God's House

In Paul's first letter to the church at Corinth he says, "What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" (I Corinthians 6:19 KJV) In Acts chapter seven Stephen quotes the prophet Isaiah saying, "However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.  What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord.  Or where will my resting place be?  Has not my hand made all these things?" (Acts 7:48-50 NIV)

As Stephen said God does not live in houses made by human hands.  He lives in each believer in the person of His Holy Spirit. What?  Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?  God asks in Isaiah 66:1-2, "What kind of house will you build for me?"  If our bodies are the temple of Holy Ghost what kind of house (temple) are we building for God?  Is it a house built on the foundation of the word of God?  Is it a house where love lives? Is it a house where compassion lives?  Is it a house where grace lives?  Is it a house where mercy lives?  What lives in our temple?

What foundation is your temple built on?  Jesus gave a parable about a wise man who built his house on the rock.  When the storm came his house withstood the storm because its foundation was the rock.  Jesus is the rock.  Jesus said to Peter that on this rock (revelation that Jesus is our savior) I will build my church (that's you and me) and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).  The foolish man, however, built his house on the sand, and when the storm came his house was destroyed.  If we build our houses on any foundation other than who Jesus is when the storms of life come our houses will crumble.  

What's inside our temple? If there is doubt in our temples, God cannot live there.  If there is mistrust in our temples, God cannot live there.  If there is hate in our temples, God cannot live there.  God allowed the Babylonians to destroy the temple that King Solomon had built because the children of Israel chose to worship other gods.  The very first commandment that God gave Moses on Mt. Sinai was "thou shalt have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3).  Whether we realize it or not, anything in our lives that overshadows who God is we have made a god in our lives.  It could be hate, resentment, unforgiveness or fear.  When we let those things take up residence in our houses, God's temple, we are destroying the house.  
In Isaiah 66:2 it says that the ones that God favors are those who are humble and contrite in spirit and who tremble at His word.  God is seeking those who reverence Him with humility.  Who ask Him to help them build His house. It is no coincidence that Jesus was a carpenter while He was here on earth. He is the master builder, and He will help us build a temple that is pleasing to the Father where His presence lives always.