In Matthew 21:13 Jesus says “my house shall be called a house of prayer”.

During his ministry on earth Jesus stressed a great deal of emphasis on prayer. He taught the importance thru words, like when he taught the disciples how to pray in Matthew 6 and in actions when He was often seen praying in public. We also see in the Bible that He took time alone for prayer. either way we see that Jesus placed a very high importance on prayer.

Jesus also taught on the power of united prayer in Matthew 18:19-20 and the first thing we see the newly born church doing in the book of Acts is forming a prayer group in verses 1:11-14.

So why all the emphasis on prayer?

Jesus knew that if the church were to truly become a house of prayer we would see ourselves and members of the body:

1. More focused of the kingdom of heaven and thinking less about the things of this world.

2. More focused on praising God for His provision and less focused on our own desires.

3. More focused on repentance and expressing Godly sorrow than fulfilling the lusts of the flesh.

Most importantly I think Jesus knew that as a church focused on prayer we would see prideful ness replaced by humble humility and insensitivity replaced by loving service to God and His people.

Prayer changes us and the way we look at things.

Answered prayer is one of the strongest pieces of tangible evidence of God working in our midst . And it is a glorious thing to see souls turning to Christ, healing and provision as a result of our petitions to God.

A church body that becomes “a house of prayer” would find its members strengthened in faith and trust that God is real and He is at work in our lives. We would find it easier to give our testimonies about Christ, find peace through trials and stand firm when faced with temptation because of witnessing answered prayer.

Imagine our church body here in Panama city beach becoming the house of prayer Jesus was speaking of.