Active Construction Site
What are you building today?
I declare favor and wisdom over your plans and purposes this day. There is no such thing as a good day without having our Good Father involved!
I have been spending some time studying out the second temple restoration era in scripture. There is a ton to glean from that timeframe because of the parallels to us going deeper into THE Great Awakening in our day. I would encourage you to dive in a bit and see how the Lord is always gracious when it comes to giving us the knowledge and wisdom we need to navigate any territory or season that we find ourselves in. The Word of God, when read intimately with the Spirit of God, can make a way where there is no way, and shepherd us into green pastures and beside still waters. Even if we find ourselves surrounded by death and dark shadows, there is no reason to fear any evil because the rod (correction of the Word) and the staff (protection of the Word) will comfort us in a way that only God can do.
Allow me a journey with y’all through Haggai chapter one while I draw on some analogous spiritual similarities congruent for us today. The backstory is that a tiny remnant of God’s people realized that they were in captivity/slavery and completely out of the will of God because they forsook their relationship with God which obviously made them forsake the ways of God. Those two are ALWAYS hand-in-hand. Very apropos to today’s broken Americanized culture. In legitimate and deep repentance, some of the leaders determined that they were going to sacrifice their lives and futures for the purpose of bringing the people back to God and rebuild the destroyed and ignored Temple.
When I talk about the Temple, please do not think that it is a reference to a building or denomination. We know through the New Birth and the New Covenant, WE (you and I together) are the spiritual Temple of the living God… Christ IN US, the hope of glory. So, these inspired leaders set out to get the nation, their generation, on track by rebuilding the house of God… stop and think about that last statement for a minute. Something cool about this story is when the people of God were radically resolved in their mission, the government got on-board with them and even funded the whole project.
3Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying:
4“Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
So many people wrongly believe that the first priority is to get everything in their natural life in order and prettied up. That is backward to the Kingdom ways. In submission and humility before our King, the proper order is to seek first His righteousness and Kingdom, then all the natural things of our life fall into proper order.
5Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“Consider carefully your ways.
6You have planted much but harvested little.
You eat but never have enough.
You drink but never have your fill.
You put on clothes but never get warm.
You earn wages to put into a bag pierced through.”
One of the best things that could ever happen to a person is for them to become a miserable, open failure. A major reason some really never experience the glorious favor, supernatural provision, and excessive blessings of God is because they still pridefully want to maintain control of certain aspects and areas of life. It is work… work harder… work more… change workplaces… and on-and-on the cycle goes for decade after decade. That is filling a bag with your life’s effort and the bag is rife with holes. A wise person brings their bag to the Cross, it gets burnt up by the holy fire of Heaven, and Jesus gives you a new wineskin that moth and rust cannot corrupt.
7This is what the LORD of Hosts says:
“Consider carefully your ways.
8Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD.
9You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little.
And what you brought home, I blew away.
Why? declares the LORD of Hosts.
Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house.
Twice, they were chastised by the Lord to, “consider your ways.” Our supreme focus should be on building the inner man, the Temple of Holy Spirit, the transformed soul, the person that should be clad with the whole Armor of God. Have you been building on that person today? Have you considered what is needful and necessary to make that Temple beautifully articulated, strongly reinforced, gloriously decorated, and rigorously maintained?
If not, today is your day, Beloved!
I love you passionately!
Steve
