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Deep in prayer a few nights ago the Lord gave me a word that I thought I'd share with you. It's based on the concept of Home and Psalm 23:
There is power in the word home. It engenders feelings of safety, of lifted burdens, of peace. We know when we cross that threshold that we're where we belong. That we can work from a place of rightness no matter what we're dealing with. It's why the loss of a home is so powerful. Not because of the physical repercussion, though those matter, but because of the spiritual repercussions. What the loss of home implies.
When we approach God in prayer he gives us access to our true home. Not in Heaven, not on Earth but in his presence. That is our true home. When we pray we step across the threshold of the throne room to stand in front of the King, we stand in front of the living God. We step into the literal presence of God when we come to him in prayer and supplication.
He's given us a picture of this in the most well known Psalm in the bible. Psalm 23. There is a good reason it's so well known and why it's meant to be a comfort to us. It's a blueprint of being "home" with the savior.
We all know it and most know it by heart. Let's look deeply at it through the lens of home.
*Psalm 23*
1) The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
- He is our Shepherd. A shepherd was home for his sheep. Wherever they laid their head at night as long as the shepherd was there they know that they are home. That they are safe in his presence. That he will provide for their needs and well-being. They will want for nothing because the shepherd will provide. We see this best I think in John the Baptist. A man born into the family of a priest(Luke 1:5). While not well off certainly comfortable, much more so then most Jews will have been. But John eschews all of the priestly trappings, all of the comfort of his family and lives as a wild man of the wilderness. Eating locusts and honey while wearing a garment of camel hair(Matt 3:4). But he did not want. He was a man fully in the presence and his desire was God's desire. So he lived to "Prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight" (Matt 3:3), faithful even unto death. Because he trusted his shepherd and wanted for nothing but his will.
2) He makes me to lie down in green pastures; he leads me besides still waters
- When we pray we come into a place of rest and nourishment. His presence is that rest and nourishment. We rest because we can let go of the burdens that we carry and take up his burden which is light and brings with it peace. A peace that nourishes our spirit.
3) He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
* When we come home in prayer we enter into restoration of our soul. As the world is stripped away our soul is restored and made at peace in the comfort of his presence. When brought home we are again able to enter onto the path the Lord has laid out for us. A path of righteousness unattainable except for his presence and guidance as our shepherd.
4) Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your Rod and Your staff they comfort me.
- When we are home we need not fear. Evil or death has no sway or hold on us. Because we dwell in the comfort and safety of the most high. This is on display as Peter and John stood before the council under duress and after proclaiming the truth to them with no fear then prayed that the Lord would make them even bolder and that the harvest would be greater(Acts 4:1-31). I think this is even better displayed however in the acts of Stephen the Martyr. Being dragged in front of the council, his face like the face of an Angel he rebuked them strongly(Acts 6:15-7:53). He spoke without fear or reservation trusting in his God to take care of him and deliver him. As they begin to stone him he turns his eyes to Heaven seeing the Heavens opened before him and prays Lord receive my spirit and forgive them(Acts 7:54-60). This is the act of a man fully confident that though he walks through the valley of the shadow of death he need fear nothing. For the Lord is with him and he has access to his throne room.
5) You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over.
- Even surrounded by our enemies, those who wish us harm, we need not fear. The Lord himself prepares a table in that place. If we seek him in prayer we need not fear no matter the outcome. We will be blessed regardless. Whether we are delivered or whether like Stephen we are rewarded with home.
6) Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
- Goodness and mercy will follow us for our entire life when our focus is on home. When we live a life of prayer and relationship with the Living God we live a life of freedom, of goodness, of mercy, of lack of fear. These things are attainable and available to us if we would only go home. Even when things do not go as we wish, when life hurts us, when lives end, we rest secure in the comfort and peace given to us by the Savior that we will dwell with him forever.
When Paul advises us to "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks ; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.(1 Thess 5:16-18)" it's not just a you need to do this or else. It's done with the knowledge of what awaits us if we spend our time at home. He fervently desires that we live a full life in Christ and according to His will but that this is only possible if we're spending time at home with Him.
Come home.
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