God of overturned tables and unflinching truth, You are the God who sees.
You see beneath the surface,
beyond the pageantry and practice.
You see what we’ve made sacred
the temples of our own making,
the pulpits we protect,
the rituals we repeat without reverence.
“You are the God who sees me.” (Genesis 16:13)
You see how we have polished the external,
but let our love grow cold.
We’ve traded reverence for ritual,
anointing what You never blessed.
We’ve built platforms instead of altars.
We’ve become so accustomed to the counterfeit that when the real appears, we don’t recognize it. And yet, still You came.
Not with flattery but fire.
You stepped into the temple,
not to observe, but to overturn.
“Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.” (Matthew 21:12)
You made a whip not out of rage,
but of righteous love.
You cleared the way,
because You desire true worship,
not performance, but presence.
Jesus did not come into the world to build temples, but to cleanse hearts.
So, Lord, cleanse us.
Purge the pretense.
Unmask the idols.
Tear down the altars we’ve built to pride, to comfort, to applause.
“Do not make My Father’s house a house of trade.” (John 2:16)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)
We’ve made peace with what You came to disrupt.
Disrupt us again, Lord.
Shake our systems.
Break our addiction to convenience and show.
Reveal where we've tried to domesticate Your Spirit
and traded repentance for relevance.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law… you shut the door of the kingdom.” (Matthew 23:13)
Make us Your temple.
Not a monument of our making,
but a dwelling place for Your presence.
Not a stage, but a sanctuary.
Not a performance, but a people.
Fill our lives with prayer,
our homes with holiness,
our hearts with hunger for You alone.
“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7)
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.
So let our worship be more than songs
let it be surrender.
Let it be sacrifice.
Let it be holy and wholly Yours.
“Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God this is your true and proper worship.” (Romans 12:1)
We confess, Lord
We’ve made idols out of comfort.
We’ve built churches without building disciples.
We’ve turned sermons into shows.
We’ve elevated leaders and forgotten the Lamb.
“Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven…” (Matthew 7:21)
“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:10)
Let Your holy fire burn again.
Burn what is false.
Refine what is true.
Make Your Church beautiful again
not in appearance, but in purity.
Let the stones cry out if we remain silent,
but may we not be silent.
“Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16)
So here we are, Lord:
We offer You more than our voices
we offer our hearts.
Overturn the tables inside us.
Sweep out the idols.
Drive out the compromise.
Rebuild us into a house of prayer.
“Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in His holy place?
The one who has clean hands and a pure heart.” (Psalm 24:3-4)
We lay down performance.
We pick up obedience.
We lay down control.
We pick up the cross.
Hosanna still, not just with our lips,
but with our lives.
“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 21:9)
Come, Lord Jesus.
Cleanse us, call us, dwell in us, let Your holiness become our hunger.
In Your holy, merciful, table turning name Jesus, we pray,
Amen.