Psalm 110:3 “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.”

There is coming a day when the Lord God is going to release His great power. Those who have learned to submit and live a surrendered life to our Lord Jesus, will function and operate in it.

In the Old Testament we read how King David wanted to build a temple for the Lord. The Lord permitted him to make all the preparations, amass the building materials and gave him the pattern, by the Holy Spirit, for the building plan. The Lord required David to pass on the actual building of the temple to his son, Solomon.

That great temple that was built was a type of the Church today. Jesus said, Matthew 16:18 “….I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” The Church Jesus is building today is not a building, but a flesh and blood, living organism. We are the lively stones being honed for Jesus building His Church. 1 Peter 2:5 “Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood….” Jesus is the chief corner stone of the building (verse 6), our sure foundation upon which we are built.

1 Chronicles chapters 28 and 29 records David passing on the building materials and plans to build the temple to Solomon. Chapter 29:5 David throws out a challenge to the people, “…who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the Lord?” The people responded magnificently (verses 6-9) and even contributed much gold, silver, iron, brass and precious stones to equip the future temple. Verse 9 “Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the Lord: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy.” David goes on in the following verses to acknowledge God’s greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty with thanksgiving but then he becomes overwhelmed. Verse 14, “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? For all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee. David questioned, “Who am I?” Maybe he was remembering his past failure and sin, but God had worked with him over the years and brought him to the place where he could call his heart “upright”, (verse 17). Just like David, we can hardly believe how the Lord has transformed this man and changed his heart. The quality the Lord loved in David was that when He challenged him, he was quick to repent, walked in humility and acknowledged his sin and failure. He embraced his failures, learnt from them and abandoned himself to God’s mercy. He had to live with the consequences of his sin, but God’s grace, mercy and presence (which was everything to him, he did not want to live without it, Psalm 51) made the bitter pill of consequences sweeter.

When we look at our past failures and marvel at God’s changing grace in our lives, we too, like David, may say, “But who am I to receive such mercy?” It is never about me, “Who am I?”, it is about who He is! The great I AM! Christ in me, the hope of glory. He makes the rebel a priest and a king! Hallelujah – all for His glory!

So, we are the living stones being built into the temple/church today. God is still working with us to bring us to total surrender as Jesus builds His Church. If we do not understand and appreciate how the Lord works with us, we can be in confusion. He is dealing with our wills, our wonts, our wants to bring us to surrender that “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power.”

Our every day situations are the schoolroom where the Holy Spirit teaches us that He requires pre-eminence in our lives. The requirement of this school is truth. Only as I walk in it am I teachable. This School of the Spirit is not a classroom, but our lives, with all the ups and downs.

Jesus prayed that we all may be one. Our “oneness” with our Heavenly Father produces unity with each other. Paul likened us to “living epistles, known and read of all men.” People read our lives and observe us. Our lives speak. As I submit to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, the “lively stone” is being prepared by the finger of God for Christ to build His Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it!

The old saying is worth repeating: We do not know what the future holds for each of us, but we know who holds our future! In God we trust! “Being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Our Heavenly Father is faithful to complete the work He has begun in us, to bring us to the measure of the stature of the fullness of His Son, Jesus Christ.