Psalm 84 begins with this thought in verse 1:
1HOW LOVELY are Your tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!
The word "tabernacles" is the Hebrew word, "mishkan", which means: residence, dwelling place, tent. In our position as New Covenant believers, WE are the dwelling place of the Lord! Look at these verses: 1 Corinthians 3:16:
16Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you
And 2 Corinthians 6:16:
16What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
You are the Temple of God and You are lovely to Him!
Allow that to become real to you and it will change your life!
There is so very much in Romans 12 that we could talk about! The purpose of this blog, though, is to stir up our thinking and show how we meditate the Word. We'll cover a few things and leave the rest for another time. But YOU can talk to the Holy Spirit about all of it and He will teach you as much as you want to know! Hallelujah!
Romans 12:1-2 in the Amplified Bible is so thorough that I don't even need to do word studies. It's all right there! Let's look:
1I APPEAL to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make a decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual worship.2Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you].
Notice that God prefers a LIVING sacrifice! The question really is not "Would you die for Jesus"? It's will you LIVE for Him? And notice, also, that it is only reasonable, rational and intelligent that we should do that after all that He has done for us! It is also worship to Him when we do. How do we present ourselves as a LIVING sacrifice? It starts with being a doer of verse 2 and renewing our minds to think like Him! We see in the next few verses that we all have a part to play in the whole picture of God's plan. If we each pour our whole heart into doing our part, then it all gets done and God is well pleased! I want to look at two more verses in Romans. First verse 11:
11Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavor; be aglow and burning with the Spirit, serving the Lord.
The word "zeal" means: enthusiastic diligence, intensity, ardor and passion. We are to keep ourselves on fire for the things of God. What does it take for YOU to stir yourself up to be excited for the Word, prayer, praise and worship, ministry? Find what it is and do it consistently! Then we will look at verse 18:
18If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
Many people want to use this verse to say we should not go to war as a nation. That is simply and totally inaccurate! What is being said here is that we should never hold personal grudges and resentment against anyone. Notice the phrase: "as far as it depends on you". It doesn't matter what the other person does! God expects US to make the decision not to take account of suffered wrongs, not to be easily offended, not to hold grudges, but to forgive and choose peace every time. If THEY refuse, you can still walk in love on your part and the rest they are responsible for before God! Again, this has nothing to do with sending soldiers into battle, but in our personal relationships with people - CHOOSE PEACE!
In Numbers 11-12 we have the story of the manna and the quail. As a non meat eater, I have always hated the thought of people so gorging themselves on the quail that they were "vomiting it out of their nostrils"! GIVE ME MANNA! In fact, I wouldn't be opposed to having Manna right now! To have all the nutrition you need baked in a little cake that tasted heavenly and satisfied hunger sounds like God to me! But here we see the people complain, complain, complain again! I did notice, though, in verse 4, that it was the "mixed multitude" that did a lot of the complaining. Those were the non-Jews that left Egypt with them.
I have always had a hard time, also, with Aaron and Miriam getting mad at Moses for being the one in charge. Have they seriously been paying attention when he received all of the complaints and back-biting by the people at the first sign of a problem, test, trial or tribulation? Did they REALLY want to be in on that? That, to me, was a real case of NOT counting the cost of what they were asking! But here we see the mercy of God in action. He taught them a lesson and then brought them back into fellowship again. That's our God! What a wonderful God we serve!
Shalom in Him!
