Hello All,

I hope that you have been enjoying great times of intimacy with the Lord since my last email.  I was in that place with Him this week when He spoke to my heart about the reality that we are the house of God.  We can enjoy intimacy with Him because, as New Creations, we are the "temple of the living God..."

2 Cor 6:16
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in themand walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." NKJV

When you really ponder the idea that we “are the temple of the living God” it is both exciting and empowering.  I am not going to go into great detail about the Temple, but I do want to point out a couple of things that the Lord highlighted to me.  First, the Temple was a place of worship…they would come to the temple to offer sacrifices of worship to the living God.  I believe that is why Paul urged us to present “our bodies,” which is a temple, to God as a living sacrifice…which is our reasonable service…

Rom 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. NKJV

As we present our bodies as a living sacrifice we become a living expression of Jesus on the earth…which gives others an opportunity to have an encounter with Him and His house.  We have this great privilege because we have been bought with a price; therefore we glorify God in our bodies…which are God’s.

1 Cor 6:19-20
19 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? 20 For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's. NKJV

The second thing that I want to point out about the Temple is the fact that it was where God’s presence abode.  We can see from the previous verse that our body is “the temple of the Holy Spirit” Who is in us.  This also takes me back to the first passage I used, which states that He will “dwell in” us and “walk among” us (2 Cor. 6:16).  This is a perfect illustration of His abiding presence (in us) and His manifested presence (walk among).  I believe that is what Jesus was communicating in John’s gospel when He said that He would “manifest Himself” to those who walk in the truth of His word. 

John 14:21
21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." NKJV

I will close with the precious truth that inside the Temple, in the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant and on top of it was the Mercy Seat.  The Mercy Seat is the picture of God’s grace abounding where sin had once abounded…the blood of the sacrifice would be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat and grace would be given.  In the same manner, Christ shed His blood to cover us so that we could be freely given God’s richest grace. 

2 Cor 5:17-19
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.  NKJV

It is for this reason that we must see ourselves as the house of God…one which has been bought with a price and brings Him glory...by re-presenting Jesus to the world.

I love you all,
Todd