Heart Meditation 10 - Decorating Your Mansion - David Mitts
"In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also." Joh 14:2-3 (NAS95)
A dwelling place has been prepared for us. Having recently changed the dwelling place for our family, I am acutely aware of the process. God truly chose and prepared our beautiful new home in Prescott Valley. Yet, as beautiful and well-appointed as the house was and is, it wasn’t until Lisa began to decorate it with the unique design elements that represent us, that the house began to become our home. The artwork, pictures, furnishings all carry stories that express who we are. When the Lord tells us that in the Father’s house that there are many dwelling places and that He goes ahead of us and prepares them for us, I imagine a remarkably similar process of turning a house into a home. The decorations of our heavenly mansion are the thoughts and memories of our lives. If you haven’t seen Lisa’s newest music video, These Four Walls, please watch it and share it to capture the essence of what I am talking about.
Yeshua promises us that He will come again to us and receive us to Himself. Last chapter we spoke a bit about receiving and how receiving is at its core a value statement. When we truly receive another like a guest in our home, we declare their value to us by how we honor them in the process.
To receive someone with honor means that we go beyond business as usual to include what we feel will demonstrate the care and attention to details that demonstrate honor and love to our guest. This would include planning for meals, the decorating of the room, perhaps flowers, and special notes of welcome. I remember when Lisa and I traveled speaking at Amway events, that we were often very blessed by how we were received. I smile as I recall how the hosts worked so hard to make our hotel room express love and appreciation for our arrival. It was often as if they wanted us to feel so special, that we would in turn pour out our best in the seminars.
This is the power of preparing a place. It sets up the receiving of the honored guest. In the case of us and Yeshua it’s even more than the receiving of a guest, it is the receiving of His bride. This greatly amplifies the whole idea. He prepares the bridal home. Imagine the detail by Him who gave us the intricacies of each flower and each blade of grass!
The Apostle Paul gives us a reference to this preparation when in the “love chapter”, 1 Corinthians 13, he sums it up by saying:
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." 1Co 13:12 (NAS95)
To be fully known! Imagine the power of that statement. I have been involved in prophetic ministry for many years. I have been privileged to deliver a prophetic word to many men and women. Without exception, I have seen them amazed when God reads their mail to them. There is something so transformative when an individual realizes that they are known personally by the Creator.
All of us strive in our lives to do something that will be recognized. Whether it is the simple drawing of a child or the doctoral dissertation of a graduate student, we all want to hear the “well done” or recognition that we have birthed something of notable worth. All of the recognition we receive in our lives is a mere foreshadowing of the moment when we are truly known. This moment will either be the greatest triumph in our lives or the greatest despair.
It will be a moment of triumph if we hear:
"His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'" Mat 25:21 (NKJV)
It will alternatively be a moment of eternal misery if we hear:
"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" Mat 7:23 (NKJV)
Notice in the second eternally deplorable state the term used is “I never knew you”. This is the key to know Him and being known by Him. This is the whole point of salvation to come into that new covenant relationship where he writes His Torah on our hearts:
"Because finding fault with them, He says: "BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH— NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD. FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, 'KNOW THE LORD,' FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."" Heb 8:8-12 (NKJV)
Notice, He says none shall teach his neighbor or his brother, saying “know the Lord”, for all shall know me. This is the true power of the new covenant, “knowing Him” and being known by Him. He is merciful and no longer remembers our sins and lawless deeds.
In this place, He has received us unto Himself. Yeshua describes this:
"Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." Joh 14:23 (NKJV)
You see Yeshua died and went to the right hand of the Father where He prepares a mansion for us. Where is the mansion? Well, it certainly is in the heavenly places!
"and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Eph 2:6 (NKJV)
We are seated NOW, in heavenly places in Messiah. Seating is from the Hebrew root sheva, which is the root for a village, for a neighbor, for the sabbath, and for being seated. It encompasses the idea of being truly reconciled. To be reconciled is to be able to sit together and eat and drink in the bond of peace.
This is the symbolism of communion.
"When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." Luk 22:14-20 (NKJV)
This is the picture of being reconciled. Passover isn’t just about deliverance from slavery, it is also about covenant fulfillment with the Lord. The bread and the wine, the body, and the blood were tools of reconciliation of restoring peace.
So, while we are seated in the heavenly places, the heavenly places are seated in us. The Lord dwells in our hearts and we are the house of the Lord.
He desires like any homeowner to make the house His by filling it with living testimonies to His kingdom and His love. This is the goal of meditation and of abiding love.
Abiding is another word for dwelling. The difference between our homes and the house of the Lord is that His is living. It is built on the living word of God.
"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Isa 2:2-3 (NKJV)
David and later Solomon wanted and ultimately built a physical house of the Lord, a temple. But it was never God’s idea to erect walls between Him and the people. This is why the Temple ultimately had to be destroyed for the new covenant to be enacted.
"Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said." Joh 2:19-22 (NKJV)
You see the temple was never designed to contain a living God. He has always desired to dwell in temples of flesh. He demonstrated this first with His Son Yeshua and then with us.
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." Rom 8:29 (NKJV)
As humans, when we reproduce, we do connect to our seed through our genetics. This affects hair, eyes, general appearances. When God births His children by His seed, the Word, and through His Spirit, His children are perfect representations of Him. If you could see clearly with the eyes of the Spirit, each believer would look like a child of light with a light body. Paul describes this:
"There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, "THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." 1Co 15:40-49 (NKJV)
This is our true resurrected nature. We are a light being and contain within us the recreated spirit from God. This process is fully materialized with our physical resurrection. Yet even now in this life, we have a deposit of the light. This is our recreated spirit-man. So while we live in a carnal world, we also live in the realm of pure light and love, the realm of the Holy Spirit.
This is the place of the dwelling of God, His abiding reality. Ultimately, we will be fully clothed with a body from on high. In our current life, we are instructed to willfully put on our spiritual body.
Paul uses the metaphor of a soldier’s armor because we are in a battle with the spirit of this age. The battle is one of the heart and so our weapons have to be of the spirit.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," 2Co 10:4-5 (NKJV)
This phrase, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ is a reference to where the true battle rages, in our hearts. In our hearts, we are responsible for the way we think. There are arguments that are rooted in the strongholds of our hearts. We often react to people and situations out of past battles with those same mindsets. It is easy for us to fall into mindsets when we get triggered by the fallen nature of others. Yet the Lord has made us ambassadors of His creation. So we have to shift what we meditate upon. Unlike a military army, we arm ourselves with the weapons of our heart, the weapons of love.
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Rom 13:12-14 (NKJV)
Light is love. When we can bring love to our conflicts we can walk in the light. That is the reason Paul contrasts this with the works of darkness and then names them as revelry, drunkenness, lewdness, lust, strife, and envy. Over the next few chapters, we will look at this battle and hopefully enter the war with greater and greater love.
Activation: Decorating your inner heart dwelling. Think about your heart as your home. What color scheme would represent love in your heart? What decorations would you want to fill the rooms with? What kind of music? Now, think of how you can add these elements to your life. Could you listen to praise and worship each day? Could you visualize colors in your heart that mean peace and love? Could you fill your heart with prayers and supplications with thanksgiving? Can you light your heart with love and peace?
To receive someone with honor means that we go beyond business as usual to include what we feel will demonstrate the care and attention to details that demonstrate honor and love to our guest. This would include planning for meals, the decorating of the room, perhaps flowers, and special notes of welcome. I remember when Lisa and I traveled speaking at Amway events, that we were often very blessed by how we were received. I smile as I recall how the hosts worked so hard to make our hotel room express love and appreciation for our arrival. It was often as if they wanted us to feel so special, that we would in turn pour out our best in the seminars.
This is the power of preparing a place. It sets up the receiving of the honored guest. In the case of us and Yeshua it’s even more than the receiving of a guest, it is the receiving of His bride. This greatly amplifies the whole idea. He prepares the bridal home. Imagine the detail by Him who gave us the intricacies of each flower and each blade of grass!
The Apostle Paul gives us a reference to this preparation when in the “love chapter”, 1 Corinthians 13, he sums it up by saying:
"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." 1Co 13:12 (NAS95)
To be fully known! Imagine the power of that statement. I have been involved in prophetic ministry for many years. I have been privileged to deliver a prophetic word to many men and women. Without exception, I have seen them amazed when God reads their mail to them. There is something so transformative when an individual realizes that they are known personally by the Creator.
All of us strive in our lives to do something that will be recognized. Whether it is the simple drawing of a child or the doctoral dissertation of a graduate student, we all want to hear the “well done” or recognition that we have birthed something of notable worth. All of the recognition we receive in our lives is a mere foreshadowing of the moment when we are truly known. This moment will either be the greatest triumph in our lives or the greatest despair.
It will be a moment of triumph if we hear:
"His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'" Mat 25:21 (NKJV)
It will alternatively be a moment of eternal misery if we hear:
"And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'" Mat 7:23 (NKJV)
Notice in the second eternally deplorable state the term used is “I never knew you”. This is the key to know Him and being known by Him. This is the whole point of salvation to come into that new covenant relationship where he writes His Torah on our hearts:
"Because finding fault with them, He says: "BEHOLD, THE DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL MAKE A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH— NOT ACCORDING TO THE COVENANT THAT I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS IN THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; BECAUSE THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DISREGARDED THEM, SAYS THE LORD. FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS IN THEIR MIND AND WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. NONE OF THEM SHALL TEACH HIS NEIGHBOR, AND NONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, 'KNOW THE LORD,' FOR ALL SHALL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST OF THEM TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR UNRIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE."" Heb 8:8-12 (NKJV)
Notice, He says none shall teach his neighbor or his brother, saying “know the Lord”, for all shall know me. This is the true power of the new covenant, “knowing Him” and being known by Him. He is merciful and no longer remembers our sins and lawless deeds.
In this place, He has received us unto Himself. Yeshua describes this:
"Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him." Joh 14:23 (NKJV)
You see Yeshua died and went to the right hand of the Father where He prepares a mansion for us. Where is the mansion? Well, it certainly is in the heavenly places!
"and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus," Eph 2:6 (NKJV)
We are seated NOW, in heavenly places in Messiah. Seating is from the Hebrew root sheva, which is the root for a village, for a neighbor, for the sabbath, and for being seated. It encompasses the idea of being truly reconciled. To be reconciled is to be able to sit together and eat and drink in the bond of peace.
This is the symbolism of communion.
"When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, "With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God." Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, "Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes." And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you." Luk 22:14-20 (NKJV)
This is the picture of being reconciled. Passover isn’t just about deliverance from slavery, it is also about covenant fulfillment with the Lord. The bread and the wine, the body, and the blood were tools of reconciliation of restoring peace.
So, while we are seated in the heavenly places, the heavenly places are seated in us. The Lord dwells in our hearts and we are the house of the Lord.
He desires like any homeowner to make the house His by filling it with living testimonies to His kingdom and His love. This is the goal of meditation and of abiding love.
Abiding is another word for dwelling. The difference between our homes and the house of the Lord is that His is living. It is built on the living word of God.
"Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains and shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." Isa 2:2-3 (NKJV)
David and later Solomon wanted and ultimately built a physical house of the Lord, a temple. But it was never God’s idea to erect walls between Him and the people. This is why the Temple ultimately had to be destroyed for the new covenant to be enacted.
"Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said." Joh 2:19-22 (NKJV)
You see the temple was never designed to contain a living God. He has always desired to dwell in temples of flesh. He demonstrated this first with His Son Yeshua and then with us.
"For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren." Rom 8:29 (NKJV)
As humans, when we reproduce, we do connect to our seed through our genetics. This affects hair, eyes, general appearances. When God births His children by His seed, the Word, and through His Spirit, His children are perfect representations of Him. If you could see clearly with the eyes of the Spirit, each believer would look like a child of light with a light body. Paul describes this:
"There are also celestial bodies and terrestrial bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, "THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A LIVING BEING." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man." 1Co 15:40-49 (NKJV)
This is our true resurrected nature. We are a light being and contain within us the recreated spirit from God. This process is fully materialized with our physical resurrection. Yet even now in this life, we have a deposit of the light. This is our recreated spirit-man. So while we live in a carnal world, we also live in the realm of pure light and love, the realm of the Holy Spirit.
This is the place of the dwelling of God, His abiding reality. Ultimately, we will be fully clothed with a body from on high. In our current life, we are instructed to willfully put on our spiritual body.
Paul uses the metaphor of a soldier’s armor because we are in a battle with the spirit of this age. The battle is one of the heart and so our weapons have to be of the spirit.
"For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ," 2Co 10:4-5 (NKJV)
This phrase, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ is a reference to where the true battle rages, in our hearts. In our hearts, we are responsible for the way we think. There are arguments that are rooted in the strongholds of our hearts. We often react to people and situations out of past battles with those same mindsets. It is easy for us to fall into mindsets when we get triggered by the fallen nature of others. Yet the Lord has made us ambassadors of His creation. So we have to shift what we meditate upon. Unlike a military army, we arm ourselves with the weapons of our heart, the weapons of love.
"The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Rom 13:12-14 (NKJV)
Light is love. When we can bring love to our conflicts we can walk in the light. That is the reason Paul contrasts this with the works of darkness and then names them as revelry, drunkenness, lewdness, lust, strife, and envy. Over the next few chapters, we will look at this battle and hopefully enter the war with greater and greater love.
Activation: Decorating your inner heart dwelling. Think about your heart as your home. What color scheme would represent love in your heart? What decorations would you want to fill the rooms with? What kind of music? Now, think of how you can add these elements to your life. Could you listen to praise and worship each day? Could you visualize colors in your heart that mean peace and love? Could you fill your heart with prayers and supplications with thanksgiving? Can you light your heart with love and peace?
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