Temple of The Lord

         

When you say temple of God, we might think about an architectural building. But see what our Lord is saying through his word – “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you” (1 Corinthians 3:16).

Our God is considering us different from the rest of the world. If you are a child of the most Holy one, you are his temple and he lives in you. Of course, to be his child you need to confess your sins and ask him for the forgiveness from your sin and ask him to wash you by the blood of Christ Jesus who died for sinners.

This is the difference that God wants us to have from rest of the world. But most of the people who claim themselves as Christians are almost equal to those who are not. Now, how you become equal with them is that you are not keeping your body the temple of the Holy Spirit. See, you might think, ok I believe in Christ and I go to church regularly and take part in all the spiritual activities. But then analyze yourself, whether your body is a temple of God?

Analyzing yourself means, not only the outer body, but the inner soul. No one knows the inner soul except God. You can cheat the world, but not God. He is very particular about his word as you see – “you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:20). God know what you think, your desires, your dreams and all you have in you secret mind. Now you can be a holy person before others. But just analyze how big sin you are doing. Scripture will show you that.

God has told our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. Just see what he is telling about the Holy Spirit. “Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the son of man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come” (Mathew 12:31). Any sin can be forgiven, except the sin against the Holy Spirit. There’s no doubt that Jesus said it as it is mentioned in Mathew, Mark and Luke. You can be a godly person outside, but your sin may not be forgiven in this age or in the age to come. So Beware.

As it refers to as a temple, when we look at a Church, everyone wants to have their church very perfect. That means inward and outward. Yes our God also means the same. When he means honor your body, it means your outside and inside. Inside soul can be seen by God and it reflects to the world. Outside appearance of temple can be seen by humans. I am telling about your physical appearance. God has given us a body to be his temple, not only to maintain our heart pure, but also to keep and maintain your physical body fit for his service. To a church which is about to fall, people will find it difficult to go. Same way you need to keep yourself fit for your journey towards eternity.

How to build your body a temple of Holy Spirit? You need to have a close walk with God. We see people you walked with God. (Genesis 5:24 – Enoch, Genesis 6:9 – Noah). Have a passion to read and study his word and have a one on one communication with him. Never boast about your worldly pleasures as God has sent us to preach his word and his cross, not our riches. “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to world” (Galatians 6:14).

Be close with God through fasting and praying to keep your body clean from trials and temptations. “Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning” (Joel 2:12). Keep yourself clean from the demonic world. Do regular exercises to keep your physical body fit. God has given us a physical body and it is our duty to keep it and maintain it. Exercise regularly. Never spoil your body. Spoil it in the hands of Lord. But as you are in this world keep it fit to be a warrior of the one who is above all. May God bless you.

Rebuilding - Haggai

Those who are seeing this Bible history first time may not digest it in the way it should be. God created human and because of their sin, called a particular group – Israel. He blessed them and gave promises to them, but they also went against Him. God allowed enemies to conquer them as punishment and they were exiled. God sent prophets to prophecy good and bad about Israel.

Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are the last of the prophetic books. They prophesied to the Jews after they returned to Jerusalem. Haggai is the first voice to be heard after the exile. Haggai is determined to persuade the people to rebuild the temple.

With a colossal task before them of rebuilding the temple and restoring the worship of Jehovah, the Jews laboured under the same old sins – idolatry and intermarrying with idolatrous neighbours. Because of all this, the work dragged and the people lost heart and became selfish. Neglecting the Lord’s house, they had become more interested in building homes for themselves than for God (Haggai 1:4). God would not allow all this to go on and so he sent punishment as a result. God sometimes allows hardships because of our indifference to him. Crops failed and business was depressed because of the sin of the Jews. When people forget to love God, they forget to love their fellow citizens.

In Haggai 2 we see people became discouraged because the new temple did not measure up the older one in any way which king Solomon build. The foundation itself was very small. But Haggai came with encouragement telling that God is going to pour his resources into the new building. “I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty” (Haggai 1:7). Haggai showed the people, their impurity. He made them realise their sinfulness. He showed them the reason their prayers were not answered was that they had put off so long completing the temple. Haggai showed them that the land had been rendered useless by their neglect, but God was working and it would be different now. “From this day in I will bless you” (Haggai 2:18-19).

I have experienced people getting uncomfortable when questions are asked about their sins. Prophets and Servants of God are there in between us not only to pray and bless us, but also to show us the right path and warn us if we take the wrong one. If someone points out your sin, instead of defending and putting them down, repent about it and ask God for forgiveness. In 2 Samuel 12, we see Prophet Nathan showing King David’s sin and the King repented (Psalm 51).

In summary, no church attendance, church activities, lighting a candle or visiting Holy Land can bring you closer to God. Only way and it is the easiest way, confess your sins, ask for forgiveness and accept Christ as your saviour.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9)

May God help you to understand his words so that you will respect his servants and live a life which brings glory and honour to God and work for his kingdom through his church.

Rebuilding the Temple – Ezra

As the book opens (Ezra 1:1-6), we find Cyrus, king of Persia, making a proclamation throughout his kingdom permitting the Jews who were captives in his kingdom to return to Jerusalem. 200 years before, God had prophesied that he would do this.

At Cyrus’s first call in 537 B C (Ezra 1:1-4), no more than 50000 Jews availed themselves of the opportunity of returning to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel. Cyrus gave back to Zerubbabel the golden vessels Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the Temple in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:5-11). They started back over 700 miles of barren desert from Babylon to Jerusalem. Everything was taken care by God who is in charge. Not only money for rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem, but also travelling expenses and all other needs were provided by God at Cyrus’s direction (Ezra 1:4,6).

The names of those who returned are given in chapter 2. They laid the foundation of the Temple. It is interesting to notice that before they built homes for themselves they first thought of a house for The Lord. They did not build the Temple first, but the alter (Ezra 3:2). Read about the hindrances to all the work (Ezra 4:1-22). The opposition disheartened them. Haggai and Zechariah, the prophets, encouraged the people from within the ranks (Ezra 4:23 – 5:17), and within 4 years the Temple was completed and dedicated (Ezra 6).

Ezra appears in the 7th chapter. 60 years after the Jews had first returned to Jerusalem, he led a second expedition from Babylon to reinforce the struggling colonists in Judah. We can find in Ezra 7:25, how impressed the king was with Ezra’s love of God’s word. Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees and laws in Israel (Ezra 7:10). Under Ezra we see a great revival.

Ezra and Nehemiah tell the history of the return of God’s chosen people after the exile. They give the record of one of the most important events in Jewish history – the return from exile in Babylon. The purpose of God may sometimes seem delayed, but they are never abandoned. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell us how God remembered and how He brought back his people from exile. If you trust in God and live accordingly, the blessings and promises God provides to you may delayed. It may be because of your disobedience or even God’s plan. But when you call upon Him and plead your submission, He will hear and answer all your desires according to His riches and glory in Jesus Christ.

In Ezra, we see the first thing what they did was to build an alter to offer sacrifices for their sins. The place where sin must be dealt with must come first in every life. The heart must be right if God is to bless. The alter was the center of the Jewish people, the Cross the center of the Christian faith. If you are urging for a miracle in life, first thing is to repent your sins before God and accept the salvation.

May the Spirit of Lord guide you in repentance and salvation, to grow in Christ and live a holy life.

The BOOK – My Feast

Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are the last of the prophetic books. They prophesied to the Jews after they returned to Jerusalem. Haggai is the first voice to be heard after the exile. Haggai is determined to persuade the people to rebuild the temple.

With a colossal task before them of rebuilding the temple and restoring the worship of Jehovah, the Jews laboured under the same old sins – idolatry and intermarrying with idolatrous neighbours. Because of all this, the work dragged and the people lost heart and became selfish. Neglecting the Lord’s house, they had become more interested in building homes for themselves than for God (Haggai 1:4). God would not allow all this to go on and so he sent punishment as a result. God sometimes allows hardships because of our indifference to him. Crops failed and business was depressed because of the sin of the Jews. When people forget to love God, they forget to love their fellow citizens.

In Haggai 2 we see people became discouraged because the new temple did not measure up the older one in any way which king Solomon build. The foundation itself was very small. But Haggai came with encouragement telling that God is going to pour his resources into the new building. “I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty” (Haggai 1:7). Haggai showed the people, their impurity. He made them realise their sinfulness. He showed them the reason their prayers were not answered was that they had put off so long completing the temple. Haggai showed them that the land had been rendered useless by their neglect, but God was working and it would be different now. “From this day in I will bless you” (Haggai 2:18-19).

I have seen people getting uncomfortable when questions are asked about their sins. Prophets and Servants of God are there in between us not only to pray and bless us, but also to show us the right path and warn us if we take the wrong one. May God help you to understand his words so that you will respect his servants and live a life which brings glory and honour to God and work for his kingdom through his church.