At the age of 3, I asked Jesus to come into my heart. What a relief to know that I always had a best friend in Jesus! He forgave me of my sins and His death once paid the penalty even for the sins I have not yet committed! As I've grown, I've also grown in the grace and knowledge of Jesus, but I still have so much to learn! The God of the universe knows me, and wants me to know Him! He doesn't want me to know about Him like I might know about a professional athlete or a movie star. He wants me to know Him like I know my family, and like I will know my future husband! He wants me to know His thoughts. He wants me to know His heart. He wants me to know the intimate depths of His beauty and Majesty! Oh, to know my Savior more! That is what I long for!
I have come to realize that although I asked Jesus to come into my heart, I still do not understand the depth of what that means. In the Old Testament times, God dwelled among the people in the temple, more specifically in the Ark of the Covenant. In Exodus, God's presence was on the Earth as a pillar of fire and pillar of clouds. The Israelites, God's people, where slaves in the land of Egypt. After 400 years of slavery, they cried out to God, and He sent Moses to deliver them. God led the group, made up of over 600,000 fighting age men (Numbers 1:46), with a pillar of clouds in the day, and a pillar of fire by night. "He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people" (Exodus 13:22). What power! Once the Israelites were safely out of Egypt, God met Moses on a Mountain. "Now mt. Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently" (Exodus 19:18). When God's presence is somewhere, there is great power! God wanted a place to live among His people, so He instructed the Israelites to build the Ark of the Covenant. When God put His presence in this place no one could touch it. God instructed the Israelites to use poles to carry it, and when one man touched it, he died (2 Samuel 6:6&7). There was so much power, his body could not take it. After Moses would spend time with God, His face would literally glow! (Exodus 34:29-30)
When Jesus came down and lived as a perfect sinless man, and died in my place, He made a way for His presence to live in me! When I asked Jesus to come into my heart at the age of 3, God's presence took up residence in me! "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). My mom recently asked her youth group what the Church is, and they said it's the House of God. I am the House of God. I am the Church! It's not about where I go on Sunday mornings. It's not about how I act while I'm there. It's not about putting in my time. God is living in me ALL the time. Do I reflect that? It changes my view of things. What do I put the House of God through? He's inside me. Does He also live through me? He knows my heart. But is my heart fully His, or do I still cling to selfish ambition and impure motives. "Create in my a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" (Psalms 51:10). I am the House of God. God, with all His Power, lives in me! So, what is my Church like? What about yours?
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