Pat, thank you for posting that.  That was wonderful. 
I'm going to hang onto this.
Todd

--- Pat Ferguson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> My Heart Christ's Home
> by Robert Boyd Munger
> 
> In Paul's epistle to the Ephesians, we find these
> words:
> "That (God) would grant you, according to the riches
> of his glory, to 
> be strengthened
> with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That
> Christ may dwell in 
> your hearts by
> faith" (Ephesians 3:16). Or, as another has
> translated, "That Christ 
> may settle down
> and be at home in your hearts by faith."
> Without question one of the most remarkable
> Christian doctrines is 
> that Jesus Christ
> Himself through the presence of the Holy Spirit will
> actually enter a 
> heart, settle
> down and be at home there. Christ will make the
> human heart His abode.
> Our Lord said to His disciples, "If a man love me,
> he will keep my 
> words: and my
> Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and
> make our abode 
> with him" (John
> 14:23). It was difficult for them to understand what
> He was saying. 
> How was it possible
> for Him to make his abode with them in this sense?
> It is interesting that our Lord used the same word
> here that He gave 
> them in the
> first of the fourteenth chapter of John: "I go to
> prepare a place for 
> you .. that
> where I am, ye may be also."  Our Lord was promising
> his disciples 
> that, just as
> He was going to heaven to prepare a place for them
> and would welcome 
> them one day,
> now it would be possible for them to prepare a place
> for Him in their 
> hearts and
> He would come and make His abode with them.
> They could not understand this. How could it be?
> Then came Pentecost. The Spirit of the living Christ
> was given to the 
> church and
> they understood. God did not dwell in Herod's temple
> in Jerusalem! 
> God did not dwell
> in a temple made with hands; but now, through the
> miracle of the 
> outpoured Spirit,
> God would dwell in human hearts. The body of the
> believer would be 
> the temple of
> the living God and the human heart would be the home
> of Jesus Christ. 
> It is difficult
> for me to think of a higher privilege than to make
> Christ a home in 
> my heart, to
> welcome, to serve, to please, to fellowship with him
> there.
> One evening I invited Jesus Christ into my heart.
> What an entrance He 
> made! It was
> not a spectacular, emotional thing, but very real.
> It was at the very 
> center of my
> life. He came into the darkness of my heart and
> turned on the light. 
> He built a fire
> in the cold hearth and banished the chill. He
> started music where 
> there had been
> stillness, and He filled the emptiness with His own
> loving, wonderful 
> fellowship.
> I have never regretted opening the door to Christ
> and I never will - 
> not into eternity!
> This, of course, is the first step in making the
> heart Christ's home. 
> He has said,
> "Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man
> hear my voice and 
> open the door,
> I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
> with me." 
> (Revelation 3:20).
> If you are interested in making your life an abode
> of the living God, 
> let me encourage
> you to invite Christ into your heart and He will
> surely come
> After Christ entered my heart and in the joy of this
> new relationship 
> I said to Him,
> "Lord, I want this heart of mine to be Yours. I want
> to have You 
> settle down here
> and be perfectly at home. Everything I have belongs
> to You. Let me 
> show You around
> and introduce you to the various features of the
> home that you may be 
> more comfortable
> and that we may have fuller fellowship together."
> He was very glad to come, of course, and happier
> still to be given a 
> place in the
> heart
> The Library
> The first room was the study - the library. Let us
> call it the study 
> of the mind.
> Now in my home this room of the mind is a very small
> room with very 
> thick walls.
> But it is an important room. In a sense, it is the
> control room of 
> the house. He
> entered with me and looked around at the books in
> the bookcase, the 
> magazines upon
> the table, the pictures on the walls. As I followed
> His gaze I became 
> uncomfortable.
> Strangely enough, I had not felt badly about this
> before, but now 
> that He was there
> looking at these things I was embarrassed. There
> were some books were 
> there that
> His eyes were too pure to behold. There was a lot of
> trash and 
> literature on the
> table that a Christian had no business reading, and
> as for the 
> pictures on the walls
> - the imaginations and thoughts of the mind -  these
> were shameful.
> I turned to Him and said, "Master, I know that this
> room needs a 
> radical alteration.
> Will You help me make it what it ought to be? - to
> bring every 
> thought into captivity
> to you?"
> "Surely!" He said. "Gladly will I help you. First of
> all, take all 
> the things that
> you are reading and looking at which are not
> helpful, pure, good and 
> true, and throw
> them out! Now put on the empty shelves the books of
> the Bible. Fill 
> the library with
> Scriptures and meditate on then day and night. As
> for the pictures on 
> the walls,
> you will have difficulty controlling these images,
> but here is an 
> aid"  He gave me
> a full-size portrait of Himself. "Hang this
> centrally," He said, "on 
> the wall of
> the mind."
> I did, and I have discovered through the years that
> when my thoughts 
> are centered
> upon Christ Himself, His purity and power cause
> impure thoughts to 
> back away. So
> He has helped me to bring my thoughts into
> captivity.
> May I suggest to you if you have difficulty with
> this little room of 
> the mind, that
> you bring Christ in there. Pack it full with the
> Word of God, 
> meditate upon it and
> keep before it the immediate presence of the Lord
> Jesus.
> The Dining Room
>  From the study we went into the dining room, the
> room of appetites 
> and desires. Now
> this was a very large room. I spent a good deal of
> time in the dining 
> room and much
> effort in satisfying my wants.
> I said to Him, "This is a favorite room. I am quite
> sure You will be 
> 
=== message truncated ===


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