The Temple

My Desire Today Lord
My Lord my great desire is to be the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people." "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." Father make me Your daughter, having therefore these promises, let me cleanse myself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Corinthians 6:16b- 7:1

The Beauty of the Lord
Father I come into Your Holy Presence, to gaze upon Your beauty.

The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. Psalm 11:4

Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple. Psalm 65:4

I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. Psalm 138:2

Sabbath Study
Matthew 21:12-17
Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. "It is written," he said to them, "'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'" The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant. "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, "'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?" And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

We are the temple of God and we are called to be a house of prayer. We are not to rob God in our bodies. Bodies belonging to God should be kept holy and pure. When we approach God in prayer we should do so with an attitude of gratefulness, love, joy and honor. When we come to God troubled we should first cleanse ourselves of our sorrows by giving them all to God; removing all which hinders our praise, and our worship. Often we are taught to pray for others first, but learn from Christ who when He met the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane before His death He first prayed for Himself and than for the disciples and us; “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Don’t rob God of the delight and joy to hear and answer your prayer; cleanse yourself from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. In your distress call to the Lord; “I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.”

Remember whose you are and what you are, don’t you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 6:16) Keep your temple in a stance of prayer; cleansed of all unrighteousness, letting no unholy activities enter.

But I, by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple.

My Sabbath Prayer
Father God to Your great Name we give praise and glory, for You O Lord have made us Your temple. Keep us cleanse of all ungodliness and help us to remember not only do Your good Presence abide within us but we are a house of prayer dedicated to bringing glory to Your Holy Name. In Jesus Name

The Church the vessel is to Christ
The Church the vessel is to Christ,
Him to contain and Him express, Just as the human body doth
Man’s life show forth, his life possess.
As was the temple to the ark,
Receptacle and resting-place;
So Christ the Church’s content is,
And in the Church, Christ’s dwelling-place.
As Christ is God’s true mystery,
God to explain and God express;
So is the Church Christ’s mystery,
Christ to explain and manifest.
The members of the Church of Christ
Are all primarily of clay;
They need to be transformed and made
Transparent, precious day by day.
By transformation they are built,
A vessel they to Christ afford;
His all-inclusiveness they hold;
Transparent, they express the Lord.
Thru all the transformation work
The triune God performs in them,
The Church a corporate vessel is
And like the new Jerusalem.
How precious she in each respect,
Transparent too in every phase;
Christ with God’s fulness she contains,
Christ with God’s glory she displays.
With Christ as life, with God as light,
And with the Spirit’s living flow,
The triune God she manifests
For all the universe to know.
By Witness Lee

Pour into your Sisters in Christ
Share ways you spend your Sabbath time.
Share how what it means to you to be a house of prayer.
Share lessons, insights, gems from today’s sermon or worship experience at your place of worship or share gems learned from your personal devotional time with the Lord today.

Life Application
1. Take a few minutes to mediate on one of the scriptures or the scripture from your worship service today and reflect your thoughts in your journal or just in your heart. Ask yourself what God is saying to you? How is God telling you to apply this scripture to your life? What steps do you need to take to manifest this word in your life?

2. Give God thanks for this time of mediation. Praise Him for His blessings to you today. Thank and praise Him for each way He has made you well in body and spirit.-write them in your journal.

3. Sing a song to the Lord

4. Worship the Lord.

Rest in the Lord, Remember the Sabbath Keep it Holy!