Our devotional life is KEY – our intimate time in the Word of God will take and make sense of every object on the shelf of our prayer closet, our spiritual supply pantry, our sanctuary. This intimate connection to Him will take us to the supply via a song, a sight, a smell, a sound … His spirit will trigger a connection to His heart, for others, that will bring great encouragement in the Kingdom. (Please bear with me, and walk with me through a “sanctuary” moment!)
Friday Night, the evening after Thanksgiving, I was on my way to stand near a family dear to my heart, whose hearts were swaying in the emotions of the loss of a high-school sweetheart,“best friend”and Wife, a Mom, a Grandmother(Neena), a sister, … we could go on and on … She was truly a beautiful soul and a gift in the Kingdom. … ( I prayed: “O Lord, I am your pitiful servant, the least of these, I have nothing of myself to offer them … come to me for the sake of yours!”)
In the midst of a song that spoke to me of the love of childhood sweethearts, and tears flowing down my face … the “sanctuary” opened: There, right in front of my face, was a Pennsylvania license plate “JJR 5513”. It stared at me long and hard at a “red light wait”at the end of an interstate ramp. This pulled a memory off of the shelf of my attic rescue that opened the door to this sanctuary – {the plate read} JJR (My initials) – 5/5/13 (5/5/73 reminder); 40 years ago in May of 1973, I trusted Christ in my first visit to the prayer closet and He has never turned His back on me nor abandoned me. (I then prayed with assurance: “O Lord, You ARE there for these precious kids of yours!”)
The “40” then carried me to another May when I was 40. The “40” found a memory on the pantry shelf of His tender care, where I received a big reset while threatened by cancer. The Threat was soon neutralized by the miraculous movements of God that even made glorious use the mistakes of men. Weeks under the care of Heaven-led intruders, I would be loved and healed as these agents of the river of God's love would flow through the hospital room. This “hospital” visit memory would immediately take me to another object on the shelf: the lonely maternity hospital room of the wife of a first semester Bible college student.
Here I will always stop and weep … for this was a memory of my beauty, my love, my wife; and she was tormented by empty arms that had longed to hold her new born baby boy. As our little guy was whisked off to emergency care miles from us, she lay there in a bed of tears. In this bed she would sense His awesome “presence” literally wrapping His arms around her and cradling her in that time of grief. This “hospital” memory would bring me face to face with a tiny “hope chest” of tears that would open our hearts to the unsearchable riches of His love. We would experience “His Presence” again and again, and this little “hope chest” would be carried in our hearts from that little grave-side to so many others that would follow.
As I am moved again and again to carry the sanctuary through every step of life, This “Presence” memory has never stayed on the shelf … but this “Presence” has been there to help us with many “hospital” rooms, bed sides, and “hope chests”. His Presence in our lives is the true gift of the Sanctuary.
“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God. (Thou art God) (Jesus)Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. (Thou art God, Thou art God, Thou art God)Psalm 90:2,1
HLFA,
Jeff
“Let not your hearts be troubled, you believe in God believe also in Me (Jesus). In My Father's house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again ,and receive you unto Myself; that where I am , there ye may be also.” Jesus' Words from John 14:1,2,3