Joshua in the Tent

After church today I went to Outdoor World (which is like half the Harrisburg Mall) and I bought a $20 tent for Mozambique. Of course I was excited so I set it up in my bedroom. I went in, closed the little zipper door with my bible and soy milk and fell asleep. I can't image what my roommate would have done if she walked in and found a tent set up in my room with me sleeping in it. Haa. I can remember me and my sister Sandie taking blankets and sheets, draping them over the kitchen chairs and sofas creating an endless adventure. There's something about a tent that is so much fun. It's a little cocoon. I can't help but to think about Joshua and the Lord meeting him in the tent.

Exodus 33

"7 Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the "tent of meeting." Anyone inquiring of the LORD would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9 As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the LORD spoke with Moses. 10 Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. 11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent."

Now if there was a cloud over the tent, that I do not know, but I know I woke up hot as the entrance was shut. God so longs to be with us in our tents, in our quiet time, no matter what it looks like. Jesus meets us when we take time to listen and be quiet. So many times I love to run my mouth to the Lord and I wonder why I don't hear Him. Because I don't give Him a chance to talk. It's so precious to be silent before the Creator of the Universe and be in His presence.

A few verses later...
"The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Exodus 33:14

One of my favorite verses is Psalm 46:10

"Be still, and know that I am God..."

"Be still and know that I am"

"Be still and know"

"Be still"

"Be"

It's so simple. Just be. Lets not make it harder than it truly is. Love.

That's what I want. We can do nothing without the presence of Jesus. So many times I try and strive to gain holiness to be closer to Him and God says no. It's GRACE. I have this religious man striving attitude sometimes where I feel I have to earn Gods love by doing this or saying that. The Jesus way is a receiving faith.

Galatians 19-21
"What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily."

I Love the way The Message puts it. LIVE LIVE LIVE! True life is found only in Jesus Christ the hope of glory! God never ceases to amaze me that the very God who breathed this earth into existence is living in me! So knowing that, we need to die every day so Christ can truly live through us. It's so beautiful. I want to have a deeper revelation on Christ in me.

"... Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27