Do you realize who you are? According to Psalm 139, you are fearfully and wonderfully made. God knew you before you were conceived in your mother’s womb. You have been on the mind of God since before the beginning of time! Can you wrap your mind around this amazing truth? Friend, my little 3 lb brain has a hard time comprehending such knowledge, and yet, it doesn’t diminish the truth of it.
You are highly favored, greatly loved, and the apple of God’s eye. Don’t believe me? Just pick up your Bible and read these verses, Psalm 17:7-9, Psalm 139, Jeremiah 29:11, John 15: 13-16, Romans 8: 31-39. I could give you so many more incredible verses that tell how valuable you are to God. But of all the verses, none is as simple to understand and as popular as John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, (put your name there), that He gave His only begotten Son (Jesus), that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
God sent Jesus to make the greatest trade in history. Jesus took your sin and nailed to His own cross so that when you receive Him by faith, you take on His righteousness and are made right before God. How wonderful! Now, would you like to know some more good news? God doesn’t just want to give you eternal life so you can live in Heaven once this world is over, He also wants to fill your life with His presence in the here and now.
Long before Jesus came to this earth, God’s people were slaves in Egypt. God sent a man named Moses to deliver them and lead the Israelites to the land of Canaan (the land of promise). As they journeyed in the desert, God instructed Moses to build a large tent that would be portable for the people to worship Him in. That tent was called, The Tabernacle. Exodus 40: 34-35 tells us what happened once the tabernacle was completed.
“Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting, because the cloud rested above it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.”
How amazing! Can’t you just imagine the look on the Hebrews faces as they watched the glory of the Lord descend upon the tabernacle? Friend, what happened to that tent in the desert is a picture of what God does in your life the moment you receive Christ as your Lord through faith. The Spirit of God comes to saturate you with His presence.
In 1 Corinthians 6:19, Paul writes that as Christians, we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, God had a temple for His people to worship in, but today in Christ, God has a people for His temple.
Jesus gave this promise that I hope will bring you great comfort and joy, “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.”
– John 14: 15-17.
