Week 3: The Church as the Temple of God – 5th – 11th September 2021

Prayer and Fasting 2021

PRAY THAT THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST WILL COME TO FULL MATURITY AS THE TEMPLE OF GOD AT ALL LEVELS: FROM THE INDIVIDUAL TO THE GLOBAL LEVEL

The launch of the theme for this week can be found here:

PRAY INTO THE FOCUS OF EACH DAY AS IT RELATES TO THE THEME OF THE WEEK

The Tabernacle of Moses was a copy of a heavenly temple. It was had three parts: outer court, holy Place and the holy of Holies.

HEBREWS 8:5,6

They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

Our bodies today are the temples of the Holy Spirit and they too are made up of three parts: body, soul and spirit.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:23

Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

  • The body corresponds to the Outer Court of the tabernacle
  • The soul corresponds to the Holy Place of the tabernacle
  • The spirit corresponds to the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle

The tabernacle of Moses had several furniture items:

A. OUTER COURT: THE REALM OF THE BODY

1. Brazen Altar of Burnt Offering (Exodus 29:38-42):

Analogy: We are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice

ROMANS 12:1

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

2. Laver Basin for Washing (Exodus 30:17-21):

Analogy: Our outward lives approved by the word of God: the way we conduct ourselves dress, talk, etc.

HEBREWS 10: 19-25

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

B. THE HOLY PLACE: THE REALM OF THE SOUL

3. The Golden Lampstand (Exodus 25:31-40)

Application: Renewed And Illuminated Mind

ROMANS 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

PSALM 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

PSALM 119:130

The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple.

4. The Table of Showbread (Exodus 25:23-30; Leviticus 24:5-9):

Analogy: The Word of God by which we shall live, and a soul broken and submitted to God.

The showbread was made from grains of wheat that had been thoroughly crashed, sieved and recrashed until it was fine powder. It was then mingled to dough before being placed in the fire to bake. Similarly our wills need to be broken and then passed through the fire of testing to remove all vestiges of rebellion. Our souls: will, emotions, intellect, memory and imagination must be sanctified by God if we are to be fully useful for His purposes.

DEUTERONOMY 8:2-4

And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

JOHN 4:34

Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work…

MARK 14:36

And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

ROMANS 12:2

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

5. The Altar of Incense (Exodus 30:1-10):

Analogy: The life lived in the place of worship in spirit and truth

HEBREWS 10:19-23

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

 

C. THE HOLY OF HOLIES

6. The Ark of the Covenant

Analogy: For the Israelites, the Ark of the Covenant represented God’s presence in their midst. The Old Testament has many stories of how God provided safety and success using the symbol of the Ark.

GALATIANS 2:20

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

EPHESIANS 3:16,17

…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…

COLOSSIANS 1:27

To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

ROMANS 8:10,11

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

1 CORINTHIANS 3:16-17

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:19

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.

EPHESIANS 2:19-22

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

1 CORINTHIANS 3:9-11

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

1 PETER 2:4,5

As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

2 CORINTHIANS 6:16

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people.”

Throughout the biblical account, the temple is where God dwells with his people. In the New Covenant, God’s people have become His Temple and that means it is through these people that God reaches the world. In the Old Covenant, people travelled from far and wide to encounter God at the temple in Jerusalem. Under the New Covenant God’s people who are His temple and take His presence to the world! We are called to make his glory known to all nations till Jesus comes back.

PRAY FIRST FOR YOURSELF AND THEN FOR THE LOCAL CHURCH, THE CHURCH IN THE COMMUNITY, MARKETPLACE, AND THE CHURCH WORLDWIDE THAT WE BE BELIEVERS:

  1. Who have offered our bodies as living sacrifices
  2. Who are daily washing our lives with the word of God
  3. Whose wills are submitted to the will of God with no areas of rebellion in their lives
  4. Who are living lives that are in accordance with the word of God
  5. Whose minds are continually being renewed and illuminated by the word of God
  6. Who worship in spirit and truth
  7. Whose lives carry the presence of God wherever we go
  8. WHO ARE MOBILE TEMPLES OF GOD

PRAY THAT THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST WILL COME TO FULL MATURITY AS THE TEMPLE OF GOD AT ALL LEVELS: FROM INDIVIDUAL TO THE GLOBAL LEVEL – THAT THE WORLD AROUND US WILL EXPERIENCE THE PRESENCE OF GOD RADIATING THROUGH OUR LIVES.

 

You can download the PDF Version of the Prayer Guide here: Week 3 Church as Temple of God Prayer Guide

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