Holy Week Devotional - Tuesday
Holy Week Devotional Guide – Tuesday 4-7-20
Holy Week is focused on the final week of Jesus’s life on earth and what it means for our faith and lives.
Quiet yourself to focus on the Lord and ask Him to draw near and help you draw near to Him.
Father, please help me focus my thoughts on You. As I fast and pray, let me draw closer to You and feed on Your presence and Word. Forgive and cleanse me of my sins and fill me with Your Holy Spirit so that I can hear and understand what You are saying and be satisfied in You.
Today’s Gospel Reading - Mark 11:15-19
On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple courts and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’” 18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching. 19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
Personal Reflection
Jesus made His way to the Holy City of Jerusalem and entered the Temple as the Prophet, Priest, and Messiah-King. His actions and words display that His agenda for His people is not the same as ours or the world’s. As Jesus followers, we are now the temple of the Holy Spirit and the living God.
Have I distorted the Lord’s purpose for me as His temple? Where do I need to refocus toward Him? Have we as His church distorted His purpose for us as His collective Temple?
A Prayer of Response
God, You show us here that Your desire is for us to be primarily a people of prayer attending to Your presence, glory, and purposes. But often, as in this case, we lose focus and drift into being nothing more than religious attenders or even worse self-interested peddlers of religious goods and services. Please grant us the faith and humility to heed Your prophetic warning and invitation to be a house of prayer for all nations. May we fall more deeply in love with You and long for Your presence and glory, and may it swallow up the desires for lesser and more petty things that weaken us from becoming the prayerful mission force Your desire us to be. In Your name, Amen.
Present your requests to God for yourself, your family, and others that He lays upon your heart.
Continue praying for your fellow brothers and sisters and members of our local church, that we will experience a deeper sense of God’s conviction of sin, zeal for His “house”, desire to see His name more and more magnified among us and in the world, and His presence enjoyed.
Concluding Psalm - Psalm 85
You, Lord, showed favor to your land; you restored the fortunes of Jacob. You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. You set aside all your wrath and turned from your fierce anger. Restore us again, God our Savior, and put away your displeasure toward us. Will you be angry with us forever? Will you prolong your anger through all generations? Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? Show us your unfailing love, Lord, and grant us your salvation. I will listen to what God the Lord says; he promises peace to his people, his faithful servants—but let them not turn to folly. Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land.