JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q5. A Dwelling Place for God - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q5. (Ephesians 2:22) In what ways should your congregation be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit"? According to verse 22, how do the members of the congregation help bring this about? What shape should this take in your own life? In the life of your own congregation? Exposition

A church building is not God's house but God's household is the people who have God living in them and show him to the watching world. They can see the God of love through the actions of the church body. We are all meant to be citizens of God's kingdom and members of His household. May we each daily walk so closely with him that it is obvious to all that our "church" has a special relaitonship with him.

The congregation should be a dwelling place for God. The church building itself has no meaning ; it is the people of the church that provide the dwelling place. If the people do not practice what they preach, they are nothing more than a hypocrisy of God. In fact, they will turn away many who are truly seeking God, instead of welcoming believers with open arms.

The Church is the body of Christ, and believers have a position in that body. We are a
group of people in which the Holy Spirit dwells with in, individually, we come together as one at church, to be joined together, to be built up, for God's own purpose, His desire. We should long to be Christ-like.

God by means of the Holy Spirit should be dwelling in the Spiritual temple, the hearts of the congregation. This temple, composed of living stones mortered together with truth and love, has a Holy priesthood and makes Spiritual sacrifices. We are to be the habitation on earth for God.....doing what He wants done on earth. To bring this about, we must all yield to the leadership, striving for truth and unity. We must support the weak members til they become stronger and build up the truth in every aspect of our lives. We should be seeking out those who have quit assembling so that the body does not lose out on the special gifts they have for the body to develop correctly.

We should allow the spirit of God to take control of our services, Our agenda should always be God's agenda and not Man's agenda. God is HOly and requires his "temples"
to live holy lifes. God's dwelling place is in his children.
May we show the Light of Christ in our everyday lifes in our jobs , schools, neighborhoods, homes etc etc.....
Lets live our lifes as our Lord intended us to .

(Ephesians 2:22) In what ways should your congregation be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit"?

It should be as an 'holy temple' unto the Lord. Holy being the key word here. Though we may never achieve true holiness, to strive to be holy is as good as being holy.

According to verse 22, how do the members of the congregation help bring this about?

By our spirits and God's Spirit coming together.

What shape should this take in your own life? In the life of your own congregation?

To be in one with God, whether we are in church or not .. Same holds true for each and every church member.

"Know ye not, that ye are the temple of God"....To congregate, speaks of coming together; if it be 2, or 3, Jesus said He will be there, in the midst. I don't believe we come together, to meet with God...we bring Him with us if we are children of God...for He dwells within us, for we are the temple, built not by human hands, but by God Himself. "And what agreement hath the temple (us!) of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I shall be their God, and they shall be my people" 11Cor.6:16 So to answer the question, We bring God with us when we meet together, when we congregate. There is something wonderful about meeting with those, of like mind and spirit, knowing that God has placed us in a certain "smaller" version (body), of His corporate body, world-wide! Its also wonderful to know, if it be 1, 200, or 3000 , meeting, that He promised to be there; for He said "I will never leave you, nor forsake you"

Pastor Ralph, on May 5 2003, 05:20 PM, said:

The congregation is the saved body of believers in Jesus Christ, who are indwelled with power in the Holy Spirit. Members of the congregation help to bring this about by working on their own personal relationship with God (Eph 1:18) and by walking in His Spirit. This takes shape in my own life by being led by God's Spirit and improving on my relationship with Him. The same should be for the congregation.

Realizing each person, each congregation is a part of the building. All members working together for the benefit of the temple. No man is an island! No man lives alone! -- a secular saying. But it is true as far as we do not form, this dwelling place alone! We are building tohgether with others. Not you do your thing and I do mine, individually or as a congregation.

Quote "When we make a commitment to become part of he temple than "God himself dwells in that congregation and make himself known" AMEN

The congregation is God's dwelling place in the spirit. The church building is where we meet to worship God in the spirit and truth. We are the church.
God dwell within us. We are to an active part of God's work. He has left us with a mission and that is spreading the Good News. We enter the building to worship and depart to serve. If we all take responsibility and be obedient to the word of God we can see God moving in our lives as well as the congregation.

In what ways should your congregation be a 'dwelling place for God in the Spirit'?
My congregation tries to be more than a club with worthwhile programs. It wants the Spirit of God to 'dwell' in each person - to inhabit the praises of God's people; to be united by the one Spirit present in each individual; to live harmoniously; to provide a place where the 'head' of the family, God, wants to be.

How do members of the congregation help bring this about?
By loving God with our whole being and by loving each other. 'My dear children, let's not just talk about love; let's practise real love.' The Message 1 John 3

What shape should this take in your own life?
In my life, I try to reflect the power and glory of God to others.

In the life of your congregation?
Where two or more are gathered together in God's name, God is present and when the fulness of the power of God that is in us is realised, we see many wonderful answers to prayer.

If God's Spirit is not alive in your church He will not swell there. We must be a part of His church, loving and caring for each other, forgiving each other through good times and bad. It is not an option for a Christian or a church. Christ's church is for God - not for us.
We cannot pick and choose what we will believe. All God's people are our concern - not just our friends or colleagues. All mankind is our business - to love and to help. Each of us must love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind and strength. We must gather in HIs name, to worship and praise Him, to magnify hIs Holy name, to acknowlege His mighty power and omnipotence. We must call upon His holy presence - His holy spirit for help and guidence. We must make the committment to be part of HIs temple. Then He will come and dwell within our congregation.
Each person - I - each member of the body of Christ, must make the committment and act upon it, not just on Sunday morning, but everyday in every part of my life, working to understand His word and acting upon that revelation, to make my body a living sacrifice, wholy acceptable to Him!
The members of the church must each one take on this committment, also.

The congregation should be a dwelling place for God in the Spirit because he lives in us.We live in harmony with each other in Gods love in our hearts.I myself love God knowing also how much God love me.As a congregation that shows Gods love,people can see God and that Christ is Lord in accordance with what God says in His Word.We do "Gods Will,not our will.This is the only way I can explain this in my words.Blessings to all.

Q5.Our congregation should be a dwelling place for God in the Spirit in many ways:

for praise and worship, for holy communion, for prayer, for baptism in the spirit, for annointing, for special times of service (seed and soil, thanksgiving, harvest blessing, fishing fleets, crabbers, Labor Day, Memorial Day, Veterans Day, special holidays, Ash Wednesday)
for physical healing, for spiritual gifts, for prophecy, for singing and in times of grief, for manifestation...we must be that dwelling place to invite and welcome the Holy Spirit.

We bring this about by our being expectant of God's spirit upon us and in us.

In my personal life , reading the word, praying, taking Bible studies and visiting frequently at a nearby nursing home have helped me as
God's spirit directs. The shaping is quite different among our congreation. Some love to beautify the church, some to send cards and make calls, some to listen to praise hymns and selected tv evangelists, some to organize and lead, some to teach Sunday School, a few to take lay speaking classes... The Holy Spirit is doing His work among our congregation. lmc

Since I believe that the Dwelling Place of God is in Us... each one of us... this contributes to every believer in Christ being a part of the Congregation. Whether you live across the states of America or live abroad; in Israel, France, India, Germany, etc. Each one of us holds a responsibility to keep God's partaking of us when we are in prayer, reading of His Word, Praising and Worship. We partake of Him and He partakes of us. This reflects in and through us our becoming in His Likeness and this reflects how we are toward one another.

I must say that when I visit some places of meeting; gathering at different churches... the presence of God is not as strong as in other places. You see while God is in you... everywhere you go He is... so He is always in our Midst, but when people gather and there is more of the Flesh present than His Spirit the heaviness is evident in the Church. And this is anywhere you meet. Now when the Spirit of the Lord is not Hindered by the Flesh... one sees and actually feels a Strong Presence of God. He truly delights in us when we are giving over to Him and forgetting about what it is we are in need of... He already knows the need before you even speak it... so why not spend the time with Him and allow Him to lead you in every way and then speak up... He is there... so ask and know it be given unto you. Believe me, I am learning also. Sunshine

Q5. (Ephesians 2:22) In what ways should your congregation be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit"?
Our congregation should be a place of manifestation of God’s glory and presence. It should be a place where people find healing, love and miracles to bring peace and joy in their lives

According to verse 22, how do the members of the congregation help bring this about?
Members of the congregation should help bringing this about by being committed to becoming living stones in the house of God. Thus living in righteousness and love with one another is essential to the manifestation of God’s presence.


What shape should this take in your own life?
In my own life, I ought to submit to Christ’s love and also submit to others out of reverence for Christ, to desire at all times to live in love and at peace with other believers and so maintain the unity.
In the life of your own congregation?
As a congregation, we need to work hard at maintaining the unity of love, so that together we can stand as a temple and manifest the glory and presence of the Lord in our community

Q5. (Ephesians 2:22) In what ways should your congregation be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit"?

As each member of the congregation is a vessel for God’s spirit to dwell within, so too, as the body of Christ, the entire Church must make room for God in their corporate worship. Jesus advised the Samaritan woman: "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:21-24)

According to verse 22, how do the members of the congregation help bring this about?

By being ‘As one’. By being joined together and evolving into one Holy Temple where God’s presence resides. One of the greatest weaknesses for any congregation, just as it is for the individual, is to be in lack of the ‘Knowledge of God’. We can read the Prophet Hosea’s warning on this (Hosea 4:6) Oh, I know we may have the head knowledge, however, true knowledge of God must become evidenced in our lives if it is to be of any spiritual value.

What shape should this take in your own life? In the life of your own congregation?

In exercising God’s commandments to ‘Love Him with all our hearts, souls and minds’. And to ‘Love our neighbour as ourselves’. Paul pays tribute to Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus (1 Cor 16:17) an example for all the Church to exercise. Elsewhere he reminds us how we should submit to one another out of reverence for Christ (Ephesians 5:21) When I hear of petty squabbles within church congregations, I think to myself, how exasperated God must get at times. How frustrating it must be to see such spiritless divisions within His body, here on earth. Didn’t Our Lord Jesus Himself say, a house divided against itself will not stand? Nevertheless, I try and realize that when conflicting issues arise, the healing, peace making, loving, starts with ME!

I agree with the viewpoint that the congregation, and not the church as a building, is the dwelling place of the Lord. During the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was sent to dwell in the hearts of all the members of the church that were present during that time not to dwell in the area where they were gathered. Thus, the congregation will only make this happen if they obey the commandments of the Lord and strive to be more Christ-like in their way of life.

The congregation should be "a dwelling place for God in the Spirit", when we begin to "enter into His gates with thanksgiving" and begin to worship him in spirit and in truth. Letting him get the glory and honor out of our lives. The word of God says in I Chronicles 16:27 "glory and honour are in his presence; strength and gladness are in his place, and verse 29a says, "give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name, and 29c says "worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness". In other words, for God to dwell in us our house have to be holy and clean

St John 4: 24 says, "God is a spirit; and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

Our life should take the shape of a new creature in the Lord, because we are no more twain but now we are one. The congregation's life should take the shape of a new beginning in the Lord.