Word for Today, Wed, 27 Jul 2005: Your Dwelling Place
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
Dear friends,
Yesterday I shared with you a message written by Larry Davies
about Walking the Boundaries. It was about examining our
practices and habits, how we exercise our faith.
Today, I have another really good message for you written by
another one of my favorite authors, Max Lucado. He writes today
about the indwelling Holy Spirit of God, who wants to live in
us. For the genuine believer and follower of Jesus Christ, He
DOES live within us! Isn't that wonderful?
Max cites several passages of scripture, one of which I have
known since I took a "confirmation class" between the ages of
eleven and twelve. It was the first time for me that I really
dug deeply into the Bible (even though I had attended Sunday
School prior to that). The passage that still sticks with me is
Acts 17:28. I could not remember the location of the passage
until recently, when I looked it up again, but the words were as
clear in my mind as they were when I first learned them in the
Revised Standard Version (RSV) of the Bible: "for in Him we live
and move and have our being".
Wow! That's at least as powerful, if not more so, than the other
statement!
What is your home like? I do not mean the house or apartment
where you live right now. I mean the inside of your being? Is
it hospitable to the God of the universe? Is He welcome there?
Are your thoughts the kind of thoughts that would make Him
comfortable to be with you?
I have to deal with those kinds of questions in my own mind all
the time. Once in a while, I realize that my inner thoughts are
not at all the kind of thoughts I would want to entertain in the
presence of my Lord - yet He is with me! So I have to awake my
consciousness, realize what ugly, disgusting thoughts I have been
entertaining in the recesses of my mind, confess them before God,
who knows them, anyway, and ask Him to help me with my thought
life.
God wants to be with us, and He wants to dwell within us. We
ought to welcome Him throughout the day instead of making Him
feel unwanted or repulsed by what we think and do.
When we fail, as we all do from time to time, the right response
is to privately admit to God that we have just offended Him. He
knows it, so admit it quickly, welcome Him into your presence and
come into His Presence. He is gracious, slow to anger, quick to
forgive, and abounding in love. The more and more we see these
attributes, the less and less we desire to hurt the One who loves
us so much.
Yours in Christ,
Brian
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http://www.Crosswalk.com
UpWords from Max Lucado
July 27, 2005
Your Dwelling Place
by Max Lucado
You were intended to live in your Father's house.
Any place less than his is insufficient. Any place far from his
is dangerous. Only the home built for your heart can protect your
heart. And your Father wants you to dwell in him.
No, you didn't misread the sentence and I didn't miswrite
it. Your Father doesn't just ask you to live with him, he asks
you to live in him. As Paul wrote, "For in him we live and move
and have our being" (Acts 17:28 NIV).
Moses knew this. "LORD," he prayed, "you have been our home since
the beginning" (Ps. 90:1). What a powerful thought: God as your
home.
Your home is familiar to you. No one has to tell you how to
locate your bedroom; you don't need directions to the
kitchen. After a hard day scrambling to find your way around in
the world, it's assuring to come home to a place you know. God
can be equally familiar to you.
With time you can learn where to go for nourishment, where to
hide for protection, where to turn for guidance.
God can be your dwelling place.
God wants to be your dwelling place. He has no interest in being
a weekend getaway or a Sunday bungalow or a summer cottage. Don't
consider using God as a vacation cabin or an eventual retirement
home. He wants you under his roof now and always. He wants to be
your mailing address, your point of reference; he wants to be
your home.
Listen to the promise of his Son, "If my people love me they will
obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to
them and make our home with them" (John 14:23).
For more great resources to help you grow in your relationship
with God, please visit Crosswalk Faith:
http://www.crosswalkmail.com/xaksace_uwbdfd.html
View the full selection of devotionals available from
Crosswalk.com here:
http://www.crosswalkmail.com/ypfjpvp_uwbdfd.html
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--
Brian Masinick, mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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