Inviting Yeshua for Coffee

Last night I was again reminded that my home is a "sanctuary for the Lord".  If only a few people had said that I would be flattered.  But virtually every person that comes to our home describes a grace that resides here that is almost tangible.  This morning I am thinking back as to how this house became a "home" for the Lord.

Firstly, it was built by prayer and praise.

During construction we visited the new neighborhood weekly, and prayed over the ground, giving it to the Lord, Yeshua Hamashiach for His work.  But even if the house had not been newly built, I would have come as often as possible to the home and prayed on the street until one day we would be given the keys to the doors.

One of the first purchases I made for my home was a very small framed picture that says:

Joshua 24:15 As for me and my household we will serve the Lord

I displayed this tiny frame only, about 4 inches by 6 inches, on the wall that is basically the heart of our home and every guest passes it on the way from the main entry to the living area.  Some have noticed it, but many more have overlooked it.   It is difficult to share my faith with others in the world, thinking that it is an invasion of personal space or privacy to utter the word GOD.  But my home is different, my home is the space in which my husband and I pledge our love, not only to each other, but to God.  So in my home, we utter God's name proudly and we display God even more proudly in our living, through His word.

This morning, God reminded me of this verse again as the topic for this blog post.  Here is the complete verse:

Joshua 24:15 If it seems bad to you to serve Adonai, then choose today whom you are going to serve! Will it be the gods your ancestors served beyond the River? or the gods of the Emori, in whose land you are living? As for me and my household, we will serve Adonai!

What I may not have realized when I first purchased the framed verse was that this verse is a declaration for longevity to be one with the Lord.  It tells me that in every situation our household should reject foreign gods and remain under the ONE true God- the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That verse has changed me inwardly, because every time I see it, even when I do not stop to read it, I know that I committed myself to God; Jehovah, Yahweh, and have allowed myself to remain accountable to Him throughout the years.

My husband says my house is never at rest because I am constantly painting, shifting, moving and reorganizing it.  I most often laugh when he states this admitting to its blatant truth.  But I now believe that all of the painting, shifting, moving and reorganizing had purpose.  Not just for the aesthetic beauty, but really because every change led to a shedding away of something worldly and a rebirth of something new.  How pleasant it is to become new in the sight of God.

The more I read the bible the less I became intrigued with things ie, knick knacks, collectibles, and chatski's and instead become intrigued by His word that never grows old.

Leviticus 19:4 Do not turn to idols, and do not cast metal gods for yourselves; I am Adonai your God.

Reading that verse I began the great purge of everything in my life that held a significance that restrained my freedom.  For instance, if I held something so dear that I knew I couldn't part with it, that surely was a sign that it had become a stumbling block for my growth in Yeshua.   How can I prize anything more significantly than the God of the Universe?  It doesn't make sense to practice life that way.  So, room by room, I have pitched things and replaced them with verses.

In my bathroom I can read, "Psalm 51:12 Create in me a clean heart, God; renew in me a resolute spirit. 13 Don’t thrust me away from your presence, don’t take your Holy Spirit away from me."

No matter where I turn in my home, it now gives me an encouraging word for the day.  Each time I choose a verse to display it is because the Lord has touched me.  I allow the power of the word to decorate  my home. Once you allow this to come in...it just keeps growing!

I am not today what I was yesterday, but I am also not what I will be tomorrow.  Our home is a reflection of the commitment of love my husband and I have for each other, but more importantly it reflects the commitment of love we have for our eternal creator, Jehovah Elohim, who gave His son Yeshua our Messiah not to die on the cross and remain hung there perpetually, but to rise up from the dead and give us LIFE!!!  This life comes to us through the Holy Spirit, not a ghost who is the remnants of something dead-- But the Ruach Hakodesh which is the very breath of God's life in me.

As I set my household in order, the Lord orders me within His household and I have peace in my heart.
If you don't believe that these small changes can transform your life, test it out.  Get rid of something you prize, donate it to charity, pass it down to your child or to your sister and replace it with the word of God.  Instead of being a shiny dust catcher, the word becomes your nourishment.  How amazing is that?|

Now my mind is less cluttered and I read this verse:

Romans 12:2 In other words, do not let yourselves be conformed to the standards of this age.  Instead, keep letting yourselves be transformed by the renewing of your minds; so that you will know what God wants and will agree that what he wants is good, satisfying and able to succeed.

1. God does not want us to follow trends or be concerned with the world's standards
2. The words "keep letting" must mean it doesn't happen overnight and secondly, it is not something God forces us to do, but it is something we must freely do in order to succeed. 
3. What is the goal of renewal?  That our minds are released of the standards of the world. 
4. Only when my mind is renewed will I know God's purpose for me.
5. When I see what God wants for me I will know that it is the best for me. 
6. Living by a transformed and renewed mind allows me to be satisfied in my soul and spirit. 
7. When I am satisfied in my soul and spirit, I will become the success God needs me to be. 
8. God's idea of success is not monetary. 
9. God's idea of success is spiritual release from bondage to the world and its ideals. 
10. This present age is fleeting, but the one who loves me and guides me is not.  He is eternal. 

When I peer out my patio doors I see a bright blue sky while I read His word, drink coffee and share my morning with Yeshua who is my daily breath and I am thankful.