“Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” (Mark 11:17) The words sometimes stun us. The picture is sometimes hard to imagine. Jesus is overturning tables and causing chaos in the Temple. The One who calls men to worship is driving people from the place of worship. His anger is apparent, His message is clear. There is no room for the world in the hearts of those who follow God. We need to take a hard look at our lives and let Jesus clean out the junk that gets in the way of worship and prayer. Habits, attitudes, relationships, it doesn’t matter. If it stands in the way of Jesus, let Him drive it from your life. Sometimes it is difficult. Sometimes it hurts. But Jesus is insistent, “…you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30) Embedding Jesus in your life means clearing out the junk and letting Jesus fill your heart.
1. What needs cleaning out in your life?
2. How can Jesus turn pain into healing, hurting into hope?
| Date | Reading |
| March 12 | Mark 11:22-33 |
| March 13 | Mark 12:1-27 |
| March 14 | Mark 12:28-44 |
| March 15 | Mark 13:1-31 |
| March 16 | Mark 13:32-14:11 |
| March 17 | Mark 14:12-31 |
| March 18 | Mark 14:32-52 |
| March 19 | Mark 14:53-72 |