In preparation for prayer
This is a picture of a picture of a picture so please forgive the blurriness, size, and reflections. However, the juxtaposition of the bride and the tomb fascinated me and I thought personified so to speak "A picture is worth a thousand words." Now if this tomb were white washed, it would really speak what Jesus is trying to say to us.
I get myself and my house all washed up and pretty on the outside, even as a bride adorns herself for her groom but as Jesus told the Pharisees, "the inside is like a tomb--full of the stench of dead men's bones--"
Matthew 23:27-28
27 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
"So he took down Jesus' body and wrapped it in a long linen cloth and laid it in a new, unused tomb hewn into the rock." TLB Luke 23:53-54
I do try to make our house of brick and mortar a house of prayer with inspiring pictures and lots of scripture that adorns the walls, but I think much more important to God is how do I prepare my body for prayer, the physical house that I dwell in while on this planet.
Scripture says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body." 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
It also says, "Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. He said, "The Scriptures declare, 'My Temple will be called a place of prayer,' but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" Matthew 21:12-13
I wonder if this is a picture of how he feels when He sees me filling my body and spirit with the junk of this world. After all, He says that my body is His temple. Do I really believe that?
Father, I pray that my body will be a temple where You feel at home, a place where there is no offense to You, a holy place filled with the glory of Your presence. I pray that you will fill me with Your wisdom, Your knowledge, Your grace, and Your glory so that all I meet will know I have communed with the great God of the Universe, and the God of my body, Your Temple. What a humbling thought! my body--Your Temple. What an awesome fact! my body--Your Dwelling Place!
If the crucified body of Jesus deserved an unused tomb, doesn't the risen King need and deserve a clean dwelling place.
Prepare me for prayer, Oh Father. Make my body--Your Temple, new, unused! You are the only One who can drive out the things of this world. Make me spotless for Your sake.
Amen
posted in community with the sojourners at
Dearest Lindsay, I took the liberty to post this picture of you, dear niece, since your photographer let you post your pictures of Facebook. Thank you.
