Plans for the Church
Jesus has plans for the Church. In fact, Jesus' main plan is for the church to walk in complete agreement with Him. To be so united that when the world sees us, they will know Him!
A lot of people have given up on going to church. Because people can be so hard to get along with...because I can be so hard to get along with... it is easy to become frustrated with church. If I approach church from a me-first perspective, it will eventually make no sense. At some point the music won't be that great, or my kids won't think it is much fun, or someone will offend me, or I won't be as important as I think I should be...church is ripe for disappointing you if you don't see it like God sees it.
When I evaluate church in my own wisdom, it makes little sense. If I know God, why can't I just talk with Him at home and do the things He reveals to me? Thankfully, God calls my wisdom foolishness, and He says what looks like His foolishness is wisdom! I can't turn my back on church, because it completely disagrees with God, who He is, what He wants, and what His plans are! I want to know how God feels about church so I can agree with Him!
Jesus said the church is supposed to be a "house of prayer." What does this mean? This means it is supposed to be all about connecting our hearts to God in unity to talk to Him...to agree with Him about His purposes on earth. To ask Him, in unity, to empower us. Teaching is important, and good music is wonderful, but according to God His house is supposed to be a House of Prayer.
The day Jesus said this was the same day He threw over the tables of the people who completely missed God's purpose in God's house. He cleared the temple of everyone who was out of agreement with God's agenda for His house. What happened next?! "The blind and the lame came to Him" and were healed!
God's agenda hasn't changed. If we will make His house about Him, and His agenda, we can expect the same results. I want to go to a place where the sick know they can come and get healed. There is so much talk of taking ministry to the streets, and that is Biblical, but that doesn't mean amazing ministry shouldn't happen at church. We don't have to choose one over the other.
Seeing God move in power like this will only consistently happen when we start agreeing with Him about His house. I agree with God when I go to meet with my family of believers with the intention of praying for them... When I go to church looking to fill others up rather than to get filled myself. When the music is the context for prayer, not the point of my presence. When I am hoping to run into some difficult people so I can see God move on their hearts, and stop hoping everyone will be just like me.
I desperately want to start seeing church from God's perspective. I want to agree with God in this crucial hour. If I will make prayer first, if I will trust that I am most prominent in the Kingdom when I am serving, not being served, agreed with, or noticed...then I am on the road to making God's house a House of Prayer. If everyone who showed up at church actually prayed for one other person before they left, it would be a radically different place.
This is God's agenda. It is sweeping through the church right now. All over the earth a prayer and worship movement is taking shape. It is not a time for quitting church, it is a time for showing up at church to do my part in what God is doing. The more united our family is, the easier it is to unite with the rest of God's family in our town in the place of prayer. When this happens, I guarantee you the blind will see and the lame will walk...and that will just be the beginning...
Matthew 21:12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” 14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”
A lot of people have given up on going to church. Because people can be so hard to get along with...because I can be so hard to get along with... it is easy to become frustrated with church. If I approach church from a me-first perspective, it will eventually make no sense. At some point the music won't be that great, or my kids won't think it is much fun, or someone will offend me, or I won't be as important as I think I should be...church is ripe for disappointing you if you don't see it like God sees it.
When I evaluate church in my own wisdom, it makes little sense. If I know God, why can't I just talk with Him at home and do the things He reveals to me? Thankfully, God calls my wisdom foolishness, and He says what looks like His foolishness is wisdom! I can't turn my back on church, because it completely disagrees with God, who He is, what He wants, and what His plans are! I want to know how God feels about church so I can agree with Him!
Jesus said the church is supposed to be a "house of prayer." What does this mean? This means it is supposed to be all about connecting our hearts to God in unity to talk to Him...to agree with Him about His purposes on earth. To ask Him, in unity, to empower us. Teaching is important, and good music is wonderful, but according to God His house is supposed to be a House of Prayer.
The day Jesus said this was the same day He threw over the tables of the people who completely missed God's purpose in God's house. He cleared the temple of everyone who was out of agreement with God's agenda for His house. What happened next?! "The blind and the lame came to Him" and were healed!
God's agenda hasn't changed. If we will make His house about Him, and His agenda, we can expect the same results. I want to go to a place where the sick know they can come and get healed. There is so much talk of taking ministry to the streets, and that is Biblical, but that doesn't mean amazing ministry shouldn't happen at church. We don't have to choose one over the other.
Seeing God move in power like this will only consistently happen when we start agreeing with Him about His house. I agree with God when I go to meet with my family of believers with the intention of praying for them... When I go to church looking to fill others up rather than to get filled myself. When the music is the context for prayer, not the point of my presence. When I am hoping to run into some difficult people so I can see God move on their hearts, and stop hoping everyone will be just like me.
I desperately want to start seeing church from God's perspective. I want to agree with God in this crucial hour. If I will make prayer first, if I will trust that I am most prominent in the Kingdom when I am serving, not being served, agreed with, or noticed...then I am on the road to making God's house a House of Prayer. If everyone who showed up at church actually prayed for one other person before they left, it would be a radically different place.
This is God's agenda. It is sweeping through the church right now. All over the earth a prayer and worship movement is taking shape. It is not a time for quitting church, it is a time for showing up at church to do my part in what God is doing. The more united our family is, the easier it is to unite with the rest of God's family in our town in the place of prayer. When this happens, I guarantee you the blind will see and the lame will walk...and that will just be the beginning...
Matthew 21:12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” 14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?”
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