May our hearts and minds continue to birl away from self and move through the currents of this world, carried by His Word, to the eternal embrace of our Saviour, Christ Jesus.

Sunday, March 27, 2016

Choose Well



In the message at church a couple of Sundays ago, our pastor gave a wonderful explanation about this passage and what was taking place in the temple…

“…My temple will be a house of prayer”
Luke 19:45 ~ New Living Translation

One phrase he used really jumped out to me. It was, “this temple is unique.” He went on to explain that people came from all over to offer sacrifices because this is where God resided ~ the Holy of Holies. They would travel great distances to offer sacrifices ‘directly’ to God, taking care to offer the best they had.

Taking that thought, along with the scripture to now, our present day...this temple is unique ~ that’s us! Each of us, uniquely made by our Father in heaven. Each of us loved by Him, so much so He sent His Son to be our sacrifice. Each of us given opportunity to accept His gift of grace, to allow Him entry to our soul, to fill us with His presence every moment. Each of us able to be with Him in every moment…no traveling anywhere to be with Him, He’s already right here!

The Scriptures declare, “My temple will be a house of prayer…”

We are called to be in constant communication with Him, not acknowledge Him on Sundays, or whenever we get in trouble… We should be His apprentices, His representatives, not clock punchers, controllers and list checkers.

”…but you have turned it into a den of thieves.”   That is what we do in our own souls when we hold things back from God, look to ourselves first and use things for our own benefit. When we do not seek Him with all of our being, heart, mind and soul, we are the thief.

Jesus came to show us the way of Spiritual Reality. Our spiritual life, our soul is not something we turn on and off ~ it is, always. So, to imagine there is existence apart from Spiritual Reality is only a delusion we choose to live by…not reality.
The beauty is, prayer changes us. It lifts the veils of delusion and allows us entry to the life of Spiritual Reality. Understanding that God created us to be His temples here on earth, to each uniquely live out His purpose for us, will most definitely bring us to seek Him out ~ and what better provision is there than in “a house of prayer” created by Him, in each of us.

God gives us choices. Scripture is full of His providing circumstances for His people to choose to follow Him, or not…there are consequences to either side of the line we may choose to live on. We live in His reality, whether we “choose” to acknowledge it or not, also.
  
“If you decide that it’s a bad thing to worship God, then choose a god you’d rather serve—and do it today…As for me and my family, we’ll worship God.”
Joshua 24:15 ~ The Message Version

We are uniquely loved by God!!!! 
 Choose well 