Pastor Bell's Words To Live By

After leaving the wedding in Canaan, John takes us to the temple in Jerusalem where the people had subsumed to doing things that were outside the remit that God gave them through Moses. He presents a side to Jesus that many of us never see.  Particularly at Christmas when we think of gentle Jesus meek and mild, one who is innocent and would not harm a fly. John tells us that knowing that they had made the house of the Lord into a market place Jesus made a whip and drove them out (St. John 2:13). Matthew tells us that he overturned their tables and scattered their money on the ground (Matt 21:12ff). Like today people had made the house of God into a farce. Instead of praying and fasting they were having fetes, bingo games and even feasts. For us today it is time to return to our original mandate. The house of the Lord should be a HOUSE OF PRAYER.  David recommends that we enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise (Psa 100:4). So the question for us is this: what have we made the house of the Lord? Is church a place we go to when we feel down or a place we go to hear a personal prophecy or to get a word? Or is church a place where God lives by his Spirit? If it is a place where God lives then like David we should go there to give thanks not to get our egos pampered or our lust for a quick fix satisfied.

Those who congregates in any place and call on the name of the Lord will be saved (Rom 10:13). For when we call on his name he will come in power and bring healing, deliverance and restoration to all. As we approach Christmas let us remember that Jesus is no longer a baby or is in the grave but he is making intercession for us so that we can recognise his power and his might.

Read St John 2:13-25 and Matthew 21:12-17 as you asks yourself, should I be doing spring cleaning in December?