Rebuilding The House.

I spent half of my working life in a factory making parts for aircraft. And the other half working on building sites of various sorts. My whole working life has been spent building or making one thing or another.

But building things wasn’t the reason that I worked. I worked because I had a home-life to build. That’s why we all work. We go carry out our daily activities to build our homes together.

Building things. Making things. Creating things. We all do it at some point in our lives. Builders build houses. Seamstresses and tailors create clothing. Cooks and bakers create meals. We all love to set our minds onto a project and build or create something. And a lot of the time the thinking and planning of the project is more enjoyable than the actual creative process itself.

And that desire to build, or create, comes from deep within our minds and hearts. It is the one creative characteristic that we share with God. We love to create things. We build a home. We build projects and art. We build friendships. And, as Christians, we build a relationship with God. And, for us, it’s this last one that should be the most important for us. Everything else we build should feed upwards into our relationship with God.

The first House of God, Solomon’s Temple, was built by David and Solomon. This was destroyed and the children of Israel taken hostage into Babylon. But after a time - during the time periods of Daniel, Ezekiel, Haggai, Nehemiah, Esther and Ezra - the Babylonian king allowed the Israelites to return and rebuild the Temple and City again.

But the rebuilding of the 2nd Temple just wasn’t about the Temple itself. It was about Israel re-establishing itself as a nation once again. It was about the Priesthood being restored. It was about restoring a right relationship with God all over again. Listen to the prophecy of Haggai…

Haggai Ch1 (7) This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.(8) Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured," says the LORD.

To rebuild anything can always be seen as an opportunity to improve something. Stronger. Better. Listen to the prophecy of Isaiah…

Isaiah Ch9 (10) “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with smooth stones; The sycamores have been cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.”

After the Ascension of Jesus into Heaven everything changed. Jesus had pronounced over Jerusalem that the walls would be torn down stone by stone. And never be built again. But it did not matter, because God’s people would be reborn – Re-created – as a spiritual people. No more will temples be needed. For the veil into the Holy of Holies was torn apart. No more would the priesthood be needed as Jesus was now our Great High Priest. No more sacrifices of lambs, bullocks, goats or doves. Jesus had become our great sacrifice.

And after the blessings of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room at Pentecost we must now start to build each other up as Children of the Most High God. We must build together with each other so as God’s name can be ultimately glorified.

Consider the words of Paul in the Acts Of The Apostles…

Acts of The Apostles Ch20 (32) "Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified.

Read what Paul also says to the Christians at Ephesus…

Ephesians Ch2 (19) Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people and also members of His household,(20) built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.(21) In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.(22) And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

I have had to rebuild parts of my life many times over. Friendships that had faded sometimes needed to be renewed. Relationships that had been destroyed needed to be addressed and restructured. Alas some were destroyed beyond repair, but I can rebuild using the techniques that I learned during my failures.

I miss the old church groups and fellowships that I used to attend. But I do carry with me the lessons that I learned and the knowledge that I gained. And all these now need to be fed into the continual rebuilding of my relationship with God.

And as we slowly build our relationships with God then slowly we can rebuild your own peace of mind. We can slowly learn that God’s Grace is sufficient for each day and we can let tomorrow take care of itself.

But I would like to share with you one lesson that I have learned. And it is this – Anger or bitterness cannot live in the same mind as praise and worship. Is there something worrying you? Turn it into Praise. God will take care of the worries. Is there a past experience hurting or grieving you? Turn it onto worship. God will take care of the hurts for you. Close your eyes for a moment or two and sing a simple chorus or hymn. For God inhabits the praises of His people…

Psalm Ch22 (3) But you are Holy. You that inhabits the praises of Israel. 

Amen.

Bind us together, Lord. Bind us together.
With cords that cannot be broken
Bind us together, Lord. Bind us together.
Bind us together in love

There is only one God, there is only one King.
There is only one body, that is why we sing.
 
Email - TheseLivelyOracles@hotmail.com
Internet - www.theselivelyoracles.co.uk
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Twitter(X) - @LivelyOracles58
Location: H3W9+VX Belfast, UK

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