Dwelling
Place
3/25/15
We
can always refer to this title as the place where our hearts are at or the
place where we live and make our home. All of these short
definitions would be accurate in describing this term and the importance of
having such a place to return to for sanctuary. It saddens me to believe
that many homes are subject to violence, hatred, turmoil and strife while just
next door the perfect reign protrudes from every inch. God has a
dwelling place as well and while mankind has done its best to push God from
this dwelling place, He continues to try and find ways back into this place,
because He understands what eternal separation means.
Over
the almost five decades of my life I have had the privilege to live in many
parts of this country. My parents were full time ministers and ones
that heard the call of God every day. This meant that sometimes we
would stay put for a few years and other times it means a short stay and then
off somewhere else. I can understand how many people would not adapt
to that type of living too well but I really did not have too much concern
about it, I always trusted my parents and had the security and belief in that
they knew what they were doing. Little did I know that it was God
directing our lives and not so much my parents which when I look back on it now
I have so much more pride and security about their ministry and the protections
of God over our lives and the lives that my parents ministered to.
With
all of these moves to different locations one can imagine that I lived in many
houses and that assumption would be very accurate. Some of the
houses were parsonages, some rentals and others my parents bought and then
sold. Off the top of my head I cannot remember too many houses that
I did not like; I cannot say that about some of the places that we lived in
(Hobbs, NM) but I knew that we were there for a reason and I happily accepted
that and went on my way. Not at one time did I ever not feel safe
when I walked through the doors of the houses that we dwelled in, nor did I
ever feel strife that I felt as I walked some of the streets of those
cities. My house was just that, my house and it was a place that
served as my foundation, my beginnings to the day and my endings of the
night. I received every type of instruction, guidance and living
standards that I ever could imagine and needed. Was it always simple
and easy? No, as the parent / child scenario played out there was
some times of question, but nothing ever to the point where destruction of the
household was considered.
I
look back on the times when I lived at home while I was growing up and I have
nothing but positive and fond memories and those memories are still present
each time I walk into my parents’ home today. The houses and
dwelling places that I knew as a child still follow me today and I try my best
to keep those same standards in my current dwelling place as well. I
guess the secret to those memories is that mom and dad always kept God first in
their lives, both in their duties concerning the church and their duties at
home. Most of us do not think about God and His dwelling place, for
we automatically think about heaven and how He is supposed to be there at all
times, but in all honesty heaven is not where God desires to be. Yes,
God is happy in heave and He lives there in all of His glory, truth and
splendor but that is not where His heart is at and where His heart desires to
live and to dwell. Many denominations place the important dwelling
place of God within the confines of heaven, but this is not the case, God
desires to dwell with His people and within their hearts because that living
space defines His purpose for our creation and represents His perfect ambitions
for His life and for ours.
What
is one of the first questions that “pops” into a person’s head giving the
previous statement? How can I say that and does the Bible say
anything about it? I can make a statement like that because God said
it to me and that He showed me what to say about that statement and yes, the
Bible does say something about it and fitting enough it is right at the
beginning of the Bible in Genesis. All through chapters 2 & 3
God continually is referred to being with mankind in the Garden of Eden.
First,
God establishes the relationship He will have with mankind by creating man in a
specific manner and a unique order that will give mankind an opportunity to be
restored if they ever go astray and try to do things on their own; which we all
know what occurred a short time down the road. Secondly, God made
mankind in a way that would allow Him to be with His creation and for His
creation to have the ability to understand what God desired from mankind. Thirdly,
God instilled with us a desire to have a relationship with God on a personal
and individual level at all times and on a direct or eye-to-eye level, not from
a distance. Fourthly, God understood that there was an enemy present
about that would seek to end this direct conflict due to the hatred of God
through his (Satan’s) own personal choices. All of which God tried
to show mankind of these facts and mankind chose to believe and enact his own
ways instead.
Our
enemy knows about this relationship status and the potential that it has for
our lives. Our enemy’s life is already played out and his fate is
sealed but our lives have the opportunity to repent and to restore that first
and true relationship with God, on that eye-to-eye and direct level and it is
this type of relationship that our enemy seeks to permanently cut
forever. How eager is our enemy to separate us from God? Satan
still has access to our lives but he can only act upon this access through a
chain yet the potential is still there. He succeeded in breaching
this hedge in the Garden of Eden and death soon followed.
After
Adam and Eve ate of the fruit God had no choice but to conduct certain
disciplinary actions against all parties involved. Human changes were
extraordinary for up until that point mankind knew no pain, agony,
disappointment, etc, etc. For Satan it really did not matter much
because his fate was already sealed yet even the serpent that he inhabited for
the occasion faced great changes as well. Everyone and everything
involved changed that day including the ground and how it produced its
life. God is an all encompassing God, so when He must deal with
things, everything involved must be dealt with accordingly, nothing left out.
Adam
and Eve were immediately cast from the Garden of Eden and told to make refuge
elsewhere. Can you imagine what was going through their minds during
this time, especially when they took that first step outside of the confines of
the Garden and turned to see and feel the flaming sword behind them? This
was unprecedented in human history and this action was all due to the fact of a
certain choice that had been made a short time previous. The eternal
gravity of the situation must have been enormous, for God during all of His
talks with Adam and Eve must have shared about the enemy and what he stood for
and how he was after them. Even Job stated that God would not strike
humanity for an unknown sin; boy does this belief ring true in today’s society!
Time
continued to play out in Adam and Eve’s life and they made a life for
themselves and fulfilled God’s command of reproducing the earth. Many
things must have been learned at that time by Adam and Eve but the result of
their sin continued to follow them and the development of that sin eventually
took its toll on one of their sons. As brothers go, we all know that
some type of rivalry must have been staked between them, it is a given. It
sets forth the first example of what would later become the division between
Isaac and Ishmael and the continued embattlement between those two brothers
today. Arguments eventually led to further aggravation and when the
time came for sacrifice the heat was turned up and blood was shed, but not for
the true sacrifice but out of anger; this was point “B” in the relationship
between Cain and Abel, one that our society is about to reach as well.
How
better of an example to be presented when at one time there was a perfect
relationship between Creator and creation and then after tragic events the
result of an imperfect human relationship led up to an end point in human
existence. No death was understood when God was in complete control
in their lives and when they decided to give that up for selfish desires, the
end point would be reached in the youngest son being murdered by his
brother. This is the reason why separation from God is so dangerous
for mankind because if it happens once, the door is open for it to occur over
and over again, especially when you deal in spiritual numbers.
It
is the state of separation from God that our enemy knows and continually wishes
for. He knows that if he can get under our skin enough that he can
weave his “magic” into our lives. It was not an immediate event with
Eve for it took time for her curiosity to be manifested outwardly enough for
the serpent (Satan) to strike. God understands how important the
relationship between Him and mankind needs to be. This is true since
He knows the spiritual heart and motives of His enemy and God also knows that
His enemy / our enemy shall never change his motives either, which serves as
the perfect reason as to why God shall NEVER change His ways; ever.
From
the moment God created mankind He has placed within us the ability to reverse
the process of separation that is between God and us. The process of
restoration is presented all throughout the Bible and has deep roots within our
personal lives as well. It is well known that when physical
relationships “go south” tremendous hurt and pain run rampant through every
aspect of our existence, lasting for generations or even longer. The
thoughts and actions that we tend to pursue against the other party can be
upright vicious and turn people against future relationships by these
attacks. The same vengeful tactics are used in the spiritual realm
against our lives as well.
It
is evident that our enemy hates us enough to completely end our relationship
with God. His choices created his finality and it is now his “job”
to create the exact same eternal separation that he created. I find
it so ironic that Lucifer was so bent upon creating things that through his
actions the only thing he created was his own eternal separation; is that the
epitome of the definition of choice or what? Now, if our lives just
included the physical side of things Satan would not have any motive to
separate us from God’s true dwelling place. It is the eternal spirit
that God placed within in us that Satan desires to separate from God. Our
spirit is what connects us to God and it is what He desires to have between His
creation, this is His dwelling place, the temple, us.
When
God is allowed to dwell in His “natural environment” He is the happiest and the
most content for He knows that He is in direct communication with His prized
creation. On the other hand when God is pushed away from this
environment, His heart aches for His creation to return and automatically
begins trying to reestablish the connection. God represents the
stability within the eternal connection through His inability to change; it is
our responsibility to correct measures when the eternal connection is in
trouble.
It
is this gap created by our own choices and it is through this gap that Satan
uses in order to further our separation from God. God has established way
in order for us to restore this gap and thus His dwelling place within our
lives and this restoration option is also our choice to obtain. In
Old Testament Scriptures the way that God required was to have humans sacrifice
an animal by shedding of the blood and then offering up the blood as a symbol
of our need for restoration. In the New Testament Scriptures God
miraculously and eternally supplied the last sacrifice so that this process
would be available for everyone who wished to restore themselves with their
Creator. The blood and the shedding of blood represent our eternal
status and through the simple acceptance of Christ into our lives provide us
not only with a covering in the eyes of God but also restores His dwelling
place within our lives.
There
is nothing God desires more than to be in the same dwelling place as His
children. In order for this to occur we must forsake all of the
worldly standards and return to the Creator’s ways. First of all it
is imperative that we understand that God cannot change His ways. Secondly,
we must concede that as long as we continue to place the world in front of God
we are at high risk for the gap between God and mankind to increase. Our
enemy shall always do his “job” by furthering and widening this gap and to confirm
that we never spiritually connect with God again. Satan was
displaced from his dwelling place with God, so why should this method come as a
surprise to anyone. God dwelling place is within our lives and that
is where He wishes to be. If we choose the world we will continually
find ourselves wanting knowledge and finding emptiness but if we choose God and
His ways our lives will come alive in an individual manner that will shine
throughout the world as a beacon of hope and trust.
DLB
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