Move One Way or the Other

God ROCKS!

I love how He times everything perfectly.

Take my Chronological Bible Study and on Ch 9 of “The Fire of Delayed Answers” by Bob Sorge.

Sorge doesn’t hold back. In this chapter, he talks about how we can have a heart to please God, yet we can completely miss His best for our lives. We can say we put Him first, but our actions in times of trial (and blessings) show our true selfish intentions. 

Sorge even goes so far as to say that today’s church isn’t as concerned with future generations as it should be. 

“The leaven of our culture has infiltrated the attitudes of the church. Just one symptom is the constant struggle so many churches face in trying to recruit teachers to teach children’s classes. We carry a greater passion for our personal comfort and conveniences than for raising up today’s’ children into tomorrow’s prophets.” (pg 146)

Now let’s look at Haggi 1:3-11 NIV (emphasis mine) 

 “Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ^“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?”  Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!

“You have sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!  Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit.  For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

Did you catch the part where God says He called for the drought? 

God uses hard times, times of delayed answers, times of increased fire, to draw us to Him.

Our world is consumed with a “ME, ME, Me” mentality, and it IS spilling into our churches.

A popular sermon topic is sowing seed and reaping the blessings. That ‘s a great sermon.  Very motivating. 

But often what seems to be forgotten is Matt 6:33- seeking God FIRST.

God wants to be CENTER of ALL we do. Not the left overs, not an afterthought, not something we check off a to-do list.

We (I) need to be more concerned with building HIS Kingdom than in maintaining/building our own.

One thing that can help us remain focused on God’s Kingdom and will for our lives, is remembering we are daily in Spiritual Warfare.

As much as God wants to draw us closer to Him, and use us for His glory, satan DOESN’T want it. (please tweet)

Satan will use every trick in the book to distract us from building God’s Kingdom and investing in others lives. And our flesh is a weakness he hits with full force.

God wants us to enjoy this world. It’s why He gave us such variety of scenery, talents, and desires. 

However, everything we are should be grounded in Christ. He should be the center spoke that directs all our daily activities. (tweet please)

Sadly, He’s often not.

That’s why Haggi is in the Bible.

We all get side tracked on building our own kingdoms and neglect God’s.

God’s Word is here to guide us back to Him.

So are trials.

Haggi 2:17a says, “I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands…”

God designs trials to draw us closer.

Satan means them to move us farther from our Creator.

The choice in movement is up to each of us.

What move will you chose?

Join the Book club discussing, “The Fire of Delayed Answers” by Bob Sorge, by either grabbing a copy of the book and joining the weekly discussions and/or leaving a comment below. You can read more about this chapter from: Jason, Sarah, Dusty, Kari, Glynn,  and Joell. (possibly a few more people- sorry if I left you out. Please let me know so I can add you to the list.)