All the children of God dwell in “the Father’s house.” This is a very large place, for He dwells everywhere . . . and in Him we live, and move, and have our being, as we learned last week. Yet Jesus has taught us to pray to “our Father which art in heaven.” This shows us what it is that makes heaven; it is the presence of God. Wherever He is, is heaven; and since He is everywhere, there is no place, even on this sin-cursed earth, where we may not find heaven below, if we remember that God is there.

“Love but the Lord, and all is bright;
Love but the Lord, and earth is fair;
Love but the Lord, the Father’s house
Is here, and there, and everywhere.”

This was the precious lesson that God taught Jacob when he was alone in a desert place, cut off from home and friends by his own wrong-doing, with only a stone for a pillow. In his sorrow and fear, God appeared to him and comforted him: and when he understood that the presence of God was with him even there, he said: “This is none other than the house of God: this is the gate of heaven.”

You will remember, perhaps, that he said also, “How dreadful is this place,” He did not mean that it was a terrible place to be in, but a holy and sacred place where he would fear to do evil.

Do you not think, dear children, that if you should keep always in mind the presence of God, and of the holy angels who always behold His face, it would keep you from doing some things that you do, and help you to do some things you don’t do that you ought to do? Would it not make you feel that “the place whereon you stand is holy ground”?

God says: “I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also that is of a humble and contrite spirit.” It is the presence of God that makes holy; so wherever He is, is a “high and holy place.” Yet He dwells, as He says, with the humble and contrite in heart; and this shows us that those who are of an humble and contrite spirit dwell in “the high and holy place.”

And what a happy place this is also; for remember that in His presence is “fatness of joy,” and “pleasures for evermore.” So no matter where you are, or what your outward surroundings and circumstances may be, you may have the “fulness of joy” that is always to be found in the presence of the Lord, for He is with you everywhere, and this will make heaven for you.

You will not be the only one who will feel the sweetness of the Lord’s presence with you, if you live in the constant sense of it. Those around you will feel it too, for the sweet atmosphere of heaven will shed a holy influence round you, that will bring brightness and blessing to all with whom you associate.

“As some rare perfume in a vase of clay
Pervades it with a fragrance not its own.
So when Thou dwellest in a mortal soul
All heaven’s own sweetness seems around it thrown.”

Last week we learned that God the Father sends the Spirit of His own Son Jesus into the hearts of all His children. Jesus dwelt always in the presence of God, and even when He was here on earth, He spoke of Himself as “the Son of man which is in heaven.” John called Him “the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father.”

Jesus knew always that He was in the bosom of the Father, and this was what made heaven to Him through all the temptations and trials of His life on earth. It gave Him perfect peace and fulness of joy through all. So if His Spirit abides in our hearts, it will make us sharers in these blessings. He says, “Peace I leave with you: My peace I give unto you,” and “these things have I spoke unto you that ye might have My joy fulfilled in yourselves.” The Spirit of the Son of God in our hearts raises us up “to sit with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Heaven is not only the place of love and joy and peace; it is also the place of power. “Our God is in the heavens; He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased.” “Ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands” of angels, stand in His presence, and “do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His Word.” He is “the Most High,” “God in the highest,”—the One who is above all principalities and powers. How safe, then, we are, in His keeping, for so long as we abide in Him, we are lifted far above everything that could harm us.

So while the words, “Our Father” teach us that we are the children of God, and that He loves us with an everlasting love, the words which follow, “which art in heaven,” show us His mighty power to protect us, to provide for us, and to defend us and deliver us from all evil. They show that He is able to fulfil all the petitions that we make to Him, and that we can never come to Him in vain.

He who “is in the heavens,” “upholding the unnumbered worlds throughout immensity, at the same time cares for the wants of the little brown sparrow that sings its humble song without a fear.” And “ye are of more value than many sparrows,” so you may rest in perfect peace, trusting in the tender love and great might of “Our Father, which art in heaven.”