| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
One in Christ in God, #41
Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: (Ephesians 2:19-21)
Paul enlarged our understanding of the living Temple of God by his teaching concerning the Church, the Body of Christ. It is Christ—Head and Body—who is the Temple of God.
We are being "builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." There is no statement in the Scriptures more central to the working of the Lord God.
Why, then, does God not come into the Church in His fullness and take up His residence in us now? Why all the confusion, delay, tribulation, worry, grief of mind and heart, and pain of body?
It is because we cannot dwell with Him in our present condition. The fire of His Presence would destroy us. He does not enjoy our ways and we do not enjoy His ways. He loves us and we love Him, but the lust and rebellion remaining in us are at war with God.
The Ark of God always must come to rest in a prepared place. Our entire personality must welcome the Presence of God. We must be willing to wait on God's pleasure at every moment and in all circumstances. How many of us attempt to keep Christ in some inconspicuous place in our lives so we can use Him when we get ready and yet not inconvenience ourselves to any great extent?
It may be true that many of us Christians are not ready to receive the Presence of God into our life fully and give ourselves wholly to His likes and dislikes, His ways of doing things. It is difficult for two strong-willed people to live together in harmony. God has definite ideas and He takes no pleasure in having to explain everything He does before we will act, and then be required to resist our stubbornness at every turn.
We have so much to learn! So much to become!
The eternal habitation of God is the glorified Church, the Body of Christ, the Wife of the Lamb. Revelation, Chapters 21 and 22 informs us that gold and precious stones predominate in the construction of the new Jerusalem. The pure, transparent gold is the Substance of Christ in us that has been refined by suffering—the only method that accomplishes the desired transparency—until we are as clear as glass (I Peter 1:7).
The assortment of precious stones that embellish the foundations of the wall of the city speak of the different Christian personalities that have been formed by extreme heat and pressure, under the precise supervision of the Holy Spirit, until their infinitely-varied radiance illumines the creation. The Holy Spirit being manifested through the separate personalities produces one hue, and then another, in a heavenly rainbow of color.
To be continued.