We are God’s temple.

Friday, February 21, 2025.

Mrs Pasteur BILLEY.

Numbers 9.

15 Now on the day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony; from evening until morning it was above the tabernacle like the appearance of fire.

16 So it was always: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.

17 Whenever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, after that the children of Israel would journey; and in the place where the cloud settled, there the children of Israel would pitch their tents. 

18 At the command of the Lord the children of Israel would journey, and at the command of the Lord they would camp; as long as the cloud stayed above the tabernacle they remained encamped.

The Lord gave all the necessary details for the tabernacle. He gave the plan for building and the list of utensils to be used in the tabernacle. And the people followed.

And the day everything was finalized for the tabernacle. The Bible states that the cloud of the Lord came to cover this temple. This is how God marked His presence among the people of Israel.

Long before, the Lord had even organized the position of the encampments of the various tribes that were around the tabernacle. For example, Judah was in the North… the whole army was practically around this tabernacle.

The life of the people thus evolved around the presence of God. Everything they did, from morning to night, was a function of what the Lord had planned for them. The Lord was in every detail. When the temple was to rise, God gave Aaron and his sons how to dismantle the temple, how to arrange the utensils, right down to the color of the sheet they were to use and the place to lay it down, …The Lord appointed Levites to carry them, the order in which it was to be done…And even to mention the color of the priests’ underwear.

It was at His command that they moved or stayed in a place.

He gave all the instructions right down to the order in which the tribes were to move.

The Lord took care of all the details because the people belonged to Him.

But at some point, the people began to complain once, twice…They demanded meat, they gave in to lust while Almighty God was in their midst. They complained so much that even Moses asked God for death because he was frustrated. Then the Lord struck.

But the people continued to complain, to sin continually.

The Bible declares that we are God’s temple.

1 Corinthians 3 .16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

The day we gave our lives to the Lord Jesus, we became God’s temple.

In the Old Covenant, this same tabernacle built by human hands was a physical temple, but we are the spiritual temple.

God does not dwell in temples made with human hands.

Acts 17. 24 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands;

This makes us God’s tabernacle.

However, if we ask ourselves, do our lives revolve around God?

Since it was the Lord who gave the start and the finish, and arranged everything.

So is He in control of every detail of our lives?

Do we give the Lord the right to direct our lives as He wills?

Do our lives obey God?

Are the decisions we make based on what He has decided?

If we look into our lives, although the Lord dwells in our lives, that doesn’t stop us from murmuring, complaining, doing things contrary to His will.

The Lord gave all the details to keep the temple holy. He made the precious blood of Jesus flow so that through the tabernacle that we are, He could be glorified, so that everyone would know that He exists.

Do we walk as God’s property?

These are all questions we need to ask ourselves.

Beloved, as long as Israel walked according to God’s ways and directions, they had dominion over their enemies. But when they sinned, dominance was erased, defeat was so great as to make them forget any past victory.

We’ve been bought out at a great price.

1 Corinthians 6.20 For you have been bought with a great price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

It is the Rock on which we stand to pray, the Rock of our victory, deliverance, healing…

But does the temple we are still live up to the standards of God, who redeemed us?

Even when the priests had to enter the temple, there was a way of doing it: they had to purify themselves several days beforehand, wear this or that garment…

Now, we are this temple, and if we examine ourselves, we will see that there are many foreign attitudes that have entered this temple.

For that, we must repent.

When Israel came out of Egypt, a multitude of people came out with them. They’re the ones who started asking for meat out of lust. And they complained so much that even the true Children of Israel began to weep outside their gates. The covetousness that began in the hearts of the strangers among them also entered their hearts, so that they too began to consider these desires.

So they should have asked themselves how their cattle, which they brought back, ate grass, and they always had plenty to offer the Lord, every day they had manna…

They began to trample on the provision of their God, they said their souls were tired of eating manna….

All this analogy and comparison is to help us see the state of our lives. Because most of the time, although we’re under more excellent grace, our behavior is no different from them.

Faced with certain situations :

Are we not treading on the greatness of our God?

Do we not doubt His ability?

Do we not reject the fact that He is our God?

Do we not put Him below all the problems we raise before Him?

Aren’t we forgetting the work the Lord has already done in our lives?

We must ask ourselves all these questions and go before the Lord to ask Him for forgiveness.

Brothers, sisters, The multitude of foreigners drove Israel to sin against their God.

So for us, as God’s property :

Do we follow the world to sin? (Exodus 23.12)

Do we conform to the world? (Romans 12.2)

Are we letting the world influence and blind us to what God has already accomplished in our lives?

Beloved, despite all that has happened, the Lord has sent people to explore the land of Canaan. But they came back saying we can’t fight them because they’re bigger than us.

They were at the gate of Jericho, but because of their complaints and doubts, the Lord turned them back.

So, are we too going to push our God, so that the same thing happens to us?

No, it’s time to seize this time for deep repentance in our lives.

God must be elevated in our lives. We are His property, His temple.

Every day we must offer our members in sacrifice, not to live according to the world but according to Him, and to remove all that is sinful in our lives because God is in our midst.

Romans 12.

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We are in God and God is in us and He is holy.

So, if God is within us, that He is Holy, Mighty, Great, what then are the things that prevent us from being like Him: holy, mighty or great?

Let’s identify these things and remove them.

If the people of Israel had thought about how the Lord had delivered them with power, guided them, protected them in the desert… then they would never be pitied.

Deuteronomy 8.4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

Beloved, let’s examine our lives carefully, it’s the same for us. If we see and consider this, we will not complain, nor be afraid, nor doubt Him, nor even ask the Lord for things that have not yet been fulfilled.

Let’s learn to bless God in all circumstances.

As God’s property, do we really want the Holy Spirit to work in us?

Do we practice the teachings?

Are we listening with just one ear? Do we only choose what suits us?

The Lord is able to change any situation in our lives, but we need to make this assessment in our own lives.

Examine yourself, ask yourself the right questions, and do this every day, at every moment of the day, checking your life, your heart to know if what you’re doing pleases God, probing if the Lord is at ease within you.

Brothers and sisters, the Lord wants us to return to Him. God is merciful. Let us humble ourselves before Him, He will help us.

IN THE NAME OF JESUS, Let Us Pray… →

Lord Jesus,