"So Solomon built the temple and completed it".  1 Kings 6:14

The temple of ancient Israel was one of the most glorious pieces of Hebrew history.  It was ordained by God in its development, and God gave specific instructions as to how it was to be constructed, and what was to be used and placed within it.  Solomon's temple, and later Zerubbabel's temple, were based on the basic design of the tabernacle that God has told Moses to construct as they wandered in the wilderness.  The tabernacle was mobile, the temple permanent.  But both had the idea of a special dwelling place for God.

Abraham Kuyper has compared the blueprint of the temple with the makeup of a human being.  The temple had three major areas located within its walls - the outer court, the inner court, and the Most Holy Place (or Holy of Holies).  The outer court was a place that anyone could come, and sometimes was called the court of the Gentiles.  The inner court was for Jews only, family so to speak.  The Most Holy Place was reserved for the high priest to enter once a year, and it was seperated by a large veil that set it off as a place of special dwelling.

Interestingly, our lives have similar features don't they?  We have an outer court of our lives.....the public persona that we all have and that anyone and everyone is invited to occupy.  It is a place where though people get to know us, they really only know us at a distance...though who they are getting to know may very well be authentic.  This doesn't suggest artificiality.......just superficiality (and I don't use that negatively).

Then, there is the inner court.  This is the place that "family" comes.  Those that know us best, and those that we let in to the closest parts of who we are.  This is not a space for just any old relationship or acquaintance - it is a special place reserved for invited guests that we allow to see inside of us more intently.  The residents of this part of your life would be immediate family, and the dearest of friends.

And there is the Holy Place.  Here there is only room for two.  The Holy One and you.  It is not a place of high traffic.  Nor is it a space for others to walk in with you.  Just you.  Just God.

It seems apparent to me, given my understanding of God, that God lives in all of these places in our lives.  God, being Omnipresent (everywhere always at all times) has no problem being in our outer courts.  Here we develop the life of our Savior as we live it out in and among people.  Integrity, grace, faithfulness, and humility all can be seen in the outer court.  Without a doubt, God is there.

He is also in the inner court of our lives.  He moves in and among the deep relationships we have with people.  He can be seen, and felt, more in the inner court than the outer because it seems that through these deep relationships we are seeing more of God than we have before.  We are tasting the richness of the encounter of community.......something that the Trinitarian God has perfectly enjoyed from eternity past, and something He calls us to enjoy in Him and with others.  We can see it here much easier......God is in the inner court.

Then there is the Holy Place of our lives.  This is a place that demands quiet.  Reverence.  It's not noisy.  It may even be a little scary.  For the Old Testament High Priest, they would enter this place once a year to deal with the sin of the people before a Holy God.  They would walk behind the curtain and be in the Presence.  For us, this place is not reserved as a once-a-year type place.  It can be an everyday place.................or every moment if we wish.  The book of Hebrews teaches that as believers, we are our own priests and that in Jesus, the separating veil has been torn in two.  We have access directly to God, and we have been invited to come.............often.

I often wonder, though, in my own life...............how often do I really make it in to that place?  The place where I stand alone before God.  I wonder at times how different I really am from the Old Testament priest.............do I go in to that place much more than once a year?  Have I tried to sew the veil back up and keep God at a safer distance in the outer and inner courts of my life?  He wants much more from me.  Better stated, He wants much more OF me.  And you.

So, I guess it's easy to see where God dwells.  The question is, where do you and I dwell?

"After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it [a demon] out?"  He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer.""  Mark 9:28-29

The cultivation of the soul is the most significant work we can do because it is on that soil that we meet God.

That is a pretty big statement I guess, but the more I think on it, the more true it becomes to me.  Regardless of the task, or ministry, or job..............the most significant thing about us is our ability to know God - and that comes through a cultivation of soul.  When the soul is a freshly watered garden, it is amazing the harvest that results.  Not just personal peace and satisfaction (which can be a by-product), but the harvest of Christ-likeness that comes from the Gardener Himself.  What would a soul look like that is freshly watered and bearing fruit that remains?  What would a life look like that was so rich and drenched in God that it overflowed onto everything and everyone?

Well, to speak plainly, it would look like Jesus.

Just look at this little interaction in Mark 9.  Jesus' disciples are having a devil of a time with a demon that is tormenting a young boy.  They can't seem to do the trick on casting the demon out.  Enter Jesus.  He brings the boy to Himself, asks dad how long this has been going on, then ends up telling the demon to beat it.  Needless to say, the demon exits stage left (after making one last shriek and convulsion for the boy to remember him by).  Jesus picks up the boy, dusts him off, and gives him back to his dad.  Cool stuff.

The problem is with the disciples though.  They ask Jesus how come they couldn't do it to begin with.  And Jesus tells them that this one could only come out by prayer.  Seems simple enough on the face of it for the disciples.............until they start replaying the scene in their minds over and over and something seems like its missing.  "Jesus told us that this one only comes out by prayer, but, dare I say it, did anyone see Jesus praying when He did this?"  "Yeah, I was wondering the same thing.....He never prayed but told us that this one only comes out by prayer....".  So, did He or didn't He pray?  I guess it depends on how we define prayer.

If prayer is only a formal time of speaking to God, then Jesus didn't pray I don't suppose.  But if prayer is any word that flows from a well-watered, God saturated soul, then pray He did.  It is amazing to think that the soul of Jesus was so saturated with God, so overflowing with Real Presence, that every word that exited His mouth could be considered communication with and about God.  How does a regular guy or gal not named Jesus come anywhere remotely close to that point of God saturation?

I don't know that I have the answer for that, but at least there are some clues:

Solitude - Without a doubt, Jesus withdrew from time to time for extended periods of alone time with the Father.  He also practiced the presence of God at the beginning of His day as well.  You and I would be well served to follow that example of communion with the Father.

Silence - When alone with God, it is important that there is a two way conversation going, not just one sided (our side).  God speaks to us in a still, small voice but often we have drowned God's voice in the sea and hum of noise.............whether it is the TV that never turns off, the light hum of the computer screen, the iPod we listen to, or whatever.  We must silence the noise in our ears and our head if we want to amplify the voice of God through His Word.

Submission - Will we do what He says when we get to that place of being called to obey?  If we don't ever get alone with God, and silent before Him, then we don't really need to worry about submission because we don't know what He asks of us to begin with.

These aren't all the answers, but they are some clues to soul cultivation.  What if you and I, and all God's people, were really serious about solitude, silence, and submission?  I wonder if the church as we know it would be a church we have never known before?

"But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.  For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."  Matthew 12:36-37

"You better watch what you say young man/lady."  That line has probably either been inflicted upon you, or has been used by you toward a son/daughter, etc.  There is certainly truth to it.....we should not let our obsessively forked tongue do too much damage.  But the reality of that statement is not as it appears on the face of it - watching what we say is not near as important as watching our hearts.

I used to think that Jesus was, in this passage in Matthew, telling us not to cuss or say bad stuff about the fat kid that rides the bus.  Think it?  Sure.  But don't say it.  To be honest, I'm not sure that is what He was getting at.  In looking at the context of the passage (that Jesus was addressing the religious leaders of the day called Pharisees and that He was talking about good and bad trees and the fruit that naturally results from them), it becomes pretty obvious that Jesus is talking about the root of where our words originate....deep in our hearts.  In fact, Jesus states it very clearly when He says, "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks" (Matt. 12:34b).  So, to get at cleaning up our words it will be necessary to let Jesus get at cleaning up our hearts.  We sometimes forget that Jesus is not just listening to our words, but that He is reviewing our hearts.

Remember when you were younger and it came time to say the blessing before eating (though I realize some of you had no such upbringing)?  Often a game would be played as to who had the misfortune of saying the blessing before eating.  The game was that the last person to put their thumbs up on the table was the poor soul that had the awful task of asking God's blessing on the food.  Upon losing, I (or others I have noticed) would complain that we were not the last one to go thumbs up on the table and would immediately want a recount.  After deliberation and a guilty verdict, only then would we concede by offering up a prayer.  Most of the time, we would offer up a prayer that had a line it that said something about thanks for the food, and "Thank you, God, for the opportunity to speak to you.....".  12 seconds before the prayer, we were arguing about who would be the non-motor-skilled idiot that would have the bad luck of saying the blessing, and then we would talk to God like He was not listening to the entire conversation up to that point.  So much for our theology of omniscience, huh?

God hears all of our words because He sees all of our hearts.  He knows the words we mean, and the ones we don't.  He even hears the words we don't speak (like when you do "mind-cussing" at someone, or call them a name only in your head so you think you feel better).  Simply put, it all reveals what is inside of our souls.

For next week, maybe I will talk about how we can cultivate our souls.  For now, though, it might be important to remember that God hears not only the "tough" conversation that you have to have with a friend/classmate/spouse/employee, etc., but He also hears the conversations that lead to that conversation.  He hears what you and I say about people, and what we actually say to the same people.  He hears it all........not just because He has bionic ears, but because He can read the source of where those words originate....our souls.