Temple of God - Application

God gave specific instructions for the construction of both the Tabernacle in the wilderness and the Temple built by Solomon. Interestingly, the individual items in the Temple relate to our walk and calling in Christ.

As Born Again Believers, we are the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; John 2:21 Psalm 139:14). We are the church of the Living God, who is our pillar and the foundation of all truth (1Timothy 3:15).

We start with the door of the Temple. We cannot enter God's Temple without first coming through the door of Jesus Christ (John 10:7, 9). He is our way, truth and life; and no one comes to God except through Jesus (John 14:6).

Next is the slaughter on the brazen altar (Exodus 39:39). An innocent, unblemished animal is sacrificed for sin, just as Jesus is our ultimate sacrifice (1 Peter 1:19).

With Christ's blood on our hands, we come to wash at the laver, which typifies washing in the water of God's Word (Ephesians 5:26). Once we are cleansed from our sins, we can enter the Holy Place.

We grow in our relationship with God in the Holy Place. We learn to pray at the altar of incense (Exodus 35:15; Revelation 8:4). We come to the candlestick, for light in this dark and dying world (2 Chronicles 4:7).

We also feast on God's Word, and with Jesus who is our bread of life (Exodus 25:30; John 6:25-59; Matthew 4:4). Jesus gave His life for us to open up our fellowship with God in all of His glory (1 John 5:20; Hebrews 9:3).

As we mature in our walk with God, we can enter into the Holy of Holies. This symbolizes our spirit and is the place of God's very presence in our life.

The clay tables of the Ten Commandments is housed in the Ark of the Covenant. This is covered by the Mercy Seat, giving us full access to God's mercy and grace, as well as His presence residing between the wings of the two cherubim (Exodus 25:17; Hebrews 9:5).

Prayer:

Father God, if we enter the Most Holy Places in your temple with any sin hidden or blatant in our life, we will "die" in Your presence (Leviticus 16:2-34).

Remind us about the stages of Your tabernacle and that we can only enter into Your presence through Jesus who is our door, our sacrifice, our cleanser, our bread of life and our high priest.

Thought for the Day:

It is only as we cleanse our sins by the blood of Jesus and dedicate our life to Him, regardless of our vocation, that we can survive in the presence of our holy God.

A Willing Heart

Mother Nature gives us a perfect picture of what it means to be totally surrendered to God. The flowers bloom where they are planted. The animals interact in the area of the world where God placed them. Even the bugs dutifully fulfill their destiny. God’s Spirit and blessings are often blocked in our human life, however, because of our lack of surrender to Him. We miss out on all that God planned for us before we were even born (Ephesians 2:10).

Each of us is the Temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16), but we do not allow Him to feel at home in us. We are so caught up in our own agenda, that we spin our wheels and get nowhere fast. We ignore and neglect God most of time. Some of us remember to give Him a few moments of time before we fall asleep, and some even rise up to give Him an hour of time prior to starting our day. Yet, this is not even close to totally surrendering to Him.

We are too used to maintaining control of our life. We do not want someone else to tell us what to do or to dictate the circumstances in which we live. We fear that we will suffer too much pain and loss if we surrender completely to God. We live in anxiety, fearing that He may send us to darkest Africa or coldest Alaska! Thankfully, God facilitates our surrender by freeing us from sin, calling us to Himself, providing all of our needs and helping us to trust in His faithfulness (Mark 9:24).

God sanctifies us and He will also perfect us, but it takes complete surrender to His plans for our life. God requires a willing heart. Then He will do the rest (Philippians 2:12-13). If we live in the moment, without regretting the past or fearing the future, God will fill us with peace, which exceeds our human understanding. He proves to us how gracious He is and that He plans to give us a future full of hope (Jeremiah 29:11). Jesus is our perfect example of a surrendered life.

Prayer:

Father God, even though You required that Jesus go through the cross, You shortened the time He normally would have hung there (Mark 15:44). You also shorten the time of our trials on earth, and You give us the grace to experience them with victory rather than defeat. You give us the faith and courage to face the future by granting that Your divine nature, which dwelled in Christ, dwells in us through Your Holy Spirit. We believe, and You help our unbelief (Mark 9:24). We completely yield our self to You to use for Your glory.

Thought for the Day:

When we totally surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in our life, God uses us for His Glory.

Continual Peace and Security

Many people rely on their heart to lead them, but they can end up making foolish decisions that hurt them in the long run (Proverbs 28:26). Too often our soul causes us to fall into trouble. We give into all sorts of impurity, greed and idolatry when our soul – our thoughts and feelings - guides us (Colossians 3:5-7). We may futilely plan our goals and decisions from our heart, but the Lord ultimately determines our steps (Proverbs 16:9).

Only the counsel from the Lord through our spirit will help us to prosper (Proverbs 19:21). As we commit our life to the Lord, He establishes our plans, and they will succeed (Proverbs 16:3). We have a strong fortress within our spirit, when we trust Christ with our life. We can take refuge within us through every trial and temptation, because our Divine Comforter is there. We retreat there and find continual peace and security (Psalm 91:1-2).

There is no need to cry out to God, to long for Him, or to desire more of Him, because the complete triune God dwells within us from the moment of our salvation. The problem is not that God is not close to us, but that we have moved away from Him. Our body is the temple of God; our spirit is the throne of God. We can continually rest in Him, if we will relinquish control of our life to God and enter into His divine rest (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Hebrews 4:10).

Our physical senses and human soul will lead us astray. The spirit of God will we lead us in peace and certainty, because the Lord fights our battles (2 Chronicles 20:15). We do not add the divine nature of God to our human nature when we get saved (2 Peter 1:4). Christ in us is our new identity. God’s divine nature replaces our human nature. God regenerates our spirit and we are Born Again. We leave the kingdom of darkness and live life in the Kingdom of Light (Ephesians 5:7-14).

If we use our five senses to indulge in the flesh, we will remain spiritual pigmies; but as we neglect sin and dwell in the Spirit, we grow stronger in our spiritual life. We can still choose to walk according to the flesh; but we are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit (Romans 8:9). As we walk in the Spirit, we no longer want to fulfill the desires of our flesh (Galatians 5:16, 25). We hunger after righteousness and despise the flesh (Romans 8:1-2).

Prayer:

Father God, You chose us in You before the creation of the world, to live blameless and holy in Your sight. Through Your foreknowledge, it pleased You to predestine us to be adopted as Your children through Christ (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:4-5). We are Your workmanship, created in Christ to do good works, which You prepared in advance for us to do (Ephesians 2:10). We are now children of light. Sin and darkness have no allure for us anymore (1 Thessalonians 5:5). Our citizenship is now in Heaven and we are heirs with our Lord Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20; Romans 8:17).

Thought for the Day:

As children of our Abba Father, God gave us His Spirit to lead and protect us each moment of the day. - Romans 8:14-15, Galatians 4:6-7