American Reformation Church Prayer Journal 98
ARC Prayer Meeting:
This last Sunday the American Reformation Church put together a special service to bless a precious couple in our congregation. They were wanting to renew their vows in an official church wedding ceremony. The ladies of our church rolled up their sleeves and did wonders to prepare the way of the Lord to bless this family. Right after the ceremony, we held a glorious baptism service for the couple and one of their sons.
These spontaneous events happened to take place on Palm Sunday. And just as Palm Sunday was a time of great celebration as Jesus came in His triumphal entry into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecies of Zechariah, so rejoicing took place at ARC. Much prayer went into the wedding ceremony as much prayer was a part of preparing Jesus to fulfill, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9).
Prayer played a key role before Palm Sunday, during Palm Sunday, and after Palm Sunday. Right before Jesus directed two of his disciples to secure a donkey for His triumphant ride into Jerusalem, Luke informed us, “And it came to pass, when He drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mountain called Olivet” (Luke 19:29).
Mount Olivet is where the Garden of Gethsemane was located. We know this was a Tent of Meeting set aside for our Lord to come and pray to Heavenly Father often. It would be the place days later where his intense prayers would be mingled as it were with great drops of blood. Our Lord wrestled with His will submitting to the Father’s will. Besides that, before every major step leading to the hour of His passion, His practice was to consult with the Father in prayer. Sometimes, the prayer sessions lasted all night (Luke 6:12).
During Palm Sunday, Jesus is met with a hymn of praise that was also a prophetic prayer. As the throng placed palm branches and their clothes before Him, the people in unison declared, “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’ Hosanna in the highest (Matthew 21:9).
The word Hosanna means “Save us, please!” “We beg you to deliver us!” The people, who would later turn on Him within a week, were quoting Psalms 118:25, “Save now, I pray, O Lord; O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.” The divine irony was that their betrayal of Him would lead to His persecution, crucifixion, and resurrection that would be the answer to their prayers. Yet most were blinded to that redemptive reality. Jesus stated, “If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42).
Right after Jesus, meek and lowly, rides into Jerusalem, zeal for His House consumed Him. He methodically crafted a whip and drove out the money changers to cleanse the Temple. In His righteous indignation, Jesus proclaimed, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves (Luke 19:46).’”
Jesus is quoting from the book of Isaiah, “Even them I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7).”
God’s House, whose house we are, is to be a house of prayer and not for just one nation, but all nations. If the church is not praying, we are not obeying. The danger of this disobedience is that the thieves can return, and the nations will suffer great loss as a result.
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