SCRIPTURE: "My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O LORD; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up." Psalms 5:3 (KJV)

Are you a morning person? Do you find yourself able to arise in the morning and complete the tasks necessary to get yourself and everyone else on their way. If you do... you're probably a great mom and an awesome wife - more than likely  heading out to a job of your own. I'm married to one of those and everyone of her kids call her "a saint". Osella "is" the hub of this family, and I salute her. I have never known a woman who works harder at being the perfect mom and the perfect grandma and the perfect wife and the perfect friend and the perfect employee than she does. This past year, for the third year in a row, she has received TOP Employee and Top Supervisor of her Company Nationwide. But It's not a job to her... it's a calling. She lives so close to the Lord that she believes and LIVES as though her life is a message... and what a message it is. She doesn't know a stranger and cares about every person she knows and meets. I have never met a women who was more "ready" to be of service than this gal is.

All of the preparation and hard work that our dear wives put forth on a daily basis on our behalf, still cannot set our attitudes and our graciousness and benevolence towards our fellowman. It helps... but the outcome of our day comes from within.

The human body has long been spoken of especially in religious circles as the TEMPLE of all mankind. It is supposed to be kept clean of all foreign and evil agents that can not only taint but bring about destruction from within. Many times  people are not even aware that the destruction has begun until they come to a place of becoming sick or depressed and  immediately they know - or are at least told that certain things need to change in the body (Temple) so that it can be restored and be functional once again.

To say that the result of Life is Worship, might be far-reaching and be cause for controversy. But to say that the true result of Worship is LIFE is for those who have experienced it, abundantly a true experience, and most will tell you they cannot live without it. Why is that? 

Let me answer that by telling you a bit of History. In the year 63 BCE, the Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (POMPEY), in his process of conquering Israel and all the surrounding territories, entered the most sacred place in the  Jewish temple in Jerusalem. The inner sanctum and the Holy of Holies. What he found shocked him. It was an EMPTY ROOM! Since the Ark of The Covenant had been taken along with all of the artifacts carried off to various venues around  the then-known world... The Priesthood didn't perform the sacrifices or keep the Laws of God pertaining to sacrifices handed down through Moses and Aaron.

One of those rituals was the Bread of Presence or the Table of Shewbread.These twelve cakes resting in two rows of six - all exactly the same size, represented the 12 tribes of Israel, and God's presence with them. Each week these loaves of bread (cakes) were replaced with 12 NEW and freshly baked loaves or cakes - again symbolizing that God's presence was always with them. During almost the entire time of the Second Temple, these sacrifices were not being carried out in the Temple and the Holy of Holies sat bare. What does that say about the Table of Presence? It wasn't there. What does that say about the Presence of God in that Temple? He wasn't there.

Now, I'm sure there are those who would want to debate that last analogy, but the truth is that this was the place where the Altars of the Faith of Judaism connected with God, and without the Altars of the Faith and without the Table of Shewbread and without the daily lighting of the Incense... It was as Pompey said, "AN EMPTY ROOM".

Now, I say all of that to say this. Many of us start every day with a bowl of Cheerios or some other favorite cereal... but we never even think of the bread of presence which should be just to the right as you as the priest of your life step into the Holy of Holies of your Temple. Just where would that Temple be located? Psa 119:11 gives us a good clue as to where this is. It says there,

"Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee."

That Word Heart there is in the Hebrew, (leb) which speaks of feelings, the will, the intellect, the "center of everything", which suggests to me "the Soul" of man.

What is the soul of man without the presence of God? EMPTY! Dark! Often shut-up or closed down and throughout the years begins to deteriorate and decay and waste away to nothing. In our lives, there is a need for more than just the  sustenance of the Shewbread which was given to the Priests after it had been replaced by the new loaves. There is a need for connection; the need for hope and for the Glory of the Lord to reign down upon all who believed in and partook of the Table of Shewbread which was the Presence of God.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to make the connection here that the Table of Shewbread was a type of Christ. For what does Jesus say,

"I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst". John 6:35 (KJV)

He That comes to God to seek His Presence must enter into that holy of holies within his or her own Temple and arrange the altar and light the incense, and seek the holiness of God through the act of prayer. Care must be taken on a daily basis to make sure that "the Presence of God" is there, or just like the second Temple, when people come your way, seeking to know what is so great about the Christian Faith, they may walk away with the same exclamation that Pompey did... there's nothing to it! It's EMPTY!

Let's pray,

Father, May this never be the exclamation of what people see in me.. darkness.. emptiness... a life wasted. But may they see the GLORY of YOURSELF and the PRESENCE OF YOUR SON JESUS in all that I do or say. For I ask it in Jesus'  Name, Amen.