to the temple

Duty of praying

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Peter and John seemed to have made it a habit to go to the temple to attend to the duty of prayer. It would seem that keeping this duty was important but they could also have been using this opportunity to preach/teach Jesus as there would be a large number of people gathered.

One day Peter and John went to the Temple at three o’clock in the afternoon, the hour for prayer. – Acts 3:1  GNT

There is a technical side to prayer that I think needs to be talked about. The hour of prayer was the ninth hour – like 3:00pm. Judaism had four fixed hours for prayer. Some mentioned that they prayed seven times a day. The first century Church practiced both. In the time of Clement, at Alexandria it was noted and the seven hours became the “canonical hours” of Western Christendom first appearing in the Rule of St. Benedict. I mention this because I think some of us need this kind of structure to make prayer happen. I believe it is our belief that we should be praying always, but without structure to aid us we end up forgetting to pray.

When Peter and John went to the temple, I do not think that healing was on their mind or on their “to do”list. In fact, Peter called it an “act of kindness.” God was the one that made this event happen and it became a wonderful opportunity to reach many people.

One has to wonder, when life is going so wrong, how would one not turn to God when obviously they need Him. Why would one continue in life and not care?

They have made it a wasteland;
    it lies desolate before me.
The whole land has become a desert,
    and no one cares. – Jeremiah 12:11  GNT

I would hope that I could see my own desert experience and from that get a spark of wisdom that would find me on my knees asking God to forgive me for walking away from Him – that  would care. I would seek His favour to heal me and to restore me. Others seem to just keep adding up sin upon sin. If one does not attend to those sins they will be consumed and subdued.

“Only against the background of the Old Testament, and the great mystery of how God could fulfill his covenant with us, can we see the freeness of forgiveness and its astounding cost. It means that no sin can now bring us into condemnation, because of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. It also means that sin is so serious and grievous to God that Jesus had to die. We must recognize both of these aspects of God’s grace or we will lapse into one or the other of two fatal errors. Either we will think forgiveness is easy for God to give, or we will doubt the reality and thoroughness of our pardon.” – Timothy Keller

Watch and pray for those in authority

watch and pray

Those in authority not only include those outside my world but it also includes me. I need to be specially on guard against common and offensive sin. Even though Leviticus describes something outside my practice, the analogy to watch and pray against the commission of wrong-doing is not lost on me.

The priests shall not profane the sacred offerings by letting any unauthorized people eat them; this would bring guilt and punishment on such people. I am the Lord and I make the offerings holy.” – Leviticus 22:15-16 GNT

I am under special temptation to commit sin in this area because of my very professional familiarity with the truth and service of God, I am likely to have irreverence, pronounce God’s word without feeling or act without divine inspiration.

My example is far more influential. When I am any of these things, either in time or immediately, those who I lead will know it. It will be communicated and will seriously lessen or at least lower the impression God could have had on their hearts and lives.

I therefore try to stay away from my human tendency to speak without thinking before God and others. It is foolish to speak too much and hear too little in God’s presence.

Be careful about going to the Temple. It is better to go there to learn than to offer sacrifices like foolish people who don’t know right from wrong. Think before you speak, and don’t make any rash promises to God. He is in heaven and you are on earth, so don’t say any more than you have to. The more you worry, the more likely you are to have bad dreams, and the more you talk, the more likely you are to say something foolish. – Ecclesiastes 5:1-3 GNT

“When we come before God, our minds are full of our own business rather than with the worship of God. When we talk too much, we usually talk like fools. This can be especially bad in the house of God.” – Wright

J. Edwin Orr used to advise brief, earnest prayers, especially in prayer meetings. He said that when one prays in a meeting, for his first three minutes everyone prays with him. Should he continue a second three minutes, everyone prays for him. Should he continue for a third three minutes, the others start to pray against him.

“For as it is not the loudness of a preacher’s voice, but the weight and holiness of his matter, and the spirit of the preacher, that moves a wise and intelligent hearer, so it is not the labour of the lips, but the travail of the heart that prevails with God.” – Trapp

“As personal and business cares produce dreams, which are unsubstantial things; so many words produce foolish and empty prayers.” – Wright

So I cry out to God to hear me.

O Lord, my defender, I call to you.
    Listen to my cry!
If you do not answer me,
    I will be among those who go down to the world of the dead.
Hear me when I cry to you for help,
    when I lift my hands toward your holy Temple. – Psalm 28:1-2 GNT

For those who only pray as a formality, they may be content to go in life without their prayers being answered, but I cannot. I need more than just the comfort and submitting of my will – I need God to respond and I cannot rest completely until I hear from Him. I dread when even a little bit of time goes by when God is silent.

So I am not put off when I am in the spirit of prayer until I hear from God. My voice is not what I speak audibly, it is my heart voice. Raising my hands is an act of seeking mercy. Raising of hands has always been a form of devout posture, a readiness, and eagerness to receive blessings. I stretch my hands, empty as they are, seeking for them to be filled with everything I need. My expectation of a response is on His mercy. May I have a humble heart as I approach the throne of God.

We petition that forgiveness comes to us, as we forgive our debtors”, namely
as we spare and pardon all who have in any way injured us, either treating us
unjustly in deed or insulting us in word. Not that it is ours to forgive the guilt of transgression or offense, for this belongs to God alone (Isa 43:25). This, rather, is our forgiveness: willingly to cast from the mind wrath, hatred, desire for revenge, and willingly to banish to oblivion the remembrance of injustice. For this reason, we ought not to seek forgiveness of sins from God unless we ourselves also forgive the offenses against us of all those who do or have done us ill. If we retain feelings of hatred in our hearts, if we plot revenge and ponder any occasion to cause harm, and even if we do not try to get back into our enemies’ good graces, by every sort of good office deserve well of them, and commend ourselves to them, by this prayer we entreat God not to forgive our sins. – Calvin