I’m not a temple person.
So when we went to Angkor Wat last week, I was unimpressed.
I feel the same way about church buildings. Nothing special about them. It’s just a building.
God is much more interested in the building up of His people than the building up of a building.
God measures the waters in the hollow of his hand and marks off the heavens with a span.
He weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. The nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales.
No building is going to impress Him.
He cares about our hearts. It’s our hearts that He pursues and wants all parts of. Undivided devotion to Him.
As I walked around the temple of Angkor Wat, I thanked God for His presence dwelling in His people. That we get to pray to a God who just wants us. We get to pray to someone who we know, with complete confidence, our prayers will be heard.
Our team has had a lot of down time this month. A lot of time to think and to listen and to process. It was a good month to process the first 4 months of the race. Not having a lot to do besides ask the Lord questions has shown me how real the truth is that God doesn’t care what we do or how much money we make. Our identity and purpose is not in our job or our role. He wants us to live our lives worthy of the calling to which we have been called.
Our verse as a squad is Psalm 27:4.
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.
Gazing is not a one-time glimpse but a steady, sustained focus. It’s praising, admiring, and enjoying God just for who He is. It’s finding pleasure in His beauty.
To dwell in means to live in that state. To live in His presence. To ponder and meditate on who He is as we gaze upon His face. Every place is God’s house. We should be able to keep up this unbroken consciousness of being in God’s presence and always being in touch with Him. Because WE are His temple.
We are being built together into a dwelling place for God as Ephesians 2:19-22 says,
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the spirit.
I love house church. Just getting together as a group of believers. Bringing the kingdom. People getting together who are united in their differences. Each one bringing something different. Each gazing upon His face. Each of us sharing the goodness of the Lord and all that He is doing. Worshipping together. Doing life together. Reading scripture together. Getting together as family. Encouraging one another. Praying for one another. Pushing and challenging one another to look more like Jesus. Focused on what God is saying, and not some human giving a message.
When living into the fullness of Christ, we seek the good of one another. We won’t cause one another to stumble, but call one another higher, living into who God created us to be. What we do affects others because we are one body. If your brother or sister is blatantly living in sin and not living into the fullness of Christ, then you are not loving them by not confronting them. You love them most by calling them higher.
I pray Psalm 27:4 over the Church. A friend once told me, “You can’t go wrong when your eyes are fixed on Jesus.” If your eyes are truly fixed on Jesus and you’re looking into His eyes and beholding Him, then there’s no way we can be missing the mark. We are transformed from glory to glory as we behold him. It’s not about signs and wonders. It’s about the transformation. We have seen how our lifestyle matters way more than our answered prayers, the miraculous signs, our ministry, or even our ability to teach the word of God. It’s our lifestyle. Our maturity. Our transformation.
I’ve been living in constant community as the church for the past 4 months. I’ve learned things about myself. I’ve learned things about my team. We know what annoys one another, so we know when to not push one another’s buttons and then we also decide to do it anyways sometimes. (Or all the time for some of us cough cough Kyle) We know when we each need space, or when we each need someone to talk to. We’ve shared many laughs, many tears, many breakthroughs, and many praises. It’s truly been an overflow of goodness. I’m thankful to have been a part of an amazing family unit living in unity.
Authentic community can be hard though. We can’t hide anything from one another. We’re fully exposed. You learn how to choose one another every single day. There are many people in today’s world who choose to move from friendship to friendship because it gets hard and when they have the opportunity to push through a hard thing, they leave. That’s not how God created it. Same thing in marriage. There’s lots of divorces today because most of the time people have decided to stop choosing one another. You think it was always easy for Jesus living with the disciples? And for the disciples to be with one another every single day? They didn’t choose one another right off the bat. Jesus chose for them. They didn’t get to pick their best friends. But they made it work. They didn’t give up. They endured. It’s called longsuffering. Being patient with others.
I didn’t pick these people either, but we’ve chosen each other every single day since we launched on this beautiful journey, and I am so glad that we have. There have been hard times and some moments where I’m ready to leave and ready to stop fighting for one another. But then God comes in and says to choose love. And after we fight through each of those moments, we all come out stronger. There’s always joy on the other side.
As we move on from month 4 in Cambodia to month 5 in Vietnam, I think of each of my teammates and how thankful I am for each of them.
Bekah is hilarious. I can’t quite explain how often she makes me laugh. Bekah somehow knows the words to every song ever written, so if you ever need someone to recall lyrics of a song, she’s your girl. She is such a genuine person who lights up a room and brings joy everywhere she walks. She has such a gentle spirit yet she is so strong. She’ll always ask you how you’re doing and really listen to you. She’s so empathetic. She’s also so sacrificial and took one for the team in India and ate any strange looking meat on my plate.
Emmy was one of my first friends on the race and she’s been a constant source of peace and stability. It has been so amazing to see her servant heart and to see her doing everything without complaining or grumbling. She has persevered in her prayer life and I can’t wait to see the fruit of her intercession. She also has an amazing memory and can remember pretty much anything you ask her to. She also sleep talks so that’s entertaining.
Katie and I can just look at one another and know immediately what the other one is thinking and just start laughing. And the laughing can just keep going. I love being able to look up at Katie and her face says exactly how I feel. It helps me feel understood at times when I just need that. She makes others feel so loved. I can be gone for maybe three hours and I walk in the door and she greets me like I’ve been gone for days. She also serves in so many behind the scene ways. She’s serving me and loving me by letting me use her computer in this very moment to write this blog. Thanks Katie. She also loves physical touch more than pretty much anyone I know so if you ever need a hug that lasts for sometimes a longer time than you anticipated, she’s the one to find.
Kim was also one of my first friends on the race. Kim has brought such depth to our team. She makes us all think, and takes us to places we probably would have never gotten to on our own. She loves others so well and shows her thankfulness for you. She doesn’t let a day go back without telling you she loves you and is thankful for you. She wants others to know how special and appreciated they are. I love her heart for deepness rather than wideness. She reminds me of Jesus in that way. She also has an amazing heart for worship and dances before the Lord quite frequently.
Kyle and I took a little while to form the most effective ways to communicate with one another. But then he grew to be one of my closest friends. He brings fresh perspective and he listens to me when I need to share my raw thoughts and feelings, and I never feel judged. Kyle has such a hunger for the Lord. His desire is to truly gaze upon the Lord all the days of his life, and to look more and more like Jesus every single day. No matter the cost. He loves his introvert time. I’ve never met a person who comes back from his alone time as hyped as Kyle. He loves to read and get away with the Lord. He has a talent for articulating words and putting them on paper so beautifully. He also knows so many doctor things and he hasn’t even started med school yet. He’s our walking encyclopedia for all things we need to know, and sometimes don’t need to know. He also has a hidden (but not really hidden) talent for speaking in about 10 different accents.
Luke has been so encouraging to me. I’ve been drawn to Luke since training camp. He honors people so well and just makes all those who feel unloved or unseen feel loved and seen. He has a heart for the least of these and his heart breaks for those who are lost. God has taken him on an amazing journey over the past few months and He has really grown to fully hear the voice of the Father. He has given me such good and confirming words from the Lord. He is also probably one of the funniest people I know. If you’re ever having a bad day, he can make you laugh for sure. Just ask him to tell you a story from our time in India. He’s the best storyteller. He’s also an amazing singer. I love hearing his voice during worship.
Earlier this week, we asked a European couple if we could pray for them as we passed them. They were unsure. They had never thought about God before. They had never thought about what would happen to them after death. The girl said to us that life is just life. Nothing more than that. I had to kindly disagree.
Life is more than just life when you’re looking at Jesus. Life is more than just life when you’re living in community and becoming more like Jesus because of them. Life is more than just life when it’s about people and not a building or place or job. Life is more than just life when you have eternity in your hearts. Life is more than just life when you have a thankful heart. I’m thankful for this team and for this next season as each overflow into our new teams and people of Vietnam.
