. I wonder how many of those, who are strangers to the Lord, have found that element of fear missing and instead they find the church to be a comfortable place.
“And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.†Acts 17:10-11
Too often the saints settle for the idea that every church is going to have things that are wrong and have people who refuse to be faithful to the word of God. I guess that brings some kind of comfort to the people to think that they are not expected to, as a church, walk in a manner that fully pleases God and really demonstrate a true New Testament church. However, if a town called Berea can have people, who were not yet born again believers, be committed to search the scriptures, why would we think that we cannot be a part of a church that has most, if not all the members committed with a readiness of mind and search out the scriptures daily to live by them?
“I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. 29Yet a man is risen to pursue thee, and to seek thy soul: but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God; and the souls of thine enemies, them shall he sling out, as out of the middle of a sling.” I Sam 25:28-29
If you take some things and put them together, you have what is called a bundle. You take people full of the life of God and you put them together, you have what is called the church “the bundle of life”
“These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.” Jn. 9:22
The word of God exhorts us to put out of the church those who live in sin and remain unrepentant. However, I am convinced more Christians are chased out of church because their life has a true confession of Christ.
“Bring forth him that hath cursed without the camp; and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head, and let all the congregation stone him.” Lev. 24:14
If I was living under the law, I wouldn’t want to hear someone curse God because I would have to be in agreement with their stoning. I wouldn’t want to lay my hands on their head or be one that would have to throw the stones. I’m sure none of you would want to be in that place either. Thank God we are not under the law. However, we have a responsibility and obligation toward one another in the church that if any of us sins, those that know of it must not shrug it off or have no care for their soul. I am not suggesting we become spiritual law enforcers and go around the church watching for anyone to sin. I am not suggesting that we deal harshly with any of our brethren that may sin. I am insisting that we lift them up before the Lord, and if need be, confront them about their sin. If you must approach someone about their sin, do it with the same grace that Jesus approached you with when He saved you.
“And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. 50And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us.” Lk. 9:49-50
Many in the church today seem to have more of a problem with those who are doing the will of God, but belong to another church than they have with those in their church who don’t do the will of God.
