The Mastercraftsman

 I have been reading in 2 Chronicles.  A few days ago I was in the second  chapter and that chapter is about Solomon preparing to build the temple to  honor the name of the Lord.
    

           

2 Chronicles 2:5-7New Living Translation (NLT)

5 “This must be a magnificent Temple because our God is greater than all other gods.6 But who can really build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heavens can contain him! So who am I to consider building a Temple for him, except as a place to burn sacrifices to him?

7 “So send me a master craftsman who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as with purple, scarlet, and blue cloth. He must be a skilled engraver who can work with the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem who were selected by my father, David

I could not help but compare this to Jesus.  He is my Master Craftsman.  He died and rose again so that I could have a magnificent Temple. That temple is my body.  He is the one that makes me a worthy temple. God sent the best and that best is and was worth more than all the gold, silver bronze and the finest cloth. Just as Solomon wanted a magnificent Temple for God, my God wants me to be a magnificent Temple for Him.  Many times I get in the way of being magnificent but God never leaves me and woos me back to Him.

1 Corinthians 6:19New Living Translation (NLT)

19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself,

Matthew 21:12New Living Translation (NLT 

12 Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves.

Just as Jesus cleaned out the Temple He can also clean you out and make you worthy to be His Temple.  He wants a magnificent Temple that is willing to give up the past and live for Him.

John 14:6New Living Translation (NLT)

6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

John 3:16New Living Translation (NLT)

16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave[a] his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Do you know the Master Craftsman?  He is waiting to craft you into a Magnificent Temple!

Ramblings from a tired mind

It is funny the things that pop into my mind when I am tired.  Things that pop into my mind when tired are things like I am never going to get the rest that I need, how come everyone else in the whole wide world have such clean homes, my house will always be dirty and that spiders are going to take over the world.

This morning after wrestling with my mind that yes I did have to get up my feet touched the floor with mild hesitation but with a resolve that I would make it through the day but I would be on the look out for spiders. Whether my mind is tired or calm I make sure that there are no spiders in my path but when my mind is tired spiders seem a larger than normal. I calmly shook out my towel to make sure that no spiders had taken up residence on the towel that would dry off my face.  I can not imagine a spider close to my face.  I also made sure that there were no spiders in my shoes, in my slacks, in my socks, in my hair brush, on the toilet paper, in my slacks and well you get the picture.  Spiders can be larger than they really are!  They are evil!!

As I was calmly looking for any spiders that might have crept into my life I realized that there is something larger, more evil and more sinister than any spider could ever be.  It is the devil!  You know the one that will end up in a flaming, fiery furnace called hell.  I need to have a check list every morning to make sure the devil is not in my life.  Is there sin that needs taken care of that the evil one parades in front of me, are my thoughts clean and pure even when tired, am I to pushy, to righteous, too angry, to prideful and well I think you get the picture.

I need to be on the lookout and kept the devil at bay.  I need to keep my pray life active, read and study the Bible and listen to the Holy Spirit and be accountable to my God.  I need to heed the warnings of other Christians and keep my mind pure and Holy. That is the check list I need to go through every morning to keep the one that is more evil than spiders out of my life!

What about you?  Do you have the right checklist?

Revelation 20:10

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁰ And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

1 Corinthians 3:18-19

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁸ Do not deceive yourselves. If any of you think you are wise by the standards of this age, you should become “fools” so that you may become wise. ¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”^[a];

The Spider Bite

Have you ever been bitten by a spider?  I have.  In 2001 I was at a flea market in Texas and felt something on my hand.  I looked down and saw a spider.  I went into panic mode and started jumping, yelling and dropped everything that I was carrying.  I felt a sting as the spider fell to the ground.  My hand immediately swelled up and turned pink.  I don't know if it was from the bite or just the fact that a spider had been on me but I felt nauseated and  faint.  I was ready to leave that flea market and never go back.

I did leave fairly quickly with the rest of my family.  The farther away from that flea market and that spider the better I felt.  My hand did feel sore for a while but it healed without a visit to the doctor.  I was already on antibiotics for an infection and I watched it to closely to make sure that my hand didn't fall off or something worse.

I remembered that spider bite the other day when I saw another spider bite.  This one was not on me.  It was on a young lady that had been bit by a brown recluse spider.  It looked terrible and had a huge scab with red around it.  It made my spider bite look like a flea bite.

I know the ones that read my posts regularly know that I hate spiders!  The spiders remind me of the devil.  They are evil and they can spread poison.  The devil is evil and will spread poison.  He will fill me full of poison at my weakest moments.  He knows what my downfalls are and he will bite down, twist and bite!  He wants his poison to spread through my system before I know what is happening.  Sometimes the poison may make a huge wound and sometimes it is just a flea bite but it still will affect me.  It can affect you too!

My antibiotic against the devil's bites are prayer, the Bible and the Holy Spirit.  Just as I always check for spiders in the shower I have to pray, read the Bible and listen to the woo of the Holy Spirit.  The devil wants to bite and scare me but I have the antibiotic.  He wants to bite you too!  Do you have the antibiotic?

John 14:25-27

New International Version (NIV)

²⁵ “All this I have spoken while still with you. ²⁶ But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

John 3:16-17

New International Version (NIV)

¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

The fire within me

Have you ever had a fire within you?  I have!  This time it ain't been so good.  I have let this fire consume me and move me.  It has spread from deep within me to other areas of my life.  I have allowed something petty to grow, to multiply and affect others.

I finally last night was quiet enough to hear that still, small voice wooing and convicting.  The Holy Spirit was trying to tell me something and I had to settle down to hear.  I had let this issue become top priority and it didn't matter what I was doing, it was the top dog in my mind(what little mind is there).  

That still, small, convicting voice was telling me that if I was to have a fire in me that it should be the fire of Jesus.  The fire within me should be uplifting and full of grace not petty and malicious!  I had to stop right then and ask for forgiveness and to change the fire into a light for Jesus.

What lights your fire??  

Isaiah 1:30-31

New International Version (NIV)

³⁰ You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
    like a garden without water.
³¹ The mighty man will become tinder
    and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
    with no one to quench the fire.”

Luke 11:35-36

New International Version (NIV)

³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness.³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”