This plan pulls lessons from John 2:15.This verse details the moment Jesus scattered merchants from the temple courtyard who took advantage of travelers who came to offer sacrifices in the temple. We partner with God in driving out and scattering the obstacles that distract us from becoming bodily temples of unceasing prayer/communion with God and that interfere with the fullness of Christ being expressed in our lives.
David & Ella
Day 1
Scriptures: Ezekiel 36:26-27, Matthew 6:21, 1 Samuel 13:13-14
UNDIVIDED HEART
In relationships, we often find ourselves most passionate and affectionate in the beginning. Sustaining such a passionate state of love for someone is not natural. After the initial high dies down, we need to be intentional to keep the passion alive. If passion is left unprotected, the passing of time will decay the extravagance of your love expression. This is true in our human relationships as well as our relationship with God. Distractions and familiarity are often the enemies of sustained passion. May God help us to steer clear of these as we offer Him undivided hearts.
We live in a world full of constant competition for our attention and affection. We are likely to acquire whatever we put our attention and affection towards. Many do not always consider that those very things can end up owning us. God has promised through His Word that a heart that loves Him and seeks after Him will find Him (Jeremiah 29:14). His one condition is that He desires our whole heart, undivided and entirely dedicated and surrendered to Him. Our perfect example of this is Jesus Himself. Jesus Christ’s heart was undivided when it came to His allegiance to the Father. Therefore, when He saw that people were defiling the temple, His heart felt the Father’s heartache, and He became consumed by the Father’s righteous anger (see John 2:13-16).
Pray that God will intertwine your hearts with His and help you to love what He loves and hate what He hates. Pray that God will help you to stand in agreement with Him and His word. Pray that God will help you trust Him. Pray for the Holy Spirit to intoxicate you and to fill you to the point where you don’t think for yourself but are fully led by Him. Ask the Holy Spirit, our Reviver, to cause you to burn with first love for Jesus Christ again and again and again. Pray that the Holy Spirit guides you to the place where you constantly choose God, rejecting the pleasures of this world and starving the desires of your flesh. Declare, “Help me Lord, by Your Spirit, to keep loving You.”
Day 2
Scriptures: Daniel 6:3, Matthew 16:19, Luke 10:19, John 16:33
DIVINE ADVANTAGE
One biblical character who epitomizes divine advantage is Daniel. Daniel had a divine advantage, not because he studied more or was more skilled, but because he lived a life of purity. His love and reverence for God shaped his life. God has not run out of the anointing that distinguished Daniel’s life, He’s looking for those who will honor Him and keep His standards, qualifying them to be carriers of His anointing. Daniel’s distinction did not come from striving to be excellent. Rather, God delighted in filling Daniel with His Spirit, empowering him to be excellent in all that he did. This is what divine advantage is all about. When God, who is undefeated and undefeatable, lives in and works through us, we have divine advantage.
The fight is fixed! Remember Jesus’ encouragement to his disciples in John 16:33; “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Even though your enemy is fully aware that Christ has won the victory, trust that the enemy isn’t going down without a fight. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, it feels like we can never overcome or escape the temptation we face. Two minutes of temptation can feel like two hours. This is when we must remember that although we live in bodies, we are spiritual beings, and to walk in the understanding of the victory we have, we must resist the devil’s attempt to blind us from the truth.
To operate in divine advantage, we must renew our minds. What makes sense in the world of the spirit will not make sense in the world of the flesh. We must learn to see the realities of God’s promises, even when our surroundings suggest the opposite. Although it seems like you must give in to your physical urges, believe that God always provides a way out and empowers you to escape when temptation arises.
Pray that the Lord would empower you to choose His will and His pleasure daily. Pray that God would not lead you into temptation but would deliver you from every evil. Pray that you would be so addicted to God and His Word, that you would hurry to find and use every escape route He provides to free you from temptation. Pray for a longing to pray and to commune constantly with God.
Day 3
Scriptures: James 4:7, Galatians 5:16, Proverbs 24:16
RESIST
One of the ways that the Bible teaches us to combat the devil is to “resist” him. The word “resist” is from the Greek word anthistemi, which is a compound of the words anti and istimi. The word anti means against, as to oppose something. The word istimi means to stand. When placed into one word, it’s translated, “to stand against” or to defy the operation of a thing. The instruction to resist suggests that the devil desires to move us in a particular direction, to sway us towards a certain action, and to convince us to walk a certain path. As the enemy of God, we should not be ignorant of the fact that the devil wants to urge us to live in opposition to God’s perfect will. We see his successful attempt at this in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. But with Jesus, we see the devil’s failed attempt and Jesus’ perfect display of resistance.
Like Jesus when He was tempted by the devil, we must be immovable concerning the truth of who God is, what He has said, and what His heart is towards us. When faced with temptation, the difference between Jesus and Eve was that Jesus remained assured of these truths and refused to bend with the devil’s deception. Jesus believed God to be a good Father. He believed God’s Word as evidenced by His use of those words to overcome the devil’s lies. He also believed in the pure intentions of His Father to glorify Him. Thus, Jesus did not turn stone to bread, He did not jump from a cliff, and He most certainly did not bow to the devil. He “stood against” him.
What does resistance look like practically in our lives? It looks like the refusal to “just peek”. It looks like the removal of sexually explicit songs from our music list. It looks like setting physical boundaries in your relationship to ensure that your sexual attraction does not lead to sexual sin. In essence, resistance is about identifying the ways the devil tries to move you towards sin and radically taking a stance against his pressure. Pray for the boldness and the wisdom to use the authority given to you to resist the devil.
Day 4
Scriptures: John 2:15-16, Titus 2:11-12, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4
SCATTER
When Jesus saw what people were doing in the temple in John 2, He wasn’t angry because people were making money. He was angry because of the corruption in the hearts of the sellers. Let’s set the scene. It’s almost Passover, and people – foreign worshippers or Gentiles (non-Jews) have traveled a long distance to celebrate. Two crucial things for these foreign worshipers were animals for sacrifice and coins that local merchants would accept. These merchants charged high rates for these essential items because they knew the Gentiles had no other option. So instead of making it easy for Gentiles to come into the temple and encounter the Spirit of God, they became a hindrance. Jesus drove them away so that the Gentiles could have unrestricted access to the temple of God.
Anything that defiles our temple is there for the purpose of hindering us from experiencing God. The chief priests and scribes were comfortable allowing the house of prayer for nations to be perverted and turned into a den of robbers. Others may have thought the merchants were just helping out the foreigners. But Jesus, without speaking to them, saw they were thieves and robbers polluting and perverting the use of God’s temple. We must pray for our eyes to see what the physical eye cannot grasp. It is important for us to discern the spirit behind ALL things – even our own actions and intentions.
May we never be comfortable with perversion! Our body is for the use of the Spirit of God alone. May our spiritual eyes be open to see when lust and any of its siblings have come disguised as love, comfort, or opportunities. This is a time for us to reflect and dig out the things that hinder us from operating as the temples of God that we were destined to be. To reject and renounce the beliefs, agreements, desires, and spirits that oppose the Spirit of God. To renounce is the act or practice of giving up or rejecting something once enjoyed or desired – It is a formal declaration of separation. Today, we make a formal declaration that we renounce and scatter everything and anyone standing in our way of getting more of Jesus Christ.