TRUTH IN ACTION THROUGH HAGGAI

 

HAGGAI TEACHES AND INVITES TRUTH IN ACTION

Haggai's prophecy speaks as poignantly to us today as it did to the original hearers. God is asking His people to build a place for His glory to dwell.  In Haggai's day, that building was a physical one. Today the "building" is to take place in our hearts and lives both individually and corporately as the church.  God desires to pour greater glory on and through His children so that the peoples of the Earth will come to Jesus, the Desire of All Nations. 

Haggai 1:2 - Hear God's word to us today.  As believers, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19) God wants to display His glory through His people, the church. Commit to the Lord to be a person in whom His glory can dwell and through whom His glory can be made manifest.

Haggai 2:6-9 - Ask God to fill His church with such visible glory that the nations of the Earth will come to Jesus.

CULTIVATING DYNAMIC DEVOTION

We find in God's word to Zerubbabel (a type of Christ) a powerful picture of the authority given through Jesus to His church. A signet ring represented the power, authority, and honor of the one to whom it belonged. As New Testament believers, we are to understand that God has invested in the church, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the same power, authority, and honor He gave to His Son.

Haggai 2:23 - Ask God to give you life-changing understanding of this truth.  Allow it to dynamically change the way you relate to God and to others. Study the life of Jesus to see the power and authority God has given you. Step out in the authority of Jesus. Remember, He has chosen you.

PURSUING HOLINESS

To walk in holiness is to walk in obedience to God's ways. The Lord "stirred up" the spirit of the leaders and the people to obey Him. Their obedience did not come from their own strength or even from their desire to change.  Holy living comes by God's power working in us to transform us into the image of Jesus.

Haggai 1:14 - Pray and ask the Lord to stir up your spirit so that you will obey Him. Recognize that it is the Holy Spirit who gives us the ability and desire to do all that God asks of us. He changes  us into the image of Jesus, "from glory to glory" (2 Cor. 3:18)

THE WALK OF FAITH

Every generation of God's people faces the same challenge: to seek first the things of God and then to trust Him to provide everything needed for life and faith. The economy of God's kingdom is very different from the world's.  When we seek to satisfy our own desires first, we will be in want; but when we give our first and best to God, we will "have an abundance for every good work" (Matt. 6:33; 2 Cor. 9:8).

Haggai 1:3-11 - Understand God's principle of giving. Make God's priorities your priorities. Give Him the firsts of your time, talent, and treasure. Do not live by the world system, which tells you to look out for yourself first. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you.

Haggai 2:15-19 - Make the work to which God has called you a priority in your life. When you establish that as a foundation in everyday living, you will see the Lord's blessing begin to flow in and through your life. ~NSFLB