Temple of God

I have several different events scheduled for the next couple of months. We are hosting the Simulcast "Focus on Marriage"; I am speaking with some teenage girls at a young women's retreat; I have been asked to be in a play that deals with divorced couples; I am the MC at a Christmas Tea for the women of our community; truly the list goes on and on, I cannot wait to see what God does with all of these things... I have so many different things on my mind, but I will try and keep most of them together, so that the end result is changed lives and God is glorified. I have an idea of where I desire my study to travel and with God' leading and help during this time, maybe you can walk with me through my life to see how God has saved me from myself. In this, I pray you can see how God is leading you and saving you from yourself, as well.

I woke very early this morning with young women on my heart. Have you ever really looked into the Temple of God and all of the detail it took in building His place to reside here. Every inch of the Temple was crafted with painstaking detail, from the floor to the ornaments that were brought inside. 1 Kings 5ff gives all of the details to the construction of this magnificent place of worship to our Lord. There were mighty gold Cherubim, each 15 feet tall with a wingspan of 15 feet, each wing being 7 1/2 feet long. These represented heavenly beings, symbolizing God's presence and holiness. The Ark of the Covenant was placed inside the Most Holy Place. The Ark symbolized God's presence. Bronze pillars were placed at the entrance of the Temple. The pillars were named Jakin (meaning "He establishes") and Boaz (meaning "in Him is strength")- taken together they could mean "God provides the strength." The Temple was a place of worship and wonder. It was gold plated everywhere and the detail to its beauty were never matched again by human hands.

I never truly understood the importance in being the temple of God, until I saw the detail that went into building the Temple. I spent most all of my young life defiling my body and in return tarnishing the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 6:18ff, "Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. Or don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body."

When I was in 5th grade I was introduce to sex. From that time on, I defiled my body and damaged my heart by being with different boys. At the age of 15, I lost my virginity at school! I constantly went from boyfriend to boyfriend in search of love and acceptance. Every relationship left me feeling more insecure and distant from my God. By the time that I first got married at the age of 22, I had been engaged or "promised" to 4 different guys. All that I wanted was to get married, so that my problems with sexual sin would be over. I had no idea that what laid in front of me was more damaging than anything that I had encountered so far. My first husband became my husband, because he was actually the first one to run away with me to Vegas and get married. I did not care about the wedding or what was to come afterward; all that I cared about was getting rid of sexual problems.

I was so deceived. I truly thought that by being married, I would feel whole. What I did not realize, was that the only way to feel whole, was to have a true relationship with my Lord. I had to discover that I was the temple of God and that He wanted to find a home in my heart. Do you know that you are the temple of God? You are to take care of your body, for that is the only way you can find Him living in you. Marriage did not save me, for I was not looking to God. I allowed my sin to corrupt the bonds of marriage, instead of allowing God to heal my broken heart...