Personal Prayer Guide - April 25 - Dwelling with God in You!

Read:

John 14:15-17; 23-27

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, ¹⁷ even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.^”

“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.^”

Consider:

There is a saying “The home is where the heart is”  But this passage would tell us “The heart is where God’s home is”.

The most amazing thing in our lives is that God dwells in you.  God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit move into your life.  They take up residence within you, they dwell with, live with you. 

When we moved into our home, we moved in everything we had.  All of who we were, our lives, our belongings, our memories - everything came into our home.  Diana and I believe that God specifically gave us this particular home and we realize our home is an Ebenezer, a way of remembering God’s activity in our lives. 

There are things in our home that remind us of times and places God has moved in our lives.  There are things in our home that cause us to recall the times God has spoken into our lives.  God’s Word is prevalent in our home.  Our home is a physical picture of God’s presence in our lives, but it is only a small representative of God’s actual presence in our lives. 

According to this passage, God – the Godhead, the full expression of God the Father, Son and Spirit dwell within us – in our lives.  Just like we moved all our stuff into our home, all of who God is, has moved into our lives.  He doesn’t ‘hive off’ just a part of who he is, but instead we have access to all of who he is because he is as near to us as our heart or mind is part of who we are. 

All of God’s strength is ready to bring you strength in your day.  His Spirit will apply God’s Word to the particulars of your day.  The compassion of Christ can reach others through your hands.  The voice of God can ride on the tenor of your voice.  The mind of Christ can influence your thoughts.  God himself is present in you so that God himself can be revealed through you.  

As we continue to shelter in home, you can rediscover the presence of God who is living in you.  He has made his home with you, but no one wants a forgotten guest living in our homes.  In these remaining days of sheltering in home, give him freedom to move through the rooms of your life.  Give him access to the closets of fear, or anger, or sin and let him show you how to turn those areas into spaces of beauty.  Then we can experience the peace that only he can bring into our lives and we will look back on this time of sheltering at home as a turning point of God living in us.  

Listen to the words of this old hymn by Charles Wesley…

"O Come And Dwell in Me" Charles Wesley

O come and dwell in me,
Spirit of power within,
And bring the glorious liberty
From sorrow, fear, and sin.

Hasten the joyful day
Which shall my sins consume,
When old things shall be done away,
And all things new become.

I want the witness, Lord,
That all I do is right,
According to Thy mind and Word,
Well pleasing in Thy sight.

I ask no higher state;
Indulge me but in this,
And soon or later then translate
To Thine eternal bliss.

Prayer: Father, Thank you that you, all of you in Trinity, dwell within my life.  Forgive when I so easily loose sight and forget your presence within me.  Help me renew your presence for your glory…

·      Thank God that he has made himself to dwell with you

·      Express to him what it means to you that the Father, Son and Spirit are part of your life.

·      Ask him to show you how to worship him in the course of your day today.

·      Ask that He would use your life to minister to others dealing with effects of COVID today.

·      Pray for those who are dealing with fatigue from the wear of this season, ask that God would be their strength.

Father, Thank you that you are living in me, help me to live revealing you today.  Amen