Steve Fowler, April 17-18

“When we pursue kingdom principles above His presence, we are looking for a kingdom without a king.”

My daughter, Beth, sent me this quote last week, and it resonates with me and my heart for us as a church. We are a people of the Presence. The Presence is what distinguishes us from the rest of the people on the planet. Dress codes don’t make the difference. What we eat or don’t eat isn’t the difference. What we drink or don’t drink isn’t what makes us unique. What we read, watch, think and do is filtered through a realization that we are a host to the Divine Dove.

When Paul talked about your body being the temple of the Holy Spirit, he wasn’t trying to think up an imaginative metaphor to talk about how close you could be with God. No, God the Holy Spirit actually lives in each Christ-follower. Just as God’s presence resided once in a temple in Jerusalem, He now tabernacles within you. The moment you began as a follower, you were given the Gift––the Holy Spirit. He’s present. He’s a Person. He’s not an idea. The Holy Spirit is not a concept. He is God, and His presence in you is what distinguishes you and me from the rest of humanity.

When God is pursued as a principle, idea or concept, we pursue new information rather than greater revelation. Quiet times are reduced to a task rather than being the adventure they were intended to be. God is alive. I might fall in love with the idea of being married, but the idea of being married is vastly different than being married. Marriage is personal and intimate. Ideas are abstract and theoretical.

So, here’s the quote one more time.

“When we pursue kingdom principles above His presence, we are looking for a kingdom without a king.”

Steve is Lead Pastor of Salem Alliance Church and was born in Hong Kong, China. He grew up in Asia and moved to the US to attend college. After 14 years in business, Steve followed a call to pastor. He has served churches in Washington and Hong Kong and has been in Salem since 2005. He is married to Trina, has four children and one son-in-law.