We are all still in Bangkok learning more and more about the Thai culture and its beautiful people. Yesterday we took a tour of some of the Buddhist temples. God touched my heart at our very first stop. In the picture you can see the monk praying with people and postcards up front. It reminded me of Matthew 21:12-17. Verses 12 and 13 say:
Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the merchants and their customers. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the stalls of those selling doves. He said, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a place of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!”
I know my God is bigger than the temples we saw yesterday! My heart broke for the people of Thailand and those lost in darkness. All I wanted to do the rest of the day was pray, but we kept moving and seeing the sights. Finally, when given an opportunity to head back to the base of see a forth temple I chose to head back. My heart cried for the people God wanted to call His own but were living apart from Him. I began to think how powerfully God has given me a desire for prayer. I love talking to God and having His concerns and passions become my own and then hear them come out in my prayers. But, whoa, something yesterday was telling me that, no, prayer isn’t as important as preaching or evangelism or more upfront ways of doing ministry. Thank You, God, for shutting up the Liar before he got to me. Prayer is the foundation and just as needed as reaching a hand out to the poor, speaking truth to a nation, or planning a Bible study. I was made and needed for prayer and intercession for the cause of Christ. May the Lord discipline me more…teaching me about prayer, humbling me to the point of tears on behalf of the lost, bringing me to my knees throughout a day, and giving Him more of my heart so I can know more of His.
