"Does anyone remember this house-this Temple-in its former splendor?" Haggai 2:3
With every reference in our reading to the Temple, my mind rushes back to:
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own. 1 Corinthians 6:19
We have been able to relate to the hypocrisy and idol worship in the Temple. We been able to identify with the lack of respect and care given to the Temple. Today, we are asked to remember the Temple. Can you remember better days of your Temple? I certainly can. I remember days when I was careful about what was going in my temple. There used to be days when I gave greater care attention to my temple. My quiet times with Lord were much sweeter and full of rich spiritual nourishment. Physically I cared for and respected the condition of my temple. The Lord wanted His children "remember those days." I chuckle at what He said next, "And now get to work." (V4) To paraphrase, "Remember the good ole' days with nostalgia. Well, this isn't anything like the good ole' days. Snap back to reality and get to work restoring this place." (Lord, forgive me if over stepped my bounds, here.)
With our emphasis on Daniel's prayer and the temple reference of 1 Corinthians, that keeps creeping up, I know the Lord is clearly speaking to me. He is saying, "Snap back to reality and get to work restoring this place." It is easy, too easy to rest on the glory of previous mountaintop experiences. I am so guilty of sailing on the past splendor of the Lord that I forget the present and future splendor He wants to display in me and through me. My desire is for this Temple to be ready to hear these words:
Be silent before the LORD, all humanity, for He is springing into action for His Holy dwelling me. Zechariah 2:13
Oh Lord, hear me. Oh Lord, forgive me. Oh Lord, listen and act. Spring into action in me.
11 Comments:
Wendy, oh how we all are guilty of not taking care of the temple of God! Our bodies, the temple of His Holy Spirit. I shared with you all yesterday that God has brought me answers to my health issues that I have been having for 5 years now. Chronic illness, chronic fatigue, all of that is going to be behind me! What did it boil down to? NOT TAKING CARE OF MY TEMPLE!!! I have Candida, which is a yeast infection that has settled in my whole body. To get rid of it I am on 5 different supplements and I am eating a strict diet. No sugar, no yeast or vinegar products, no dairy, no gluten, no artificial sweeteners, no potatoes, corn or starchy veggies. I eat meats, non-starchy veggies, some fruit like berries and green apples, eggs, small portions of steel cut oats and brown rice, and cold-pressed oils. I drink two cups of decaf coffee in the morning and the rest of the day only filtered water. It all boils down to what we eat ladies. God had been trying to tell me this for a year. I have been reading off and on about Candida since last fall and always did not do the program because I thought it was too hard. Is is hard, yes it is, BUT I am feeling so much better and the more I read how what we eat effects our bodies the more I NEVER want to eat the bad stuff again. I don't want the junk anymore (I have been on this now 3 1/2 weeks). God said in Haggai 2:5, "My Spirit remains among you." That is how I do this every day, going one day at a time leaning on the grace God gives me for that day. I know that "the future glory of this temple will be greater than its past glory" and "in this place I will bring peace" (Haggai 2:9). I feel better and have more peace than I have in a long time. We have to take care of our temples sisters, we just do. It is God's home and I know I want to live life for Him to the absolute fullest and that means eating whole, not processed foods, exercising 4-5 days a week and keeping my spirit in tune with God's at all times.
If you want to know more about Candida and the effects yeast and fungus have on your body you can check out these great websites:
www.knowthecause.com
www.yeastinfectionadvisor.com/index.html
It has changed my life and this infection can manifest itself in SO many ways! Any chronic problems could very well be from a fungal infection. No more running to the doctor for band-aid fixes to symptoms, I am getting down to the heart of the whole reason I have the symptoms and as Psalm 1-03:5 says, "[God] will satisfy my mouth with good things, my youth will be renewed like the eagle's."
Hope you all have a blessed day!
Living for His glory and by His Grace,
Brandee, TN
Wendy, late last night I sent a message to a friend commending her on the work she has done on her "temple". Like Brandee wrote above, this friend has intentionally been taking care of her temple, and the results are amazing!!!! Brandee, you made me think of Dr. Don Colbert. I've often heard him speak re: Candida and how it goes undiagnosed most times. So glad you're feeling so much better.
Wendy, I too am asking the Lord to hear me, forgive me, and spring into action in me. The verse that convicted my heart this morning was familiar, but God spoke a new word to my heart. “Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin…” Zechariah 4:10
Lord, I need a new beginning.
Just over eight months ago (Jan 1) my heart was seeking You with great passion. I embraced Your Word each morning with fresh enthusiasm and expected You to speak to me. As time has passed, somewhere along the journey a subtle change began to occur.
God's Word was reduced to routine and became a textbook, replacing His story with history. Opening scripture daily, priding myself on not missing a day, yet missing the One who breathed the Words into being. I’ve been reading about life, but not receiving life. I am drenched in study, yet detached from the Savoir.
I have to confess that although I started this year writing my daily devotional blog posts with a heart to hear Him speak personally to me, somewhere along the line it became more of a daily project than a daily personal time. I went from reading His Word to see Him, know Him and abide with Him, to looking for a choice Word to share to create a great piece of literature. It has gone from the Lord impressing His truth on my heart for the purpose of changing me, to looking at ways to impress others with carefully crafted words. Don't misunderstand, I have still meant everything I've written, but it has somehow taken on a new agenda and as I reach for my Bible every morning, the desire to just see Him is clouded and overshadowed as I search for a phrase or verse that could be turned into a compelling devotional.
Father remove my desire for big. May I not despise small beginnings. Start a new work within me today. May I open Your Word with only one desire - to see You. Lord, help me come expectantly. Father, I long to hear You speak. Change me each morning. Lord, I want to follow hard after You.
Father, keep the holy from becoming habit,
Humbly,
Joy
Hello Sweet Family~
Susan, I'm very sorry that you are going through this. The prayer's yesterday given to you by karen and Diane were beautiful. When I was going through this very same thing, (well, it was not the same because I did not end up with caner,) but b4 I knew, and in my mind I had already planned on my self having it-because I was thinking the worst possible outcome...God opened Himself up,as sweet as He could be. He reminded me that either way, w/ cancer or cancer free, He was with me. He would be there through it all, and with Him, I could do anything. He told me that He would never allow me to go through anything that i could not handle. and, then, the part that really hit me...was the very few people that knew about it--- were going into the WORRY MODE. What if...and I was so impressed, (I could hear God telling me) to stand firm in my belief. I realized that this was an opportunity for others' to witness my "reactions." I'm good to tell others' not to worry, but now I had the chance to do it myself. I'll never forgot morning walk, when i just felt him all around me hugging me and Fathering me. It was like, yes daughter you can do this because i am with you always. My Glory will shine out of you if you choose to live your day in victory. That Godmoment was sweet, Susan. God is with you and He will be with you everyday, through this, and all of us in your adopted family of Christ will be praying for you. You are officially now on my daily prayer list. :) I love you, sister! We give Him the Glory in everything...
Good and bad. He's all knowing and knows our tomorrow's. We trust in Him.
Brandee, the Holy Spirit is shining out of you, sister! Glory to God. His power in us can do amazing things when we believe and put all of our faith in God. I loved the verse today that said,
"Be strong, all of you people still left in the land. And now get to work, (this sounds like me talking to my teenage son's!) My Spirit remains among you, (thank you, LORD!) So do not be afraid." We, sisters, have His Spirit in us. To guide us, to counsel us!
Joy~God is pulling you close to Him and You are wide-opened ears ready to follow! I love it!
I'll have to admit, that sometimes it scars me how excited I am about reading the Bible...I think, "Oh, I don't want to lose this," and then I remember, what I'm doin'-I'm thinkin'! Those fickle thoughts are right from the enemy himself. He's constantly after us ladies!
Thank you, Wendy!
Blessings, prayer's, love, hugs,
Lori - AZ
WOAH!!! I just came back here...and WOW - WENDY...the new blog design is AMAZING!!! The title - Experiencing the real meaning of free - WOW again!!! The pics, the colour, the design - everything - beautiful!!!! How welcoming.
One thing hasn't changed though - I still see the joy of the Lord on your face - in fact - I see Him shining even clearer.
Love, hugs and prayers,
Joy
Dear Friends,
Today as we commemorate the events from 8 years ago (can it really be 8 years!) I sat in awe of the visions. So vivid were these visions today for me!
Zechariah 2:10-13
10 The Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem,[g] for I am coming to live among you. 11 Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. 12 The land of Judah will be the Lord’s special possession in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. 13 Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”
Zechariah 3:1-3
1 Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan,[i] was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.”
3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.”
The footnote in the NIV explained that Jeshua (a variant spelling of Joshua) in the Greek form is Jesus. All three variants means "The Lord Saves"!
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Jeshua (the high priest at the time) is in the presence of the Lord as a ministering priest, just as Jesus stands in the presence of the Lord today as a ministering priest.
From a commentary today on this passage:
i. God does allow Satan to attack and harass His people, but He always strictly regulates what Satan is allowed to do. Satan wanted to destroy Simon Peter, sifting him like wheat (Luke 22:31-32) but Jesus prayed for Peter and stood beside him and did not allow Satan to carry out every evil intention of his heart.
ii. “Take note that this rebuke comes at the right season. When Satan accuses, Christ pleads. He does not wait till the case has gone against us and then express his regret, but he is always a very present help in time of trouble. He knows the heart of Satan, being omniscient God, and long before Satan can accuse he puts in the demurrer, the blessed plea on our behalf, and stays the action till he gives an answer which silences for ever every accusation.” (Spurgeon)
Also note that the High Priest was clothed in filthy clothes (covered with the sins of the people), and Satan attacks on that basis. But the Lord cleanses the clothes (forgives and restores). This is a scene I imagine repeats itself over and over again in the spiritual realm. What a picture for me! Jesus, my High Priest, standing in the presence of the LORD covered with filth caused by my sins. Satan standing there scorning, mocking, accusing, the Son interceding on my behalf, and the Father and the Son together forgiving, restoring, cleansing.
Wow.
Lori, thank you for your post. Your words of encouragement go so far to renew us each day.
Brandee I am so thankful that you searched, listened, followed your heart and found the root of your illness. I am praying for your restoration.
Joy, your words bring light and insight each day and while you and God may be working on your motives, the pureness and the work of God have shone through each day. You are a gem in His crown.
Wendy, I cannot thank you enough for leading us through the Word of God this year! And I too like the new look!
Blessings to you all today,
Karen, CA for now
Oh Wendy, I agree with Joy! The new site design looks wonderful!!!
Hi Everyone. Sorry I did not warn you that you were entering a construction zone.
I am updating and redesigning my bio, pictures, and blog.
So pardon the mess and keep coming back there are more changes to come.
God is raining down the sweet fragrance of your prayers on me... and it lingers with me all day :)
I must confess that I was NOT taking care of the temple like I should... Oh Lord, forgive me.
It is so easy to be too "busy" and stop for fast food, put off getting my physical, whatever it is I'm just "too busy" to deal with it right now! I even told God, "Lord, I need to lose weight, exercise, do this, this and this."... Oh Lord, listen and act... and then make me do so!!
I'm not saying God gave me cancer to get me motivated, but He got my attention! I actually started working out at Curves with some friends before all of this. I'm already making lifestyle changes and losing extra weight... perhaps God was preparing me for battle?! (Honestly, He started preparing me Jan 1, with this Bible study!)
I traveled this road with my first husband, who died of a rare lung cancer in 1997. My life journey has taught me that God is with me every moment – He is my peace, my comforter, my hope, my strength… His grace is sufficient. The Lord is my Shepherd, I need not fear…
Haggai 2:4-5, "Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work, for I am with you, says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised... so do not be afraid."
Wendy - LOVE the new design and pictures. You look so comfortable in your chair... makes me want to just sit down and have a nice chat with you :)
Hi ladies,
Wow - love the new website Wendy!
I only have time for a quick update but I would like to announce the birth of our son - Elliot Darryl Hutchings, 7lbs 8oz, 20.5 inches long.
He was born on Sunday Sept 6 at 4:53 am - after an induction and 35.5 hours of labour - whew! God is good, I was spared my worst fear of a C-section - but just barely. Mommy and dad are home safe and sound, getting to know our little angel. Many thanks for all your prayers and support :)
Not sure how the next little while is going to go. I will try to pop in when I can. Wishing you continued blessings on your scripture journey!
xoxo
Jodie
WOW! Wendy this is awesome. I love it.
Jodie congrats on little thumper. What a beautiful name and praise the Lord he is healthy. I had 3 C-sections they weren't so bad.
So glad to hear everything is good.
Blessings,
Diane
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