And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, and said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer but ye have made it a den of thieves.[Matthew 21:12-13]

"...My house...the house of prayer..."

The temple of God is characterised by one thing alone, and that is prayer. Several things or activities may be carried out in the temple of The Lord, but one activity is very prominent and preeminent, that is prayer. Prayer is the practice that must be done much more than every other activities in the holy temple of God, no wonder the Apostles realised this and said,"we will give ourselves to prayer and to ...the word, rather than serve tables (rather than buying and selling)".

Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples..., and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore..., look ye out... seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost... over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:2-4)

When prayers begin to fade from believers lives which are supposed to be temples of God, something else will automatically take its place. Since believers are actually the holy temples of God, there is already a space created by God Himself in this temple, where prayer ought to occupy. When this space is left unoccupied by its intended occupant - i.e. prayer, there will always be a replacement in its place with some other less important alternatives and activities.

Many have exalted several other things - money, planning, suggestions, church work...above prayers today, and we are seeing the negative effects of such. There has been so little praying in many lives. Even the prayers that are being offered, if at all, are full of buying and selling, wandering thoughts and interruptions, and God is saying, the priority of the temple has been made to take the back seat, other things have now been prioritized. God is therefore crying,“I Am not hearing from you, my child again, why have you taken a holiday from my presence?".

The title of house or temple of God is "The House of Prayer". There are several denominations bearing different names, but only two (2) names are known by God. A denomination is either THE HOUSE OF PRAYER, or A DEN OF THIEVES. Whatever the name of any denomination, if it does not corroborate the title, "House of Prayer", then such a denomination is better referred to as the “Den of Thieves”.

If there is any preoccupation in the house of God, it should be nothing else but prayers. The business is prayers, the lifestyle is prayers, whatever voice heard therein, is the voice of prayer, the singing is the song of prayers. Prayer makes the house hot and keeps it hot. Sin, self or satan cannot come in. Prayer melts my heart, it keeps me in constant tune with Jesus and heaven, prayer sets me apart, prayer kills all appetites for the world, and increases my passion for God.

"...house of prayer..."

Jesus is dissatisfied, He beholds with wonder and anger when those who bear His name have substituted prayers for church business. If a man is to be employed "full time" in the church, it is not to come and sell doves, change money or buy and sell - that is for the ordinary people. Rather he should be engaged in the core work of The Lord, which is PRAYER AND THE WORD.

Those endowed with the grace, presence and power of God must of necessity devote their time and life to PRAYER and THE WORD, and leave all the church business - the counting of money, transportation, organisation, sanitation, buildings... in the hands of other lesser people. Of course, all these are very good to be involved in because it is solely for God, but as the Apostles said, we can look out among the church for some seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, that will be appointed over the business, but for the men of anointing, they should give themselves unto PRAYER and THE WORD. This is the correct fulltime work.

Wherefore, look ye out...seven men... whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. (Acts 6:3-4)

The priority is not money, it is prayer, the foremost is not building, it is not image, neither is it name, church growth, methods nor committees. The most important is not the singing, or the instruments. Great men must learn to first bend their knees in prayers, and trust God to handle the rest pressing issues. I am searching for men who are on “full time”, whose business and job function is to pray and agonize. He is not paid, but the Lord pays him, he is not known, but hell knows him...Selah.

The core work of believers is prayer (and the word), it is not to be delegated to prayer warriors, no, the leaders are the true prayer warriors. If the prayer warrior team is to pray, then the leaders are to agonize more. Prayer is not to be substituted, prayer is not a side issue, it is the main work and the main work is the duty of the leaders. There must be less meetings and more prayers, we must begin to trust God to handle the rest things while we have devoted ourselves to prayers. If we are to call for any meetings, they should be primarily to pray, and not just for discussions that are only sprinkled with prayers. If we are to correct anomalies and the erring members, it is not by autocratic and shouting approach in the imposition of the flesh, no, the Leader must first have cried to the Lord before he comes out with tears to set things right. My house shall be called the house of prayer...


“And Jesus...cast out all them... overthrew the tables...and the seats...”

Jesus is not sympathetic with whatever it is that is being exalted in His temple, once it is not prayer. He will simply cast them out. Jesus Christ is not interested in whether it is good or not, His question is “is it prayer?” Once it is not prayer, be sure He will cast it out, and overthrow all the tables and the seats. He will even go ahead to destroy it by Himself, and deal with the perpetrators. If it is not prayer, then it is nothing. Jesus is not asking any church to raise money - He does not need anybodys money to get His work on earth done, He is not asking the church to win souls with their energy, organizing, impressions and shouting, all these are the things that He (Jesus) will do effortlessly as He wills once we have played our part of praying. He is the one to draw men unto Himself as He promised, but He says “men ought always to pray, and not to faint”.

"...a den of thieves..."

Something really baffles me here! These dove sellers and moneychangers, were they hiding thieves in the church? Were they selling expired items? Were they trying to usurp synagogue members to get money out of them? Were they selling stolen animals there? The answer to these questions is “No”. I thought those things sold were purely for spiritual sacrifices as expressly commanded by The Lord Himself?

Anything done inside of this temple of God that does not emanate out of a prayerful spirit is considered by the Lord as an act of theft. Jesus did not look at the activities that were being done, rather He simply saw the activities that were NOT being done, He saw the activities that were being neglected, He saw the duties that were being replaced and were being substituted.

Whatever activity that prayer (and the word) is being substituted for, no matter how thriving such activity may be, and no matter how spiritual it may seem, God is not bribed, once the purpose for which His holy temple was erected has been relegated, such activity is like a thief stealing away the real purpose of the temple.

Never think that your spiritual activities, the running up and down, the tireless labours...are accepted by The Lord and never see yourself as doing any divine service or serving God wholeheartedly, when the nitty-gritty of divine work (prayer) has been displaced and substituted with broken cisterns that can hold no water. Never feel you are building the church of God when all labours night and day is done in the energy of the flesh, and prayer has been locked out.

"...den of thieves..."

To cease to pray, is simply to turn the temple into a den. To relegate prayer is to change the signpost of the temple and replace it with "den", and when the temple becomes a den, then thieves are warmly welcome. When the prayer house becomes a den, then all the good things will easily be carted away without restraint and restriction. The enemy, who is the thief that comes to steal, to kill and to destroy simply has a free day to perpetrate his evil. When the thief comes, then grace is wheeled away, godliness is stolen, righteousness is perforated, power is lost, holiness is polluted, the Word is taken away and replaced with the World, passion for God is replaced with passion for goods, and thieves make the den (former temple) their habitat. What a terrible situation ensues.

When sicknesses, diseases, evil tidings, iniquities... become available in the church, it is an indication that the temple has become a den, the potency of prayer has simply waned and drained.

When spiritual valuables have become scarce commodities in the church (and in individual lives), prayer goes on still, but it becomes a performance, a routine exercise, an activity we come to do, or a mere duty, meetings go on routinely without the gracious visitation of the blessed Potentate in the assembly and, we begin to have excuses for our dryness, then, the house of prayer has become a den of thieves.

When we just "do" church, and the presence of God is so little at best, or is completely absent or when the word of God has become so cold and formalised, and all these do not raise a burden in us to cry bitterly unto God when the hearts of men are no longer burning, when number (numeric growth) becomes the yardstick of judging success in ministry when increase in funds, increase in attendance, loud beautiful singing without a sweet communion with, and touch of Jesus, all become our pursuit surely, the divine presence has withdrawn, and left us with the form,the presence of God has simply departed, the fire has gone down and the church (the life, the should-be temple) has become a den of thieves.

And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he healed them. (verse 14)

I think we need to cry unto The Lord to restore the very purpose why the temple was established originally. Jesus went further and did the exact works, the reason for the temple existence - He opened the eyes of the blind, and He restored strength into the legs of the lame.

The coming of Jesus into His temple today is to restore sanity, it is to restore sight to those who are blind. Many things are done in blindness, while we think we are at the forefront of doing God service. Many are the activities done in the physical and God is completely neglected, we have become so blind, our impotence has blocked our sight, we cannot see spiritually anymore. The work of God is being done as if it were some business or commercial setup, the word is preached now in the prowess of oratory, to showcase talent, to showcase brilliance and knowledge of Greek, science and church history. Preaching has become a display of skills in the quest to motivate, and no longer in the power of the Spirit to convict. Spiritual programs are organised in order to grow the church (the local assembly) and no more to grow the kingdom.

“...the temple...”

The temple of God is not primarily a physical building or a location where several people gather together for to worship, the temple is first and foremost, the individual lives of individual members called the church of God.

My life is the temple of God that must be characterised by prayers. If my life is not first a prayerful one, there is no way any larger congregation of people can be the temple of prayer, because the congregation will be made up of several cold individual members. While other pressing issues of this world and the pursuits of a better life have crowded my thoughts and overtaken my heart, the space for prayers will immediately be substituted by these legitimate robbers, the hotness of prayers will wane and be outrightly neglected I will simply become a den of thieves and spiritual valuables that make up a glorious life will doubtlessly be carted away.

What is the designation and the title for this little life of mine?The house of prayer OR A den of thieves?

Selah!!!!!!!!