Words of Encouragement

When we come into the sanctuary (church), we should come with an attitude of honoring the Lord for he is worthy to be praised.  Have you praised him today?

" 'Observe my Sabbaths and have reverence for my sanctuary. I am the LORD.  " 'Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the LORD your God. - Leviticus 19:30-31

Reverence for God. In his Sanctuary. Let's start today with what does it mean to reverence? One meaning is, a feeling or attitude of deep respect tinged with awe; veneration. Another meaning (uses as a verb) is to regard or treat with reverence; venerate, as in the reverance God. This is also an active word, "the outward manifestation of this feeling". So when we say we reverence God what we are stating is we have an attitude of deep respect as well as respect and awe.  This reverence is directed toward God.

Now that we have this understanding, let us look at the scripture for today.  God is telling his children some important things for them to observe. God is telling his children to honor the sabbath and to have reverence for his sanctuary.  The sanctuary of then is not the same as the church of today, but it serves the same purpose, it is the place where God's people are to come and worship.  On that note, the sanctuary and the church have the same purpose.  So we can stand to believe that what God commanded for the sanctuary is the same for us in the church.

God says that he does not what his children going after lesser things (mediums, and false doctrine, wrong behavior, wrong worship attitude, etc.). What God is calling for from his children is to come into his house with a sense of awe.  To be as excited (or more) as if you were invited into the most famous persons home or someone you greatly admired.  After you stopped pinching yourself, you would be in a state of awe because you could not believe what you did to warrant this invite.

You would not go into the person's house and destroy it, or rearrange things to suit your comfort.  You would find out from the owner of the home what is proper and acceptable behavior and that is what you would do.

Well you have been invited into the home of someone of greatness.  For there is no one greater than He.  He has invited you to come and you should be in awe as to what warranted the invitation.  It was not anything you did, but what his Son did on the cross.  And then when you go into the house you should go in and not try to arrange things to fit what you are comfortable with, but to ask the owner of the house, what do you want us to do in your house?

We pray Sunday after Sunday for God's Spirit to have control of the house, yet we oftentimes take the control and try to do things our own way.  So instead when we pray and ask God to take control we should let go and simply have reverance for his greatness.  So today I pray for us that we would begin to understand how to reverance God in an entirely new way, His way.