A Dwelling for His Name
And rejoice before the Lord your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, the Levites in your towns, and the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows living among you. -–Deuteronomy 16:11
I recently began the process of purchasing a home. If you’ve ever been through that process, you know it is exciting and stressful at the same time. In the few weeks before I officially close on my new home, there is much preparation to do, but even when the closing is complete and I can take possession of the home, there will be yet more preparing to do—painting, fixing, decorating, and unpacking all must happen before I can comfortably dwell there. I believe God has handpicked the place for me to live, even before I started looking. He has desired for me to have a comfortable and safe place to live, and yet this dwelling is not just for me…it is also for Him. He has chosen my home “as a dwelling for His name”, and I intend to invite Him in to dwell there with me. My home is not just a home; it can be a sanctuary where ministry happens if I dedicate that space to Him, to be used for His purposes and Kingdom.
I think often we unintentionally leave God out of the practical aspects of our lives. We purchase a home, a car or office space and forget to invite the Lord to make it His dwelling place to use for His Kingdom. We may even ask God to guide us in the buying process but then forget that He not only chose that space for us but for Him. God doesn’t just dwell in churches, He dwells everywhere. All the earth belongs to Him; there is no place He cannot enter if He wants to.
There are times when we pray, “More of you, Lord! We want more of You!” Perhaps what that looks like in a practical sense is simply opening up more doors in our life to invite God into those spaces. God is eager to enter in to more of our physical space, our relationships, our finances and our free time. He wants to inhabit all of it. He is able to do more through us when we invite Him into more of our space. It doesn’t matter if we have a mansion or a motor home, a trailer or a townhouse, a Bentley or a bicycle; God wants to use it all.
I challenge us–and it can be a challenge; opening up to God can be scary at times–to ask God to show us the closed doors in our life. Where are the areas we have not invited him in, either intentionally or unintentionally? What specific area of our life is He asking to be invited into at this particular point in our journey? What amazing things might He be able to do if we invite him into that space to make it a dwelling for His name?