House of prayer for all nations - Address of God's house

Kenneth Bae in his book "Not Forgotten" shared about his imprisonment in North Korea. He was arrested for taking groups of people into North Korea (as tourists) to pray for the North Korea.

He was arrested on one of his trips and they found a pendrive on him in which he used military terms to describe his prayer activities for North Korea.

He ended up accused of being involved in activities to overthrow the government through prayer and worship! The prosecutor described him as the most dangerous American to enter North Korea for the past 60 years. 

The prosecutor described "prayer as a hostile act". It seems that the communists who profess to be atheists believe in a prayer answering God which in itself is a contradiction. Kenneth Bae also said that even those who do not believe in God profess to believe in the power of God!

During one of his interrogation, the guards got so angry with him that they asked him "give us the address of this Jesus as we want to arrest him"!

Ponder over this for a moment....if someone were to ask you for the address of God's house how will you answer?

Jesus talked about the God's house being a house of prayer for all nations. Why did He use the example of a house? 

What is the address of a house of prayer? Where is it's location? Can it be found on the GPS? How do I find this house of prayer?

1. God's house has a name

The first thing to note is that this house of prayer belongs to God. He even have a name for it. He clearly calls it a "house of prayer"!

There are other inanimate objects for which God has specifically given a name:

1. He called light - day
2. He called darkness - night
3. He called firmament - heaven
4. He called dry land - earth
5. He called waters - seas

There are also living people for which He specifically singled out to give a name:

1. He called Abram - Abraham
2. He called Jacob - Israel
3. He called Jesus - "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace"
4. He called His people - "Children of God", "Trees of Righteousness", "A city not forsaken

How awesome and wonderful it is for us to build a house and to call it by a name that God has chosen for it even before it's foundations have been laid!

2. God's house has an owner

"My house" - God has ownership over it. It belongs entirely to Him. Isn't it completely liberating? Isn't it completely relaxing? 

Just the thought of such a place of prayer being owned by God is so comforting, so assuring.....if God owns this "house of prayer" this means that He is committed to it. His eyes are on it, His ears are open to it. He is constantly watching over it even taking care of it. 

If you owned a house, you would be cleaning it, renovating it, tidying it, paying all the assessments and making it comfortable, liveable and a cosy place to live. You will do all it takes to make it a nice place to stay.

You live in it, you dwell in it, you make your home in it. God delights in making His home in each of us as a house of prayer.

In our natural houses, we build a family. In our natural houses, we seek to build a home with people whom we love. As long as we dwell on this earth, we stay in houses that provide shelter and protection for us. It is in our houses that we find love and companionship with our loved ones and family members.

In the same way, God's house is the place for us to find His love, His companionship and the support and encouragement of other believers in the family of God!

Something powerful happens when God claims the house of prayer as "My House". In the Bible there are a number of things that God claims as His and His alone:

1. My word
2. My people
3. My covenant
4. My works

No one else on this earth can ever lay claim to what belongs to God. When we are participants of something that belongs only to God, we are truly the most blessed people on earth!

It is not "Tim's house" or "Ruth's house", it is "My (indicating God's possession) house" or "God's house" which is a house of prayer.

3. Physical and spiritual house

It is clear from God's word that God's house is a both a physical place (OT) and a spiritual place (NT).

There are 3 things that qualifies to be God's address:

1. A physical place where sacrifices and offerings are being offered unto God. 

In Hebrew, Isa 56:7 the "house" means "bayith". It means a physical house, temple, shelter, abode, place or receptacle for containing something. Figuratively it also means 'human bodies'.

When Jesus stepped into the temple and saw people trading in it, He was upset.

Matt 21:12-13

"Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them "It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer", but you have made it a 'den of thieves'"

In Greek, it has a richer meaning. The word is "oikos" which means:

Physical meaning:

- an inhabited house, a home
- any building
- any dwelling place
- fixed residence or abode

Spiritual meaning - people:

- inmates of a house
- all persons forming a family
- family of God
- Christian church

2. A spiritual place where each one of us is a dwelling place for the Spirit of God making each of us personally and individually a house of prayer. 

1 Cor 6:19 "or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?'

Temple - "naos" means a temple or a shrine.

In Greek it is used to describe the Holy Place or Holy of Holies, a sanctuary where the image of God was placed to distinguish it from the whole enclosure. Metaphorically it consists of saints joined together in Christ Jesus.

2 Cor 5:1 "For we know that if our earthly house, this tent is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens"

3. Members of the church gathering together make up the house of God. Members of the house of God gathering together to pray become a house of prayer.

1 Peter 2:5 "you also as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ"

The above verse tells us that we are a spiritual house and not just a physical house where we gather with others who are members of the same household!

So where is God's address - the church GPS address and each one of us as the temple of the Living God!