Refined - Finding Joy in the Midst of the FireПримерок

The word “dwelling” in this Scripture is the same word that is used for “tabernacle” in the Old Testament. God, in the Person of Jesus Christ, came to dwell, or to “tabernacle,” among His people.

The wilderness, in the Old Testament, was a very strange place for God to build His temple, and you, my friend, are a strange place, as well. Why would God choose us, broken pieces of humanity, to be the substance through which the light of His presence would shine?

The wilderness, of all places, is desperate for the glory and radiance of God. The wilderness of your ordinary, barren life is crying out for the luminous presence of God in the flesh. The wilderness of your ordinary, barren life is desperate for the grace of the mercy seat and the brilliance of the lampstand.

Only through you will the pure-gold experience of the mercy seat and the lampstand come to anyone’s wilderness experience— only through you. If you refuse to bring His mercy and His light to the dry and dusty days of life, then the wilderness that surrounds you will remain hard and dark.

Do not ignore the mercy seat of pure gold . . . it is a vital part of who you are! Never ignore the assignment of the lampstand of pure gold . . . it is a vital part of your calling in the Kingdom of God.

God has specific instructions concerning the building of His tabernacle, and we must come to Him on His exact terms. Your temple, which is your body and your very life, was always meant to be built precisely the way He designed in His Master Blueprint; His Master Blueprint is also known as the Bible.

Your life must contain a mercy seat and a lampstand. Those two items are what guarantee that you are living a life of pure gold significance in the eyes of God.