Holy Spirit Residence – The Secret Place, Part 1

You as God’s child are the resting place, the abiding place, the Holy Ghost residence of the Most High God.  He has taken up residence.  He is not just a renter.  He is a home owner.  He is in us and we are in Him.  Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit.  He dwells in us.  We are His people.  He is our God.  He desires to be the One Who takes care of us.  He is a wonderful caretaker.

We also are to dwell or abide in Him.  Let’s look at Psalm 91:1.

We dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide under the shadow of the Most High God.  We live in God.  Our lives are immersed in His life.  His Life is flowing through us.  His Love is flowing through us.  His Light is flowing through us.  He doesn’t stop that flow.  We are the ones who can stop it.

I am learning that I must consistently stay focused on what God’s Word says about me, regardless of what I feel or whether it appears to be working in my life.  The Word is not true because it works in my life.  The Word is true, period, end of paragraph!  I must have this mindset:  God’s Word is true for me and it will work for me.  He is no respecter of persons.

What is this secret place of the Most High God?  It is His covering, His protection, our shelter from the enemy, and our place of His abiding Presence.  It is His Word.  It is His Presence.  It is God’s place.  I’m living there.  Psalm 31:20:  God hides us in the secret place of His Presence.  He hides us.  He keeps us secretly in His pavilion, covering, shelter, defense and hedges us in, shuts us up and protects us from the evil one.  In this secret place we are inaccessible to the enemy.  It is forbidden access to him.

I am fixed in this secret place.  Everyone who is born again lives in God’s secret place (His Presence), whether they know it or whether they act on this knowledge.  In this place in God we are stable; we are unalterably settled; we are set; we are firm; we are steadfast; and we are established.  Established in what?  Him and His Word and faith in Him performing His Word in our lives personally.

Trust Releases The Blessing of God

When we put our trust in the Lord, and seek Him, we are blessed (Psalm 2:12).

Trust is a simple word but it carries with it all the power of The Blessing of God.  When we trust God in any situation and with any challenge in our life, we are releasing Him to pour out on us The Blessing.  What is The Blessing?  It is God’s fullness of His Kingdom which is given to us on this earth.  It is God Himself pouring out on us His prosperity and goodness.  To prosper is to succeed in every area of life whether it is in our bodies or our finances or our relationships.

God has declared His Blessing upon us.  He decreed it over Adam and Eve, and even when they lost it, He had a plan to reinstate His decree over mankind.  He blessed us.  That means He gave us the ability to prosper.  He gave us His power to succeed.  His power is given to us to excel, create and achieve.

The result of His Blessing is fruitfulness and multiplication which is not just for us but for all those around us.  God’s Blessing spills over onto those with whom we come in contact.  Wherever we as born-again children of God are, He is there with His Blessing.  People are blessed in our workplace.  They are blessed in our communities.  They are blessed in our nation because we are there.  It really has nothing to do with us other than the fact that we are vessels of the Most High God, allowing Him to pour out His Blessing on us and others.

I looked up the word “trust” in the dictionary and in the Greek and Hebrew language and found one word that seems to be common as a definition of the word—-confidence.  When you and I have confidence in what God can do for us and that He will do it for us, we are trusting Him.  Blessed is the person who puts his trust in the Lord.

Regardless of how it seems, we are to trust God to take care of things for us.  Even when it looks like everything is going the opposite of what we need, we must trust Him.  The devil wants us to doubt God’s desire to do what His Word says, and particularly for us.  He started in the Garden of Eden by convincing Eve to doubt the truth of what God said.  He has never changed.  He says to you and me all the time:  “Has God said?  Did He really mean what He said?  Nah, I don’t think so.  Go ahead, you can’t trust God to come through for you.”

Deliberately, on purpose, choose to trust God.  Make a quality decision that no matter what happens, you choose to trust Him.  Make a commitment to Him that you will remain true to Him and believe His Word.  That commitment is not dependent on whether you see results or not.  It is a decision you make to believe God and His Word, regardless of what happens in your life.  That is what honor is.  Honor does not depend on whether you have everything great in your life.  Honor is what you choose to do.  Respect and esteem God for Who He is and not for what He can do for you.

Oh, yes, as you honor Him and His Word, you will see results.  You will walk in the blessed life.  You will experience breakthrough and turnaround.  God looks to and fro throughout the earth to find those who are committed to Him and His Word, not because of what He does for them, but because they love Him with all their hearts and want to please Him and honor Him.

Trust God!  He loves you so much.  Today and every day show Him how much you love Him and trust Him.

The World Behind Me, Part 2

Today we finish our study of 1 John 2:12-17 and 1 John 5:21.

Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world.  If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world—-

the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification],

and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind]

and the pride of life [assurance of one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]—-these do not come from the Father but are from the world [itself].

And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols (false gods)—-[from anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life].

As I look at these verses for a personal evaluation of myself, I am asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to me any areas in my life that would keep me from knowing God intimately and putting Him in first place.

We may think that we don’t have any idols in our lives since we think of idols as little carved icons or whatever, but what about the thing you spend the most of your time on.  Is it Jesus or is it something which steals all of your time from Him?

What John tells us here in these verses is strong.  We are not to love the world or the love of the Father is not in us.  In the world are things that would gratify our senses (sense of touch, seeing, hearing, smelling, speaking).  In the world are things that would satisfy the longings in our mind.  In the world is self-assurance and faith in earthly resources to solve our problems.  Self can sometimes be our biggest hindrance to faith in God.  Most of us have been taught to depend on our own abilities since we were small.  But God——-!

God wants to completely take care of us and has already supplied our needs and wants.  What we must do is “let go” of all these earthly comfort zones on which we rely and choose instead to trust God.  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal those places in your heart that belong to Him but which you have not been able to give over to Him.  He is waiting!  He will help you to become totally free of the world’s way of doing things and reliance on your own self-efforts.