Thieves in the Temple

Thieves in the Temple

Thursday, September 3, 2009 at 7:22pm

I find it very hard to believe that in the last couple of months, I sit down and listen to the words to songs that I didn't understand when I was younger. Prince (Rogers-Nelson) is one of those highly prolific artists that are on the lines of awesome super stardom. I think in the wake of the death of Michael Jackson, we have to remember the contributions that Prince has given to society. This is the same man that foreshadowed the entire ushering in of the new millennium before we really had a chance to think about it. "Two-Thousand, zero, zero, party over, out of time. So tonight we're gonna party like its Nineteen-Ninety-Nine"

I remember going to the movies on occasions with my dad, and my brother was an avid Prince fan. Please note, that my dad, my brother, and I, are musicians, so sitting through a two hour movie of Prince's was not really a boring thing for me. I remember my brother playing all of Prince's music while he was growing up, while he was fascinated with Prince, I came enamored with Michael Jackson and other legends.

Here I am in my 30's and with a void of really good music, I start humming the first thing that comes to my mind. Being a man that is walking in my calling from God, I was very surprised when I started singing these lyrics:

Love come quick
Love come in a hurry
There are thieves in the temple tonight
They don't care where they kick
Just as long as they hurt you
They’re thieves in the temple tonight


For the reference of this note I outlined more of the song, although all I could remember at the time was the initial three stanzas.

As I started to sing the song, it occurred to me that this is yet another battle song, a song sung in worship that is invoking the Holy Spirit with specific attention to the atmosphere that is around me. So being a man that stresses lyrical content I needed to have a dialogue with the Holy Spirit. Why this song? Why this Prince Song? Surely there were more things that could be given me than something that I have already heard. With the track record that I knew about Prince's music, I concluded that surely there was a message in here that God wanted me to share with the people.

While writing this as an impromptu account, taking time to read 1st John 3 & 4, I am convinced that Prince received as most musicians do a message from God through song and lyrics.
I do not know what the intentions were of "the Artist" when he first penned the words but here is my account of their meaning for us.

We are living in a world where it is becoming easier and easier to become selfish. Selfishness is defined as being concerned with primarily oneself or having very little regard for others.
(Webster’s New Basic Dictionary)

We have as a people taken a personal stance that promotes that we have to do for ourselves before any one else. We are usually in a place where, we’re holding on to our surplus of wares in the event that somehow someone is going to get into our personal stash. As if someone is out to steal something from us.

Even in church, we have members of our congregations that are awesomely gifted and talented beyond measure. We watch them as they are elevated and we may still be in the same place, and we wonder why it's them and not us, we have stored and tabulated all the things we have done for the church and we are sure that we were next in line for the elevation.

In these two examples something is missing and here is where I have to pick Prince’s prophetic brain. He sets a plausible resolution to what is missing in our world. There are many songs that set similar premises, like "What the World Needs Now is Love, Sweet Love", but I don't think our brains internalize that as something that is tangible. Yet a warrior’s call for the situation in worship is "Love Come Quick", it denotes a severity in matter and that we don't have time to waste there is a problem that needs to be reprimanded and controlled. Before the first cry can be responded to, the lyricist exclaims in prayer "Love, Come in a Hurry", even making the ability to hasten this love more and more dynamic because of it's strategic repetition and then when all else is seemed to be at an abandon for why "Love" needed to be invoked he then exclaims "There are Thieves in the TEMPLE...". For the purposes of outlining prophetic validity I am going to take the license of fragmentation, and remove one word because the time of day cannot be dealt with until we deal with the first things that are being outlined Love , Direction of Expectancy (come quick, come in a hurry), and Thieves in The Temple.

Love, what kind of love are we calling for? There are many usages of love in the bible that are distinctive, and although we do not know which love is being asked for of Prince, there can be an inference that it is the Agape Love of God. 1st John 4:8, we find that God is Love. Our reasoning for calling him to the situation quickly is that in 1st John 4:18,"There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment (or fear has its own torment). I am led to believe that we need to call on the love of God because it will drive out the fear. Once the fear in the situation is driven out we can then truly think about that which is happening to us, and then we know how to protect ourselves in the situation. The love of God, is what these 1st John passages are telling us that we need to embody to one another. How many of us have been in a situation where we literally have said "God help me"? Did you know what you were really saying was "Love come quick!” There is something about Gods love washing down on you first that allows everything else to be clearer. Now, let’s deal with the expediency of the matter.

When we call on love to come with a regard to a time period, this is where we have to be very careful in understanding the love of God. See, God's love unto us is timeless. Even in our understanding of God we will never come to really understand his timing. The ability scream "Love, come quick!” is really us asking the Holy Spirit to inhabit our praises while we earnestly seek the lord for his will. We need to worship instantly. The word of God tells us that we should pray without ceasing, and without being able to do that, we would open up our mouths and say something that we don't need to say. We will be liable to make an ungodly decision, and we become separated from God, and we react to what is happening to us in fear. Here is another clear example of what it is to worship in the midst of adversity. If we worship in the midst of adversity, we will be able to truly get a clear indicator of what to do. To be very honest, if we are in worship God's love is washing over our hearts, and if we are so consumed by his love, we would forget about what is going on in the situation, and we wouldn't be thinking about time. I believe that giving a time, allows us to call things that be not as though they were, so we are calling that which is already there, but we are using our ability to speak life and charge the atmosphere in worship, praise and prayer.

Who are these thieves? I must submit to you that this was a very difficult word to receive but as I really think about it, we encounter these thieves everyday and they don't know that they are thieves. Here is a great illustration. Remember when I talked about the people that are selfish, you remember the one's that are so full of Godly intentions, but they haven't prayed and stayed in Gods will for their lives. So every thing they do has something about them written all over it. Truth be told, they don't do anything with servitude to anyone else, if its not their way then it's not being done correctly. No one else matters and your heart becomes a casualty of their words if you don't have the smarts to yell out "LOVE COME QUICK". It's that person that every time you are on your way to a promotion, goes behind your back and demands that they be given some type of position, something of equal importance as you, although they are clearly not qualified, nor have they put in any time of service to others like you have. Here they go without the covering of God in a specific area, but they see what it does for you, and they want to come and take what you got. Yes, they’re operating as thieves. Are they out to get you on their own? No, they are propelled by their lack of operation in the will of God. So if they aren't operating in the will of God then what will are they operating in. If a man is not operating for the lord, and his motive is to steal what you have, it doesn't take a nuclear physicist to diagnose that you are operating with the enemy, a spawn of Satan himself. Is it not written, in 1st Peter 5:8 "Your Adversary, the Devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour" This is why that same, passage of scripture invites us all to be Sober, and Vigilant. He is searching for us at a time when it seems as if we are unaware or unprepared.

Now, in order to discuss the importance of the "Tonight" I have to draw from a very personal place in my own life. In 2003, I was diagnosed with something that was not curable. It meant that I would have to endure a lot of heavy stress on my mind and body. It was at that time that God was speaking to me vividly about why I was still alive. As God, continued to breathe into me, into my nostrils his breath of life, no matter what I looked like in that hospital bedroom, I felt positive about making through that ordeal. I had orders; I knew what God was requiring from me. I can also remember the Deacons of the church coming to my bedside with an ill-fated look. They came and prayed "God's will” and “that I accept God's punishment for my lifestyle". All the while I was very obedient and gracious for their coming and doing a service on the behalf of the church, but there was something in that prayer that started messing with me. It was at that time that all of my facilities were not operated by my body, I was breathing by tubes, doctors were coming in and out giving me sedatives for my pain and I was truly not in a place where I was able to be prepared. Friends came in to mourn my situation, and asked questions about my final arrangements. I was in a depression, but I was listening to God. Like I said before, sometimes we are calling him into the situation out of our knowledge that we can call and he would come to the faithful. Well, it was at that same moment, that this 107 pound body started to doubt everything that the word said, I started listening to the words of that prayer and believed that I was being punished for the way I have previously lived my life. Those Deacons and friends left, and I was in a place where I could’t keep worshiping and I didn't acknowledge God's presence. I was in a dark place. The bible tells us that where no faith is, there is fear. Fear has its own torment on our mind. With this I can tell you there are times when you will be your own enemy, you will be operating on behalf of the adversary; the devil. That is when it is well that someone walk into the room, while you are being a threat to yourself. While you are in your "Dark Night" syndrome, and you are a well scouted target and harm to yourself. The psychologists will call you depressive, and the enemy can't see the light in your heart, its fair game... That is when someone comes in and shouts... "LOVE, COME QUICK!" There is no need for a doctor, but "Love, Come in a Hurry!” Why? There are thieves in Your TEMPLE. Our bodies are the Temple of God, and when we leave the light out the enemy only know how to navigate in the dark. He's coming like a thief. So what are you going to do, are you going to let someone else be your adversary, are you going to be your own worse nightmare. No, somebody, anybody, everybody scream "Love, come quick! Love, Come in a Hurry! There are Thieves in the Temple Tonight"

Don't be a target, keep in worship, and be instant in your battle cry. Don't worry about their faces, because in due season the very ones that have been acting as your adversary will become your co-laborer, and you will have to remind them of how it feels to be protected from thieves. Now these things remain, Faith, Hope, and Love, but the greatest of these is Love.