We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, Amen? Amen!
We also know that, we must watch and pray, that
we do not enter into temptation; for the spirit indeed is willing, but the
flesh is weak.
Does somebody know what I’m talking about here?
Turn in your bibles to Haggai 1. Now the book of
Haggai is only 2 short chapters long but full of meat but let’s pray that God
open our spiritual eyes, that we may see
this physical account of Israel building God’s house the way God wants us to
see it today, Amen?!?
Now let’s read 1:2-
“Thus speaketh the Lord
of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's
house should be built.”
God wants
us always building His house. In season and out of season we must be prepared
(2 Tim. 4:2). So there is a constant preparation for the kingdom that needs to
be taking place. Amen?!?
But we say, I don’t have time for that right now
or I’ll get to it later. We are not making time for God right now. But it’s
time to make God’s work the center of our attention! Build my house saith the
Lord. Amen! Build My House!
Now, let’s continue with 1:3-5.
“Then
came the word of the Lord by
Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell
in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore
thus saith the Lord of hosts;
Consider your ways.”
Here we go, what does our house look like? The
things we want, the outward appearance, the fleshly or carnal things in our lives…we
make sure we complete these things, but God’s house, the spiritual man, lay
waste? Our house is looking all good while God’s house looks a mess. We are
concerned with the outward appearance but God is concerned with our hearts.
V5 says “Consider your ways.” I like that the NIV
says “Give careful thoughts to your ways.” Are our ways lining up with the word
of God? Are we walking in the flesh rather than the spirit? What are we doing?
Where are we going? And who is leading us? Now watch God repeat this in later
verses.
Verses 6-7:
“Ye have sown much,
and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not
filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth
wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith
the Lord of hosts; Consider your
ways.”
In all our work, where is our money going? Why
does is seem to disappear faster than we receive it? Why does it seem we are
still missing something? Consider your ways says the Lord. God wants us to take
a look at ourselves for a moment here and consider our ways.
Verses
8-9:
“Go
up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure
in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye
looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did
blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord
of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his
own house.”
God wants to take pleasure in us. He wants to be
glorified in us. The NIV uses the word honored. He wants to be honored in us. How?
Go up to the mountain. Take some time away for God. Spend some time with him.
Go and consider your ways and see if you are lining up with HIS ways. Go up
with prayer and THE WORD OF GOD and BUILD HIS HOUSE. Amen!
Verse 9 says He blew on their stuff. God will blow on our blessings---and poof it’s
gone like the wind. You know what he’s going to do with our blessings if we
don’t build his house? Not only is he going to blow on it, but he’s going to give our blessings to the one
who IS building HIS house; His good and faithful servants. Who much is given
more will be given.
Matthew 13:12 says, “For whosoever hath, to him
shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken away even that he hath.”
Matthew 25:28 says, “‘So take
the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags.
For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an
abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.”
But why will God take away their stuff? Why will
God take away or blow on your goods, your blessings?
Verse 9 continues and says it’s because of the
condition I have left HIS house while I run to do my OWN business. We are busy
doing what we want to do, building our own house, and God’s house lie dormant.
We wonder why we are not spiritual anymore. We
wonder why we are not connecting with God anymore. We wonder why we can’t hear
him like we use to. Well, what has changed? Did you use to build God’s house,
but now you’re more concerned about you and the cares of life? Maybe you have
never experienced a spiritual connection with God. Well, have you spent quality
time with him in the word of God and prayer earnestly seeking him with all your
heart?
We need to build God’s house… and make God’s
work the center of our attention. We
spend too much time focused on worthless things and little or no time with the
Lord. God knows our hearts. We get what we put in and our blessings are
connected to the building of His house.
Verses10-11:
“Therefore
the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And
I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the
corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground
bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the
hands.”
The
bible says because of us, the blessings are bound up. It is because God’s house,
our spiritual man, STILL lay in ruin.
WE withhold our own blessings from God. We are
not CONSIDERING GOD’S WAYS, therefore, he BLOWS on our finances, he BLOWS on
our increase, and he WITHHOLDS the windows of heaven from breaking forth for
our own good because we need to be seeking HIM. But what are we doing? We are
building up the things of this world more so than the things of God in our
lives.
Little do we know, that if we just build this spiritual
house, God’s house, (for we are the temple of God, the temple
of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people), God will set our things
in order. Amen! If we build his house, our house will be in order, and
we will be blessed.
Verse12-13:
“Then
Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high
priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai
the prophet, as the Lord their God
had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord. Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying,
I am with you, saith the Lord.”
Then, they obeyed God and feared him. It’s like
a child when they are chastened for wrong doing. They take heed, AFTER they
have received correction and a withholding of blessing. Then, they obey and
then, they fear. When God corrects us and blows on our stuff and withholds his
goodness, then we need to follow in suit like a child, and obey and fear God
like the father that he is.
God says He is with us. He will never leave us nor
forsake us. We are his bride, but the rod is but a reach away so be mindful how
you build his house.
1 Cor. 3:10-11 says, “But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
If we are not grounded and founded in Christ FIRST, we are at a great disadvantage and lost. Our foundation must be the Lord Jesus and we must build upon that, the word of God and prayer, to reap in the spirit and in the physical.
Verse 14:
“And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.”
God stirred up the spirit of the people and they went forth and worked on the House of the Lord.
There needs to be a STIRRING in the spirit of the people, but for that STIRRING to go forth, we have to put on obedience and the fear of the Lord and build God’s house on the foundation of Jesus Christ.
How many of you know that when GOD stirs up something, there is going to be a shifting in the atmosphere?
Saints of God, He is calling us and desiring us to be stirred up in the spirit, so that WE can do the works of the LORD. It’s time to work in the house of the Lord. We are his house and He is with us and will dwell in us. We must make him our habitation. Hallelujah!
Walk in the Spirit,
Prophetess Deanna Mack
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