In God's House

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Devotional of the Week:
Psalm 84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in Your house; They will still be praising You. Selah

When we were saved by almighty God, we were allowed entry into the holy places of heaven. Here on earth, through our prayers we can enter into His throne room of grace. We can enter into the holy sanctuaries of our churches to praise Him and learn about Him. We can seek refuge there with those who are our brethren. We are blessed, we are privileged and above all we are loved by the Lord. May this thought strengthen us, and remind us of the awesome God we serve, the beautiful God we love and the Precious Savior who gave it all for our salvation!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you that through your death and resurrection, through our repentance and recognition and acceptance of you as our Savior, we now have a place in the holy places of God. We truly are blessed to dwell in Your house. You are holy and worthy to be praised. We lift you up and we love you. In your mighty name we pray, Amen!

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Mini-Study of the Week: Read 1 Samuel Chapter 5

This week we see the power that God has over those who do not dwell in His house. Those who refuse to acknowledge Him as Lord. We see a continuation of last week's story. The ark is captured, Israel is laid waste and the enemies of God have seemingly earned a victory.

The pagan armies that have claimed the Ark of the Covenant now bring it home into one of their temples. They set it next to the idol of Dagon, who was said to be the father of Baal. After the first night the people wake to find that the statue of Dagon has been toppled. They place the image back into place and the following day wake to find that not only is the image toppled, it is now broken. It's no coincidence that the head and hands are broken. In knocking over the idol, God shows that there is no wisdom (head) and no power (hands) in worshipping idols.

God then begins to afflict the people with tumors and illness. The pagan people have no conceptual understanding of what taking the Ark of God into their pagan lands really means. God is angry and He is seeing to it that these people suffer as a result of their desecration of His ark. They decide to move the ark to two other cities but wherever they take the ark, God is there to inflict punishment. Never do the people seek to repent. They finally seek only to rid themselves of the ark so that they will no longer suffer.

We should always treasure the things of God and hold them dear. Love, compassion, power and loyalty can be turned into tools of the enemy when they are allowed to fall into the camp of those who oppose God. But when our love is in Christ's hands, we are able to love like never before. When our compassion is for the lost and for those who suffer, Christ works through us to ease hurt and sow seeds. When we do things in Christ's power, we will be able to accomplish anything for His honor and glory. When we are loyal to almighty God, He will use us to further His kingdom here on earth.

A pagan people can do nothing with what belongs to God. As His children we have the privilege of living for Him. He defied death at the cross that we may have eternal life. We should live to lift His name high!

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Video of the Week:

Blessed - Hillsong

His house is now OUR home. For all eternity we will praise Him, we will worship Him and we will belong to Him! Praise God in all things!



Love each other, share His love and share His gospel...
See you next week!

In His Service,
Sergio