“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). 

If we ask a man on the street to identify a house of prayer, I wonder what he would say. Probably, he would point to a place where charms are sold, and weird counsels given and call it a house of prayer.

The very conception of House of prayer has totally disappeared, in most countries. A house of annual festivity of one sort or another, or a house where devotees dance with their bodies smeared with oil or bright colors, or a house which resounds with chants not easily understood- yes, you will find. But what is a House of prayer and where is one to find it? Surely not in modern Christendom!

Someone took me over to see a very beautiful church building in the United States. It glistened with paint and polish and everything was tasteful and in fact, very expensively appointed. Someone said one or two millionaires too worshipped there. Yet in spite of the sheer beauty of the interior decoration, there was only one service held there each week and that on Sunday morning. There was no prayer meeting or any mid-week meeting whatever.

A church without a prayer meeting is a dead church. You and your children are not going to get anything of lasting value from a prayerless church.

What is known as the church is a body of believers, who have found in Jesus’ forgiveness of sins and deliverance from sin and pray effectively from their hearts; withal, enjoying true and loving fellowship with each other.

Where there is true love, there is always genuine concern and heartfelt prayer. Now, that is what the Lord Jesus wished to see in the temple. But alas! He heard only the bleating of the sheep, the dolorous cooing of doves kept there to be sold as sacrifices, the vigorous and vociferous haggling over purchases and the jingling of coins at the moneychangers. You can well imagine what a shock and sorrow all this noisy cacophony of voices and sounds must have been to Him!

"My house shall be called the house of prayer for all people." Jesus found the temple to be anything but a House of prayer. There was neither the atmosphere of prayer nor were there men intent on prayer there. The heart of the Saviour was filled with anguish and abhorrence and He cried, "Ye have made the house of prayer a den of thieves."

I don’t know how commercialism and a money-motive slowly and imperceptibly attaches itself to a religious cause. Then it soon develops into a stranglehold and be sure, it is all downhill, from that point. Where prayer was won’t to be made, it is fights and arguments instead! Where there were godly and upright men before, crooks and clever dissemblers take over. Thereafter, a heartless commercialism holds sway over what was meant to be a spiritual institution, or a place where the weary and the heartbroken find peace with God and rest. I’m sure there are still some right-thinking men, who are well and truly fed up with the way religious places of worship have become the seats of moneymaking racketeers. These temples do not promote holiness of life but are hotbeds of immorality and vice. Thugs and thieves do not come here to pray and repent, but to express their appreciation for a religious system or deity who, they feel, has helped to fill their coffers with money, regardless of its being ill-gotten.

A temple is a House of prayer, where sin is rebuked and from which men return wholly transformed. Men who had gone there under the grip of alcohol return with an abhorrence of liquor, and crooks turn into straight-living men. They have had an encounter with God in the temple and their lives have been transformed. This transformation or new life penetrates deep into the total life of the recipients. Where he was a failure as a father, he begins to make amends. In the place of a homewrecker, we have now a homebuilder—a man who can be trusted as a true and faithful husband, anywhere he goes. Yes, meeting the Lord Jesus produces in you a change of life which thrills you and makes you wonder at yourself.

On the other side of the picture, you see men who approach a religious festival, with the grossest of motives. They never once heard that a visit to the temple should be with the firm intention of praying and getting right with God. Such an idea is novel and totally alien to many people in our world today.

While walking through the majestic St. Peter’s in Rome, I found hordes of tourists casually strolling round the place, not bothering to even pay scant respect to those people, who were carrying out routine religious observances, in a small enclosure. The irreverence and the godlessness of the scene were quite shattering. Have we only an impressive and magnificent structure to show? No! We have a great God, who changes sinners, teaches them to pray and be men of God, and rebuilds sin-ravaged and broken homes, a God who dwelleth not in mere buildings built of brick and mortar.

Standing in a long line of waiting people, who had traveled great distances to get a fleeting glimpse of a famous gilded idol, a young man told me that he had indulged in grossly unclean deeds, in broad daylight! His visit to a fabled temple had only worked him up to a state of uncontrolled bestiality! A den of thieves indeed! —where men are robbed of their virtue and women of their virginity.

It looks as though, currently, in the name of religion, almost anything can be done. What a tragedy!

The Lord Jesus, who had come into this world to die for mankind’s sins, was heart-broken, when He saw the temple of His day devoid of prayer and true godliness. Nor did He get paralyzed by the scene of prolific wickedness - He cast out the wicked from the temple and cleansed it.

When we are washed in Jesus Blood, the dynamic of God’s holiness takes hold of us; the uncleanness and wickedness around us hides its head in shame and flees from us. There is something vitally wrong with a Christianity that cannot change the world around it and usher in purity of life, where none existed.

The thieves and evil men are turned into soul-winners, when Jesus comes in; and a scene of total spiritual desolation and moral bankruptcy is changed into a scene of spiritual revival and renewal, when you repent before the Crucified and Risen Saviour who is waiting to cleanse and receive you. Oh, may the Living Saviour bring a cleansing wave of revival over homes and nations.

—Joshua Daniel

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament pulsate with the truth that God is willing and able to save the Believer's entire family. God said to Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation", Genesis 7:1.

Before the night of the Passover, God laid down the principle of "A lamb for a house", Exodus 12:3. Rahab, listed in the God's Hall of Faith, Hebrews 11, believed for the protection of all her family during the destruction of Jericho. Her petition was granted. She and her family were unharmed. Joshua 2:12-21, 6:25.

"All my family saved?" you gasp, "That seems an impossibility." But Jesus says, "With God all things are possible", Mark 10:27. If you are with God and God is with you, nothing is impossible! When Martha had difficulty comprehending how the Lord could bring her brother, Lazarus, back to Life, Jesus said "…If thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God", John 11:40.

Spiritual men and women through the ages have claimed their families for Christ, and God has honoured their faith. Catherine Booth of the Salvation Army exclaimed, "Oh God, I will not stand before thee without my family!" Her entire family came to know Christ and served Him faithfully.

“YOUR HUSBAND CAN BE WON”

Mrs. J. of California knows that a husband can be won to Christ. It took 24 years of praying, trials, and consistent Christian living. Her husband is a happy Christian businessman today. Here is the letter she wrote:

It took 24 years to win my husband. It was a long, thorn-crowned path that I walked but I never gave up. Even when things looked the blackest, I would reason: "Well, even if my husband never gets converted, I will still try to do my part by the grace of God."

Each day I tried to please Jesus. Many times I went through very hard places. I was at death's door several times. My children often suffered from serious illnesses. I can remember days, during the depression, when we did not have one dime to buy food. The power company cut off our electricity. I washed by hand for our four small children. When we would get a few dollars my husband would spend them for liquor. In desperation, I would pray and ask God to miraculously supply food for my little ones. And God heard me. We never starved. Of course, my children could not figure out where Mama got the food. It was a secret between the Lord and me.

My husband was a hard-headed Swede. He knew he should become a Christian. He told me that he knew Christ had changed my life when I was converted. He admitted that God had done miracles for our family. But he would not pay the price of being an out-and-out Christian father.

He seemed to go in cycles. Sometimes he did not want religion discussed; other times he seemed hungry for reality. During there later times I would witness to him about Christ. At other times, he would become very angry if I mentioned the Lord. But when I could not talk to him about God, I would talk to God about him. He could not stop me from praying for him.

It was not long until I became aware that my husband was being unfaithful to me and to his marriage vows. Of course, he tried to hide this fact from me. But one day, while I was praying, God seemed to show me where my husband was and who he was having an affair with. My heart was broken. Naturally, my husband denied the whole matter. But I found out later that God had shown me the tragic truth. My husband was unfaithful.

God enabled me to keep a Christian disposition through these dark hours. I tried never to aggravate him. When he was in a bad mood and made cutting remarks, I kept quiet. Each day I found a new supply of patience, endurance, and closeness in the Lord. I certainly did not have any of these qualities when I came to the Lord. I had too much of my natural Irish in me, I guess. Before my conversion, I was stubborn, quick-tempered, and saucy. But then, I allowed Jesus to take over my life. And He changed me completely. In fact, other Christians told me that I was "too easy going," that I should defend myself. But God told me to keep sweet and let the Lord defend me.

In 1950, our home and our business were really going on the rocks. I was tempted to tell my hubby that he could do his own praying from now on. (I knew that he seemed to feel a certain amount of security from my prayers.)

But then, as someone has said, "The darkest hour of the night is just before the dawn." After 24 long years of tears, headaches, prayers and persistence, I saw my husband go to the altar in an evangelistic meeting. The prodigal husband had come home to God at last. I was bubbling over with joy.

Today, after many years, my husband is still serving the Lord. We have a Christian home, go to Church together and run a successful business.

If God could perform a miracle in our home, He can do it in any home. With the Lord's help I know a woman can win her husband to Christ!

“YOUR WIFE CAN BE WON”

A few years ago, a prominent manufacturer in an Eastern state became a Christian. He then determined to try to win his pretty brunette wife to the Lord.

It was not easy. "Church! Church! Church! Can't you go anywhere else?" she nagged. "You seem to think of no one but God anymore!"

She threatened to leave him. But he suggested, "Let's take a vacation in California. I'm sure we can work out our difficulties, honey."

A change of climate did not seem to help. "Believe what you will, I personally don't believe there is a God!" She boldly blurted. Heartsick at his wife's attitude, the manufacturer prayed desperately that the Holy Spirit would convict her and draw her to the Lord.

Soon prayer was answered. One night, while driving down the coast of California, his wife moved over closer to him and whispered: "Honey, I really didn't mean what I said about God. I really believe in Him, and I want Him in my life, too."

"Thank God!" The husband smiled. "He has answered my prayers."

That night around 11 O'clock they found a small church open. They walked in, went to the altar, and soon the joy of salvation flooded the wife's heart, too.

Today, this Christian manufacturer, now the father of five children, would gladly tell you, "Yes, a husband can win his wife to Christ. God still answers prayer."

“YOUR PARENTS CAN BE WON”

A little girl pleaded with her agnostic father. "Please come to church with me, just once. I love you, Daddy. Won't you please come?"

Finally, he said, "O.K, honey, just once."

His little daughter was overjoyed. She loved Jesus and now she hoped her father would hear a sermon that would make him love the Lord, too.

But she was terribly disappointed her pastor read a lengthy Old Testament passage that was full of long, difficult names. Nearly every verse said, "So and so begat so and so and then he died … then he died … then he died." Oh, Daddy will never want to come to church again," She sobbed to her mother.

But she was wrong. God used that phrase "and he died" to convict and convert her father. He testified later that those three words haunted him for days afterwards. He realized that someday he would die unprepared. At last, he decided to make his peace with God. His little daughter had led him to Christ. Lydia H. Sigourney says: "We speak of educating our children. Do we know that our children also educate us?"

Yes, children can win their parents to Christ. 

— Selected from Nathanael Olson's "How to Win Your Family to Christ"