Power is in This House

It dawned on Mary that happiness could be experienced here and now and not in a new house somewhere else. Happiness was not only something to be grasped later on- in a heavenly home. It could be here and now because she was the temple of the Holy Spirit – His home and His house! Sunday morning this idea came upon her. She and Robin had prayed on the way to church for continued direction about buying a house in Windsor. Then when they got to church she listened to the visiting evangelist who kept repeating “Jesus is in the house”. The speaker was referring to Mark chapter 2. Jesus was staying in a house in Capernaum. It was so packed with visitors there was no more room for even one more person. Then four men carrying a paralyzed man made a hole in the clay roof above Jesus and lowered the paralyzed man down through the hole.
As Mary listened to the sermon the speaker suggested that the “manifestation of God, the glory of God was going to be seen in Windsor”. His message went on to indicate that “Jesus commands a blessing when we come together”. Mary knew the church was also God’s house. So Mary became a little confused about which house God was indicating. However, the one thing that caught Mary’s attention was the minister’s thoughts that “sometimes Jesus is somewhere but we are not where He is – in the house”. It was no clearer when he said: the power of God is in the house. “Which house?” Mary heard herself whisper. “Perhaps both”, came back the logical answer.
Then the very next morning as Mary was cutting up and cooking some pumpkin she listened to a man on the radio speak on power. He spoke on God’s Power and its presence when you walk in your assignment. It was a wonderful message which indicated that the anointing and the power of God comes upon us as we carry out our assignment. Our assignment is to turn people’s hearts to Christ. However, the minister also indicated that Satan would try to draw you away from God’s call. Mary asked herself:” Was that what all these months of wanting to buy a house somewhere else was all about: Satan’s drawing me away from my assignment?”
Mary’s question was interrupted by the speaker who then suggested that God’s power and anointing were only available for God’s purpose. These last months, Mary felt she had done the right thing in closing down shop and cleaning out the house of “things” and getting ready to move. Though they hadn’t sold the house it was clean and free of many idols. Was God’s anointing on this? She wasn’t sure.
However, the last few days she had begun to realize she needed to surrender all her hopes and dreams. In doing so she felt freer and felt the blessings of God and His anointing on her daily routine. Why just this morning hadn’t she found these four untouched pumpkins on her drive home from Windsor? Wasn’t that a blessing since she had been praying for some to make up muffins? And what about the four pretty chair pads she had picked up from the side of the road, the ones she almost passed by: weren’t they a blessing?
She looked at the dining room chairs where the pads now sat. They were the perfect colour and style for that room. Perhaps this was all confirmation of the conclusion Mary had drawn from the last few days that: the Power of God and his anointing was in this house. Yes, it was!
Further, Mary had been learning that God disciplines and corrects His children that He loves. This later message encouraged Mary that the difficulties with finances were all part and parcel of God's discipline in Mary and Robin’s life. It was all meant to draw them closer to God through prayer. Certainly, it was doing that individually as well as a couple.
If God’s power was in this house then, Mary told herself, she would surrender her solution to changing their financial situation by moving. God may move them on but not until he was finished doing what he was working on in their lives right now. That guest speaker at church on Sunday insinuated that “Jesus has priorities and takes care of his own concerns first.”
Later that morning a minister’s simple comment “Occupy until He comes” seemed to confirm this notion. Mary would inhabit this dwelling, this home until God came and keep busy with the talents God gave her. God wasn’t ready for them to move yet; not to a cottage and not to Windsor. All their persistent praying had paid off: Mary and Robin were to stay put in this house and use the talents God gave them. The power was in this house, nowhere else. Mary dug here heels down mentally. She would stay put content that she was doing God’s will.