“My HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED

       A HOUSE OF PRAYER For All NATIONS.” (Matthew 21:13)

God’s house is a house of prayer for All Nations. It is important to note: “A House of Prayer for All Nations”. There is no nationality excluded from God’s House. This is a point we all need to remember.

God’s Temple is a holy place because God is holy. We all need an encounter with the holiness of God. Our minds and our bodies get so caught up in the things this world that we lose sight of God and his Holiness. There is no one able to cope with the holiness of God.

Moses’ first encounter with a holy God was when he was eighty years old. God appeared to Moses in a Burning Bush. God called out to Moses and said to him, “Moses, Moses, take off your sandals for the ground you are standing on is a holy ground.”

Moses seemed surprised!  Moses was surprised that God should appear to him in a burning bush. The bush was burning but the fire did not go out. It caught Moses’ attention. Moses’ took off his sandals. Other faiths do take off their shoes when they enter a place of worship in this country. I do really respect that.

Moses’ second encounter was after he had rescued the people of Israel from Egypt. Moses said to God on the Mountain, “Can I see you?” God said to Moses, “You would die if you saw my holiness?” God agreed to pass by Moses but told him to hide. Moses had to hide behind some stones as God passed by.  Moses could not look at God. He just saw his back.

We should come before a holy God with reverence in our hearts.   A religious house should be a house of prayer before anything else. St Paul took the whole issue a lot further when he said your bodies are a temple of the holy spirit. God lives in you. Our bodies are a temple of God. The message presented to people today is that “It is your body do as you like with it”. This doesn’t work in the long run. Our bodies belong to God.

Jesus entered a temple. He saw that the people were buying and selling goods in the temple. Jesus was angry at what he saw goods being sold and money being exchanged. He made a whip and threw over the tables of the money exchangers and drove them out.

Jesus said to them, “My house is a house of prayer for all nations but you turned it to a den of thieves.”

Jesus was very angry at the abuse of the holy house of God. We can imagine how Jesus felt. It was a holy anger.

I have read some of the passages in the bible, in the Old Testament that there was nothing that angered God more than the misuse of his place of worship. It is the same today God should be no: 1 in the place of worship. God’s agenda and not our own agenda.

How do we approach God? Do we approach him with holy reverence and respect? Our bodies are the temple of God! St Paul emphases use your bodies for God. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God. The big question today is how do we use our bodies? For God to serve him or for self? Our bodies are a temple of God.

Prayer

Dear God

Thank you

My body is a temple

Of God.

Help me to use it to please you. Amen

            By harbajan (servant of Jesus) 18/08/2026