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There is a place, a family in which God desires to plant you that you may increase and flourish to experience His peace. And, it is grace that takes you from where you are to where God wants you to be in life. Peace that is wholeness does not happen overnight though. It is a process, as the apostle Peter describes He who desires life and to see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn from evil, to do what is good; let him seek peace and pursue it. [1 Peter 3:10,11]
Pursuing peace does not imply a chasing after it, but it is about being in a relationship with God, a covenant relationship. It began with what God had with Abraham, one that saw him experience peace as he was blessed in all things, to multiply and increase and become the father of many nations. And, the test of faith that Abraham went through, when he was called upon to sacrifice his only son Isaac was where Abraham called upon the Lord as his Jehovah Jireh, or ‘The Lord will provide’. It pointed prophetically to the Cross, where one day in the fullness of the new covenant, God has provided all that you and I will ever need in our lives.
A covenant of peace :
Today, it is a covenant of peace, that you have the privilege of being a partaker of, one that is everlasting and eternal, where the Lord Jesus has taken all the responsibility of fulfilling the obligations of the covenant. Your responsibility therefore lies in putting your faith in the covenant, as God remains faithful to His covenant. His covenant is a settlement of peace, the nuances of which God Himself declares through the prophet Ezekiel – Moreover I will establish a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them; indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be My people. [Ezekiel 37:26,27]
It is an everlasting covenant of peace, for you have a God who is eternal, who loves you with an everlasting love. It is the truth that needs to bring settlement within you, for nothing can ever separate you from His love. And it is when you know the amazing truth that you will begin to feel it in you; for feelings can often be very conditional, but it is not so with His love for you, that has no beginning or end, and never changes in its intensity, no matter what your circumstance is. His word is settled forever eternally. And therefore, it is an eternal covenant of peace, one that is settled forever.
‘He who has ears, let him hear’ ! :
They are the words from the mouth of the Lord Himself, the Living and Eternal Word, teaching the importance of hearing the word of God, hearing it with understanding, and meditating upon it continually. And, it is then that an increase that brings peace and well being will become your life’s experience. It happens, not at the snap of a finger, but as a process when you are planted, rooted in one place. It is depicted by the psalmist in a beautiful picture; of a man who is like a tree that is planted by the waters. But his delight is in the law of the Lord. And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the waters, that brings forth its fruit in season; whose leaf also shall not wither, and whatever he does shall prosper. [Psalm 1:2,3]
The prophet Jeremiah makes a similar comparison too; that the man who is like a tree planted by streams of living water, as he puts his trust and faith in the Lord, will not fear even when drought comes, but will stay fresh and green, to bear fruit in season. [Jeremiah 17:8] It all goes to establish the truth that Christianity is not something that is mystical or magical; rather it is a relationship with God, an ongoing process, where He works in you and through you, by His word and His Spirit, giving you wisdom, that births in you the desire, determination and the power to do His will, a conviction that leads to conduct that is in line with the word that you receive. Understanding the truth and not merely knowing it makes a vital difference in it all, for it is then that you are lifted up to stand upon the rock, and not be shaken by the storms that come against you. It is then that you would be like the wise man who builds his house upon the rock. And, it is the wise woman who builds her home. The psalmist expresses it very aptly to pray thus – Your testimonies are righteous forever; give me understanding that I may live. [Psalms 119:144]
It is the prayer that needs to spring forth even from within you, every day as you wake up to face a new day, with a fresh anointing, and a grace that is new, for God wants you to live, and not merely survive. He wants you to flourish and live to the fullest in every sphere of your life, that His Name may be glorified. It is His plan for you; and it cannot come to pass unless you are established and settled, through an understanding of God’s truth, that is more than mere knowledge that puffs you up.
How does the Lord settle you ?
There is a path and a place in which God desires to settle you, to see you increase and flourish for the glory of His Name, even as the psalmist puts it across in terms of being planted and rooted, much like how a tree needs to be. The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in their old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. [Psalm 92:12-15] It is when you are planted in the house of God that you flourish and increase in your life. Even like the tree planted in the courts of God, it is in a local church that God plants you, in order to settle you and experience peace in your life. It is His presence that makes all the difference !
Immanuel God with us :
In creation God dwelt in sweet communion with Adam and Eve, until sin entered to unsettle man in God’s garden. But God’s plan of redemption saw Him stoop down to lift him up from the pit of destruction that man found himself in. He did not give up on man. And, therefore in His infinite mercy and grace, God was with the Israelites in the wilderness, dwelling in the midst of them in the tabernacle, and later in His temple when the people entered and settled in the promised land of Canaan.
But, the magnificence of the Cross signified the establishment of the new covenant. And now, even as you receive Him, and the finished work of the Cross in faith, the Spirit of God dwells in you, to see your body in itself becoming the temple of God, a precious and most wondrous privilege ! Christ is in you, when you become a new creation; where old things have passed away, and everything has become new. And Lord Jesus, the Savior and the Risen Lord, is also Immanuel, or ‘God with us’, who has promised that where two or three are gathered together in His Name, He is there in their midst. Therefore, in a gathering of saints as a local church, Christ is there in your midst. And God plants you in His church, in order to make you flourish and bring increase in your life. For when Christ is in you, and also in your midst as a local congregation, where He alone is the object of worship, you have all that you need in life, to experience wholeness that is peace.
People may have their preferences regarding the manner in which they worship the Lord; for some may prefer a somber quietness, while another may enjoy a more spirited and lively atmosphere of worship. ‘To each his own’, it is said, but the principle remains. It began in the Upper Room, where Peter preached the first sermon, and the first church was born, and still continues.
1. Procedure & provision of the house of God :
And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. [Acts 2:47] The church is God’s standard, unchanging operating procedure. For, it is by receiving with understanding, the truth that you hear, that you can progress to build your life upon the Rock who is Christ. And, it is out of His fullness that you receive grace upon grace, the abundance that sees you abound and not experience any lack concerning every good work that you have been called to accomplish.
Therefore, if you have been born into this world, you need to be born again of the incorruptible seed of God’s word, to be a part of a new family. It is the local church, where God plants you. It marks a new beginning in you as a new creation in Christ, where the old things have passed away, and everything becomes new. Your lineage now begins with Christ. And the church is God’s provision for your needs to be met, in a relationship with Christ as its Head, and with each other as members of a family, that bows its knees unto the Father of all.
For, even from a very practical point of view, as a loving parent you may want to give the best for your child. But then, you will find that there are things that only God can do in a person’s life. And, it is the reason why when God wants to bless you, He first saves you. Salvation is the sum total of all the blessings of God, that comes to you by grace, and through faith in Christ, and what He has already accomplished on the Cross to proclaim, ‘It is finished’. It is God’s procedure and provision for prosperity that is from Him.
2. Prosperity in the house of God :
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. [Psalm 23:6] A very familiar verse that outlines how God’s goodness and prosperity is connected to the house of God, even as it builds up to a towering crescendo of dwelling in the house of the Lord forever. For it is out of the abundance of His house, out of His fullness, that you receive grace upon grace; one that transforms and flourishes you. And it is for that very reason that when God saves you, He plants you in a local church. It is together with the saints, that you experience the immeasurable fullness of His love for you. It is there that you can hear the right instruction, the seeds of prosperity, as you receive the word of God with understanding, to meditate upon it day and night.
It will then see you prosper, as you apply it in your life to fulfill all His purposes for you, and in the process, you will experience peace that removes all frustration that could be unsettling you in life. Christ relates to the church as His Bride, that is cherished and nourished by Him as its’ Head. And, He promises to build His church that the gates of hell may not overcome it. You receive protection in the house of God.
3. Protection in the house of God :
For in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion. In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me. He shall set me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all. Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle. I will sing, yes I will sing praises to the Lord. [Psalm 27:5,6] Protection is part of the provision that comes to you in the local church. You become a part of the universal church when you are saved, but God also plants you in a local church, for it is there that you grow and prosper, and you also find protection when gathered in an assembly of saints.
It is wonderfully illustrated in the early church, in the life of Apostle Paul, who was stoned and dragged out of the city, to be left for dead, by his persecutors. It was not the end of his story though, for the disciples came together, to stand around Paul. They would not have been merely watching him die, but would have indeed been praying for Him. For in a little while, the apostle who was considered to be dead, arose strengthened, to go back into the same city ! [Acts 14:19,20]
Even today, it is in the company of fellow believers, by people who pray sincerely for you that you are protected. And it is the people who stand with you in prayer in your time of need, who are your real friends ! Christianity moreover is about relationships, with God, and through it with people. It is why you cannot be a Christian monk, isolating yourself from the company of other Christians. Paul did not need people when he was up in the third heaven, but lying wounded on the ground, he needed the prayer and help of other disciples ! Daniel was a young man and so were his friends when they were rudely taken away to an alien and powerful nation where the temptation to sin must have been all around them. But, it was by standing together and standing with each other in prayer that they had the determination to withstand the wiles of the enemy and the evil one.
It is good when someone can say to you very sincerely and truthfully that they would pray for you. But it is infinitely more comforting when you can have a personal relationship with people who are praying for you. And it is what happens when you gather as a church. For, people can internalize their problems, and a person may come beaten and bruised on the inside, but gathered together in worship and prayer in the midst of a congregation, he can be touched and miraculously restored to rise up and return home with joy and hope.
In a world that is becoming more and more impersonal and remote when it comes to human relationships, people everywhere are today longing for a personal touch ! And it is a need for which the key lies in being planted in a local church, having people who will stand with you when you feel like falling. It has been found in the wake of a huge storm that saw many trees being uprooted, that the trees which stood upright, were the ones that were in close proximity with each other. And the reason was very simple; their roots below the ground were intertwined, holding and strengthening each other !
It is why the writer to the Hebrews warns against neglecting the house of God, to the extent of making it a habit. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. [Hebrews 10:23,24] Church is not just about membership; it is a living community in which you participate to be blessed and be a blessing to others, encouraging one another and looking out for one another in the Lord. Children are your inheritance, and the responsibility lies with you to train them in the way they should go, to know and walk in the ambience of the church from a very young age.
The boy Samuel, grew in the presence of the Lord, declares the word of God. And it has to be remembered that the Lord Jesus was just eight days old when He was brought to the temple of God. And, something miraculously fulfilling happened in the life of a very old man, who was in the house of God, and waiting with expectation for that very moment !
4. Prophetic fulfillment in the house of God :
So he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; For, my eyes have seen the salvation that you have prepared before the face of all people, a light to bring revelation to the gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel’. [Luke 2:28-32] It is what happened on that glorious day in the life of Simeon. He received peace and rest in his soul. And today, Jesus Himself is your Sabbath as you gather together in worship and adoration, trusting and finding your rest in Him. You will leave empowered to face what lies ahead in the days to come.
For, what happens as you dwell in the house of God ?
To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. [Psalm 27:4] It is the purpose for which the psalmist seeks to dwell in the house of God; and it needs to become the one thing that you ask of the Lord to seek after it too. For, what happens within you as a fruit of it is a transformation; one which is a step by step process that works in three stages 1. Behold 2. Believe 3. Become.
To behold is to believe; and to believe is to become. For, the word of God is like a mirror in which you see yourself, all that is disturbed and unsettled within you, and also one in which you behold the beautiful fullness of God, all that He has prepared and made available for you to be made whole and experience peace.
Therefore, when you come to God’s house, you may be disturbed, unsettled and all messed up on the inside. But, the Holy Spirit working within you will open your eyes to look at the mirror of God’s word, and deal with the problems in your inner man. And, it will see you leaving the house of God transformed, and made up by God’s word ! It is what being planted and rooted in a local church will do in you, to make you flourish. You will truly live, and not merely survive ! Therefore, pray unto the Father, asking for grace, that you may be planted by Him in a local church. And then, no matter what your problem may be, continue to come to church, not neglecting the gathering of saints. God will bring about a change, a transformation in your life, that will make you stand in awe to declare ‘This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in my eyes’! May this word from God take deep root in you, to transform you from within, that He may be glorified in and through your life.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
