Who builds your house?

For (of course) every house is built and furnished by someone, but the Builder of all things and the Furnisher (of the entire equipment of all things) is God….Hebrews 3:4 (AMP)

Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain. Psalms 127:1 (NIV)

It seems to be happening a lot lately. My mind races with a hundred ideas on writing gigs, to-do lists, ways to be frugal, ways to impact my spheres of influence. Still, I find myself being stripped to my foundations. Those habits that characterized my life years ago seem to be coming up again. The busyness of life is being forced to make way for the Father.

Slowly my focus is turning towards correcting my habits to that of a good steward, a daughter of the King. The more I prioritize Him, the more I see him as faithful. He is faithful. The walls and opinions of others are being removed one brick at a time. With each brick removed, a robust, tenacious, convicted heart is given room to pump.

I look at it all. I see the Master Builder at work.Removing those things I have built which have been good ideas, not God ideas. Good ideas so often lead us into dead works. I want my house built by the Master Builder  so it will stand the test of times. I want my marriage to be strengthened and built by Him. Even more, I want my children raised by Him, because the Father is faithful.  If I do it, I labor in vain.

Allowing the Master Builder access requires my trust, vulnerability. I need to step out of the way and let him work so that I can trust him with all that I hold dear. Most importantly, I need to trust that his plans far exceed my dreams, expectations and hopes. My ears have to learn to tune in to his frequency. What is he saying about today? What is on his heart, today? This is the place where I come to learn his plan. I build with him, following his directions.

As I do this, I begin to work from that place of rest. My trust in him proves worthwhile. He doesn’t let me down. Where I may buy gold plated decor, he decorates with precious stones. He is the real deal. My good ideas are just that, good ideas. Often they can clutter my mind and my heart, drowning out the voice of the Father. All that is left is a ball of stress in the pit of my stomach as I look at my circumstances with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and despair. But God…. Yes, But God.

I take my good ideas to the Master Builder. I submit them for his approval asking him “What do you think about all of these ideas? Which ones are what you want me to do?” He smiles and gives me different answers at different times. Each time I obey, I find myself flourishing, at peace, and content. Hope radiates strongly into my life dis-spelling darkness and despair. I can cling to his faithfulness and mercy for another day.

The house that God is building is you and I. It is our marriages, families, businesses, and relationships. We often hear this verse in the context of churches that we forget we are the house of God. He watches over us. He builds us. We can rest in him. Of course, this does not mean that we negate our responsibilities. It means that we hand over the panic, the stress, the trying so hard to make our breakthrough happen. We let go. We trust in the character of God. He is who he says he is.

I’ve heard the saying God doesn’t quit until man does. I don’t know about you, but I am not going to quit on trusting God for answered prayers, breakthrough and fulfilled promises. God is moved by faith. He loves it when we believe him and when we take risk. He loves us.

So often, we need to come to the end of our own efforts before we turn the reigns over to the Father, the Master Builder. He is patient and kind. God doesn’t mind waiting. He waits for us to hand our lives over to him, our families, our finances, our hopes and dreams. His heart is to see us succeed. He wants us to know his heart of love and favor. He wants us to live in all certainty that His face does indeed shine upon us.

Our building with the Master Builder becomes the good works that God always had prepared for us. We walk in them out of the overflow of our relationship with God. My encouragement to you today is to ask God to show you which ideas and things you are doing are just good ideas and which are His ideas. Focus on those ideas that he is saying are in line with his heart for you in this season. They may change in a week’s time. That’s ok. Move with the Holy Spirit. He only leads us into freedom.

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