HOUSE OF PRAYER

I have been praying "Lord, teach me to pray" for the past few months.

And as a result, my prayer life is growing more consistent. And that's progress.

But, I am also feeling a gnawing conviction that I am experiencing just the tip of the iceberg so far. I know my prayer life falls far short of the ideal.

And it would be one thing if it were just for me personally, but now as the pastor of a church, I feel the burden all the more.

Here's the incident that keeps nagging at my spirit: when Jesus clears the moneychangers out of the temple, his words are as follows: "It is written that my Father's house shall be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves." (Matt 21:22)

Now, on the bright side, my church is definitely not a den of robbers. So we have that going for us.

But is it a "house of prayer"?  

Sure, we pray several times throughout the service each Sunday morning. And we keep a prayer list with requests going out by text messages throughout the week. Prayer is not absent, but I don't know that anyone would describe us as "a house of prayer".

The American church in general has always elevated preaching far above prayer in importance. 

Is that the reason the American church is in the state it is? 

I guess the question I have is what would it take on our part for Jesus to give us a thumbs up and certify us as a 'House of Prayer'?