The Comforts of Home

Text:  Psalm 91:1-2

The scripture for this message is Psalm 91.  My focus is on the first 2 verses, but I want to read the entire psalm.

As I am reading, think about this description of God and what it says to you.

Read Psalm 91.

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress my God; in him will I trust

Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.

He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler.

Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day;

Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.

A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.

Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.

Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;

There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.

For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.

They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet.

GOD: Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.

He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.

How does the author describe God - what stood out to you?  Words like refuge, fortress, protector, deliverer, do not be afraid, no evil befall thee, bear thee up

How does that make you feel about your God?  He will protect us and take care of us; this gives me a lot of comfort.

This  message of comfort which God has given me is very simple.  It is based on 2 facts:

1. God, our creator, dwells in us.
2. We, the body of Christ, dwell in God.

Therefore God is at home in us, and we are at home in God, and that should bring us comfort!  That is pretty much my message!  But I’m sure you want to hear more than this, and I have more to tell you.  The fact that God dwells in us, lives in us, resides in us should give us every confidence and every comfort we could ask for.  Therefore the title of this message is “The Comforts of Home”.

I don’t know about you all, but I am a “homebody”  by nature.  Whenever we leave home for a period of time and return, I am so glad to be home again.

There’s a lot to be said about our homes.  When we come home, we are returning to something familiar, comforting, known; a place to relax; place to put on our “comfort” clothes and eat our “comfort” food; a place of security; a place where we can totally be ourselves; a place where we usually know what to expect.

We have control in our homes.  We can decide things like what time we want to eat, how frequently we want to clean the house or wash our clothes, and what our bedtime is going to be.

You have probably heard sayings like “A man’s home is his castle” (castle means a retreat safe against intrusion or invasion) or “There’s no place like home”.  Our homes are places of comfort.  Would you agree?

God wants us to take a look at our natural home and our spiritual home this morning.  Now don’t misunderstand when I say “spiritual home” because I am not talking about the “heaven” that religious order speaks of - somewhere up yonder in the blue.  I am talking about the higher realms of spirituality.  “The Revealing Word” defines heaven as “a state of consciousness in harmony with the thoughts of God”.  Jesus gave heaven a definite location when he said in Luke 17:21 “The kingdom of God is within you.”   This kingdom within is not material; it is spiritual.

That’s the heaven or the “spiritual home” that I’m talking about.

What is the definition of a “home”:

a place of origin

one’s place of residence

a familiar or usual setting

Just as we are comfortable in our own physical homes, we can be comfortable in God’s home, right here and right now.  If the temple of God is IN us (which it is), this means that we are God’s abode or place of residence; His dwelling place; His home.  Therefore we dwell together as one with Him.  But how did this come about?

Scripture tells us that Jesus knew when it was time for him to leave his flesh body.  He told his disciples that he would send them a Comforter, which He did.  God wants us to have comfort in Him.  Jesus knew that his role as God in flesh had accomplished its purpose, but it was important to him that he explain he would not leave them comfortless.  After all, Jesus had been with the disciples for 3 years; they were comfortable and secure with Him being there; they probably thought He would be there forever with them

John 14:16-18  And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.  I will not leave you comfortless:  I will come to you.

What a promise!  Jesus did send us the Comforter - the Holy Spirit.  Even Webster’s Dictionary defines “comforter” as “Holy Spirit; one that gives comfort”.  The word “comfortable” means “to be free from vexation or doubt”.  God is our Comforter, and we can be comfortable in Him.  When we are one with Him, there is no doubt; there is no harassment or trouble that can harm us, just as Psalm 91 told us.  We are at home with Him, and He is at home within us.

John 17:21  That they may all be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.

We are one with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  To me, that says that we are at home with God.  

1. He is our comfort place; our hiding place; our shelter.  
2. He is familiar; we can relax in Him; we can truly be ourselves in Him.
3. He is our security; our strong tower; our protector; our teacher and so much more.  

With God, we are in heaven in the higher elevations of spirit; we are God’s heaven; we are one in Him.  Therefore we have the comforts of home!

As God was giving me this message, Psalm 91 immediately came to mind.  This is an awesome scripture to me and shows the comfort, protection, and strength of our almighty God.  It shows all that He will do to take care of us.  Let’s look again at the first 2 verses and reveal their true meanings:

Psalm 91:1-2  

V 1:

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty

He that dwelleth - yashab (Hebrew) (yaw-shab’) = to sit down in quiet; to be settled (to make quiet or orderly; to establish in residence)

in the secret place of the most High - cether (Hebrew) (say’-ther) = covering, shelter, hiding place, protection (in Him)

shall abide - to lodge, remain, tarry

under the shadow of the Almighty - shade, defence; hovering over to shade, shadowing

If we sit quietly and settle into Him who is our shelter/covering/protector, then we will remain/lodge in His defence or His shadow or His protection.  

V 2:

I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge - shelter, hope, trust

and my fortress - castle, defense, fortress, strong hold, strong place

my God; in him will I trust - be confident or sure, put confidence, hope

We must claim that God is our shelter, our hope, our refuge; He is the one we can confide in, hope in, trust in.  He is our castle, fortress, strong place.  And we totally trust Him because we know that He loves us so much.

So far, what I have tried to share is that God as our Comforter provides the Comforts of Home.

But from time to time, there are tribulations in our homes - lose electricity; need to replace an appliance; sink is stopped up; termites show up.  We face these things in our physical home.  Don’t we also face tribulations in God’s home?  He allows us to go through tests and tribulations to make us stronger, to teach us, to re-direct our paths, to make us take care of this HOME by seeking Him first.  He is our security, and he is our maintenance overseer.

In February, a catastrophic tribulation brought disaster to my Mom’s house.  Her furnace had cut off, and we did not know it until we had the below 0 degree weather.  Frozen water pipes from the heating system burst and caused major damage throughout the house.  When the pipes burst, there was 200 degree water flowing throughout the house.  

I have watched the restoration company rip up the carpets the day that the damage was discovered, pull up all of the hardwood floors that were underneath, take down the damaged pine paneling in the den, knock out the plaster walls and closets throughout the house until all you see is the exposed beams and studs and cinder block - in other words, the main inner structure of the house.  There are a total of 4 out of 7 rooms which are gutted - completely stripped to the inner structure.  Other rooms have some materials stripped such as flooring only.

I have looked at what is left and thought “WOW!  This is what holds the house intact; this is what holds the house together; this is what bears the weight of the walls, the 2nd floor, and the roof.  This is what we depend on when the extremely strong 55 mph winds blow, and the rains beat down, and the snow and ice cover our house.  

As I said earlier, God has “pulled out all the stops” with this visual example for me!  He is turning this tribulation into a teaching moment and a re-direction for our path into the future!  I am a very visual person who learns best by seeing what I am being taught.  I am watching Mom’s house change, and as this is occuring, I am thinking about God‘s house.  I want to take you through some of this thought process by making some comparisons between the houses that we live in and the house that God lives in.  

First let’s look at the definition of a “house”?

House:

a building that serves as living quarters for one or more families

a shelter or refuge

a building in which something is housed

a place we own and pay a mortgage on or we rent

Have you ever built a house or seen one being built?  Through my research, I have found that there are 4 key aspects that must be considered when doing so.  Let’s look at them and how they compare to building God’s house:

1. Finding a Location;  Location is everything.  As Mighty Mike told us, “Location Matters”, and it does!  When looking for property, people may consider proximity to stores, good schools, family, work, church, etc.  Finding the proper location for your home comes first.

God doesn’t need any help in finding a location for his temple or His dwelling place.  He 

already made that decision before He spoke the creation into existence.  John 15:16 

tells us that He chose us before we chose Him.  We know that God’s house - His holy 

temple, His throne - is in us!  

1 Corinthians 6:19:  “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost 

which is in you (Greek en meaning fixed position)

2 Corinthians 6:16  For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will 

dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Even though there are many more scriptures that verify this for us, I believe that these 2 

scriptures give us clear explanation that the temple of God is IN us!  And Hebrews 13:5 

tells us that God will never leave us, or forsake us.  So the location of God’s house is in 

us!

2. Designing Your Home - When building a home, many people will consult an architect or seek help online with various types of floor plans; how many bedrooms do you want and bathrooms; living space; size of kitchen; back yard; garage, etc.  Then there are many decisions about how to decorate the house, such as light fixtures, door knobs, flooring, paint color, etc.

Our God doesn’t need any help with this because He is the architect of us all.  He 

designed us to be just exactly the way we are, and He did it before the world began.

Romans 8:29  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to 

the image of his Son

Jeremiah 1:5  Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.  

We are one of a kind with no duplicates.  We are original, rare, distinctive, unequaled, 

unparalleled.  He is making us in His image from the inside out.  We all look different 

and have different “inside” characteristics, but we are made in His image and after His 

likeness.  We are “perfectly and wonderfully made” by Him! (Psalm 139:14)

3. Lay the foundation - The most important thing when building a home is sighting the foundation, and no matter what type of foundation you end up using, they all begin the same way - with the footings.

Dictionary:  Footing means “the basis or foundation on which anything is established; a 

secure or established position; stability”

Footings anchor the home to the ground and support the foundation, which in turn 

carries  the weight of the home.  

I think we all understand the importance of a good, strong foundation for our physical 

houses.  What I didn’t really understand was the significance of the footings until 

conducting this research. From what I have read, the foundation would sink into the 

ground without the footings.

But one thing that God told me is that our houses don’t start with the footings or the foundation.  They start with the soil that the house is built on.  We can create the most wonderful, beautiful house designs, but if the house is built on weak soil, there will be trouble to come.  

The soil may be called “weak” depending on the following:

1. the type of soil such as clay which contracts and expands due to amount of moisture;
2. whether or not it was tamped down well enough before building began;
3. whether the builder dumped building materials or compost materials in the excavated hole before filling with dirt and laying the foundation.  What can happen years later, after those materials begin to decay, is that the house may settle too much, which can cause damage.  

So what you see on the surface of the ground may not always be indicative of what 

might  be 10 or 20 feet below the surface.

Any of these circumstances could cause damage to a home as it begins to “settle”. You’ve heard people talk about the “settling” of their newly built house, which can take years.  If the soil is weak for whatever reason, the house may settle too much which will make the house less stable and cause major damage.

So what about God’s house?  As important as the foundation is, the soil that the 

foundation rests on is equally important.  

When it comes to soil, thankfully God is the “expert”.  He knows on what type of soil to   build His house. He knows that soil needs water, nutrients, and air to become 

productive soil.  Therefore He knows that our soil needs to have water (Living Waters), 

nutrients (the Bread of Life), and air (God’s breath blowing life into us to give us eternal 

life).  These are the main ingredients for good soil, productive soil - soil that can receive 

the seeds that are planted and nourish them to their full potential.

Then at that point, God can continue to build His house in us with Jesus as our 

cornerstone.  The cornerstone is the first stone set in the foundation, and all other 

stones are set in reference to it.  It determines the position of the entire structure.

So we must lay the foundation on good soil.  Otherwise the foundations will be out of 

course, and we will walk on in darkness.  (Psalm 82:5)

4. Framing the House - The frame is the skeleton of a house.  If the frame is strong, it provides the necessary support for everything that follows.  But if it’s weak, no amount of expensive finishes will hide the flaws.  Tools and materials by themselves don’t guarantee a strong house frame.  They need to be in the hands of a skilled carpenter who knows how to use them.  They will build it right the first time so you won’t be sorry later on.  

For God’s house, we need to have a contractor who will work by truth; who knows that 

anything worth building is worth building right the first time - not someone who will cut 

corners to increase his profit or reduce his time on the job so he can get to the next job.  I 

want God to frame His house in me and make it strong.

So those are 4 basic aspects of building the outer structure of a house. - find a location, 

design your home, lay the foundation, and frame the house.  But with God’s house, there 

are 3 basic aspects:

1. Our architect, God, drew the plans for His home before we were manifested.
2. Our contractor, Jesus the Christ, built it and brought in sub-contractors for installing the basic utilities or the 12 faculties of discipline - faith, love, strength, power, judgment, imagination, understanding, will, order, zeal, renunciation, and life
3. Then the Holy Spirit moved in.  Thank Goodness because we certainly don’t want any other spirits moving in.  He took up residence as Comforter and Teacher to begin the restoration process, meaning the act of returning something to a former owner or condition.  Remember that God chose us before we chose him so He is our original owner.  This act of renovation on the inside of us is what makes it God’s home.

This is how a house is built.

Going back to my Mom’s house as a very clear, visual example, God showed me (and continues to show me) how he strips us of everything that is not like Him.  He strips us down to the very structure of His house - the sub-floors, wall studs, and roof trusses - everything on the inside.  

Then He gradually takes us through the rebuilding stage, which is not always easy either.  In the physical house, there are so many choices to make when rebuilding - selecting flooring, paint colors, lighting fixtures, cabinets, countertops, heating system, etc.

In building God’s house, He gives us choices also - to study or not to study; when/how long to study; to rest in Him or keep busy doing other things; to spend time in prayer or not; to obey His requests or not.  The choices we make will build the house so we actually have a decision to make.  What kind of dwelling place do we want him to have?

Is this house going to be built by God and for God or not?  

As Mom’s house will soon begin the restoration and recovery phases, these are things I have seen and learned:

I have seen the walls being stripped of their outer covering; God is doing that with us.

I have seen what the inner structure of this house looks like; with God as our DNA or part of our inner structure, we can’t help but have an incredibly awesome inner structure for His dwelling place.

I have learned through this real visualization what God is doing inside of me as He continues to build His holy temple.  

I have learned what it really means to build the house from the inside out - to become a new creation, a new creature in Christ.

I have learned that even though the outer covering of a house or person looks one way, I don’t really know what is underneath unless I know that God has built the house.

If the top of the ground on which the house sits looks firm, it doesn’t necessarily mean that what’s underneath is as good or firm.  

In summary, we are God’s home; we are God’s house; we have a choice in how His house is built.  I believe His house must be built with truth.  

We need to have truth in our soil and foundation.  Look at the word “truth”.  TRUTH - Right in the middle is the word “RUT”.  If we don’t know truth, we are in nothing but a “rut” (a monotonous routine), and a RUT is very hard to get out of.  We need to be open to learning the truth of the scriptures!

We need to have God build the house from the inside out - Psalm 127:1  Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it

We need to have God build the house so it will last - build it upon THE rock, Jesus the Christ.

We need to have God continue to restore and recover us.  My Mom’s house was covered but became uncovered.  As our pastor told us recently, the “church” was “covered” in the beginning but became “uncovered”.  God is now “recovering” us, “RE” meaning to do again!  Our God is doing it again, through and for those who accept Him in His fullness!!

Let me leave you with some nuggets to think about:

“Home is where the heart is” = the Hebrew word for heart means will or intellect or understanding.  Therefore Home is where the understanding is.  We are at home with God through the understanding of who He is in us and who we are in Him.

H = Honoring

O = Our

M = Maker

E = everyday

God must build his home in us because that is the only way that we will have the true Comforts of Home.

~ Deaconness Rachel West