There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband 7 years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was 84. She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying. Luke 2:36-37
I did the math on Anna, and figured she had married at 13 or 14 in keeping with the time and was widowed at 20 or 21. After that, her focus was on the Lord. Oh, to have this kind of devotion to God! To want to be in His Presence so much that we never leave His Temple, but stay there night and day, fasting and praying for 60 odd years!
We have the blessing of being able to worship the Lord at any time and any place. We do not have to be at our church. There is not a particular hour that the Lord hears us. We carry His Temple around in the form of our body. At any time we can drop and pray. At any time we can sing a song or repeat a Psalm. Wherever we are, God is there. In nature, in our home, in our car and at a Christian concert. Like Anna, we never have to leave His Presence.It may have helped her NOT to leave the Temple; once outside, everything in the world begins to crowd in. Our focus gets off the Lord. I cannot even begin to name the things that set my spirituality off balance, that upset my focus on God. It could be as small a thing as being cut off by another driver, or as large a thing as losing my house. But the amazing thing is that in spite of these things, and in spite of the things in your lives, we still have His Temple to go to in the quiet spot of our own hearts. There, we can pray night and day while we are teaching children or flipping burgers. We can fast while we commute to work or school. We never have to leave His Presence.
Like Anna, if at all possible, lets find a way to remain in the Presence of the Lord night and day. Let's give our lives to the worship of His Name and to the things of His Kingdom. Then, like Anna, God will reward us with the honor of looking into the face of the Christ, and knowing it is really all worth it...from the Temple that is as close as the heartbeat in our chest.

Blyth,
Thankyou for lending yourself daily to the Lord.
His Words are a Blessing. How Beautiful are the lips that He uses to speak!

HIS GRACE AND PEACE,
ROSE

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from the Temple that is as close as the heartbeat in our chest.

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I like that. Hey I noticed that several folks pictures aren't showing up while shy's, Roses and angels are. where is shy and angel when you need them? Oh picture guru's! How did you get your pictures working and why arent' these pictures working? Come on shy! I know you KNOW the answer! Thank God(!) for resident computer geeks (and very, very nice ones at that!)

Dee told me to use this format instead of what we all were using before if this helps. I use photobucket and this is listed in the tag column I think.

<imgsrc="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v243/LOVEALIVE/Picture.jpg

I eliminated a couple characters at the end so you can figure it out.

Here's one complete!

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Originally posted by Elaine:

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from the Temple that is as close as the heartbeat in our chest.

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I like that. Hey I noticed that several folks pictures aren't showing up while shy's, Roses and angels are. where is shy and angel when you need them? Oh picture guru's! How did you get your pictures working and why arent' these pictures working? Come on shy! I know you KNOW the answer! Thank God(!) for resident computer geeks (and very, very nice ones at that!)

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Use [ IMG ] [ /IMG ] capital letters for the IMG statement will work also