Many of you may know the story of how God asked King Solomon to build the temple in which God would live among the people. The Temple was God’s way of telling the people that if they lived in obedience to Him, He would dwell among them in His house.
They had their houses. And then God had His. In 2 Chronicles scripture says that when Solomon finished building God’s Temple, he prayed. And when he finished praying, God moved into the Temple. 2 Chronicles 7:1 says it this way. “When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.”
God moved in that day and started to live with and among His children. When He did this, it is said the priests and the children of God could no longer enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord’s house.
So, what about today? The temple built by hands for God is no longer here. It has been destroyed many times over. God wanted a better place in which to live among us. He wanted a place closer and more intimate than His own separate house. He wanted something warm and alive like Himself.
Still, He doesn’t want to just live among us, He wants to live within us. So, He sent Jesus to prepare a way for Him to live within us by His Holy Spirit. We ought to think of our bodies now as home to His Spirit. 1 Corinthians 6:19 says it this way. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own.”
It took Solomon seven years to build the first man-made temple for God. And then before God could inhabit His house, it had to be sanctified—set apart—made Holy. That is why Solomon prayed when the work was all done building the temple.
So, in a like way, we are being prepared to be His Temple today. And God is fast at work this time Himself, preparing our lives to be His home. The first Temple was made for God by the hands of man.
Now His next Temple is you and me, and He is doing the work Himself. He is always cleansing us. He is always sanctifying us. He is always working to make us more Holy each day.
Solomon used the best materials available at the time to build God’s Temple. But with you and me, God uses the best of Himself to build up our lives to be home to His Spirit. But this time, we get to participate in preparing a house for God.
If you want your life to be filled with the Glory of God, you should empty your life of things that bring you glory.
When God fills your life with His presence others will be drawn to you. They will not have to stay away as the priests of old had to stay away. No, this time, when God moves in, He invites others to drop by to see what is going on.
So, prepare yourself as best you can for His move-in.
Make your life a resting place for His life. If you have too many things going on with you, He may not find the place to come and rest with you.
Make your life dependent on the presence of His strength. If you live in your own strength, He may find that you do not need His presence as much as He would like your presence with Him.
Make your life a place that shows the salvation of the Lord. If you act like you do not need to be saved, He may move on to someone crying out for the gift of Salvation.
Make your life a place that rejoices in His goodness. Be grateful for everything and selfish for nothing. Gratefulness unlocks the fulness of life that is possible for us. It makes what we have enough and more. It turns rejection into acceptance. It makes sense of your present and your past, so you will have a better tomorrow. It turns strangers and enemies into friends.
So, pray that God would help you let Him finish the work to make your life His Temple. When you do, He will fill your life with the Glory of His Spirit. You will get to live with Him and not just near Him.
You are His Temple. Prepare yourself to be filled by His presence.
Live a Delivered Life. Love you.
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