Grand Entrance – The Presidential Prayer Team

My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. – Isaiah 56:7

Have you ever heard the phrase of someone making a grand entrance? Perhaps they might think of the movie Aladdin when, disguised as Prince Ali, Aladdin enters town, trying to impress Princess Jasmine with a parade of fantastic animals, dancers, and gifts. Everyone was impressed. When Jesus came into Jerusalem riding on a donkey, the people praised Him, “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 chief priests and scribes were not impressed, especially when Jesus went to the temple and drove out the money changers, calling them a den of thieves. He then proceeded to heal the sick, which upset them further.

“My house” referred to the temple in Jerusalem where people went to pray. In Paul’s letters, he affirms that the temple is now each believer in Christ. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Is your thought life a house of prayer or a home of worry or distraction? As it says in Romans 12 :1, “Present your bodies as a living sacrifice.” Let prayer fill your thoughts. And as you pray, intercede for the United States, that it will be changed to glorify God through the many prayers of His people.

Today’s Verse: Isaiah 56:7

these 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 peoples.”

All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Recommended for further reading: Matthew 21:7-17

They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. ⁸Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” ¹⁰And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”

¹²And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. ¹³He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”

¹⁴And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. ¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant, ¹⁶and they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read,

“‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies
    you have prepared praise’?”

¹⁷And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.