1 Chronicles 29:10-20 NLT Then David praised the L ord in the presence of the whole assembly: “O L ord , the God of our ancestor Israel, may you be praised forever and ever! Yours, O L ord , is the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty. Everything in the heavens and on earth is yours, O L ord , and this is your kingdom. We adore you as the one who is over all things. Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. “O L ord our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. You know I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously. “O L ord , the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make your people always want to obey you. See to it that their love for you never changes. Give my son Solomon the wholehearted desire to obey all your commands, laws, and decrees, and to do everything necessary to build this Temple, for which I have made these preparations.” Then David said to the whole assembly, “Give praise to the L ord your God!” And the entire assembly praised the L ord , the God of their ancestors, and they bowed low and knelt before the L ord and the king.

Houses of Prayer; Houses of Light In anticipation of temple construction, David offers a remarkable prayer, a prayer that serves as a template or model for each of us as God's stewards. The prophet Isaiah later refers to that very temple as God's 'house of prayer' (Isa 56:7). And David himself anticipates that reality, declaring in Psalm 18:6, 'In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.' A house of prayer. In Psalm 18:28, David uses imagery that permeates Scripture, saying, 'My God turns my darkness into light.' An unmistakable message. A house of light. Pastor John Timmer relates a simple story about a house in need of light: Once upon a time a man lived in a house without a window. Naturally, it was very dark inside his house. One day he said to himself, 'I'm sick and tired of living in a dark house. I want to get rid of the darkness. I want light instead of darkness.' So what did he do? He took a large pail, filled it with darkness, carried it outside, and emptied it. Then we went back into the house and did the same thing all over again. He filled the pail with darkness, carried it outside, and emptied it. He did this all day. But by the end of the day his house was just as dark as it had always been. Then the man said to himself, 'This isn't going to work. This is not the way to get rid of the darkness. There must be another way. But how?' That night he went to bed, very tired and very sad. But when he woke up the next morning, the answer came to him. 'Now I know how to get rid of the darkness,' he said. He took a big hammer, knocked a big hole in the outside wall, and made a window. Through this window the bright sunlight came pouring into his house. Our lives are like a house without a window. It's dark inside. To make it light inside, we need a window, a window through which God's light will come pouring into our lives. Prayer is such a window. Without prayer our lives are dark. With prayer, our lives are light. Each time we pray, God's light comes pouring into our lives. Today God dwells in clay houses (see 2Co 4:7) - houses that nonetheless reflect his glory to a sin-darkened world. Like breath the light not only pours in but gets exhaled right back out! Houses of light; houses of prayer.