Passionate About His Presence With You
So he [Jesus] made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” John 2:15–17
Your identity is birthed out of the reality that you are perfectly loved and perfectly accepted by Christ — the author and sustainer of life and the one appointed to judge the world – which includes you. You were created to be secure in him. That reality gives you the courage to not just face temptation, but to move with boldness as light in the darkness as a restorative agent of the Kingdom of God in the world. This is the Kingdom life that Jesus talks about and desires for you. Living your life in communion with God, in community with others and commissioned as a missionary in this world (inward, together, and outward). It starts with communion — God’s presence with you — and it flows out as you live out your unique call and commission.
It has always started with God’s presence; In the beginning with the people in the garden, in the Exodus led by cloud and fire, in the tabernacle as the ark of the covenant moved with the people, at the temple, in the temple, and finally in and through Jesus whom we are told is the Word that became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood to tabernacle with us. God wants to be with you, guiding you and assuring you moment by moment as you live each day of your life. Whenever we see Jesus angry, it is because obstacles have been put up that seek to block his healing presence, he overturns the tables because they presented impediments to his presence.
How does this hit you?
What are the things in your life that block access to God’s presence, that stifle his tabernacling with you?
What tables in your life does Jesus need to overturn so you can enter the tabernacle?
What is blocking access to God?
What is getting in the way of his primacy?
I can’t begin to know what these things are for you. I can guess. They likely are things that feel like comfort, security, power, wealth, fear, appearances and so on.
The pathway to freedom, effectiveness and a life of alignment with God is to identity these things that are on your table and to let God come in and turn those tables over.
Peace, hope and love Doug
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