How Is Your DWELL?
As you make your way down our lane, several wooden signs are hanging from the tall cypress trees, each with a phrase from Psalm 23. But they were made over twenty years ago, and the mountain conditions have taken their toll.
So, I started refinishing them. The first reads, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” And the last one, by the Chapel, is, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.” I decided to start at the end.
First, I sand off the old polyurethane layer and all the growth and gunk. I use a grinder with something they call “mil hojas” – a thousand sheets. A quick Google search tells me they are called “flap discs.” It does an excellent job getting down to the original natural wood. Then we paint the letters with a fresh coat of green, sanding off the “oops,” and then…a new poly topcoat.
But as I was beginning the process, I was drawn to a word: DWELL.
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. (Psalm 91:1)
Or my version:
He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High for only that hour on Sunday will burn in the scorching sun.
Twenty years ago, I received a prophetic word about this. The brother said, “I’m seeing all this suntan lotion, and I really felt that there’s an oil in your life for people that when you speak over people, that when you watch over people, when your words come over people, it keeps people from getting burned by the heat of the world. And God said, “I’m going to cause you to be like a covering of protection to people’s ignorance; I’m going to have you cover over people, and I’m going to have you cover them from being burned by the heat of the world.”
I was preparing for a coaching session with a leader this summer, and as I stopped to listen for anything the LORD wanted me to ask her, I felt like I was to ask how she’s guarding the treasure within her.
See, this leader has Priest as her primary Fader, but she serves on a pastoral team with mainly Producers and Artists. It’s easy for her Priest to get either squashed or, at best, neglected. She can begin to believe there’s no value in her Priest Fader. It can even start to impact her private life before the LORD.
So, the question I posed to her about guarding the treasure was spot on. She really resonated with it.
You may be in a ministry environment where the culture is a different Fader than your highest one. Guard the treasure.
But today, I want to ask you how your dwell is. Are you dwelling with the LORD day after day, morning after morning, noon and night, too? Are you still sneaking in a quick song to the LORD when you have an extra moment, or do you pull out your phone?
This week, I started writing my daily to-do list, including one or two bullet points saying, “Sing to the LORD.” I know the power of worshiping the LORD as you do. I’m trying to keep it more in my schedule! Join me?
How is your dwell?
-Dave Helmuth
(purchase my book, "Worship Fertilizer: (the first hundred)" HERE)
ps. This is how the sign turned out!
How Is Your DWELL? (Nº 383)
