The Real House of God: Unleash the Full Power of God’S Spirit Within You

Copyright © 2013 H. Dele Davies

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ISBN: 978-1-4497-7793-7 (e)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7794-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-7795-1 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012922675

WestBow Press rev. date: 2/13/2013

Contents

Foreword

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1 God Desires a Close Relationship with You

Chapter 2 Where Does God Live?

Chapter 3 Your Current Life Is an Audition for Where You Will Spend Eternity

Chapter 4 Design of the Jewish Tabernacle and Temple in Relation to You

Chapter 5 The Outer Court, Part 1: Your Flesh

Chapter 6 The Outer Courtyard, Part 2: Acacia Wood, Brass Coverings, and a Healthy Outer Court

Chapter 7 The Holy Place and Your Soul, The Lamp of God

Chapter 8 The Holy Place and Your Soul: Bread of the Presence

Chapter 9 The Altar of Incense— The Power of Praise and Prayer

Chapter 10 Your Holy Place and Fasting

Chapter 11 The Most Holy Place—1

Chapter 12 The Most Holy Place 2— The Ark of the Covenant and God’s Mercy Seat

Chapter 13 The Most Holy Place 3— The Importance of the Veil

Chapter 14 The Most Holy Place 4— The Light That Shines within You

Chapter 15 You Are a Three-Part Being—Carnal, Natural, and Spiritual

Chapter 16 Taking Control of Your Temple

Chapter 17 The House of God is a House of Humility

Chapter 18 God Opposes the Proud

Chapter 19 Jesus Christ, the Greatest and Humblest Man to Ever Live

Chapter 20 The House of God Is a House of Obedience

Chapter 21 The House of God Is a House of Faith, Part 1

Chapter 22 The House of God Is a House of Faith, Part 2

Chapter 23 The House of God Is a House of Hope, Part 1

Chapter 24 The House of God Is a House of Hope, Part 2

Chapter 25 The House of God is a House of Love, Not Fear

Chapter 26 Building God’s Kingdom on the Temples of God

For my wife and best friend, Arike, and God’s very special gift to us—our wonderful children, Toluwanimi (Toluwa), Temiloluwa (Temi), and Oluwalademi (Lademi).

Foreword

God is not far away. Since the time man became separated from God, He has tried to draw near to us. Although He is everywhere, He has chosen to manifest Himself in particular places. In the Old Testament, that was the tabernacle followed later by the temple. The presence of God in these structures had a powerful impact upon His people. Asaph said, But as for me, the nearness of God is my good (Psalm 73:28, New American Standard Bible). God was not far removed but chose to come close and dwell among His people.

In the New Testament, that place is the heart of His children. This is a real and personal manifestation, one that was promised by Jesus. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you (John 14:16–17, NASB). Every born-again believer becomes a temple of the Holy Spirit.

Paul had to remind the early church of this fact. He wrote, Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? In the New Testament, the desire of God to dwell among us is taken a step further, in that He not only walks among us as a people—the church—but also has chosen to live within us as individuals.

In this volume, Dele Davies has combined his skill as a researcher with his love for the Word of God to give us a detailed picture of the habitation of God. You will learn what kind of place the house of God was, how this knowledge has parallel effects and obligations on us today, and the implications of what it means to personally be a dwelling place for God. In the detailed study of the temple as the house of God, Dele has provided us with an understanding of the symbols of temple worship and how God wants to operate within the believer as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Each part of this symbolism becomes a mnemonic device, helping us to remember all that God has done for us and wants to do through us.

In the years that I have known Dele Davies, I have found him to be a faithful friend and a trustworthy follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. May his work be as much a blessing to you as it has been to me.

Curt Dalaba

Pastor, First Assembly of God of Greater Lansing

East Lansing, Michigan

Acknowledgments

A special thanks to the following people:

My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who makes all things possible for me.

My wife and best friend, Arike, and our children, who exhibited extraordinary patience and voiced no complaints about the time I spent time on this book—thanks guys!

My mother, Yewande, whose gift to me is prayer, and to my father, Hezekiah Oladipo, who has long gone on to be with the Lord but managed to lay the foundation of love and generosity that made me who I am today.

My Canadian parents John and Marj Koop, who have constantly lifted me up in prayers and were extraordinary role models with almost sixty years of what God intended a marriage relationship to be like until John was called home to be with the Lord in March 2011.

My senior pastor in Michigan, Pastor Curt Dalaba, for always preaching God’s word with clarity and truth straight from the Bible, and for taking the time to review and give constructive comments on the draft of The Real House of God.

Pastors Tim Covert, Buzz Barr and Jo Mason for conducting themselves always with a spirit of excellence and the Pastors’ spouses, Anne Dalaba, Lynn Covert, Kelly Barr and Janice Mason for being such great partners.

My current pastors in Omaha, starting with Senior Pastor Walt DeVries, for his obvious love for God and his courage and determination to live a life pleasing to Jesus Christ.

Pastors Jason Carter, Rafael Aristy, Bobby Clarke, Chris Ford, Pam Franks and Mark Stevens for their daily living examples of dedication to Jesus.

Robert Nelson, who worked patiently and carefully with me in designing the front cover of the book, ensuring that the image projected the desired meaning.

Enonche Ameh who was diligent in researching and portraying elegantly simple but clear concepts in the illustrations of the Tabernacle used in the manuscript.

Stephen Chittenden, for careful review and editing of the manuscript.

My Sunday school teachers over the years, especially John Schafer, for his deep spiritual insight and modeling of humility.

Cecil Copeland, for encouraging me to write about this topic.

My prayer meeting teams and others who have diligently provided mutual prayer support and counsel over the years, including Nicholas and Ade Olomu, Francesca and Ben Dwamena, Sonia Diallo, Elna Saah, Doug and Donna Carr, Kobina and Gretchen Inkumsah, Jennifer Elizondo, Funmi Idowu, David Townsend, Bisola Santos, Stephen and Monique Chittenden, Tracy Bowden, Jumoke Lambo, Pastor Keith D’eall, Kristina Johnsen, Jeromey and Nicole Martini, Don and Amay Dufault, Modupe Awonuga, Zipporah, Agheneza, Tambu Hove, Kunle and Jade Adedeji, Bode and Ajike Oladoyin, Michael and Bola Oladosu, Tunde and Diekola Oshinubi, Ayopo and Kikelomo Odunuga, Peter and Bola Mebude, Don and Shirley Elliott, Femi and Ola Awodele, Eric and Sheree Gilmore, Jerome and Sonia Teveodjre, Bunmi and Solape Dada, and Mona Yath. I love you guys!

Introduction

To discover where God lives and how easily accessible He is to you is to be transformed from a life of daunting challenges and hopelessness to a life of boundless possibilities.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?—1 Corinthians 3:16

Where Does God Live?

This is one of life’s enduring mysteries. Even believers in a supreme Creator have debated for years the nature of God and where He resides. Perhaps you understand God to be living exclusively in heaven, isolated and far removed from your current reality in this life on earth. You may think of heaven as indescribably beautiful with pearly gates, seas like crystal, and streets paved with gold. You may even believe you’ll one day be there with Him but can’t see how that makes a difference here, right now, and that day seems so far away from the challenges facing you today! You may believe your only chance to be in the presence of God can only come within your reach after you die, when you will be rewarded or punished for the life you have lived while on earth. Perhaps you even feel insignificant with the realization that the fourscore or so years you will spend on earth barely register on the infinite timescale of eternity.

If this describes your situation, then you are probably wondering why anyone is asking you a silly question such as, Where does God live? The obvious answer is perhaps, Who cares? You might as well live your best or worst possible life now in total isolation from a God who lives in a remote and obscure place, who is far removed from the burdens you have to carry alone here on earth. After all, your only hope for escaping this broken world is contingent upon entering heaven after you are dead, when you will meet God and all your troubles will disappear. Even heaven may be a farfetched concept for you, or you may not be confident that you have done enough to make it there.

Well, I am here to tell you from personal experience that God does not only live far away in heaven, controlling events on earth by remote control. God is actually very close to you, such that there is nowhere you can go on earth where He is not present. He is on the mountains, and He is in the plains. He is in the oceans and He is on the land. He is in the mega-cities as He is in the small towns, the countryside, and in the suburbs. He is in the air you breathe and in the physical structures around you. Indeed, He is so close to you that when you get to know Him, you can reach out and feel His presence any time you want and develop a very close and personal relationship with Him. You do not need to wait to die and get to heaven to have a close relationship with God your Father!

A close relationship

with God

is possible!

While heaven remains the ultimate eternal target and the final destination for all children of God, God has made it possible for you to interact closely with Him while you roam the precincts of this current world. In fact, He has given you a specific blueprint and instructions on how to relate to and interact with Him. Nonetheless, only a few people during their lives ever tap into this most incredible of opportunities offered by the Creator of the universe. You can be one of those few truly successful people by God’s measure. Alternatively, you can be part of a majority that chooses to live life apart from a relationship with God, chasing after worthless goals that will never fully satisfy or endure, even if you are a successful person by all human measure.

A life apart from a close relationship with God is as empty as a poor man’s pocket. By contrast, a close relationship with God will lead you to attain supernatural peace and joy no matter what your circumstances are in life. If you have ever desired this peace and joy, it is likely you have been inspired by the Holy Spirit to pick up this book, which will give you a glimpse into how God the Father operates and how He wants you to operate. It is the deepest desire of my heart that you would know that you can live the life He has planned for you and that you can have a closer relationship with Him.

As you read further, let me declare up front that God is in the center of all the arguments I will develop in this book in connection to growing a closer relationship with Him. It is my firm conviction that the only person who can change your life and make it meaningful is God, through belief in His son, Jesus Christ, and the transforming power of His Holy Spirit. This is based on my own personal experiences, where the transforming power of Jesus Christ has impacted my life.

When you are ill, you go to a doctor for healing. You would not wait until you feel better because you are embarrassed by what the doctor may think of you while you are ill. Similarly, if what you desire is spiritual change or fulfillment in your life, you have to go as you are to the master changer. The only sustainable changer of your spiritual condition is God, and He is waiting and ready and willing to accept you as you are and to change you for good today, not some time in the future when your life may or may not have improved.

There is no condition too difficult for God to change, nor is there any sin you have committed that is too grave or embarrassing for Him to forgive. You only have to draw close to Him with a repentant heart and He will touch you with a healing and loving and joyful touch that will calm all the storms raging in your life. He will transform your life from one of daunting challenges to one of boundless possibilities.

Before you can accomplish this transformation, though, you first have to find God. Throughout this book, I have written prayers I want to pray with you, and I strongly encourage you to join me and read each one out loud, because according to the Lord Jesus, the prayers where we stand together in agreement are especially blessed by God: Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven¹ (Matthew 18:19, KJV).

Each two chapters constitute a session relating to a specific theme in the book. Each session has been written to be interlinked and can be used either for contemplation alone or for you to get together with others in your church’s Sunday schools, home fellowships, or other places of gathering for discussion. At the end of each session are Questions to Ponder that can be used as the basis of your discussion or private contemplation. There are also specific prayer points for you to pray, either individually or as a group, following each session.

You will notice that throughout the Real House of God, all references to God the Father, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit are capitalized out of respect for and recognition of their roles in the Creation and Rulers of the universe and of humanity. In contrast, all references to satan are deliberately in small letters, except when it begins a sentence. This is not a typographical error but done as a reminder that satan is a creation of God and is not due the same elevation.

Pray this prayer with me:

Dear Lord Jesus, As I read this book, I confess that I have a need for You and ask that You prepare my heart and my mind to be open to the truths You are about to reveal to me. May the words be a blessing to me, for the changing of my life and for the bringing down of any strongholds that are holding me back from having the close relationship You desire to have with me today. Amen.

1. All verse references are from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible unless otherwise specified. Where the author quoted from the 2011 edition of the NIV, and it differs from the 1984 edition, then NIV 2011 is displayed after the quote. If the quoted material is from the 1984 edition, or where there is no difference between the editions, no identification follows the book, chapter, and verse.

Chapter 1

God Desires a Close Relationship with You

(Session 1a)

What were we made for? To know God. What aim should we have in life? To know God. What is the eternal life that Jesus gives? To know God. What is the best thing in life? To know God. What in humans gives God most pleasure? Knowledge of Himself.—James I. Packer, British-born Canadian Anglican theologian.

Return to me, declares the LORD Almighty, and I will return to you. … Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.—Zechariah 1:3; Joel 2:13

The Blessing That Is America

Americans are an ingenious people. They have made numerous and substantial contributions to improving the standard of living enjoyed by billions of people around the world that touch just about every aspect of daily life. Examples of these benefits include inventions as basic as the incandescent lightbulb; health benefits such as the eradication of polio and smallpox; the invention of more sophisticated items, such as the automobile, airplanes, personal computers, the Internet, and social media; and of course the worldwide spread of democracy. With all these accomplishments, personal wealth, human knowledge, and freedom have exploded to a historic level, even with the recent global economic downturn.

God is smarter

than you and I

Unfortunately, as a result of this wealth and comfort, an increasing numbers of Americans now believe all the accomplishments of this great nation were based on the ingenuity of the people and have forgotten the fundamental role God played. God’s role in making America great is being increasingly questioned and denied, and He is no longer viewed by many as relevant. This cycle is one that has been seen repeatedly in many of the great nations in history after the nations are blessed and become prosperous as a result of following God. After one or more generations, the people, in their blessed state, forget about God’s role in their success and no longer feel the need for Him. They believe it was the result of their own doing, and they ultimately lose the benefits that come from being under God’s cover.

All the nations that have followed this pattern have typically gone into decline—and their people along with them. The truth is this: a life lived without God on earth will ultimately lead to emptiness and futility and one destined for eternal darkness and eternal separation from Him in the world after.² No amount of human ingenuity can approach the level of knowledge of the one who created the universe.

Consequences of a Life apart from God

What have been the consequences of pushing God aside in America? Marriage failures are at such an all-time high that almost half the population does not even bother going through with it anymore. Suicide rates are high, especially among the elderly³. Teenagers face overwhelming pressure from peers and the media to engage in premarital sex and other behaviors that would not have been considered remotely acceptable in recent history. Addictions to alcohol, drugs, pornography, and gambling are commonplace and have deprived many of the productive lives God intended for them. Credit card debt and personal bankruptcies peaked at a historic high binding men and women in a new kind of slavery until new stricter preventive laws were introduced in 2005⁴. Selfishness and self-aggrandizement are now portrayed in all the mainstream and alternative media as if they were honorable standards and attitudes to be desired. At the same time, the number of Americans living in constant fear of attack appears to have surged with a record 300 million firearms estimated to be in circulation in 2012 compared to 200 million in 1995 - a 50% increase⁵. During the same period, the US population only grew by 20%. There are now almost as many firearms in circulation as there are people. It is almost as if a segment of Americans have replaced the slogan of In God We Trust with a new one of In Guns We Trust. In 2012 especially, the nation was repeatedly horrified with the rash of mass shootings and massacres of innocent little children and of adults in Oakland, California; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Aurora, Colorado; Oak Creek, Wisconsin and Sandy Hook, Connecticut among others.

Why the grim statistics? They are a direct consequence of you and me trying to go through life without a close relationship with the one who designed us. But there is a better way. Bear with me while I reintroduce the well-known history concerning the beginning of God’s relation to man.

The Cost of Your Sin Is Separation from God

In the beginning of the world, when God created Adam, the first human being, God gave him a beautiful home within the Garden of Eden and freely communicated with him on a daily basis. God spoke directly with Adam and Eve, the partner He later gave Adam (Genesis 2:4–25). There was no need for intermediaries, priests, or prophets to interpret or determine God’s intention for either Adam or Eve’s lives. God was right there, always available to them in a harmonious relationship. It was always God’s intent to live with you and me in this way, directly communicating His love and presence with us daily. That is why He made us in His own image and gave us complete authority over every living creature and every plant and seed on earth (Genesis 1:26–30).

God created you

out of love

God created us out of love to serve Him and to reign as His ambassadors on earth. He desires to have a close relationship with us, just as every parent seeks a close relationship with his or her children. However, there was an early falling out between God and man as a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience—a separation that is responsible even today for the current state of our relationship with our Creator. It explains why many people cannot feel or find the true God or have the full relationship He desires for them. Many end up chasing after false gods and material security blankets that inevitably lead to emptiness.

This falling out stemmed from Adam and Eve disregarding God’s command by eating the fruit from the only tree in the Garden of Eden that God had specifically forbidden them from eating. There were several trees in the garden of Eden, and all were freely available—except for the fruits from one tree known as the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:8–17). However, Adam and Eve, under subtle deception from satan—God’s enemy, who was disguised as a serpent—could not resist the temptation to eat the fruit in direct disobedience to God.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. (Genesis 3:1–7, NIV 2011)

Satan masquerades

as an angel

of light

The Trickster and His Deception

This first rebellion on earth and all subsequent sin have been orchestrated by satan. Satan is a fallen angel who was kicked out of heaven for seeking to take over God’s position.⁶ Since then, he has been continuously opposing God on Earth, primarily by using counterfeit methods and arguments to entice men and women to disregard their unique and preeminent role as God’s ambassadors and rulers of all of His creation. Subtle and big deceptions are the hallmark of how satan works in trying to convince people they do not need to know or obey God. Instead, satan convinces people they can be equal to God or that God does not even exist.

Satan, often masquerading as an angel of light, makes disobedience to God so attractive that it becomes a perilous snare to the unsuspecting.⁷ As a result of this deception, generations of men and women have abandoned a relationship with their Creator, instead foolishly choosing to disobey or disavow God or to grasp at equality with Him—the person who owns everything and has always offered it all freely to them. Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience to God should have resulted in eternal condemnation and death for all of humanity, were it not for God’s grace (His unwarranted act of favor) toward humanity. Although God did not destroy man, the result of this original disobedience was separation; God and man could no longer freely coexist. This separation has led to mankind living without the blueprint from which the Creator made him, much like a human body functioning without its genetic code.

God will never

give up on you

For this reason, millions of people struggle everyday with problems God never intended for them to be burdened with. Many live in complete denial of God; others acknowledge He exists but cannot trust Him to handle the very complicated problems they believe are unique to themselves. Some people believe in God but do not really take seriously what He says or think that any of His promises and miracles detailed in the Bible apply to them. Others want total control over their own lives and are convinced that giving themselves over to God would translate to a loss of freedom that would equate to death. Many others are just deep in sin and are either so hooked on the sin they cannot even imagine giving up its pleasures or feel God would only condemn them if they turned to Him, so they reckon, Why bother? As a result, millions cycle repeatedly on their life journeys, but their journeys never seem to get them where they want to go, and emptiness is often the only reward. Why? The simple answer is this: separation from God is equivalent to being a walking dead man or woman. The cost of your sin is continuous separation from Him, which leads to unnecessary pain and turmoil while you are alive and an eternity spent in darkness and torment after you die. Is this your situation?

A Close Relationship with God Is Possible

The irony is that God loves you so much, in spite of your sinful nature, that even when you do not acknowledge His existence, He is in no hurry to condemn you—or, for that matter, to condemn any nation, no matter how far it has drifted from Him.⁸ In fact, He has never given up on having a close relationship with you, and as long as you are alive, He will never give up on you. God’s love for you is so deep, wide, and unending that He has chosen to tolerate and overlook your sins as long as is necessary for you to come back to Him.

God has always had a plan to buy back all those who want to restore the fractured relationship with Him. His love is so strong for you and me that He freely gave up His only Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us so as to deliver us from the consequences of our rebellion, enabling us to reestablish the relationship that He always intended for us. This is the good news for everyone! Learning to develop and nurture a close relationship with God will transform your life and give you such peace and joy that no amount of personal trials or challenges can permanently overwhelm you. You cannot accomplish this fulfillment by doing things your own way—climbing corporate ladders, running after obvious opportunities, seeking fame and fortune, or engaging in hedonistic or other behaviors that may initially seem to give freedom.

In order to understand how to develop this close relationship, we will explore in this book some specific clues God gave in His instructions for the construction of the Tabernacle and the temple during a time when He resided in a very close and direct relationship with the Jewish people who He originally chose to restore relations to humanity. These instructions were a mirror of how God wants you and me to relate to Him in our physical and spiritual beings and were preludes to how we can accomplish the close relationship He desires to have with us. Over the next few chapters, through the design of the structures and contents of the Tabernacle and temple, we will explore how to gain a close relationship with God.

Pray this prayer with me:

Dear Lord, I would like to have a positively transforming and close relationship with You. Help me to begin to understand the blueprints You have designated for my life and how I can be fully built based on these blueprints. I thank You for the privilege of a second chance. Amen.

1. Deuteronomy Chapter 28.

2. La Vecchia, C, Lucchini, F and Levi, F. Worldwide trends in suicide mortality, 1955-1989. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 1994;90:53-64

3. Mishel, Lawrence, Jared Bell1stein, and Sylvia Allegretto, The State of Working America 2006/2007. An Economic Policy Institute Book. Ithaca, N.Y.: ILR Press, an imprint of Cornell University Press, 2007

4. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/mass-shootings-investigation

5. Revelation 12:7–12; Isaiah 14:12–15.

6. 2 Corinthians 11:14.

7. 2 Chronicles 7:14.

Chapter 2

Where Does God Live?

(Session 1b)

The Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to do good. The Christian thinks any good he does come from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good but that God will make us good because He loves us.—C. S. Lewis, British Christian theologian and author (1898-1963).

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.—Acts 17:24 (NIV 2011)

The verse above from the book of Acts in the New Testament of the Bible is a key to understanding where God does not live. If you grasp this, it could be the first step toward enabling you to develop the life-transforming relationship He has planned for you from the time He made you. Perhaps you believe like many people do that the only place God lives is in churches on Sunday mornings. You may also be from a background that takes comfort in bowing down to idols carved by human hands and worshipping them as gods.

In the profoundly insightful verse above, the apostle Paul reminded us more than two thousand years ago that God does not live in houses built by human hands! Even as the world has recently witnessed the growth and explosion of different types of churches, including mega-churches, home churches, Internet churches, and all kinds of other new ideas for churches, we are reminded that God does not actually live in any of them. Clearly, churches are an integral and important part of Christian worship and God’s manifest presence can be found in many churches around the world today, whether they are simple buildings or magnificent cathedrals. Churches are an important and critical part of God’s means of touching believers and building Christians as a body to unleash His power into the world.

However, God will only set up