Sunday, September 9, 2007

Lord, You're Welcome


During worship service this morning, Bryce Allard was leading us in song and we were singing:

Lord, You're welcome into this holy place,
Lord, You're welcome into this house of praise,
Lord, You're righteous, glorious, worthy of our praise,
Lord, You're welcome into this holy place.

As we were singing the thought hit me, Am I singing that God is welcome into the building which is the house of God that I am standing in or is He welcome into my heart which is the temple of God? I Corinthians 3:16 "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"

Then I asked myself, Am I holy before God? I started searching my heart to make sure that everything was right before Him. For I want Him to be welcome into this holy place which is my heart and life. I must make sure that all is well with my soul. I want to be able to lift up holy hands unto the Lord. 1 Timothy 2:8, "I will therefore that men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting."

I know that I can not be holy by my strength but with the spirit of God within me I can. Eph 4:24, " And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

Lev 11:44, "For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy..."

1 Pet 1:16, "Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

We cannot make ourselves holy. That is the work of God. Yet, you have to be willing to surrender everything over to Him and continue walking a dedicated and upright life before Him. Once you do that then you can be holy as He is holy.

I know that God is living in me, but I want Him to know just how much He is welcome into that special place in your heart. From now on when I sing that song at church or anywhere for that matter, I will be welcoming Him into the holy place of my heart and not just the house of God that we are gathered in. After all, am I not the temple of God?

4 comments:

Jana Allard said...

I think for the first time, others thought of that song in a different light. Most people have thought about the building, but when Bryce began to talk it seemed others began to catch on about welcoming God into their hearts. What a great song and what a great post.

Jolene Harris said...

Sis Allard, I definitely got a revalation, that's for sure. I will never cease to be amazed at how I continually learn more and more everyday in my walk with God even after 28 years. About the time you think you've learned it all or seen it all then He reveals something new and WOW, I am blown away again. He is so amazing.

Anonymous said...

Jolene:

I love the picture you placed with this post! Your song service made me think of a song that our praise team sometimes opens up service with. It goes like this:

Welcome into this place
Welcome into this broken vessel
You desire to abide
In the praises of your people
So we lift our hands
And we lift our hearts
As we offer up our praises to your name.

I like your introspective posts.
Karen

Jolene Harris said...

Karen, The song you posted definitely goes hand in hand with the one I mentioned in my post. Both are very powerful songs.

The verses: "Welcome into this broken vessel
You desire to abide
In the praises of your people" really jumped out at me.

The song speaks of a broken vessel and offering up praise unto God. Our will must be broken before God, then we can truly offer up praise unto Him.

I want to be a broken vessel before God so that my praise can go up before him in a sweet smelling fragrance.

Very powerful! Thanks