God's Chosen Place of Worship

 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My Sanctuary. I am the LORD. Leviticus 19:30

During prayer, this morning, as I was praying on the point: Hallowed (Holy) is Your Name, the Holy Spirit brought this verse to my mind. So I got out my Hebrew translation of the Bible and looked up this verse. It reads: אֶת-שַׁבְּתֹתַי תִּשְׁמֹרוּ, וּמִקְדָּשִׁי תִּירָאוּ:  אֲנִי, יְהוָה which can be translated: You will guard My rests and My place of Holiness you shall reverence/awe/fear. I AM YHVH or the One who said "let there be and it was".  This verse is found in the heart of the Torah. The Jewish people for hundreds of years have read through the Torah (five books of Moses or Pentateuch) each year by reading one portion a week. This verse is found in the Torah portion called Kedoshim.

Then, the Holy Spirit directed my attention to another verse found in Deuteronomy 16:6, "But at the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place His Name in, there thou shalt sacrifice the passover..." God was telling the children of Israel, "You can't just worship Me wherever you decide is best or the way you think is right." Then, He led me to John chapter 4 where Jesus is standing in a Samaritan village by the well, talking with a woman of ill repute. Although, she lived a life that was a far cry from a life of virtue, we can see that she was brought up in a religious home, because she knew what to look for in the qualities of the Messiah. During their religious dialogue, Jesus told her, "Woman, believe Me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." John 4:21-24

In Isaiah 66:1-2, we read: Thus says the LORD, The heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool: where is the house that you build Me? and where is the place of My rest? For all those things has My hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at My Word. We read from Hebrews 10:5: Wherefore when He comes into the world, He says, Sacrifice and offering You would not, but a body have you prepared Me. The Apostle Paul was quoting from Psalm 40, showing how the Messiah was the fulfillment of these verses. 

God once dwelt in buildings of men's hands. First, in the tabernacle of Moses and later in the Temple of Solomon. But His ultimate goal was not a house of wood and stone, but a body. Jesus told His disciples, For where two or more are gathered together in My Name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20 So many people gather together in a building to worship God, and there is nothing wrong with that. But often times, they worship the building more than the Almighty God. This is idolatry. We are encouraged to gather together in the Name of the Lord. Not in the name of our faith or denomination. Not to be seen of others or to be able to say, "I go to church every Saturday/Sunday."

I am reminded of the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus. He had taken Peter, James and John up into the mountain with Him, and while He was praying, He became transfigured before them, in that His face shone like the sun and His clothes were pure white and sparkly. Moses and Elijah also appeared talking to Him. Peter was so overwhelmed by the awe of this moment that he cried out, "Lord, it is good for us to be here: if You will, let us make here three tabernacles; one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." Matthew 17:4 Peter, not yet filled with the Holy Ghost, was unaware of the Eternal purposes of God. He, at that moment, thought what so many have thought over the years - This is such a great move of God that we need to start a new church or denomination based on this revelation. That was not and is not God's will. 

God's will is that He lives among us by the Spirit. The next-to-the-last chapter of the Bible, we find John hearing a voice out of heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." Revelation 21:3

Walking in the Spirit

Yesterday, I had had the thought to go to a nature preserve several miles from my house. It’s the one I had only been to once before. Late in the evening, I really felt impressed to go, so I went. I got out of the car with my walking stick and my sandals on my feet - which I had purchased at a kibbutz in Israel.

I started out my walk singing “Just a Closer Walk With Thee.” Then, I asked the Lord to be sanctified by every step I took. As I rounded a curve, a mourning dove flew up from the path to a great oak tree and perched in the branches. 

I continued on the path looking at all the wild flowers growing in the meadow and the majestic trees of the field. The trees had wild grape vines with small tender grapes draped on the trees. 

The path that I was walking was at the back of a farm. To the south, there was a barn with goats and chickens in the barnyard. When I had walked about 3/4 of a mile a hawk flew up from the underbrush and startled me, as it mounted up on its wings. 

The sky to the west looked dark and angry, but I walked the rest of the path and turned back. The birds of the air started to scatter and a little bunny rabbit hopped into the bushes. Suddenly, I was reminded of a song a friend of mine wrote and recorded when I was about 12 years old - I was standing on a mountain looking toward the sky when I saw a storm approaching and I feared that I would die. I saw the creatures run and seek a better place to hide, heard the thunder roll down in my soul and I bowed my head and cried. Now the clouds were  moving faster, lightning flashing bright, clouds so dark they hid the sun and it seemed that it was night, but all once there was a feeling like I’d never had before up above the storm you should have heard me sing God has given me eagle’s wings. All at once the Spirit lifted me high above it all, I never even had to move my wings, the Holy Spirit had control. I was soaring high above my circumstances, my confusion and all my pain, though I had spent many years in the old barn yard I was always an eagle by His name. 

Spread you’re wings little eagle and fly. You weren’t born to live in the valley, you were born to soar through the sky. Don’t let your trials bring you down or drive your spirits to the ground. Mount up with wings little eagle and fly. 

By Steven Shelley

I began to see how the Holy Spirit was showing me from my youth that I was His. (I was born in a small town called Valley). 

I recognized the Presence of the Holy Spirit and just then the wind began to blow through the trees so strong I thought they would topple. There came such an awe of reverence, I thought I would fall on my face! I knew that it was more than a storm - God was in all this. I begin to worship all the way back to my car. 

Then I asked the Holy Spirit to give me the interpretation of all this. When I got home, He showed me all the symbols:

Dove in the oak tree- Psalm 56 The dove in distant oak is the name of the psalm in Hebrew. 

The wild flowers of the field - Luke 12:27 NIV “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.

Birds of the air - Matthew 6:27 NIV Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Tender grapes on the vine - John 15 I am the vine, you are the branches. 

Song of Solomon 2:13 ...and the vine with tender grapes give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.

The trees of the field- Isaiah 55:12 For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Rushing wind - Acts 2:2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

Ezekiel 3:12 Then the spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing, saying, Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place.

Mounting up on wings - Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Finally, after seeing all these symbols, and how the Holy Spirit walked with me physically and spiritually, I opened my evening devotional “God at Eventide” and it said, “We walk together.”