Faithful Stewards of the Body (2 Chronicles 5:13–14)

And when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.
—2 Chronicles 5:13–14

What a scene! Can you imagine? This is the dedication of the temple in the Old Testament under Solomon. And this loud singing, and music, and trumpets, and symbols, and musical instruments just being blasted in praise to the Lord. “For he is good. His steadfast love endures forever.” And all of a sudden, the house, the temple, the house of the Lord is filled with a cloud. So the priests can’t even stand there because of the cloud and the glory of the Lord filling this place. What a scene!

2 Chronicles 5:13–14 illustrates the transforming reality of God’s presence in us.

Now let this soak in. This is the temple of God, the place where his glory dwells, the cloud of his presence in this place. And then realize, wait a minute, 1 Corinthians 6:18 says that my body, as a follower of Jesus, my body is this temple. My body houses the Spirit of God? That’ll knock you out of your seat if you really think about it. Our bodies, the temple of the Holy Spirit of God?

Oh, that changes everything about how we view our lives, how we view our bodies. When you look in the mirror, don’t look at all the faults or blemishes or other things you might be tempted to see. Or even vain things you might be tempted to see. Look and see a temple of the Holy Spirit and then live accordingly. Treat your body accordingly, and use your body; steward this body accordingly.

Everything you look at with these eyes, you listen to with your ears, you say with your mouth, you think about in your mind, every step you take. Oh, let’s just pray. God, help us to glorify you with our bodies. Just like 1 Corinthians 6 says there, to flee sexual immorality. God, help us to flee all sexual immorality, and all immorality and idolatry. Help us to be holy as you are holy.

2 Chronicles 5:13–14 urges believers to live as recipients of God’s glory.

I pray that our eyes would be holy eyes, our ears holy ears, our mouths holy mouths. God, we pray that our thoughts would be holy thoughts, and our desires would be holy desires, that we would walk in holiness. God, this is only possible by the power of your Holy Spirit in us. So keep us from unholy thoughts, and unholy desires, and unholy words and actions. God, we pray that we would treat our bodies, and view our bodies, and use our bodies as the temples of the Holy Spirit that they are.

And God, we pray that just as your glory filled that house in 2 Chronicles 5 and fills this house that’s our bodies today. We pray that your glory would spread through us. God, we pray that by the power of your Holy Spirit in us, we would be Acts 1:8 witnesses to your glory wherever we go today. And we pray there would be witnesses to the ends of the earth. That your glory be made known among all peoples.

Prayer for the Libyan Arab People

We pray for Libyan Arabs, for 2.8 million Libyan Arabs. God, please cause the Holy Name of Jesus to spread like a wildfire among Libyan Arabs. God, for the few followers of Jesus among them, for our brothers and sisters in Christ there, the temples of the Holy Spirit that are there. Lord, we pray that they would spread your glory with the strength, grace, peace, and mercy, and help that your Holy Spirit alone can provide them, and that you would raise up other workers to come alongside them, so that your glory might be made known, and your glory might fill the Libyan Arab people. We pray all this according to your Word in 2 Chronicles 5. In Jesus’ name, amen.