The Heart of Man is God's dwelling place

Jesus likes to make our heart His home. He told His disciples that He and His Father would come and reside inside of them (Jn 14:23). And Paul further tells us that our bodies are a holy temple (1 Cor 6:19). You and I are the dwelling place of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, out of their desire. This was God’s design, and is His preference. We could make Him a house, a church, or a temple . . . but His desire is to live inside our hearts.

Last week the wife of a friend wrote to my husband and I. Her husband is dying of cancer and according to the doctors he does not have long to live. I asked the Lord what I should write back, and I could hear the Holy Spirit say “Tell them that I love living in their hearts. They have made it nice for Me, and they have made life nice for others as well. Their lives are a sweet fragrance to Me, for they have served Me when it was not comfortable, going beyond human strength to do My works. Indeed, their works are like the fine linen, bright and clean, which clothes the Bride.” (Rev 19:7-8).

After I wrote to my friends I was left with the lingering thought, “I wonder how my own heart seems to God.” Is my heart nice to live in? Is my life a sweet fragrance for Him? I had considered my heart to be a place where worship takes place. However, being a place for Him to dwell in was becoming a larger concept for me. Before I could think about this, the Lord stepped in with a vision.

The living room – The Lord gave me a vision of a cozy living room with a fire in the fireplace, and me curled up on the love seat with my favorite book, the Bible. Then He began telling me about My heart. “You have made in comfortable for Me to talk with you.” The sweetness of our fellowship was everywhere in the room of my vision. The heat spoke of passion, and the love seat of the Comforter. “It matters as much to Me that you are comfortable in My presence as it does that you listen to Me.” I understood that it makes God feel terrible when we shrink back from Him, as if He is someone terrible. Yet, to relax and lose all track of time while simply fellowshipping with Him is the essence of our expression of love.

The kitchen – I then saw myself in the kitchen, singing as I cooked. The food preparation seemed easy and time was not a problem because of the joy in my heart. This preparation represented the synthesis of my fellowship with the Lord in Word and Spirit. I was preparing nourishing food for others (and myself) after having sat with My Lord. Then I was allowed to see Jesus peering over my shoulder while I peeled potatoes at the sink. Such pleasure was on His face at the mundane task I was doing. And His pleasure filled the room.

The bathroom – I then saw myself cleaning the bathroom, on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor. Instead of feelings, I was aware of thinking, for this was a place my thought-life entered in. I was assessing, noticing, and planning until everything was clean of offense. The bathroom was where issues were recognized, and taken care of. From the door the Lord could be seen, standing with a gaze of agreement and approval. He nodded His head as if to say “Well done . . . I see you noticed that defilement . . . thank you for eliminating the odor.” It took work, but the room was very clean when I finished and seemed like it sparkled. I had the sort of pride that comes with being thorough, and knowing that I had caught every thought, making them submissive to the Word of God (2 Cor 10:3-5). There was no condemnation for the filth. Just a knowing that filth comes, and needs to be cleaned . . . and then a sense of being accepted and favored as one who is covered in the righteousness of the One who gazes from the door.

That was the end of the vision. One thing I noticed was that there wasn’t one special room for worship, but that His presence and My “knowing” of Him was in all the rooms of My heart. Though I am not a perfect person, He makes me acceptable to Him through the cleansing of His Word and Spirit. He does so because He desires to live in the hearts of Man, yours and mine. This also makes our hearts nice for us to live in.

Years ago the Lord led me to Proverbs 24:3-4, which reads “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” Through our fellowship with the Lord we build a place inside of us where wisdom, understanding and knowledge live. And there are “rare and beautiful treasures” waiting to be discovered during times of fellowship with Him whom we love. Our time with Jesus not only creates a place He loves to live in, but a place we love to live in. When we need to be cheered up and encouraged, we can go to the rooms of our heart and find that the Lord Himself has stored wonderful comforters in the closet, and will serve us with the finest china dinner set in the dining room. We will drink from a golden challis at the table and eat a feast He has prepared for us. The images of the goodness of God hidden in the heart of Man are endless as we see how He ministers and nurtures us from our times of fellowship with Him.

Do we make our hearts a nice place for Him to dwell in? Yes we do. And anything offensive He will help us to clean up, just so that our fellowship with Him will continue. He wants to live in every room of our hearts so that His love will reign there. Amen.