I love serving the Church. I got saved as a teenager and it became a second home to me. I had so many questions, but patient leaders spent a lot of time answering them and pouring love into me. I was at church more than my house and ultimately felt Jesus call me to serve His house full-time. Church is still home for me. I love the house of God. Even with all her failures and mistakes, she is home.

My favorite thing we do as pastors is to have people from the church in our home. Almost every Tuesday night, we invite a different family to our house. It’s not as busy as our Sundays, so we have time to look into our guests’ eyeballs and hear their stories. They get to see that we are normal people with kids who run around and make messes. We share a meal and it makes me all gooey inside.

But as much as I love the church, my most important calling is to my home. The best things that happen in my life are inside of my house with my man and my girls. Home is important. It is where you (should) learn that your needs will be met. It is where you are nurtured and safe. Home is where memories are made, family traditions are dreamed up, pictures are put up on the walls. You stay. You rest. You play at home.

 

We have lived in many places over our 12 years together. These are two of the seven homes we have had. So many memories.

Home is all throughout the Bible. I’m warning you now, there are a bunch of scriptures. I just couldn’t help myself. They are too powerful!

“My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest,” (Isaiah 32:18 NIV).

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock,” (Matthew 7:24-25 NIV).

“It takes wisdom to build a house, and understanding to set it on a firm foundation;
It takes knowledge to furnish its rooms with fine furniture and beautiful draperies,” (Proverbs 24:3-4 MSG).

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise,” (Deuteronomy. 6:5-7 ESV).

“My Father’s house has many dwelling places. If it were otherwise, I would tell you plainly, because I go to prepare a place for you to rest,” (John 14:2 TPT).

There are even scriptures where God speaks about an element of the home to help us understand a bigger concept:

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows,” (Psalm 23:5 NIV). God sets the table for us. Home.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me,” (Revelation 3:20 ESV). God stands outside and waits to be invited in. Home.

Amazing things happen when we share our homes:

• The Shunammite woman opened her home to Elijah and God sent her the thing her heart most longed for – a son (2 Kings 4:8-17).
• Zacchaeus opened his home to Jesus and was saved (Luke 19:1-10).
• Four friends cut a hole in the roof of a home so that their lame friend could get before Jesus and he was healed and saved (Luke 5:17-26).
• The early church opened their homes and shared all that they had with each other and saw the Holy Spirit move in amazing ways (Acts 2:42-47).

God moves miraculously in our homes. Please don’t wait for your house to be perfect before you share it. You see all the stuff that is wrong with your home, but your guests will just be so thankful that you let them in. Every home that we have lived in has had things that bothered me about them and made me feel insecure: ugly floors, bad yards, weird, mismatched furniture, etc. The home we live in right now has a purple toilet and a bright pink ceiling! Yikes!

If home has not been a safe place for you, I am so sorry. Remember that Heaven is our ultimate home. Jesus is so good to heal our wounds and empower us to break old patterns so that our children get to experience something different at home. Jon-Michael and I have seen souls saved, marriages restored, and minds set free in our home. Not because we are pastors and not because we were at church, but because we are children of God and chose to open our home.

God has a plan for your home. He wants it to be full of His presence and joy. My prayer is that you will see it for the calling and privilege that it is, and open the door.

Love,

Tif