The temple of God is where the
Lord abides. The old testaments tells us it is a special place where you go to
hear from God and experience his presence. It is the home of God
When we think about our homes,
our character and personalities usually show in the way we maintain our homes.
God’s character is holy! God is love! He is also a jealous God hence is Temple
must be kept holy, filled with love and guarded. This is true of most
“churches” as people see the “church building” as the temple of God. It is
regularly cleaned; you are not allowed to bring in items that can defile the
building or any part of it.
However Jesus tells us in 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your bodies are
temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You
are not your own;
The Lord used this verse to talk
about sexual immorality but we need to look beyond that. If our bodies are
indeed the temple of the Holy spirit which is the spirit of God in us, does
everything about us reflect he who lives in us.
If Christ lives in us and we are
his temple then the lives we live and everything we do should reflect his
character; over and above that, the body in which he resides should be kept in a
way that honours him.
But
just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written:
“Be holy, because I am holy. 1 Peter 1:15-16 NIV -Our bodies should be kept holy
Don’t
you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit
of God lives in you? God will destroy anyone who destroys this temple. For
God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NLT
Holiness refers to a live burning
with an intense purity that transforms everything it touches into itself. Oxford
dictionary defines Holiness as dedicated or consecrated to God
In Hebrews Holy (qadosh) means
“set apart” or “separate” it is used to describe the nature of God and how his
character and nature are so much greater and more wonderful than anyone else. For
something to be holy means to be dedicated to God, the extent to which our lives
are devoted to him and our actions reflect his character.
If we are the temple of God then
to reflect the character of holiness is to live a life that shows we are
consecrated to him. Whatever is inside of us is what should reflect. If you
hold a glass of orange juice and someone pushes you or you trip, all that will
pour of the cup is orange juice. Regardless of what happens to us, it is that
which we have given space to within us that will manifest.
So Jesus walked the earth and
every where he went lives were changed. He healed sickness and diseases Matthew
4:23. He lived fearlessly. From a young age he stayed back to speak in the synagogue
when his parents were returning from the Passover celebration Luke 2: from 41
In the way we live, does everyone
that meets us know or experience the Christ that lives in us. Are lives changed. Are the hungry fed? are
the cloth-less clothed? are the poor provided for? We are the first Jesus a lot
of people will ever meet, when they do meet us do they meet Jesus. Do we
profess and speak the word and message he gives to us fearlessly or are we
afraid of what people may think? In the way we run our businesses, at work and
socially do people see Jesus in us! Do we show his love and speak his truth fearlessly?
People that know us before may be
taken aback and may question the authority we possess or may belittle what they
see in us. Even the family of Jesus said “Is
this not Jesus son of Joseph whose mother and father we know. John 6:42.
To God’s glory, we are not that person they used to know, Christ Jesus lives in
us and we are sitted in the heavenly places with him. Ephesians 2:6. We have
received power because the Holy spirit resides in us and we are to be his
witness to the end of the earth Acts 1:8
Our light must shine so that
Jehovah is exalted. We must not waver in the truth we know both in words and
actions. Matthew 5:16 Let your light shine
before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your father in Heaven.
Is our light shining bright or just a little or does it flicker? We all know
light that flickers and is not stable hurts the eye of all who see it. Our
light must shine bright and stable.
Jesus was fearless because he
knew and was sure of the authority he carried. He was able to command the wind!
Hallelujah. The bible says perfect love casts out all fear. 1 John 4:18. Jesus
is perfect love. He lives within us. If he lives in us, there is no place for
fear in us. Light and darkness cannot be together. Everywhere you light up even
with a small candle, darkness fades. Jesus has taken away every fear. We cannot
have Jesus in us and live in fear of the battles the devil brings. Luke 10:19. Remember
we are fighting from a winning point. His death on the cross already won the
battle for us. We just need to stand in the authority that is inside of us.
Physically we should think about
what we feed the temple of God (Our body). We should be purposeful about what
we eat and drink because the temple of God must not be defiled. It should not
be loaded with Junk just as we will not make our home a place filled with junk or
dirt that can make it uninhabitable. Note to self! Lol. Before you put that
thing in your mouth Lola, is it going to nourish and beautify that temple. (I
have to keep telling myself this) Trust me diets will be a thing of the past if
we do this.
You
say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even
though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.
You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is
true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say
that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord,
and the Lord cares about our bodies. 1 Corinthians 6:12-13 NLT.
whilst this verse speaks about sexual immorality, it is true to say if our body
was made for the Lord and he cares about our body, He also cares about the food
we put into our body. Science tells us a lot of illnesses can be avoided if we
nourished our bodies in the right way.
God has blessed us with food and
we should eat and drink but we have to be mindful of what is good for
nourishing our bodies and what is not.
Mentally- The bibles says we
should guard our heart. Proverbs 4:23. What are we feeding our heart and minds.
What are we allowing into our soul. The spirit of God is within us but for our
soul to be at one with the spirit it needs to align. The words we listen too,
the stories we read, the music we listen to, the conversations we have, are
they aligning our soul to be one with the spirit of God. We may come across
things that are not palatable about lives of others but our response should be
to pray for that person and move on from it. Remember they are loved by Lord
who resides in us. 1 John 4:19-21. The Lord desires the soul of everyone to be
saved. We should pray for the salvation of the souls of those we know are not
saved. We should not be found spreading gossip about people or mocking their
actions and choices.
Colossians
4:6 Let your conversation be always full of grace (note the word ALWAYS not sometimes), seasoned with salt (we all know salt sweetens anything we add it too) so that you may have the right response for everyone.
Philippians
4:8 Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever
is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if
anything is excellent or praiseworthy think about such things
Remember we are the temple of
God, where his spirit resides, we have to showcase the spirit that lives within
us. Our lives should reflect the character of Christ Jesus.
Finally.....
Ephesians
1:16-23 I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly,
asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual
wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that
your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident
hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and
glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible
greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power
that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honour at God’s
right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority
or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world
to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him
head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body;
it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with
himself.
The same power that exerted Jesus
resides in us, let us go out and showcase that to the world
