Consider Your Ways and Step into The Full Blessing of God – Life Is a Journey, part 42
Are you living in the full blessing God has for you? When was the last time you evaluated your priorities? This message asks questions to help you stay on track or get back to the right priorities with God. Plus, learn how to grow spiritually. He wants to be close to you, to bless you, to give you rest. But getting God’s blessings will require you to consider your ways and focus on what’s important to God.
Through this series, you’ll learn how to live well & enjoy God's promises. You are loved by God; He knows your name. He has a plan for your life. Get helpful advice, encouragement, and hope for a life well lived.
Are you walking in faith and victory? Set your eyes on the promises of God. You only have one life journey; say yes to Jesus.
Consider What’s Driving Your Priorities and Learn How to Grow Spiritually
What’s truly important?
Have you ever heard the words “Consider your ways” or “What are you doing?” or “There will be consequences to your actions”?
Newton’s third law of motion is “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. You see, the way you live will produce a result. However, the way you live may not always produce the outcome you desire. Decisions you make or the way you say something can have either a positive or negative result.
There are times in life that we may need to re-evaluate our priorities. What is it that is truly important in your life? Too often we can get distracted and lose focus on what is important. Human nature, selfish desires, can cause us to change focus in life and to go in a direction that is opposite of what we intend or is best for us.
It is easy to lose focus on what is important when you only think of yourself. It is easy to lose focus of what is important in tough times when you do not do what you know in your heart needs to be done.
Over time, what was once important can be set aside for a time. Other less important things can take its place. What was once a priority is placed on a back burner, maybe out of necessity for a time, and is forgotten. This was true during the time of Haggai the prophet.
Have you lost focus like the Israelites?
The prophet Haggai has a word from the Lord for us today just like the word he had for the people in his day. Twice, Haggai confronts the people of God with a word from the Lord, “Give careful thought to your ways.”
In other words, consider your priorities; consider your ways; consider what you are doing.
Evaluate your life and consider which way you are headed:
Who or what is guiding you on what is important in life?
What should your priorities in life be?
The prophet Haggai is about to confront the Israelites who returned from exile after 70 years of captivity. The people of God were taken into captivity by the Babylonian ruler Nebuchadnezzar. The Israelites were in exile for some 70 years. The Persian empire conquered the Babylonian empire and now Cyrus is in power.
Cyrus allows some 50,000 Israelites to return from exile and they were to resettle and rebuild the temple of God in Jerusalem. But things happened. The temple foundation was built but due to some opposition to the rebuilding of the temple, the building was stopped. Now, 16 years later, the people have lost their focus regarding the temple and instead were focused on themselves. They focused on the building of their own homes and establishing a comfortable lifestyle. They have forgotten the importance of rebuilding the temple of God. People’s focus and priorities changed over time. The building of the temple was put on hold. The spiritually passionate person, over time, became spiritually lukewarm, and gave no thought to rebuilding the temple.
After 16 years, God gives the prophet Haggai a word to confront the people regarding their priorities in life. The people had lost sight of what was truly important. They forgot about what was once so spiritually important and why they had returned to Jerusalem in the first place. The people were now more focused on their desires and pleasures, rather than the things of God. The people forgot about what was important to God, and the spiritual priority of rebuilding the temple. They considered their desires to be the priority. They may have thought they would get back to rebuilding the temple of God in the future. Someday, maybe next year, when it's more convenient we can get back to working on the temple.
The problem with waiting or developing a selfish desire and a worldly focus is that we never reach a point of enough or contentment. The desire for just a little bit more rarely goes away; we always want more: a new car, a bigger home, more money in the bank, a better job. We end up telling ourselves that tomorrow we will focus on what God wants. But then there is always another tomorrow.
The prophet Haggai is about to give the people a clear reason why they should focus on rebuilding the temple of God. He gives the people a clear picture of why they should refocus on what God desired rather than what they had been focused on for the last 16 years.
So, why should the people focus on what God wants? Because God would bless them.
The leanness they were experiencing would be lifted from them. The people of God were not bad people; their priorities just got a bit mixed up and blurred. The years of leanness occurred slowly over time. The lean years were God’s way of gaining their attention. Only, instead of turning to God they turned to their own ability. Rather than looking to God they tried to work harder and gained even less. The people had become spiritually near-sighted over time. Everything was a blur.
Have your priorities drifted away from what’s important?
People today need to hear a word from the Lord. We need to be reminded of what is truly important in life. We need to take time to consider our ways and how we are living. Some people have allowed their priorities to become blurred.
Like the people in Haggai’s day, some believers have allowed their spiritual focus or priorities to drift from what is truly important. Often, that shift of spiritual priorities is not intentional. Much like the people in Haggai’s day, we may need to consider our ways, our priorities, and our focus regarding what God desires for us.
Ask yourselves, what is more important? Your desires or God’s desires? Are you spiritually or worldly focused? Are present comforts that last only a season your focus? Or, is it eternity with Christ?
‘In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest: 2 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’” 3 Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.
13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God’ (Haggai 1:1-14, NIV).
Who are you listening to these days? What is most important to you?
The Lord inspired Haggai to ask the people of God a simple question, “Is it time for you to be living in your paneled houses while God’s house remains a ruin?" In other words, is now the time for you to be concerned about physical things while the spiritual things all around you are in shambles?
The rebuilding of the temple of God was being ignored. God’s desires and the temple of God had become less important. The people were now focused on themselves rather than God Almighty. Remember, 16 years have passed. Only the foundation is complete. What happened to the passion of rebuilding the temple?
Are you living outside of God’s blessing?
I can remember part of a sermon that I heard as a youth referring to how a person works hard to save but the wages they received were put in a pocket with holes in it. The person was unaware of the loss.
Often, a person is unaware of the spiritual leanness that occurs over time. Something has happened, priorities and the focus on spiritual things have changed. The priority has been inverted. Godly desires have become second to personal desires.
Haggai tells the people: You plant much, but harvest little. You eat, but never full. You drink, but still thirsty. You put on clothes, but not warm. You are paid wages, but it never seams enough.
All too often in scripture when the Israelites took their eyes off the Lord, they found themselves running after other gods. When the Israelites strayed from serving God the people found themselves in spiritual and physical bondage. When the people of God lost sight of what was truly important, they started to serve the created rather than the creator.
The blessings of God were removed, the favor of God was lifted, and the people found themselves living outside of the promises of God’s favor and blessing. Haggai tells them, “Give careful thought to your ways”.
In a way, Haggai is asking the people, “What has this way of life that you are pursing produced? Consider your ways!”
In verse 8 the Lord reminds the people what they should be doing, and that is to build the temple of God. To focus on the Lord and rebuild the temple. They are told to get the supplies needed to build the temple and honor the Lord. Haggai tells the people that the Lord had allowed leanness rather than blessing because they had turned aside from obeying the command of God to rebuild the temple of God.
The people of God were so caught up in their own selfish priorities that they could not recognize the lack of God’s favor. Instead, the people simply worked harder and were rewarded with less. It is not until the Lord, through the prophet Haggai, confronts the people of God to consider their way of life that they begin to realize their sin. It is not until the Lord stirs the peoples’ hearts as to the error of their ways and priorities, that the people refocus on what is spiritually important, that being the desires of the Lord. Only then do the people begin to reverence and fear the Lord with their hearts and lives. The people had forgotten the importance of obedience and about the presence of the Lord in their lives.
Some individuals today have acted the same way and have lost sight of God’s priorities. Some have focused on getting ahead in the world rather than focusing on God. The spiritual priorities in their lives have become blurred. Maybe not intentionally, but over time, the influence of society has taken its toll. The focus on God’s desires and the importance of spiritual growth is put on hold. The priority of worship, prayer, and obedience to the call of God is gone.
The time spent in church, reading the scriptures, studying God’s word, even simply waiting upon the Lord is thought to be wasted time. Time they felt was needed to get ahead in life, to work harder. They didn’t even realize God was wanting to get their attention. That putting God first is never time waisted or lost.
Do you honor God with your body?
Have you found yourself thinking any of these lately?
I’ll get back in church next week.
I’ll pray and read the bible tomorrow.
I’ll focus on growing spiritually another day. Today I want to do what I want to do.
Besides, I know the basics. I have a good spiritual foundation.
I’m ok. I’m a good person.
God knows my heart.
You’re correct, God does know your heart. God knows when your heart is spiritually out of balance. The Holy Spirit will send a Haggai to get you to refocus your priority, but you will need to listen and respond.
Having a good foundation is only the beginning of your spiritual journey.
God’s desire for you is to:
Grow in the knowledge of Christ.
Walk in the Spirit.
Be a witness of his love and grace to all the world.
Grow spiritually in wisdom and understanding.
Glorify God and serve God with all your heart.
The temple of God is where the presence of God dwells in the Old Testament. Understand, today you are the temple of God. Understand that you, the believer, needs to be built up spiritually because you are also a place where the presence of God resides. The Holy Spirit is in you.
“Your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
“If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you” (Romans 8:11).
Paul in speaking to the Ephesians believers says this: “you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22).
How do you grow spiritually?
As believers you are part of the body of Christ. You are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives, by his Spirit. This spiritual truth calls for us to grow in the Lord. To grow spiritually as individuals, as a church, being Faith Chapel, and every believer around the world as we are all part of the body of Christ.
So, how do we grow spiritually?
We grow spiritually as we focus on the Lord and obey his commands.
We grow as we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us through the word of God.
We grow by applying the word of God to our lives.
We grow spiritually as we gather to pray and worship the Lord together.
Haggai told the people of his day to go to the mountain and get timber to build the temple of God. Today, we build the temple of God within us by going to Christ directly and placing our faith and hope in him.
As we pray and seek his presence we will grow spiritually. As we focus on God’s priorities, desires, and his will for our life, we will be blessed.
Will you respond to God’s request?
Friends, a person will not turn back to the Lord on their own. Romans 3:10-12 tells us that no one understands or seeks God on their own; all have turned away.
God loves us so much that he does all hard work. God:
Takes the first step in salvation.
Calls us to repentance.
Reveals himself to the spiritually needy.
Asks us to consider our ways.
Orchestrates situations to gain our attention, so that we might turn to him.
It is God who sends a person like Haggai; Jonah; Paul the Apostle; and so many others, including the person who told you about Jesus. God sends us people who are inspired and led by the Holy Spirit to speak into our lives, people whose words cause us to make a spiritual decision to turn to Christ or to turn back to Christ, to consider our priorities and ways.
The choice is always up to us.
Will you give careful thought to your ways?
What are your priorities? What is your decision? Are you focused on God and his desires or are you focused on your own?
Will you try to work harder to succeed in order to get ahead in this life or will you reevaluate your ways and seek the Lord? Will you keep doing what you are doing, or will you consider life’s priorities?
If you were told today to give careful thoughts to your ways, what would you do? You may have your spiritual priorities in line with the Lord. If so, praise God! However, it is always good to spend some time in prayer and allow the Holy Spirit to do a quick safety check of your heart.
You take your car in for service every so many miles, right? You do this because it is suggested. You don’t want your car to break down. Don’t wait until you breakdown.
We need to practice a little spiritual maintenance every day. When you say yes to God and his desires, you will hear the words “I am with you” like the people in Haggai’s day.
Remember, you are never alone and he will equip you for what he is calling you to do as you make him your priority. Jesus instructed us to go and make disciples of all nations; and promised that, if we do, he will be with us forever (Matthew 28:18-20).
Don’t get spiritually distracted with the things of the world.
If you find that life is difficult:
Use it as a sign to consider your ways and seek the Lord.
Use it to give God glory as you remain steadfast in faith.
Remain spiritually faithful and know you are never alone.
Draw closer to the Lord, allow the word of God to speak to your heart and ask the Holy Spirit to direct your path.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Wherever you are today, consider your ways. Turn to Jesus, seek his face, and find rest for your soul. Remember Matthew 6:33, seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things (all you need) will be given to you as well.
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