Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

God always want to dwell with man, even more than we want to dwell with God.

My house is God’s home.

My body is God’s temple.

Our churches are God’s house.

God is omnipresent, but He does not necessarily abide everywhere. God dwells within us and our habits. Since the Bible tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, we must always be mindful of our life choices and behavior.

In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21-22)

God is building a dwelling place.

Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. (Acts 2:2)

The house filled with His presence.

“When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.” (Matthew 12:43-44)

The devil wants to fill your house with evil. How do you protect your house?

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. (Matthew 21:12-14)

1. Clean it.

My house is not mere real estate because my God dwells in it. God wants to dwell in our relationships, our thoughts and our decisions. May our houses be known as houses of prayer.

He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. (Hebrews 3:2)

God is faithful to us when we are faithful with His house. Our homes should be places of spiritual influence.

2. Fill it.

There are six ways to allow God to fill our houses.

Pray – Make your house a house of prayer. The family that prays together stays together.

“Listen to me, my people; hear me, my nation: Instruction will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations.” (Isaiah 51:4)

Sing – Sing praises to the Lord no matter what the circumstances.

Testify – Give thanks every day for all that happens that day. Create an environment of gratitude.

Prophesy – Recite the promises of God every day to one another and in prayer.

Do not pollute the house with a bad attitude – Keep your mind free from all negative influences, and do not forsake the gathering of godly people.

Consecrate your house to the Lord – Declare that you and your household will only serve the Lord, just as Joshua did.

3. Hedge it in with supernatural protection.

In the land of Uz there lived a man whose name was Job. This man was blameless and upright; he feared God and shunned evil. He had seven sons and three daughters, and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East. His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. (Job 1:1-4, 9-10)

God puts a holy hedge around your home.

“On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. (Exodus 12:12-13)

The blood of Jesus will protect us from any plague or sickness.

The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7)

God’s angels encamp with us when we fear Him.

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up … (Ephesians 4:11-12)

We need to learn from those whom God has appointed to shepherd us on our journeys. They have spiritual authority over us. Love your pastors, for they are a gift from God.