52“May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, and may you listen to them whenever they cry out to you. 53For you singled them out from all the nations of the world to be your own inheritance, just as you declared through your servant Moses when you, Sovereign Lord, brought our ancestors out of Egypt.”
54When Solomon had finished all these prayers and supplications to the Lord, he rose from before the altar of the Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread out toward heaven.55He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:
56“Praise be to the Lord, who has given rest to his people Israel just as he promised. Not one word has failed of all the good promises he gave through his servant Moses. 57May the Lordour God be with us as he was with our ancestors; may he never leave us nor forsake us.58May he turn our hearts to him, to walk in obedience to him and keep the commands, decrees and laws he gave our ancestors. 59And may these words of mine, which I have prayed before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that he may uphold the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel according to each day’s need, 60so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God and that there is no other. 61And may your hearts be fully committed to the Lord our God, to live by his decrees and obey his commands, as at this time.” (1 Kings 8)
Thoughts: Jesus said to those who were corrupting the Temple with commerce that "My house will be a house of prayer." The Temple was dedicated not as a place of sacrifice, or priestly living quarters, or offerings. It was a place of prayer. In these dedicatory prayers here and in 2 Chronicles 6 & 7 there is a lot of listening to God as well as talking to God. Worship is to be focused on God- talking and listening to Him. In our day we devalue prayer, and when we do so, we devalue our relationship with God thinking we would do better to take things into our own hands and leave prayer out. But it is prayer that strengthens our hands and worship motivates us to change the world- not for our selfish gain but for a higher purpose.
June 12, take time about your lunch time to pray. Pray for world peace- peace in the Koreas, in South Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan.
Prayer: Lord, help me to value my talks and worship with you. May you hear my prayers focused on your presence.
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