Dwelling Place

Hey, friends.  A bit delayed on this...the choice of 'names' will surprise none of you who know of our recent move.  May it bless you as He, the eternal dwelling place blesses us!

Moses declared God to be the eternal dwelling place.  The Lord, our home; is not that a sweet thought to camp upon?  In this busy world, many families do not have the full blessings of ‘home’ – it has become a place to stop by rather than the center of life.  Homes are to be much more than a base of operation or a place to sleep.  A home is a place of nurturing and growth.  A home is to be a place of retreat and rest from the harshness of the world.  A home is to be a place of warmth and security.  A home is to be a place that is open to others -- a place that blesses all who enter in.  Our earthly homes are not always all of those things.  The dwelling place of God never fails to deliver all that and more!  Let us enter in that others may as well!

Scripture has much to say about the dwelling place of the Lord.  The Ark of the Testimony portrays the dwelling place of God as between the Cherubims.  Praise and worship for the glory of God accompanies these particular angels every time we encounter them in the Word.  Indeed, we enter the presence of God as we recognize His awesomeness!  Isaiah reveals to us that God dwells in the high and holy—and in the contrite and humble.  Two vastly distant extremes unite in God.  Truly, our minds cannot contain the breadth of His truths. 

John recorded much of Jesus’ teachings on dwelling in the Father.  Our uniting with God—receiving Jesus as our very life—allows us entry to dwelling in God.  In fact, Jesus declared Himself as the Door.  Heartbreakingly, many of Christ’s own disciples stumbled at this truth and turned away from Him at this point.  The humble and contrite heart accepts its limitations and needs—as well as the fulfillment of those needs, Jesus Christ.  Jesus’ prayer for us as believers in John 17 offers another glimpse of the splendor of dwelling in God:

That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. John 17:21

Dwelling in God allows us to be part of His glorious eternal purpose:  that the world may believe in Christ.  The love of God flows forth from those in union with Him and more souls enter into the joy of dwelling in Him.  May our joy in abiding in God radiate in our lives; may increasing numbers desire to enter in with us!