Habitat for God

Exodus 15:2 NASB95 “The LORD is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him (KJV: He is my God and I will prepare Him a habitation); My father’s God, and I will extol Him."
​1 Corinthians 3:17; 6:19,20 NASB95 [17] If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.  [19] Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? [20] For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.

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Devotional Thoughts: Exodus 15:2 happens to be one of those  verses where I believe the "old" King James translators did a better job than many of the newer translations. The NASB95 reads: "This is my God, and I will praise Him..." The King James Version reads: "He is my God and I will prepare Him a habitation." The translation in the KJV is much more faithful rendering of the original Hebrew.  We are not merely "praising" God, we are "being" a place of God's habitation.
​     Moses led the Children of Israel across the Red Sea and then watched as God swept away the army of the Pharaoh that was chasing them. Moses and the Children then sang a song of praise unto God. The song contained this interesting promise: "I will prepare Him (God) a habitation." A short time later Moses made good on his promise and the tent of Moses became the first Tabernacle of Israel and the place where God dwelled. We know that God is omnipresent, which means that God is everywhere at the same time. But, in fact, the Tabernacle of Israel and later the Temple in Jerusalem was a specific place set aside as a habitation for God.

Moses' tent has long since disintegrated and the Romans destroyed the last Jewish Temple in Jerusalem almost two thousand years ago, but there is a new temple that has been set aside as a habitation for God. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you are that temple. God , the Holy Spirit dwells in us. Jesus said this concerning the Holy Spirit, "You will know Him for He will live with you and will live in you!" Just think about it--the power that created the universe is living in you...what are the possibilities as a habitation for God?

Prayer: "Dear Heavenly Father, I want to be a place that is set aside for Your habitation. I want to be full of Your Spirit and emptied of the world. I pray that You would become so evident in my life that strangers would stop me and ask me about the hope of glory that is living in me and visible to them. May the evidence of Your presence be present in my actions and my demeanor every waking moment, and through my actions may You receive all the credit and glory for my transformed life!" Amen
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Questions to Consider:

1. So, let us start with a difficult question: As a living, breathing temple of the Lord, have you built in yourself a habitation that is holy and acceptable as a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit?
2. What advice would you give to a new Believer who wanted to know how to build a habitation for the Lord in their own life?
   
3. Most Christians no the kinds of activities that they should avoid, but simply avoiding sin is not the kind of pro-activity that builds a habitation for the Lord.  What are some of the activities that help edify and build the spiritual man?
   

Author's Note: Like most people, I struggle with being the temple of God that I feel I should be.  I am with the Apostle Paul in my failures and wretchedness.  This is when I totally lean on God's grace.  God is good, especially in my times of failure.