³ Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol.

⁷ Lift up your heads, O you gates!
And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
And the King of glory shall come in.

This is from Psalms 24. Who gets to stand in the Lord’s presence? It is he who has clean hands and a pure heart. We see that repeated in James. He urges that we draw near to God that He may draw near to us. But it comes with an order!

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

James 4:8 ESV

We can be in God’s presence if we are washed clean of our sins and our hearts are fully devoted to God, single minded.

If we have sin, we come before the throne bowed down. We come before Him knowing our need for mercy, forgiveness, cleansing.

When the Lord has lifted our heads, we come before Him knowing we’ve received mercy, forgiveness, and cleansing. We are blameless before Him. Our heads are lifted high. We are robed in righteousness and crowned with loving devotion and seated in the heavenly places.

There can be no continuing in sin and maintaining our position in the heavenlies. But, when we repent and reject all sin and allow Him to cleanse us, we can live in a continual state of blamelessness. When He shows us something in us that is not of Him, we don’t hide, but we thank Him! We confess and repent and receive that enduring mercy and cleansing and remain in His presence, today and always.

The word shalom actually means complete, as in not lacking anything. You could state Psalm 23:1 in the positive by saying, “The Lord is my Shepherd. I have shalom.” What I will put below I wrote just this morning. It’s chock full of Scripture references, but I don’t reference them. I will point out one that is probably more obscure. When I am speaking about the Sabbath, I’m referring to Isaiah 58, specifically verse 13.

I am one with Christ and He is one with me.

I dwell in shalom, the fullness of rest. I will do no work. My salvation is accomplished. I will not work to save myself. I will rest.

I dwell in shalom, the fullness of peace. There are no emergencies in shalom. There is no hurry in shalom. The Father holds all things in His hands and performs all things for me.

I dwell in shalom, the fullness of joy. I will honor the Sabbath and not find my own pleasure for in Him is the fullness of joy and the fullness of pleasure. There is no more to be desired.

I dwell in shalom, the fullness of hope. I will not be disappointed. I am kept in Christ of the Father’s will. I am kept from sin and the evil one by Christ Himself.

I dwell in shalom. I am whole. I lack nothing. The Father withholds no good thing from those who seek Him and walk uprightly.

I dwell in shalom, the fullness of rest. There are no works of salvation, for His work is finished. His work in me is finished. My righteousness is secured by the blood of Jesus and the indwelling of His Spirit. I am saved and have the fullness of my salvation when I have shalom. I am blessed with every spiritual blessing. There is no want. There is nothing needful.

I dwell in shalom. I will honor Him and the Sabbath rest and will not speak my own words. I will honor Him and the Sabbath rest and will not do my own way. I have a spring of waters in me that will never fail and rivers of living water flow through me to do His bidding.

I will delight in His Sabbath. My delight is to remain in Him and I do not seek anything else. There is no search. He leads and guides me continually for His name sake. There is no questioning. There is no confusion.

I dwell in shalom. There is no fear. There can be no fear because there is no unbelief. How can we not believe the one who is in us? For I am one with Christ and He is one with me. We can trust Him with His own life.

I dwell in shalom, the fullness of love. I will live loved and live to love. His love is poured into me and I pour it out to others.

I will honor my Father and surrender into His arms, His arms of love, His strong arm to save. There is nothing more for me outside of Him.

I am one with Christ and He is one with me.