1 Kings 8:41-43 House of Prayer!

 ““Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, but has come from a far country for Your name’s sake (for they will hear of Your great name and Your strong hand and Your outstretched arm), when he comes and prays toward this temple, hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this temple which I have built is called by Your name.” ‭‭I Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭41‬-‭43‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Moreover, concerning a foreigner: The temple was in Israel, but it was always intended to be a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7). God wanted the court of the Gentiles to be a place where the nations could come and pray.

i. The violation of this principle made Jesus angry. When He came to the temple and found the outer courts – the only place where the Gentile nations could come and pray – more like a swap meet than a house of prayer, He drove out the money changers and the merchants (Matthew 21:13).

b. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You: Solomon asked God to hear the prayer of the foreigner out of a missionaryimpulse. He knew that when God mercifully answered the prayers of foreigners, it drew those from other nations to the God of all nations. (Guzik)

House of Prayer!

Some churches seem to forget this concept of being a house of prayer! Our home church has a prayer meeting before the church service and afterwards reminds the congregation that prayer partners are up front if you need prayer. Our previous church had a private prayer room you could go to for prayer.

Is your church a house of prayer?

Blessings 

1 Kings 8:35-40 Plague of His Own Heart!

 ““When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants, Your people Israel, that You may teach them the good way in which they should walk; and send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people as an inheritance. “When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows the plague of his own heart, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and act, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men), that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.” ‭‭

I Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭35‬-‭40‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain: Drought was a constant threat for the agriculturally-based economy of Israel. If there was no rain, there was no food.

b. When they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven: Solomon doesn’t take it for granted that God would forgive and hear His repentant people. God’s good response to our repentance comes from His grace, not from justice.

c. When each one knows the plague of his own heart: Solomon recognized that some plagues are easily seen, but other plagues come from our own heart. Many are cursed by a plague that no one else can see, but lives in their own heart. Solomon asks God to answer such a plague-stricken man when he humbly pleads at the temple.

i. A man did not have to be sinless or righteous to have his prayer answered at the temple. He could be a guilty man, stricken by the plague of his own heart, and still find a gracious God when He came in humble repentance. (Guzik)

ii. “A great many men think they know the plague of other people’s hearts, and there is a great deal of talk in the world about this family, and that person, and the other. I pray you let the scandals of the hour alone, and think of your own evils.” (Spurgeon)

Plague of His Own Heart!

We need to take Spurgeon’s comment to heart and leave our comments to ourselves and not of other people’s hearts for it is written:

“Do not speak evil of one another, brethren. He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.”

‭‭James‬ ‭4‬:‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men.” Titus‬ ‭3‬:‭2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Have you contributed to the talk in the world and become a judge?

Blessings 

1 Kings 8:33-34 Humble Repentance!

 ““When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.” ‭‭I Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy: Many times in their history, Israel suffered defeat and could only cry out to God. It was even worse when the defeat was because they had sinned against the LORD Himself.

b. When they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in the temple, then hear in heaven: Solomon asked God to hear the prayers of a defeated, yet humble and penitent Israel. God answered this prayer of Solomon, and He forgives and restores His defeated people when they come in humble repentance. (Guzik)

Humble Repentance!

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” ‭‭I John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The truth of the matter is we sin daily for it is written:

“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ‭‭I John‬ ‭1‬:‭8‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Pastor Robert says if you say you don’t sin, you just lied so you just sinned!

Do you come before Him daily with humble repentance?

Blessings 

1 Kings 8:31-32 Oaths

 ““When anyone sins against his neighbor, and is forced to take an oath, and comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple, then hear in heaven, and act, and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked, bringing his way on his head, and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.” ‭‭I Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. And comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this temple: The temple grounds were used as a place to verify and authorize oaths. When a dispute came down to one word against another, Solomon asked that the temple would be a place to properly swear by.

b. Hear in heaven, and act, and judge Your servants: Solomon asked the God who can see what man can’t – who knows the hidden heart of man – to enforce from heaven the oaths made at the temple.

i. The old Puritan commentator John Trapp could not resist mentioning a fulfillment of this principle in his own day: “Anne Averies, who, forswearing herself, a.d. 1575, February 11, at a shop of Wood Street in London, praying God she might sink where she stood if she had not paid for the wares she took, fell down presently speechless, and with horrible stink died.” (Guzik)

Oaths

“But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,” lest you fall into judgment.” ‭‭James‬ ‭5‬:‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

We’ve all had people that made promises and never fulfilled them. Maybe you are one of those? I have always tried to be a man of my word but I am still human with a sin nature.

It’s good advice from James 5:12, “let your “Yes” be “Yes,” and your “No,” “No,”.

If your inbox is full and someone asks you to do something it’s better to tell them you’re too busy than to say yes and not show up.

Have you ever made a promise and not kept it?

Blessings 

1 Kings 8:27-30 Forgiveness!

 ““But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You today: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. And may You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.” I Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭27‬-‭30‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. How much less this temple which I have built: We are glad that Solomon said this. From his statement in 1 Kings 8:12-13, we might have thought that he drifted towards a superstitious idea that God actually lived in the temple to the exclusion of other places. It was important to recognize that though God had a special presence in the temple, He was far too great to be restricted to the temple.

b. May You hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place: Solomon asked God to incline His ear towards the king and the people when they prayed toward the temple. For this reason, many observant Jews still pray facing the direction of the site of the temple in Jerusalem.

c. When You hear, forgive: Solomon knew that the most important thing Israel needed was forgiveness. This was the greatest answer to prayer Israel could expect from God. (Guzik)

Forgiveness!

We all need forgiveness of sin on a daily basis. 

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

‭‭I John‬ ‭1‬:‭9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Jesus said,

““Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”” Luke‬ ‭18‬:‭10‬-‭11‬, ‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This bears repeating, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

When we approach God in this manner He is more inclined to forgive us.

Do you believe that?

1 Kings 8:24-26 God’s Promises!

 “You have kept what You promised Your servant David my father; You have both spoken with Your mouth and fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. Therefore, Lord God of Israel, now keep what You promised Your servant David my father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man sit before Me on the throne of Israel, only if your sons take heed to their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.’ And now I pray, O God of Israel, let Your word come true, which You have spoken to Your servant David my father.” I Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭24‬-‭26‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. You have kept what You promised: Solomon first thanked and praised God for His past fulfillment of promises.

b. Now keep what You promised Your servant David: Solomon called upon God to keep the promises that He made. This is the great secret to power in prayer – to take God’s promises to heart in faith, and then to boldly and reverently call upon Him to fulfill the promises.

i. “God sent the promise on purpose to be used. If I see a Bank of England note, it is a promise for a certain amount of money, and I take it and use it. But oh I my friend, do try and use God’s promises; nothing pleases God better than to see his promises put in circulation; he loves to see his children bring them up to him, and say, ‘LORD, do as thou hast said.’ And let me tell you that it glorifies God to use his promises.” (Spurgeon)

ii. This kind of prayer lays hold of God’s promise. Just because God promises does not mean that we possess. Through believing prayer like this, God promises and we appropriate. If we don’t appropriate in faith, God’s promise is left unclaimed. (Guzik)

God’s Promises!

“For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me, Silvanus, and Timothy—was not Yes and No, but in Him was Yes. For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.” II Corinthians‬ ‭1‬:‭19‬-‭22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

The Bible is full of God’s promises and I claim that He has given me the Spirit in my heart, sealed me with the guarantee of everlasting life!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” ‭‭

John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬

Do you claim those promises?

Blessings 

1 Kings 8:22-23 God in Heaven!

 ”Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven; and he said: “Lord God of Israel, there is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You, who keep Your covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.“ I Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Stood before the altar of the LORD: Solomon did not dedicate the temple from within the temple. It would be inappropriate for him to do so, because he was a king and not a priest. The Holy Place and Most Holy Place were only for chosen descendants of the High Priest.

b. And spread out his hands toward heaven: This was the most common posture of prayer in the Old Testament. Many modern people close their eyes, bow their head, and fold their hands as they pray; but the Old Testament tradition was to spread out the hands toward heaven in a gesture of surrender, openness, and ready reception.

i. “It is worthy of remark concerning this prayer that it is as full and comprehensive as if it were meant to be the summary of all future prayers offered in the temple.” (Spurgeon)

ii. “One is struck, moreover, with the fact that the language is far from new, and is full of quotations from the Pentateuch, some of which are almost word for word, while the sense of the whole may be found in those memorable passages in Leviticus and Deuteronomy.” (Spurgeon)

c. There is no God in heaven above or on earth below like You: Solomon recognized that God was completely unique. The pretended gods of the other nations could not compare to Him in any way. (Guzik)

God in Heaven!

I’m reminded what Jesus said to Satan when He was tempted by the devil!

“Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ””

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭4‬:‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Are you serving God in heaven?

Blessings