“One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.” -Psalm 27:4
Have you ever been on a long trip and when it comes time to head for home, you have this longing for that home? You miss your bed, the comforts and familiarity, the sounds at night, the smells..all because it is your home. It is something you know and long for.
David felt this way too.
His focus was, however on the God’s home.
His heart longed to be with God and he even declares “this only do I seek”.
It wasn’t about the building or the structure of the dwelling place that David was pining for, it was the presence of God. He longed to dwell with God, to be with the familiar all consuming presence, to take in His glory day after day.
Do we think like David thought within this Psalm? 
Is there a longing to dwell where God dwells? Do we hunger and thirst for God like David writes about here? I wonder how much time we devote to thinking about dwelling with God in our average day? Is it merely just a weekend occurrence that I think about God? Is it just on Sundays when I’m in church? It doesn’t, or shouldn’t have to be. It can be every day…multiple times a day. Training our thoughts to meditate on God in this way will help us engage relationally with God even in our hectic schedules. It doesn’t have to be complicated or drawn out, there just needs to be a heart and mind focus in order to make that happen. Continually meditating on God is actually bringing us into His dwelling place. Think about that for a second. When we long for God in this way, we begin to align our life’s priorities into the right order. As kingdom builders, we cannot build unless we start from the right source – His dwelling place.
So how about it?
Is there a longing in you to be where God dwells?
Jesus said, “the kingdom is here”…when we think and long for that kingdom and the presence of God, we are immediately transported into His presence. Begin your day today by asking God to take you to his dwelling place. Long after this thought. Bring it to mind constantly today, and discover this mental and spiritual transformation occur in your life.
Prayer: Lord may your Kingdom come and your will be done in my life today. Help me to live as your kingdom builder today within your dwelling place. Build your kingdom in and through my life today! Develop in me your familiar halls of holiness. I long to be in your very presence today. Lead me Lord. In your name I pray these things…-Amen.
The priority here is not witnessing. That might sound shocking to some of you. But the very first priority is being holy people. When we live up to being truly set apart for God, then the outpouring of our hearts will be our testimony and our praise to Him. Sometimes we are so action oriented and about getting things done and checking another item off of our “to do” list that we forget to simply be in the presence of God. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still and know that I am God.” This isn’t some egotistical announcement from God, instead it is a reminder of the very first priority of our life – Keep God first above all other things! Set apart in your heart a place for Him – in ALL THINGS! When we place this at the forefront of all that we do, we will find that everything is now viewed through the lens of God – and this will make all of the difference. Forget about what you will say to others about Jesus…that might sound funny. But stop worrying about what comes next in your witness to others, and BE in the presence of God – from this will flow your adoration and love so that others will see and believe.
can cling to. He is always there to provide safety and security! His strength and light shines and frightens all of the darkness away! He is our Savior and the One who calms the storms of this life! I would venture like any parent, our Heavenly Father becomes afraid for us at times. He longs to rush in and rescue us. Perhaps it is just me, but I think of my Heavenly Father like that – fulfilling that role. His strength is sufficient for any task and any danger. That doesn’t mean that we go looking for trouble, but when trouble finds us, and it will, we can cling to the Rock of our Salvation! Run to Him! Tell Him of your fears. Allow His mighty hands to enfold you and protect you. Find comfort and encouragement in Him today ! He is Your Rock and Your Salvation…do not be afraid!! So let me ask you…what are you afraid of???
We see this all the time though don’t we? There is a lot of hate in our world today. Wouldn’t it be amazing to worship and adore God so much that we naturally love our neighbors around us? What an amazing world we would live in if we respected and loved one another because our first love was God. Even the people of Jesus’ day questioned who their neighbors were. In Luke, right after Jesus repeats the Shema Yisrael and speaks of loving our neighbor, one of the teachers asks “who is my neighbor?” You can almost hear the wheels churning in this man’s mind. Can we pick and choose who our neighbor is? Does my neighbor look like me, have the same interest as me, perhaps have the same skin color as me? Is “my neighbor” those I choose to associate myself with? The answer is NO! Jesus takes it a step further and tells them the parable of the Good Samaritan to illustrate our neighbor is more than people who look like us, talk like us, and have the same interests or cultural practices.
Loving God with all of our being broadens the world around us.
The Salvation Army needs more leaders to be men and women of integrity. I say this for all areas of leadership. From the local officer position all the way up to the General. We need people who will do what they say they will do while being men and women of Holiness. Without the characteristic of holiness, a leader’s integrity cannot be completely fulfilled. Thus, leadership must begin on our knees before our heavenly Father. Because we will be held to account for what we do on earth. Leaders who operate with ulterior motivations and do not have holy integrity, will falter and perhaps inflict casualties within our body of soldiers. We are very good at pointing out the bad in others, but this godly principle of living must begin with us! Without holiness and integrity our sphere of responsibility and leadership will crumble and find a limited impact for the Kingdom.
or place of leadership and conduct themselves contrary to that place of authority? What we say and what we do should line up, and with it our REAL responses to the world around us. There is no time to be a phony leader or a phony Christian. We cannot have leaders of any level merely giving lip service to God, but their motives and conduct are completely contrary to their bravado. This Army needs more authentic leaders! We need people who are real, people who know what it means to struggle with life, people who get it. This army is in need of leadership that has empathy not apathy. We need more candid conversations and less brow beatings and starchy high pulpit speak. We have to have a spirit of trust and an understanding that our Army is made up of people who are fallible and require compassion and grace. We need more leaders who will go to the gates of hell for people and soldiers in need instead of delegating or sending others to do their jobs. The leader that can be trusted will come to your level and spend time talking with you about the things that matter. Can you be a trusted leader? Do you have a heart to serve? Are you moved with compassion for those you lead? Then be authentic, and leader with authenticity, this Kingdom of God doesn’t have a place for two-faced leadership.
Leaders who pass the buck are not leaders of accountability.
the power that is entrusted to you. Know that final authority is not you – but rather God. Even if you do not have someone who is currently over you in authority, your actions and motivations will be judged in accordance to Godly principles when we stand before Him. I do not say this to sound threatening or vindictive, I say this because I believe there are those in numerous places of authority who are power hungry and motivated not by a spirit of service but to be served. This is a very real danger in all levels of leadership. If we are to be leader who can be trusted, we must possess a level of accountability towards those we serve in leadership both above and below us (for lack of a better term). Is it still Thy Kingdom come, or has it come “My Kingdom come”?
This reminded me of another story. A story that Jesus told. It was about a woman who had lost one of her ten silver coins. This may have been all that she owned in the world, and losing just one of those coins would have been devastating to her. So she tears her house apart looking for this lost coin until she finds it. Then she calls her neighbors together to celebrate with her. Jesus told this tale to illustrate just how important every person on this earth is to Him. He doesn’t want to lose anyone along the way. In fact, just before this story Jesus told another story – the parable of the lost sheep, and at the very end of that story He said, “I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Pastor's Ponderings 