The Temple of God

Today, my reading in the Bible was in II Chronicles chapter 7. It was after Solomon had built and dedicated the temple of God. This was God's response...

II Chronicles 7
v. 12b: I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a temple of sacrifice.
v. 13: If I close the sky so there is no rain; or if I command the grasshopper to consume the land, or if I send pestilence on My people,
v. 14: and My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sins, and heal their land.
v. 15: My eyes will now be open and My ears attentive to this place.
v. 16: And I have now chosen and consecrated this temple so that My name may be there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there at all times.

Can you imagine?? What an awesome thing the temple. The temple was where God chose to place His name; the temple had God's eyes and heart on it at all times. The people of the temple if they turned from their evil ways, humbled themselves and sought God's face and prayed would be heard from God. He would forgive them and heal their land!! Wouldn't it be awesome to have such a temple today??? We do...

I Corinthians 6:
v. 19: Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary (temple) of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?? You are not your own...

We are the temple!!! When we repent and accept Christ as our Savior, God hears our prayers and chooses us for His temple. We have the ears, eyes and heart of God on us AT ALL TIMES.

Humble yourself, seek His face and turn from evil and pray; He is faithful to forgive your sins and heal your land.

Blessings From God

This morning, I read in I Chronicles about David wanting to bring the Ark of the Covenant home to the city of David. But in the process of transporting it, Uzzah was guiding the cart and when the oxen stumbled he reached out to steady the Ark. Because Uzzah touched it, God struck him dead. David was angry at God and feared Him; so he decided not to take the Ark home...

I Chronicles 13:
v. 13b: ...instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
v. 14: The Ark of God remained with Obed-Edom's family in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed his family and all that he had.

In an earlier passage, I Chronicles 13 describes the Ark this way...

v. 6: ...the Ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord who dwells between the cherubim.

The cherubim were on the mercy seat which covered the Ark. There were two cherubs facing each other with their wings outstretched. God's Spirit dwelled between them. So when Obed-Edom had this in his home, he had the Spirit of God dwelling in his home.

When we accept Christ as our Savior, God's Spirit dwells in us...

I Corinthians 6:
v. 19: Do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?

If having the Ark of the Covenant in his home blessed Obed-Edom; imagine what having the Holy Spirit in us can do. God blesses us every day in many ways; not just materially, though I know He does that, but Spiritually.

Considering the fact that to just touch the Ark caused immediate death, it must have had an exalted place in his home. I'm sure it was treasured, respected...there may have been times when Obed-Edom just sat in its presence, after all, God was there. How much more should we honor, treasure and respect God's Spirit in us?

I tend to think we miss blessings in our lives when God and His Spirit are not in an exalted position in our lives. God can't be second to anything in our lives. When He is first; when He is exalted above everything...

Oh, how the blessings flow!!