Ezra 6:16 ~ And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy.
For four years the children of Israel had labored on the temple in Jerusalem. On this day the house was finished. God had commanded it, the elders and others had labored side by side, heathen kings encouraged it, everyone was about it and the house was built. Hallelujah, what a day! Let’s dedicate this house!
Scroll forward to today… who’s building it now? There are no heathen leaders encouraging church in America, but rather encouraging the embracement of pagan religions.
I don’t speak of a physical building, church buildings across the country are a dime a dozen. And hundreds of them, if not thousands sit empty and in shambles. But we know now that the temple where God dwells is within us.
What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
Are you building it?
I myself sometimes feel like the children of captivity in the land of the free. Freedom of expression we’ve discovered is only free to those who want to hear nothing of Christ. You can pray and build in the name of Buddha, Allah, or a purple cow in the middle of a cornfield and no one cares, just don’t mention the name of Jesus. So how do we build this temple when we are troubled on every side at the very mention of our Lord, media caters to filth and the demons of the flesh are but a mouse click away?
II Corinthians 4:8-10 ~ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Stay on the right side. Don’t cave in to what the world says is acceptable, it’s distressing. When the children of Israel built the temple they used only the best. In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid… (Ezra 6:3a)
Lay strong the foundation of your life which is:
- The Word of God, stay in it!
2 Timothy 3:16 ~ All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
- The House of God, stay in it!
Hebrews 10:25 ~ Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
- Prayer, stay in it!
Philippians 4:6 ~ Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.
We seldom have the world encouraging us to build the temple of God within ourselves. If anything they tear it down brick by brick. But if we stick together and encourage one another in the faith we can celebrate every day. I hope today finds you in the house of God that preaches the Word Loud and Strong! Stay in it!
