A Comfortable Home

Today is a blustery and cold day. Even in a warm and cozy home the wind makes you feel cold.
My husband and I were talking about how the people in the 1800s and early 1900s dealt with this type of weather. Extreme cold, snow, blowing snow, blizzard type conditions and living in a one room log cabin. No electricity, the only heat was a fire burning in the fireplace. Having to retrieve food from hunting or what you had grown in the warmer months.  No inside restrooms. And many families had several children. So think about it. Here they were, all snuggled in together near the fire, probably telling stories of days gone by, and cooking dinner on the fire. They may have felt very comfortable. That is what they were used to. Hard workers, and managing with what they had. With what they built with their very own hands.
Could we be comfortable like that? I would love a log cabin, with heat and electricity that is. And an indoor restroom, a stove to cook on, and food bought from the local market. Most of us would agree, that would be nice. But like the 1800s, I do not think most of us could manage that today.
Then I opened my devotional and began to do my morning time in the Word and praying. The title of today's word was "You are a Shrine for the Holy Spirit". The Scripture reference :
1Corinthians 6:19-20.
19 Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 
20 for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.
Our body is the sanctuary, temple, home for the Holy Spirit. That's right, He lives in you.
Do you think this is a comfortable place for the Holy Spirit to live? When we first ask Jesus into our hearts we are still babes. We may have things we are still holding onto. We may be full of pride. We may be full of doubt. We may not feel worthy at all. Is this a place we would want to live? I would not feel very warm and cozy surrounded by all that baggage. But you know what, Jesus doesn't care.
He isn't looking for the best home in the neighborhood. He isn't looking for the most ornate palace to live in. He isn't looking for the largest house with the most rooms to live in. He isn't looking for the newest, most pristine home to live in.
He is looking for the most vulnerable, sincere, most "unfinished" home to live in. The Holy Spirit wants to come into our hearts, the temple of the Holy Spirit, and clean house. He wants to come and minister to us, clean for us, heal us, and love us. He will make it comfortable for Him. He will adorn His new home the way He desires. He loves us regardless of our shortcomings.
We do not have to be perfect. Jesus desires to come into our hearts and clean us, mold us, prepare us, teach us, heal us, and love us everyday. For all eternity, He wants us to be with Him.
Think about that. How awesome is that. The God of the Universe, our Creator, our Maker, our Lord wants us to be with Him forever.
So often when we may be expecting visitors we clean the house top to bottom. We want everything to be perfect. That is for a temporary visitor. But Jesus tells us He will come live in us forever, and He will do the cleaning. Even though we know this, we still have a responsibility to live in a manner that glorifies God. We know the Holy Spirit will continue to work in us. The last part of the Scripture above says "Therefore glorify God in your body". We must try to keep His home clean and tidy for Him.  When we clean our homes we do not like it if someone comes in and messes it up. We expect that respect. Well Jesus deserves that respect.
Let your heart, the home of the Holy Spirit be comfortable for Him.

Fear is a Liar!

Most of us, actually I'd say all of us have dealt with fear at one time or another. Everyday of our lives it would be easy for fear to grip a hold of us and ruin our day. Fear is one of the enemy's most useful weapon. Anytime we face an uncertain situation, fear could grip us. The devil wants us to live in fear. Then he would have a grip on us, manipulate our minds, and cause us to crumble in fear.
But we have a MAJOR advantage. We have Jesus! Jesus already defeated fear and the devil. And we have the power of Jesus in us, therefore able to defeat that fear or the tactics of the enemy.

Mark 4:37 A fierce windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.
 4:38 But He was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him up and said to Him, “Teacher! Don’t You care that we’re going to die?”
4:39 He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
Jesus instantly calmed the storm that the devil meant to harm them with. The disciples became afraid, gripped with fear. Jesus spoke, and the storm was silenced. The devil tried to cause harm again, and failed again.
The devil will try and try. But we need to remember to stand firm in our faith in Jesus. Rebuke the devil and he will flee. We have that power in Jesus' name.
We all face fear. We are not exempt. In fact, when we follow Jesus the enemy really wants to bring us down. We have victory. We have the power of the Holy Spirit in us. We have the strength of our Lord Jesus. And Jesus has given us authority to rebuke the devil and cause him to fail.
Jesus gave us the armor of God to be clothed in. He gave us His Holy Spirit to always be with us. And He gave us the victory.
No matter what lie the enemy is tormenting you with, he is a liar. God made you to be who you are, to look the way you do, to speak the way you speak. He loves you more than anything. So much so that He has given us the power and authority of His Holy Spirit. Jesus died to set us free. We are free indeed.
We do not have to listen to the devil, the cause of most of our fear, because he is a liar.