(Matt. 21:12-14) ”And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He said to them, It is written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER’; but you are making it a ROBBERS’ DEN. And the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed.”
I remember getting up one Sunday and thinking to myself, I am just not up to it! My sons were in the house and complaining about something and talking loudly. My wife was busy preparing breakfast and trying to get us ready for attending church services. For myself, I just didn’t FEEL like smiling, talking, and spending a morning with people at church. I didn’t know what I truly wanted but I knew that I wanted to “rest” and simply avoid people and responsibility. Didn’t I deserve a break? Would I be a hypocrite if I went into the “pulpit of God” and had nothing to share? Was it fair to the people who came to church expecting to meet God and hear from God’s Word only to hear me share as an empty vessel?
Apparently, God thinks prayer is important for each of us. Publicly or privately, Christians need to constantly be talking and walking with the Lord (I Thess. 5:17). He desires us to have a “House of Prayer” in our lives and use it. As Christians, we all have the direct and priestly access to God as we pray. On the morning of which I speak, I needed not to fear life’s pressures but to embrace my Father’s strength through prayer. In my weakness, he is made strong! I needed a reminder that Christ had seen similar days of despondency but had responded with prayer that provided him renewed focus. It is my hope that we will all be honest with ourselves and learn to be more dependent on the strength of Christ and less dependent on my personal FEELINGS for our commitments and
service. (By the way, I did go to church and found that God was welcoming of me to be there with my Christian family!)
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马太21:12 “耶稣进了神的殿，赶出殿里一切做买卖的人，推倒兑换银钱之人的桌子，和卖鸽子之人的凳子， 13对他们说：「 经上 记着说： 我的殿必称为祷告的殿， 你们倒使它成为贼窝了。」 14在殿里有瞎子、瘸子到耶稣跟前，他就治好了他们。”
记得一礼拜天起床后，我没兴趣做任何事！我的儿子们都在家里，他们在高声谈论；我的妻子忙着做早餐，准备我们去参加教会崇拜。至于我自己，我不想整个早晨在教会面对众人，微笑、倾谈。我不确定我想要什么，但我知道我想“休息”，简单地避开责任。我不应该也有机会休息吗？如果我去到“上帝的讲坛”，却没有信息分享，我是否成为伪君子呢？对那些来到教会, 期望听到上帝话语的会众，只听到一空器皿的分享是公平的吗？
显然，上帝认为祷告对我们每一个人都很重要。公开和私底下，基督徒需要时时祷告（帖前5:17），与神同行。祂希望我们生命里有一「祷告的殿」，我们天天都要用它。基督徒祷告时，有祭司的权柄可以直接与神沟通。在上提的早晨，我需要不怕生活的压力，而紧紧抓住经由祷告来的天父力量。我需要记得基督也同样见到意气消沉的日子，但是祂藉著祷告找到祂新的焦点。我希望我们在委身及事奉上对自己诚实，学习多依靠基督的能力，少靠我们自己的感觉及能力。（再说那个礼拜天，我去了教会，并且找到上帝在我们基督徒大家庭里欢迎我。）