Week 4

1 Chronicles 22:19
Now devote your heart and soul to seeking the Lord your God. Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God… for the Name of the Lord.
Acts 17:24-28
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands… From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth…God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

Originally, I had read the verse in Acts; later on, I read 1 Chronicles and was intrigued by certain repeated words: seek, therefore, build, sanctuary. So I started seeking Him on a bread crumb trail.

In 1 Chronicles, I am told to set all my heart on seeking the Lord, now. In the original Hebrew, the phrase, ‘begin to build’ is more like ‘therefore’, or in other words: the sanctuary(Holy Place)-building process begins because I am currently seeking Him. After all, the Holy Place is where He dwells.

According to Acts 17 (and many other verses) God does not live in man-made temples. The word translated ‘temple’ actually means sanctuary or Holy Place.

God does not live in a structural sanctuary,
but a relational one.

ALL people (created in His Image from the one blood) are invited to seek after him AND, therefore, find Him, with all our senses. And, despite what the world and enemy would have us believe, He is NOT far from us.

Through our heart-felt seeking we have been built into a place for Him to dwell; and in Him, we now live, and move and have our being.

I am His Dwelling Place.
Seek Him Here.

*** I placed the artwork with the Old Testament verse to remind me that He is building a  sanctuary in me for the glory of His Name. I drew and cut out of piece of stencil Mylar. I used FolkArt stencil adhesive to hold the stencil in place on the page. I placed the metallic Gelato colors on the stencil and used my finger to smear out onto the page. Then I peeled up the stencil and used a 005 green Micron for lettering.

Delta Stencil Magic Adhesive Liquid 1 oz
Plaid Stencil Cutter
Blank Stencil Making Sheets 8.5″ x 11″ Frosted -Pack of 10 Sheets
Faber-Castell Mix and Match Gelatos Gift Set 28 per Package (770161)