Day 238: God's Temple

1 Corinthians 3:16-17

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Temple-A temple is literally a house of the Lord, a holy sanctuary in which sacred ceremonies and ordinances of the gospel are performed by and for the living and also in behalf of the dead. A place where the Lord may come, it is the most holy of any place of worship on the earth. Only the home can compare with the temple in sacredness.

The temple is the place where God dwells, it is the holiest of holy places. God’s spirit remains in the temple. Since God is a Spirit, He cannot dwell in a place where sin is, it doesn’t work, God and sin cannot cohabitate.

I grew up being told that my body is God’s temple, not really understanding what it meant or the depth of that statement until I was older. When we hear this term it is commonly referred to in conversations about sex. How we should not have sex before marriage, or engage in any kind of sexual immorality.  That is spoken about in 1 Corinthians 5. While it is true we should not engage in any acts of sexual immorality, there is so much more to it. Sex isn’t the end all, be all of sin. The church puts a lot of emphasis on sex before marriage as the worst, most condemnable sin of all. However, there are a myriad of things that will make you a sinner, but that is another topic for another day. When we think about God’s temple what do we usually think about?

The place where God dwells must be a place that is acceptable for Him, and place where no confusion lies, no sin, nothing that separates us from God but a place full of worship. The place where God’s presence is constantly. That’s the temple. Now when we think of ourselves or our bodies as God’s temple we must think of who we are as a Christian and the lifestyle we lead. A question we should ask ourselves is, “Is my body a place where God can dwell?” Meaning am I living my life in such a way that God’s presence is with me at every moment? Am I living and acting in a way that shows the Holy Spirit is within me? Am I holy? I know that’s a scary word for a lot of people, but it’s a simple yet profound word. We all proclaim to be Christians, but are we living like one? Or are we trying to find loopholes in the word of God? Sometimes we try to get around the parts of the bible we think don’t apply to us or shouldn’t apply to us. That’s not how it works, it’s all or nothing. If we are God’s temple we cannot be half in and half out. I think too often we take this as a burden, we view holiness as a burden, and this grand impossible task. It is not, it is more of an opportunity to grow in Christ. It is an opportunity to be in tune with God to remain close to Him. When I think about I am truly honored, and filled with gratitude that God loves us so much that He wants to be where we are. He wants to dwell within us. That’s amazing! Holiness is not a burden it is a lifestyle, and when we view it as such, we will no longer be burdened by it. When we decide that serving God is better and more important than our need and want to sin, this life of holiness will be more rewarding and even more relaxing.

Another question to ask ourselves, are we taking care of our temple? I mean that in every way possible. What are we doing to make sure that our temple is in tip top shape? First I mean it spiritually, is our temple clean? Are we making sure that it’s getting everything it needs to function properly. Meaning, are we diving into our relationship with God, are we feeding our spirit with His Word, are we praying? If we are fully devoted to Christ and committed to this life as a Christian, our temples will not be destroyed. We are the only ones that can destroy our temple. But also are we taking care of ourselves? Are we the vessels that God wants.

This can also be emotional, mental, and physical. Let’s not let anything get in the way of us being used by God. We don’t talk about physical well being in the church a lot, but the way I view it is, we must take care of the the body God has given us. Meaning let’s eat healthy foods, and workout, we only get one body and God gave it to us, so let’s take care of it the best we can. Also we must take care of ourselves emotionally and mentally. We can’t let our emotional or mental well being get in the way of our spiritual lives.  These topics are also topics that are skipped over in the church, but I believe that while God cares about our spiritual lives, He also sees and cares about those of us who are going through heartbreaks and struggling with mental illness. He’s there to help you through it and heal you.

All this to say, we must be the temple of God, as place where His spirit dwells. In order for the Holy Spirit to dwell in a place, that place must be holy. Are we holy?

Reflection

(Ask yourself these questions)

1. Is my temple a place where God can dwell?
2. How am I living?
3. Is my temple clean?
4. Am I taking care of my temple?
5. If anything, what is stopping my temple from being a place where the Holy Spirit dwells?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the about questions guide your prayer. Talk to God about what it is to live and be holy, and be a home for the Holy Spirit. Ask Him to search you and cleanse your spirit and create a new heart within you. Have an honest conversation with Him.

I love you and I hope you have an amazing day or evening! Be sure to share this with someone and come back tomorrow for Day 239.

Day 95: Let's Talk About It- "Broken People"

Psalms 147:3

He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds.

Psalms 34:28

The LORD is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.

This generation gets a lot of slack for acting out, we are constantly told to get our lives together. I think many times when we see people who are acting out, or having a hard time giving themselves to Christ, we must consider that these are broken people. We live in an age where people are walking around completely broken with a smile on their face. People are walking around ready to take their own lives but will smile and say, “I’m okay”. Why do we wait until tragedy strikes to notice that someone needed our ear, or they needed our prayer. They didn’t need us to beat them over the head with a bible, they needed us to be there. We have people walking around feeling unloved, and never knew that someone could love them. We are often told what we did to be in the position that we are in. Something we have to realize is that sin isn’t the only thing that causes brokenness within humanity, There is heartbreak, relationships gone wrong, death, mental illness, tragic accidents, natural disasters. There are so many things that can break a heart, but only one can truly heal a heart. Yet we have people walking around because they are unaware of this magnificent healing. We know of this healing, we know that Christ is our healer, but can we relay that message to the young girl who suffers from an eating disorder and cuts herself. Can we tell that to the young boy struggling with body image issues. Can we acknowledge that there is a deeper issue to the brokenness of people.  We are good at acknowledging pain and hurt, but what are we doing to make sure these people receive healing from God? Why are brushing off people’s pain? We have been told to let it go, let God, surrender, but what about when the wound is fresh and we can’t let it go that night or day. What if just lifting our hands in church won’t take the pain away, I have to be honest. Why do we sweep these things under the rug and act as if they are not there. There are broken people, we were once one of them, and many of us still are.

As the body of Christ we must see past what we think of people, we must look past our judgements and see the heart of humanity. We have to take our eyes off of ourselves for a second and look outward to see the brokenness of this world.

We see the flaws of humanity, and but we don’t see the heart of man. If we did we would know that the person who is walking down the street talking to themselves isn’t crazy they lost everything including hope and no one took the chance to listen to their story. No one took the time to sit with them and lend an ear. No one stopped to pray for them. No one took the time to tell them that there is healing in the Lord, that He sees the hearts of humanity even the ones that are in pieces.

We live in an era where everything must be okay, and when it’s not we put up a facade. This generation has the best poker faces I have ever seen. Because we don’t have time to deal with people who are really suffering, even if that means we ignore our own pain. We don’t have time to dig deep down to the root of our issues and be healed by God. We cover it up with a band-aid until the infection spreads and we can no longer hide it.  We have lost the ability to be vulnerable, we’d rather walk around dying on the inside than go to someone with our pain. We do not want to look weak, even when we are, The scripture tells us that God is near the brokenhearted, why are we walking around harboring pain. We have to realize that it is okay not to be okay.

I walked around broken for so many years, harboring so much pain, anger, self-loathing, hate, the list goes on. From being bullied all throughout school starting at the age of five. From looking in the mirror at the age of seven and hating who I was, and literally saying to myself, “You’re black and ugly”. To choking and hitting myself at the age of eight because the bullying was so bad, I felt like I needed to inflict pain on myself. I suffered secretly for years, and alway put on a smile and pretended like I was okay. It was only when I was twenty one that I really found healing in Christ. I felt like I always had to be okay, I had to put on a mask that said I was strong and confident even though I was broken. I was in pieces, there was still a little girl inside me who never got healed. I was walking around preaching at different churches at the age of sixteen and planned out my suicide at seventeen because I was in so much turmoil that I could not handle it anymore. Or when I had a mental breakdown when I lost my father at the age of eighteen. Because I blamed myself for His death and couldn’t understand why GOd would choose to take him from me. I gave up on GOd and church, but I had people praying for me, there were a few people who could see past my poker face, and that is why I am here today. Someone looked past my acting out and my mask and saw that I was broken. I am living proof that Christ is our healer. I did not have a platform or a place to really talk about what I was going through at the time, which is why I’m doing this, If I have to air my dirty laundry to save someone else I will do it. But God healed me and repaired my heart and if someone didn’t take the time to sit with me and pray for me and see through my pain, I would not be here today. I would probably be dead by my own hand. It is important that we talk about this stuff because it can literally save a life.  

We live in a broken world and people are walking around broken. We know what it is like to be broken our have our hearts broken. If we have encountered the love of God we know what it is like to be healed by our one and only healer. We must  let people know that their is a God, there is a Savior who can take that pain away.

I don’t know who you are but if that’s you, know that there is a Savior. Jesus Christ died to save this broken world, he wants that heart, even if it’s broken. Especially if it’s broken. Even if you have to give it to Him in pieces, he will take it and put it back together. You’re not crazy, you’re not a bad person, you’re hurting. Today is the day for you to get rid of that pain, and start a journey of healing. You do not have to hide it or cover it up. God sees your heart in every condition and He wants it the way it is, so that he can fix it and heal it.

Reflection

1. How’s your heart? Are you broken?
2. Are there some things that need to be healed in your life?
3. Are you walking around like everything is okay but it’s not?
4. Do you believe that God is our healer?
5. Do you believe that He can and will heal you?

Prayer Time

Allow your answers to the above questions  guide your prayer today. Know that God is our healer. We call Him, Jehovah-Rapha, the Lord who heals. Pray for the brokenness of humanity, and if you are broken, bring that heart to God today. Talk to GOd about whatever it is, maybe you don’t even have words, maybe it's tears, maybe you don’t even have that. Just open your heart to God and give HIm what you have. Know that He can heal the broken.

If you need someone to talk to or pray with, reach out to someone. I’m open to talk as well, you can email me, (TheDyamondj@gmail.com).

I love you, I hope you have an amazing day or evening. Share this with someone and open the conversation up to talk about it. Have an amazing day and come back tomorrow for Day 96.