Mensa Otabil - Stand in the House of the Lord (09/29/2025)
Throughout this week, we’ve talked about standing, standing still, standing in faith, rising up and standing, and standing on the authority of God’s word. We’ve also discussed standing and seeing, and today we are talking about standing in the house of the Lord. It’s appropriate; it’s Sunday. Psalm 135, verses 1 and 2: «Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord! Praise Him, O you servants of the Lord, you who stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.»
The passage says we must praise Him by standing in the house of the Lord. A bed belongs to a nest, a lion belongs to a den, a rabbit belongs to a hole, and a Christian belongs to the house of the Lord. As a human being, you belong to your own home, but as a child of God, you belong to the house of the Lord. Each one of us has a home, and our spiritual life has a home, and that home is the house of the Lord, the dwelling of the believers.
The house of the Lord is the place where Christians stand, and that’s what the Psalm is saying. The house of the Lord is first and foremost a spiritual house. It is not built with hands; it’s a house you cannot point to physically. It is the spiritual gathering of those who have been born by the Spirit of God and who share Jesus Christ as their Lord. They belong to a house—it’s called the house of God. Sometimes it’s called the church or the universal church of God, and we belong to that. In that place, we stand to worship God, and that’s where we give our spiritual sacrifices.
The Lord does not want us to go to His house and just be there; He says we must stand in the house of the Lord. That means we must be active in the house of the Lord; we must participate in the house of the Lord, and we must worship in the house of the Lord. Although the house of the Lord is spiritual, it also has a physical dimension. It’s the same way as we are spiritual beings but also have physical bodies. There is a spiritual house of God, and there is a physical house of God.
When we talk about the physical house of God, it is called the local church. It is the church you belong to when you say, «I go to ICGC» or «I go to the Methodist church,» a particular society, or a particular assembly of a church—that’s your local church. In that place, you also stand and worship the Lord. It’s important that as we stand in faith, we don’t stand alone. We must stand in the gathering of the believers; we must stand with other believers. One of the reasons we share our faith together is so that when one is weak, the other will lift them up. When one is discouraged, the other will encourage them. When one needs help, they will be helped because when we come together and stand in the house of the Lord to worship Him, we encourage one another, we build one another up, and we become stronger.
Everyone who is part of the spiritual house of God must also be part of the physical house of the Lord. As members of the house of the Lord, we stand, and what I want to encourage you today is that if you want to really receive all that God has for you, then identify with other believers, share your faith with them, belong to a local church, worship with that local church, and allow God to minister to you through the ministry of the local church. Let us stand in faith, but let us also stand in the house of the Lord. I trust that these 40 days of power and their conclusion have been a blessing to you. My word to you is: stand and stand strong in the Lord.
Let’s share a word of prayer together. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, today I stand in the house of the Lord to praise Your holy name. May You inhabit our praises today and show Yourself strong on our behalf, in Jesus' name. Amen.» It’s been great having this chat with you, and Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.