The House of Prayer

I had the opportunity this month in my temple shift to welcome people to the temple as I stood at the recommend desk. We are encouraged to greet them with the phrases “welcome to the house of the Lord” or “welcome to the temple.” Perhaps another greeting that would be appropriate is this one: “Welcome to the house of prayer.” That is a name given commonly to the temple throughout the scriptures. Jesus said to the people when He was concerned with their activities at the temple, “My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). Mark’s account similar states, “And he taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer?” (Mark 11:17) The temple should be known to the nations as a house of prayer. Isaiah used the same phrase when he wrote, “Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people” (Isaiah 56:7). The Lord wants his house to be called “an house of prayer.” Modern scriptures similarly give the temple this name, among others: “Prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 88:119). In the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, Joseph similarly said, “And that this house may be a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of glory and of God, even thy house” (Doctrine and Covenants 109:16). We can and should of course pray wherever we are, especially in our homes. And yet there is I believe additional power to our prayers when they are offered in the temple. One of the purposes of temples is for us to have a special place to pray. 

               One of the crowning moments in the Old Testament was the dedication of the temple by King Solomon. He gave the dedicatory prayer, and in it he said this: “Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer, which thy servant prayeth before thee to day: That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.” He pled with the Lord to hear his prayer consecrating the temple specifically, but this surely represents a plea to also hear all the prayers that would be offered by those coming to His house. Later in the dedicatory prayer he also said this, “If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, blasting, mildew, locust, or if there be caterpiller; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be; What prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, or by all thy people Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house: Then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do, and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)” (1 Kings 8:28-29, 37-39). When we have any problem, whether with hunger or sickness or war or even caterpillars, we can offer prayer and supplication to Him in His house and plead that He will “forgive and do and give” according to our needs and our hearts. And if we can’t make it to the temple itself, these words suggest that simply inclining ourselves towards His house—whether literally or figuratively—will give us power. I know that there is indeed strength in seeking help for our problems through prayer in His holy house, the “house of prayer.”