The Tabernacle

Today I linger in the rather new & fairly empty Tabernacle space just set apart in our home in Denver. A week ago we moved into our own home after living with friends in their home for 2 months. This completes a big move from Australia to USA. A new season has begun.

This morning the Lord had me meditating on this scripture;
“And He humbled you & let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your Father’s know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” (Deut 8:3)

The word manna means “What is it?” I have reflected time & time again as we have travelled this apostolic journey, how when we see something new, we do not recognize it & inevitably end up asking, “What is it?”

When God saves His people & brings them into His new for them, there is a journey that will be required. A journey that they have not known previously nor did their Father’s know. Such is the experience for every generation.

On every occasion when God has ushered us into a new season, there has been an experience of hunger. Hunger is in fact a sign of God having done something new.

Hunger results from not having what you have had previously. Where do we go when we are hungry? What do we do with the ‘fasting’, the emptiness that comes when God moves us? We will grieve & need to grieve what was lost. But where do we go to “fill up”?

The people of Israel had been slaves in Egypt. As God brought them out of that slavery, the Scriptures record that “He humbled them & let them hunger..” Transition & moving involves this. Whether the transition is moving countries as we have just done, or whether it is something like a job change, there is an element of humility & hunger.

What does God do with humility & hunger? He feeds His saved people on manna. It is so easy & natural to stay in a stage of rejection when God brings something new into our worlds. But that new is the very thing that will sustain us for this next season.

The ultimate purpose for why God does this, is so that we might know for ourselves that man does not live by the stuff of the natural world, the man made only, but by every word from the mouth of God.

The only way to move forward in the new that God at times thrusts us into is by His EVERY word. I don’t want to miss any word that comes from His mouth!

I was amazed this morning as I discovered that the Hebrew used in the phrase, “man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” means “a source, a gate, a spring; specifically from the dawn, from the rising of the sun in the east”.

The new Tabernacle space here faces east as did the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. The message is clear. The source for knowing, understanding & living with manna (what is it?) comes from the mouth of the Lord.

In the New Testament, it was expressed this way, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple & that God’s spirit dwells in you?” (1 Cor 3:16) Therefore let us “look to Jesus, the founder & perfecter of our faith..” (Heb 12:2)

This morning as we were preparing to leave for the Shabbat service, I paused for a moment looking out the window onto the Rocky mountains.
As I was looking out the window I believe I received the following download.
‘Where you put your presence is important’. Then I thought about how it is said about Gen X’ers vote with their feet. Meaning that if they don’t like something then they won’t show up at it, this has been at times portrayed as a lack of commitment or not honouring. Yet I thought I heard the Lord whisper to me ‘the Generation that I have prepared to host My presence needs to be careful with what they do with their presence’. Wow… I believe that while it has always been important to all generations to keep pure, to watch what they watch and participate in. This is very much more important to the current generations. The Lord is revealing Himself in new ways, He is training people to Host His presence, not just in set apart Tabernacle type spaces but also in the Tabernacles of our bodies.

What we do with our Tabernacle bodies is important! If we invite Jesus in to come and Tabernacle with us, that is to ‘stay’ then very much so everywhere we go everything we see, we are subjecting God to. Sometimes I am a bit shocked when I see people’s visual diet. What they watch on TV or movies, what they are happy to talk about. Now I’m not saying everyone needs to become a strict legalistic monk. But I am saying that if we want to host His presence in the stay permanently sense, then we need to be thinking also about our presence, the one doing the hosting, and where we allow it to go.

Today I was in the most precious place on earth. This place was a time. It was the time Father asks of me several times weekly to meet with Him. It is an appointed time. I call it affectionately, TT (Tabernacle Time).

This time the Lord took me to Isaiah 55. As I meditated on these words I was struck by the cleanness of the Word of God. There is something profound & supernatural that takes place when God’s Word contacts with our spirit. It engages us, bringing order & sense of clearing deep within.

Anyway, I was holted by the words, “and it shall make a name for the Lord” (55:13b).

When we ‘go out’ as Apostles, the Word of God says this will be marked by joy & peace (55:10). This joy & peace are not dependant on circumstances but on Him. Our joy & peace are in Him, not in things that are temporary. The fruit of this is that it ‘makes a name for the Lord’.

I want to make a name for the Lord, not myself or anything else. What a mind blowing thought that we can make a name for the Lord!

How we follow Him, makes a name for Him on the earth.

This is not the day of one man ministries, power churches or organisations that seek to glorify themselves. This is the day of the LORD & His name is what is to be exalted. The call of any Apostle is about this, making a name for the LORD!

Who are you making a name for?