A not so common dwelling place

He made His dwelling among us...

Years ago, on one of our travels through the Wild West, we visited Canyon de Chelly and Mesa Verde National Monuments. We were absolutely intrigued by the way the Native Americans used to make their homes in the rocks. The so called cave dwellings form a stunning unity with their natural environment. At that time the word dwelling was new to me, so I looked it up in the dictionary: a place to live in, residence, house, abode...

But more so than a word from the dictionary or an ancient form of housing, dwelling is a biblical word. The apostle John writes about Jesus' coming to earth: The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us (John 1:14), in other words, He lived among us. Hundreds of years before that, the Psalmist cried out: I long to dwell in your tent forever (Psalm 61:4). In the Old Testament the people of God desired to live in the House of the Lord (the traveling tent or tabernacle, and later on the Temple in Jerusalem) and so to be continually in His presence. How that has changed! Now, God desires to dwell in our tent! A total opposite situation! Where people used to cry out to live with God, now God cries out to live with people. The very Son of God came for that purpose, to live among people, to occupy their hearts, to make His living space among men...

In 2 Samuel 7:5 God asked David if he was going to be the man to build Him a house to dwell in. I believe He is asking that same question today. Are you building a house/temple for Me to dwell in? Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received form God? (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)...I hope our answer will be yes! We must honor God with our body by making it a welcoming place for Him to live in.

The last chapter in my latest book GRACE OF GIVING is about the sacrifice of the body, about giving our body to God as a living sacrifice, as a place He may use as a residence. It is far beyond my comprehension that God desires to live in me, but I see it as an honor and I long to offer Him a clean house where He can feel right a home. What about you?

I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:16).