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!!

Beware of Idols

I John 5
v. 21: Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

Exodus 20
v. 2: I am the Lord your God...
v. 3: Do not have other gods before me.

When we read these scriptures, it's easy to imagine an idol or gods as something obvious like those of the Ancient Near East or some cultic religion. But, what about the not so obvious idols and gods?

Our country thrives on entertainment...movies, music, sports...you name it, we love it. We will often pay outrageous prices for just a few hours of watching the performances or games. We see the stars of the show or game, often as something beyond human. Remember the stories of girls who would faint when they saw Elvis or the Beatles?? There are even stories of fans going into cardiac arrest or even being stampeded by a crowd of fans who just wanted to get closer. Is it just an expression or an accurate assessment when we have a show that is seeking the next "American IDOL"?? How about the singers who are on tour and make ridiculous demands on the host city for things in their dressing rooms or hotel rooms including but not limited to changing the color and decor of the room they will be staying in for just one night. I'm not even going to get into to the salaries entertainers and sports figures receive that exceed the lesser important professions like teachers, police, fire fighters or our military.

Then there are the even less obvious idols and gods in our lives...money, our kids, our bodies, our status, our cars, our homes, any addictions we may hold onto...you get the idea.

It's like this...anything we spend more time, energy, resources, thought or heart on than God is our god or idol. It needs to be demoted or it needs to go. If you think I'm pointing a finger, believe me, there are three more fingers pointing right back at me.

A Puff of Smoke

James 4:
v. 13: Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit."
v. 14: You don't even know what tomorrow will bring -- what your life will be! For you are a bit of smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.

If we really saw our lives as a bit of smoke that appears then vanishes quickly, how much importance would we place on it? How might it change our focus?

We don't know what tomorrow will bring. I heard a friend say yesterday, "Life can change in a second." Sometimes we think we have it all figured out then something unexpected happens and all our plans dramatically change. The people in Japan didn't know a 9.0 earthquake was going to hit, followed by a horrendous tsunami; I didn't know one beautiful autumn morning that I was going to break my kneecap causing me to put my life on hold and take a leave of absence from seminary; Aron Ralston didn't know a boulder was going to fall on his arm while rock climbing, trapping him for 127 hours only to be freed by him amputating his own arm.

We make our plans and hope they come to pass then God shows us He has other plans. This is not to say God causes bad things to happen to us but I do believe He allows them into our lives because He is going to use them to His glory. But James explains that we shouldn't stop planning but be willing to submit to God's will...

v. 15: Instead you should say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that."

What can man do to me??

Hebrews 13
v. 3: Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for He Himself has said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." [Deuteronomy 31:6]
v. 4: Therefore, we may boldly say:

The Lord is my helper;

I will not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

Psalm 118:6

I love these verses. In the process of talking about being free from the love of money and being satisfied with what we have, Paul reminds us that God has said He will never leave us or foresake us. When he says, "...be satisfied with what you have..." he adds to the same sentence,  "...for He Himself..." What we have is God. When we have Him we have all we need, and Paul knew that. We are satisfied. Nothing in this world can compare to God and nothing in this world can fill our emptiness and needs like He can.

Paul goes on to quote Psalm 118:6..."What can man do to me?" Paul knew that if the Lord is with us, we have nothing to fear. In the perspective of this truth, he knw that the only things man can do to us are steal our earthly possessions, slander our name, take a loved one out of our life, inflict bodily harm or even physical death. But man can never destroy our souls or snatch us from the hand of God.

I know this sounds harsh but form the perspective of the Kingdom of Almighty God, everything we set our eyes on here on this earth is temporary...even our bodies...TEMPORARY. But eternity, that's where we want our focus. Paul had his focus there and anything man could do to him here really wasn't a threat. He was so in love with God.

"Don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."     -Jesus [Matthew 10:28]



No Longer Infants

Hebrews 4:
v. 12: For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of God's revelation. You need milk not solid food.
v. 13: Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant.
v. 14: But solid food is for the mature - for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil


Chelsi Newborn


When my daughter Chelsi was an infant, she had  such a hard time taking formula. After just one ounce, BLAH!! Up it would come. This went on for quite awhile. We'd have to burp her every ounce and every time up it would come. I'm sure she was keeping some of it because she was satisfied and was growing. After awhile, formula wasn't enough. We slowly introduced solid food, starting with a tablespoon of runny, flavorless rice cereal.

6 months old

After awhile, we introduced veggie baby food. What a thrill to see her face light up with the taste of carrots, peas and sweet potatoes. "Mmmm!!" she'd hum as she ate each spoonful. Then it was time for the sweet tastes of applesauce and banana baby food. Eventually, we went from strained meat to pasta to solid foods.

It was a long process but today she is eating solid foods...some of which I'd never eat. 

What would have happened if I had not taken the time and effort to introduce new foods and just left her at the formula or runny, flavorless rice cereal stages?? Truthfully, she would have never developed and Child Protective Services would have taken her away from me. Why?? Because she would have died.

Our growth and development in our walk with God is no different. If after we accept Christ, we simply warm a pew every Sunday morning, we will never develop...or worse yet, we will die in our walk with God. We need to feed on God's word every day. We need to get to the point where it is not always spoon fed to us, but we hold the utensil and feed ourselves. We need to seek more and more intimacy with God so that we know His voice when He speaks to us. We need to be able to stand our ground when Satan launches an attack, by skillfully wielding the sword of the Spirit (the word of God) and having a listening ear to our Commander.

Don't remain an infant in your walk with God. There is so much flavor in a life devoted to Him.

PS Sorry Chels, I had to make a point.

Think About It...

Hebrews 2
v. 14: Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, He also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death--that is the Devil--
v. 15: and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.

v. 17: Therefore, He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
v. 18: For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested.

Wow!! Did you ever think about this?? Jesus came down from His throne where He was worshipped, honored, glorified...and took on humanness. For a time, He was even lower than the angels. He became one of us, only He was God. He did it to free us from the Devil and his power of death.

What's interesting about this passage is that He was "...in service to God..." Not in service to us, but God. This emphasizes the fact that God wants us...God wants us in relationship with Him as His children for all eternity. He truly loves us!!! We are the apple of His eye; the object of His affection; His precious treasure...You are the one He longs for!!

If you're going through a trial in your life, Jesus can help...He's been there.

Oh How He Loves Us!!