“They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. He didn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. And then he taught them, quoting this text: My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations; You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.”
Mark 11:15-17 MSG
Words like the “temple”, the “body” of Christ and the church “body”, we are the “body” are all interchangeable with the story of Jesus driving out the “thieves” in the temple. Let me explain.
The accounts of Jesus driving out the money changers and marketers from the temple in the four gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were necessary to put the focus where it belonged. That focus belongs on the owner of the temple, God.
Apparently, these people and the appointed leaders over the temple had forgotten why the temple was built in the first place. Which was a dwelling place for God’s presence and prayer not a marketing opportunity for worldly profit.
As we walk through and study scripture, we soon learn that we are actually the temple of the living God because Christ’s spirit dwells in our hearts when we receive Him. Together we become the “body of Christ”. Driving out anything that compromises the focus of who we belong to is challenging but necessary to keep our focus on God’s plan and purpose for our lives, as well as the sweet fellowship available to us with Him 24/7.
The “thief” which is the devil comes to rob, kill and destroy us. He does not want us to succeed in God’s plan and purpose for our lives. Remember in week 1 when we talked about distractions? Those distractions can turn into real problems that stand between you and the doorway to God’s “temple”, His glory, His wisdom, His power, His presence and His purpose for your life. We must be proactive in order to drive out the thief of our purpose.
What “thieves” market themselves in the doorway of your “temple”? Who or what needs to be driven out so that you can get to doing and being all that God has purposed you to be?
“Or didn’t you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don’t you see that you can’t live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? The physical part of you is not some piece of property belonging to the spiritual part of you. God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body.”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 MSG
Lord, I pray that as we address the thieves and anything marketing itself above You in our lives that we identify it, drive it out and run to You.
And now I pray this over yourself:
As long as I have breath, I have purpose. Lord, help me learn what that is and help me drive out anything from the doorstep to the inside of my temple that keeps me from You and Your presence. Amen
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From the Depths of Kell 