Dwell, What Does That Even Mean?
Hi everyone! This post was made in the pandemic, but I never posted it. I got checked to post it, so…
Hey y'all! It's your girl Julie, back with another segment of "Becoming Salty and Lit." Can you believe it's already August? I mean, my birthday is this month, so best believe I will be celebrating this GREAT month! While I'm here, I wanted to share something with you, something that's been on my mind a lot lately. It's called "Dwell," and I believe that's something I should be sharing during this time. I mean, we're in the middle of a pandemic, and life may seem hectic, but I think there's a beautiful thing the Lord is offering us, and I believe it's the opportunity to dwell with Him daily. Again, I want to thank you all for rocking with me these past few months; here's to many more! But like usual, I want to pray first over the topic! Let's go!
Abba, thank You for Your Word and Your truth. Thank You for reminding us that You desire to spend time with us and even invite us to do so with You, Lord. Father, I pray and ask that as we learn about "dwelling” we also learn Your heart, as well as any steps You want us to take as a response. Thank You for all of these beautiful people you've allowed to come across this post, as well as everything You've done up to this very moment. Abba, I love you, help me to display my love for You through my actions as well. It's in Jesus' Name, I pray, Amen.
So... DWELLING. Growing up in the faith, I heard this word a lot, whether it be in songs or verses. However, I never understood the impact of DWELLING in my own life. In fact, what did it even mean to DWELL? This question wasn't even on my radar until God told me that He wanted me to dwell with Him. Dwelling seemed like a beautiful word in a song, but did I understand the request of wanting to dwell in His presence? Bro. When He said to learn about dwelling, if I'm being honest, I didn't want to. I knew that if I knew about dwelling, there would be an invitation to go deeper in my walk, and honestly, I wanted to stay comfortable. I thought I was doing enough in my walk, but that's kind of arrogant now that I think of it. In our walk, we're always growing, in the sense that this is a journey. We're walking alongside God, going deeper in who He is, and for me to say, "I think I'm good where I am," that's just blasphemous in my opinion. There's always something to learn about God, so let's learn.
I learned that I like having control of what's going on in my life. I like being seen or needed by others or asked to help. I learned that I wanted to hold on to God but also do my own thing. I didn't think I was whylin' in life, so why did I have to go deeper? In that moment, I should've recognized that's when I should start going deeper in dwelling because I was getting accustomed to the things that were familiar to me.
Yet, I missed out on the opportunity to dwell in His presence, or I almost did. I recognized, through His help, that I would rather take the chance to talk about what it would be like to dwell in His presence than actually take the step to dwell in His presence.
The Father, Our Father, wants me and you to dwell in His presence. But how often do we want to focus on our own agendas, saying "God I have this thing" or "God I have that thing,” rather than actually sitting with Him? He offers this access that is beyond what any human can handle, including any open book out there, and we lose sight of what it means to just be with Him. How wild is that? I thought I could be dwelling through a minimum time frame. It is a component, but it is so much more than that. Dwelling, according to the Blue Letter Bible (a resource that offers definitions for words in the Bible), means "inhabiting as one's abode." That basically means staying somewhere and living within the place. When we ask God to "dwell in us," we are asking Him to live and reside in us, or to find a place in our lives. When we are asked to dwell in God, however, there may be some reservation in that because we want to be where we are: comfortable. Dwelling with God is one thing, in the sense that there is some physical distance involved. Dwelling in God is deeper to the point there is some sort of intertwining of you and God and being with each and in each other simultaneously, whether it be through thoughts, actions, and lifestyle. In fact, I believe dwelling in God creates all three as a result, and we must get to a point of us dwelling in Him.
I said a lot of words just now, so what does it mean to "dwell?" In my definition, dwelling means spending time with the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, who is also known as Your Father, and just be in His presence and rest. Resting is something that seems to be put aside in our society, but I am learning that rest is important and is a way for us to dwell in the Father. We literally can just be, and that's that. A way that I've seen this is in my relationships with my close friends. I enjoy being in their presence and can just be silent, enjoying their presence, even if no words are uttered. Our relationships with our friends can seem to look like our relationship with God, but our relationship with Him is far better. I can talk to Him anytime and share anything with Him, even if I think it may be silly. God desires for us to dwell with Him, and that starts off by having relationship with Him. Spending time in His Holy Presence and being reminded of who He is can help in learning how to dwell in Him. And who knows, you may even learn about yourself as you spend time with Him. :)
My friend, my hope is that you can learn what it means to dwell in God and take the step to go deeper and deeper each day. There may be times where dwelling may not seem to be your first choice, but dwelling is a state of being. You can choose whether to do it or not, and I believe that when you dwell, God will definitely not leave you hanging. Before I sign off, I want to give you some pointers that work for me when I learned (and am still learning) about dwelling in God.
Establish a quiet time. "Quiet time" is a time where you would dedicate intentional time to spend with God. Quiet times can vary from person to person, but my understanding is that it's quiet in the sense that you are silencing yourself from the noises of life, and you are being with God, just the two of you, spending time with each other. As I'm growing in my quiet time, these methods work and still work for me.
Prayer. Prayer is a crucial part of quiet time because even though quiet time is quiet, you should still be communicating with God about what's going on in your life. Prayer is communicating with God, and I noticed formal prayers work for me at times, but rather talking to God as a Friend (which He is) allows me to be more open to sharing what's going on in my life. God knows who we are and our personality, so we don't have to switch our personality when entering His presence. Just be.
Listening is another component that I do in quiet time. Oftentimes, when praying, we talk to God but do not make room to hear Him speak and respond. My goal is that you would intentionally carve out time to hear from God. When I first started, it was very uncomfortable because I struggled to sit still and wait for God to respond (I squirmed A LOT), yet He was in no rush to share anything. God was not intimidated by my antsyness (Is that a word? It is now.) and will never be. He will speak when He's ready to, and He does the same with me: He doesn't pressure me to speak. He allows me to speak when I'm ready to. That's not to say that He might not bring it up in different areas of my life, but He still waits to speak with me on things. Listening is a discipline (I'll probably do a post on that soon because God been working on me with this one), but listening prayer changed my walk, and it can change yours too.
Bible time is extremely important too. Oftentimes, we suffer from lack of knowledge because we don't go to His Word. The Bible really has pointers for situations in life, and reading His Word will definitely help you in hearing God and what He sounds like, as well as dwelling in His presence. My only thing is don't read just to read. Read to gain His thoughts and understanding on things. He has a lot to share, so don't miss out because you created a limit on the impact of the Bible. Unsure where to start? Psalms is always a good starting point. I've been reading Proverbs lately, and I've been receiving lots of wisdom ;) (The book is about wisdom, so I tried to make a joke. Please laugh lol.). But even without my jokes, the Bible slaps. There are so many stories that happened to real people, and it helps with my understanding that God really got me.
Last but definitely not least: Relax. Take time to know why you're dwelling. Dwelling isn't something that's a one-and-done thing. It's a continual thing - a daily decision where you're opting to be in God today and the day after that and the day after that and you get what I'm saying. Dwelling is easier when you realize it's not a forced obligation but rather an opportunity to bask in the sweetness that comes from being in God's presence. That was actually His desire when He first created us. We were created to dwell with Him, but our desire to be our own gods got in the way of recognizing that we had THE God, who had everything under control. As a result, we suffered separation from Him, that is, until He ultimately sent His Son, His only Son, to die for us to allow us to experience new life and be able to dwell with Him again. Isn't that beautiful? One of the greatest love stories and I get to be a part of it. And my hope is that, if you haven’t done so, you get to be a part of it as well by making the decision to dwell with Him.
Friend, dwelling is so beautiful. It may not be easy at first because it requires us to pull away from our own wants and desires at times. But when you learn what dwelling does and how it allows you to just be in the presence of your Father and not have to do, THAT's the game changer. So my prayer is that you would take the step to dwell with the Father, even if it looks like asking Him what dwelling looks like for you. Before I sign off, let's pray.
Abba, thank You so much for your love, goodness, and grace. Thank you for the fact that You give us the opportunity to dwell in You, even when we don't want to. Help us to learn the beauty of dwelling, and what it actually means to just BE in Your presence. I thank You and love for all of these things. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
Well, that's all I have for today! I'm staying true to my word that I won't say "Bye" as much but instead "See you later." With that, thank you for reading, and don't forget you are loved, salty, and lit. See you soon! 💛
