We Have Become God’s Holy Habitation

Today's Word of Encouragement from Wayne:

"The Lord is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; this is my God and I will praise Him... In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; in Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation"

Exodus 15: 2,13

These words of praise from the song of Moses, after God had delivered the people of Israel from Pharaoh’s army, defeating them in the red sea, speak of God’s ultimate goal in redeeming His people, namely "You have guided them to Your holy habitation." The sign of our full redemption is that, not only are we delivered from sin, but we are delivered to God’s holy habitation. Today, as Christians, God’s holy habitation is within us. We are the tabernacle of His presence.

Ministering to the Lord is about our stepping into redemption in the fullest sense. We know what God has saved us from and we know what God has saved us for, that we would be, to this present generation, His witnesses of salvation and of His presence. The apostle Peter wrote to the church, "You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood" (1st Peter 2:5). God said through Moses, "tell the sons of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle’s wings, and brought you to Myself. Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’" (Exodus 19: 4-6).

God brought His people to His holy habitation specifically so they would be a kingdom of priests to Him, and thus they would fulfill His will while simultaneously entering into the full protection, covering, love, intimacy, and oneness that being in His presence provides. God’s will is the exact same for us today, as His people, His body, His church, as His visible presence in this world. Peter wrote, "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession" (1st Peter 2:9). Let us go to God’s holy habitation.

When we are alone, let us minister in His presence, with the awe, gratitude, and reverence due our Lord, that He would look upon us as His holy habitation. Let us indeed be God’s holy habitation, His tabernacle in the wilderness of this world, a place where He may dwell and be ministered to, until that time comes when, completing our sojourn with God on earth, we are at last ushered into heaven, our final and complete dwelling with our God. Oh praise His name. Let God lead you to His holy habitation today. And, when we do gather together, as the body of Christ, let us be "living stones" that we may become God’s spiritual house for a holy priesthood.

This is upward call of our fellowship, and our worship, and our very presence in this world. Let us indeed be God’s people, "for God’s own possession," fully redeemed and fully aware of being His "royal priesthood," bought by the blood of Christ and brought by the grace of Christ into God’s Own holy habitation, which now is within us! Hallelujah!