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- Written by: Don Goulding
He put the cherubs in the inner sanctuary of the temple. Their wings were spread out. One of the first cherub’s wings touched one wall and one of the other cherub’s wings touched the opposite wall. (1 Kings 6:27)
I lay awake at 3:00 a.m., angry at an electronics store. Oh, what pathetic trivia can consume my thoughts in the unguarded watches of the night. The store had refused to honor a warranty and I replayed conversations about their responsibility.
The Bible says don't let the sun go down while you hold a grudge against a person, but I allowed bitterness over an institution.
I used praise to push the ugliness aside, but before long I was back to condemning the store manager, while the clock crept toward 4:00 a.m.
“I don’t have the power to move off these petty thoughts,” I prayed. “Help me Holy Spirit, help me.”
I felt the expansiveness of Jesus move into my heart and I laughed at my weakness against vain thoughts. After a time of sweet worship, joy led to sleep.
I am the replacement for Solomon’s demolished temple of God. My body, mind, and spirit are chambers of worship.
To overcome insomnia, I walked through the temple court of my body. Past dependence on the Holy Place in my mind, and into the Most Holy Place of my spirit. There I bowed to God. When I realized that all I am is not enough to live a godly life, then he met me in the sacred inner sanctuary. It’s a space marked by repentance, a turning away from what I never had, to receive what he always offered.
In that moment of yielding, Jehovah filled my Holy of Holies with smoke and stretched his ministering angels from wall to wall. I became more than an empty human with vanities rattling about my head. I was a temple of the Most High God, filled with power to conquer even the most challenging of kingdom assignments, up to, and including sleep.
Prayer: Holy Spirit, I’m done with me. Fill me in the inner sanctuary.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, acknowledging his name. (Hebrews 13:15)
“Please, will you pray for my friend?”
A woman stopped in my path as thousands of people dispersed after an evangelistic festival in Red Hills, India.
“She’s been lame since childhood polio.” She pointed to a twenty-year-old girl with her legs braced rigid and wearing a lime-green sari.
I’d seen God heal in three ways, immediately, through medicine, and in heaven. I wondered how he would minister to this girl. It turned out that she would minister to me.
As we spoke, the polio survivor smiled all through our conversation—not a Cheshire cat grin, but a mild turn of her closed lips.
Her friends gathered for prayer, and I asked the Holy Spirit how to proceed. Once again, he showed me the smile. Her peaceful countenance told me bitterness hadn't tainted her soul, in spite of personal tragedy. It was the truest form of life worship.
This girl was special, and Father was doing something greater than fixing her legs. She didn’t need me and my prayers, she only needed a little encouragement.
“Through your disability,” I said, “you’ve been chosen to present a sacrifice of praise that will honor God through eternity. Keep that smile. Keep praising God, and you will be rewarded far above me for eternity.”
When I see the smiling girl in paradise, I plan to tell her that I wanted to give her physical healing. Instead, she gave me an example of heroic joy. Her gift to me was far more valuable than what I wanted to give to her.
Prayer: Saving God, may I offer you the sacrifice of thanks in everything.
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- Written by: Don Goulding
Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!” So he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you. (Luke 10:17-19)
My soul slipped through space, a clean, sleek rocket ship. Evil was not in sight, and I reveled in my God’s universe of light.
Blam! Children at school left me until last when choosing teams, and a meteorite of rejection slammed into my nosecone. The shock reverberated through space, attracting a demon of insecurity. It dug into the wound on my soul, and staked a claim of torment.
In my teenage years, my ship staggered forward.
Crash! Another meteorite tore a gouge down the side. This was a rock of ferrous sexual temptation. A demon of lust clawed his way into the scar.
Next, a chunk of anger bashed the hull, then jealousy, and fear. The blows drew evil spirits like flies to wounds. Their strongholds in my soul were built around the lies that marred my heart. But help was on the way.
A roar from the Lion of Judah shook the heavenly realms. His anger raged at the imps clinging to a child for whom he died. He breathed into my heart. “I knight you to battle against the evil powers that plunder souls.”
I was ordained into spiritual warfare. With weapons of truth and the authority of Jesus, I push out dents from the inside. Crumpled souls are restored to newborn innocence. The truth that Jesus was my friend on the playground pushes out the lie of abandonment. Demons lose their holding place and fall into the blackness of space.
We are not defenseless in this adventure. In Christ, we have the weapons necessary to undo the dents in our rocket ship, and those of our fellow travelers.
Prayer: Lion of Judah, make me a warrior of truth.