I wonder what kind of table you have in your home? Is it round, square, or rectangular? Is it old or new? It doesn’t really matter what it looks like. The real question we have to ask ourselves is: who does our table belong to? Is it my table? Or is it the Lord’s table?
If God dwells in our home, it will be God’s table.
Did you know that God loves to have a table? In the Old Testament He says: “They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to MY TABLE to minister unto me” (Ezekiel 44:16). Everything changes when you understand your table belongs to God. It changes how you conduct your meals. It changes what you do at your table. We understand that the table is not only a place to eat some food, but a place where we feed our children body, soul, and spirit. We feed their bodies, but God is present to feed their souls and spirits.
We notice four wonderful things about your table which belongs to God.
1. God reminds us to “enter into my sanctuary.” We cannot taste the delights of God’s table unless we come to the table. Oh how many hours of delights families miss together because life’s programs stop them from sitting at the table together. So many of our activities happen around the evening meal time. They may be good, but they deprive us from the best.
We have to come to the table. We have to enter into His sanctuary. We have to understand that our table is a sacred place because it is God’s table. When we understand it is God’s table, we won’t want to miss being at the table to meet with Him.
2. God reminds us to come NEAR to Him. God doesn’t want us to be far away from Him. He doesn’t want everything else in the world to captivate our hearts. At the table we come near to one another and near to Him.
3. God reminds us (as we have mentioned) that our table is HIS TABLE.
4. God reminds us that the table is where we MINISTER UNTO HIM. God had His table in the Holy Place in the tabernacle. Every single day the twelve loaves of bread sat upon the table. Every week the priests came in and ate of the bread and fellowshipped with God and then placed new bread upon the table. The table was never without bread. It was called the “CONTINUAL shewbread” (Leviticus 24:5-8 and 2 Chronicles 2:4). Even when they traveled to a new place the continual bread had to be upon the table (Numbers 4:7).
God always has bread on His table. It’s there every day for us. It never runs out. We never have to go hungry in our souls and spirits. And therefore at our table each day, we open God’s precious Word and read it. It ministers to us and to our children. It prepares them for life. It prepares them to face the world. We cannot do without it or we starve spiritually. And not only does God minister to us by filling us with His eternal bread, but we minister to Him as we pray, and praise Him for all that He is.
Don’t vacate God’s table. He waits at His table in your home to meet with you, to feed you, and to have fellowship with you.
Be encouraged,
Nancy Campbell
Painting is by a Scottish painter: John Henry Lorimer (1856-1936)
Did you notice the comment from Renee Fogg with the post below, “Are you living in the bitterness of unforgiveness or the freedom of forgiveness? I’ll post it here for you in case you missed it. It is encouraging.
I remember seeing a cartoon many years ago. It was a picture of a mother looking at the adverts in the newspaper. Around her were children out of control and the house in utter chaos. The caption read: “I’m looking for a job, I need a rest!”
It’s so easy to get carried away without thoughts, isn’t it? I find that that when I don’t discipline my thoughts they can often tend toward self-pity, “poor me, why do I have to put up with all of this?,” selfishness, and even my own pitiful thoughts about God which are not worthy of Him.
THE GREATEST MAN in history 
What’s happening in your home today? Is everything piling on top of you--laundry, dishes, and teaching the children all waiting to be accomplished? Don’t throw in the towel, dear mother. Don’t look at everything waiting to be done. Just tackle one job at a time. Priorities first. But do each task with ALL YOUR MIGHT. Not half-heartedly, grumblingly, or lazily. And teach your children to do their chores with all their might, too. Inspire this attitude i
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The following are a couple of statements (of thousands that we could quote) stating publically and unashamedly the aim of the public education of our children:
King David was passionate about building as house for the name of the Lord, although his son, Solomon completed the vision. 1 Kings 8:17-19 says: “And the LORD said unto David my father . . . thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house UNTO MY NAME.”
We talked yesterday about living in the true reality, the reality of the heavenly world. How on earth do we do this?
To us mothers, the reality of life is the day to day responsibility to manage our homes; feed, nurture, and train our children; and everything else that clamors for our attention. But there is another reality, a reality that has the power to affect our daily life in our home. It is the reality of the heavenly.
The greatest blessing, stability, and power of the nation are godly homes--homes where the husband and wife love one another and together seek to raise godly children to influence the world. Satan also knows the power of the home and therefore tries to woo women away from their greatest place of influence.
For 100 years, Noah did the same old thing-- hammered, nailed, and kept on building his ark. He did not have time to do all the things that everyone else was doing. He just kept on slogging and being faithful, doing the same thing every day for all those years. In doing so he condemned the world.
Peter encouraged the believers in Asia: “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” The NLT says: “Don’t be surprised.”
Most of us have more clothes in our wardrobe than we need. Did you know that you also have an amazing spiritual wardrobe? And it’s free. It has been given to you by Jesus Christ, paid for by His death upon the cross and His precious blood which He poured out for you.
A little while ago I sent out a post about living for Christ. One mother wrote back and said that she felt condemned because she couldn’t fulfill all the Scriptures about daily living for Christ. As I continued to think about her, it dawned upon me that no wonder she felt like that. I omitted to give the very first principle about how to live for Christ. Without this principle none of the others work.
In my post below, I LOVE IT, DON’T YOU? I wrote how David loved the habitation of God’s house (Psalm 26:8). He was speaking of the tabernacle or the temple where the Shekinah glory of God resided. It was not the building David sought after; it was the presence of God. If God did not dwell there, it had nothing for him.
David confessed in Psalm 28:6 (ESV): “I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells.” In the very next psalm he says he would like to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life (Psalm 127:3). Do you also love to go to the house of the Lord, to gather with God’s people, to worship and praise the Lord, and feed on HIs Word? This should be the natural desire of all believers.
Today, upon a bus
I want to share another thought with you from our post below, DAY BY DAY. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 talks about the afflictions each one of us face, some more than others. I have to say that, for although we all feel that we face difficult times, none of us here in this nation face the torture, beatings, killing of husbands and children, heartache, and suffering that is happening right now to Christians in many countries. Christians are being persecute