The Inner Sanctum

"Behold I stand at the door, and knock if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20)

One of the most liberating declarations in the New Testament is this:

The true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth." (John 4:23-24)

Here the nature of worship is shown to be wholly spiritual. True religion is removed from diet and days, from garments and ceremonies, and placed where it belongs - in the union of the spirit of men with the Spirit of God.

From man's standpoint the most tragic loss suffered in the Fall was the vacating of this inner sanctum by the Spirit of God. At the far-in hidden center of man's being is a bush fitted to be the dwelling place of the Triune God. There God planned to rest and glow with moral and spiritual fire. Man by his sin forfeited this indescribably wonderful privilege and must now dwell there alone. For so intimately private is the place that no creature can intrude; no one can enter but Christ, and He will enter only by the invitation of faith.

Lord Jesus, enter the inner sanctum of my heart, I pray. Come in and fill me with Your holy fire, that I might uniquely sense Your presence today. Amen

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Because He Is God

"Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee" (Psalm 73:25)

The teaching of the Bible is that God is Himself the end for which man was created. "Whom have I in heaven but thee?" cried the psalmist, "and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee" (Psalm 73:25). The first and greatest commandment is to love God with every power of our entire being. Where love like that exists there can be no place for a second object. If we love God as much as we should, surely we cannot dream of a loved object beyond Him which He might help us to obtain.

Bernard of Clairvaux begins his radiant little treatise on the love of God with a question and an answer. The question: Why should we love God? The answer: Because He is God. He develops the idea further, but for the enlightened heart little more need be said. We should love God because He is God. Beyond this the angels cannot think.

Father, I do indeed love You simply because You are God. May You continue to be the focus of my dreams and desires as I go about my ordinary day. Amen

~A. W. Tozer~