Open the doors of worship!
As leaders, everything that we do should be drawing people closer to God.
July 31
In the very first month of the first year of his reign, Hezekiah reopened the doors of the Temple of the LORD and repaired them.
2 Chronicles 29:3
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Open the doors of worship!
Hezekiah takes over the kingdom after his father Ahaz dies. The very first thing that he does is open the doors of the temple which had been closed for some time. This is just the first of many things that Hezekiah did as king to bring the people of Israel back into a right relationship with God.
The temple was the focal point of all Jewish worship. When the nation of Israel wanted to worship God, it was supposed to be at the temple in Jerusalem. Because it had been closed, the people were not able to worship God as they had been instructed and raised. Instead, they started turning to the pagan idols of the nations that surrounded them.
This verse spoke to me about the importance of the role of leader in the worship of God. God places leaders over us to lead and guide us so that we don’t wander from the path that he has set before us. God sets them up and then tells us to follow them. Their role is to lead us to God and His plans for our lives. What we have that the Israelites lacked was the Holy Spirit living within us. He now leads us as we become attuned to His voice. There are still leaders in our lives and we are still to follow them but now we don’t need to depend upon them as we follow God.
Some people have not attuned their ears to the voice of the Holy Spirit and there are those that sometimes ‘tune out’. At those times the leader is the one that should be leading us back to the ‘temple’ to worship God. The leader has the responsibility of opening the doors to the temple. Once the doors are open it is up to each person whether or not they go into the temple and worship God.
As leaders, everything that we do should be drawing people closer to God. We must be very careful not to close the doors to God through our bad or sinful behaviors. God will hold us to account for the times that we have allowed that to happen. Everything that we do should open the doors and clear the way for people to enter into an intimate relationship with Jesus.
As followers, we should be doing everything we can to learn to hear from the Holy Spirit as He leads us to that relationship. To help us learn to do that God has given us godly leaders to follow. We need to faithfully pray for them as they work to open the doors to worship, not just for you but for everyone they are called to shepherd. And if God has called you to follow Jesus by following their example; then do it. That means when they open the door for you that you go through it into the place that has been prepared for you. Jesus, teach us to listen and obey.
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