HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THE WAY YOU ARE LIVING?

[BUILD THE TEMPLE BEFORE YOU DO ANY OTHER THING (2)]

When the Israelites were considering their needs instead of rebuilding the Temple of God for God to rest in, strange things were happening in and around them. It was happening to them each day. They saw it happen to their neighbors also as they experienced it, but they could not see the hand of God in it. They thought it was normal because everybody was going through it. So, the Lord drew their attention to what they were failing to notice as a sign from Him to them.


Haggai 1:5-7, 9-10 (TLB)
5 Look at the result:
6 You plant much but harvest little. You have scarcely enough to eat or drink and not enough clothes to keep you warm. Your income disappears, as though you were putting it into pockets filled with holes!
7 “Think it over,” says the Lord Almighty. “Consider how you have acted and what has happened as a result!
9 “You hope for much but get so little. And when you bring it home, I blow it away – it doesn’t last at all. Why? Because my Temple lies in ruins, and you don’t care. YOUR ONLY CONCERN IS YOUR OWN FINE HOMES.
10 That is why I am holding back the rains from heaven and giving you such scant crops.


According to the above scripture, they were harvesting little after planting much because of their failure to rebuild the temple. So, if they knew that, they would have been wise to continue with the rebuilding of the Temple of God for God.

If they knew that they scarcely had enough to eat or drink because of their failure to rebuild the temple, they would have been wise to continue with the rebuilding of the Temple of God for God.

If they knew that they did not have enough clothes to keep them warm because of their failure to rebuild the Temple, they would have been wise to continue with the rebuilding of the Temple of God for God.

If they knew that their income was disappearing as though they were putting it into pockets filled with holes because of their failure to rebuild the Temple, they would have been wise to continue with the rebuilding of the Temple of God for God.

If they knew that they had little when they were hoping for much and the little they were bringing home were being blown away and were not lasting because of their failure to rebuild the Temple, they would have been wise to continue with the rebuilding of the Temple of God for God.

If they knew that the rains from heaven were being held back and they were receiving scanty crops because of their failure to rebuild the Temple, they would have been wise to continue with the rebuilding of the Temple of God for God.

If they had known, they would have been quick to rebuild the temple before doing any other thing. But, they failed to notice because they were not considering what was happening to them as a result of their inactions.

They were not considering their lives!

It is the same today. Our failure to notice the little things happening to us because of our failure to rebuild our spiritual walk/life with God is the reason we are going through those little things each day and ignorantly blaming the devil. But the devil is not to blame, YOUR SO-CALLED "CHRISTIAN LIFE” is to blame.
If you have placed the world, thus, the cares of this world, before God, then you are to blame; not the devil!


Matthew 6:33 (TLB) (emphasized)
And He will give them [(food, drink, clothes)] to you IF YOU GIVE HIM FIRST PLACE IN YOUR LIFE AND LIVE AS HE WANTS YOU TO.


Until you put God first, you are to blame, not the devil! The devil has no right over a believer, God does! And God will do everything in His power to grab the attention of His children again. Even if it means taking away what they love most.

So, how are you living your life as a Believer/Christian? Are you living your life for God or for man? Are you living your life according to what God wants or what man wants?

If your answer so far has been in the favor of man, you should now understand why you are going through such misery in life. You should understand why you are still living a powerless life though your Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, had all power and authority in Heaven and Earth given to Him. You should understand why other believers are happily manifesting the power of God when you are not.


CONSIDER YOUR LIFE!

REBUILD THE TEMPLE BEFORE YOU DO ANY OTHER THING.

Haggai 1:8 (TLB)
“Then go up into the mountains, bring down timber, and REBUILD MY TEMPLE, and I will be pleased with it and appear there in my glory,” says the Lord.

When the Israelites returned home after their time of exile in Babylon, their first and main assignment from the Lord through the Prophet Haggai was for them to rebuild the Temple. In God's plan, for His children, Israel, to be considered as a nation, they needed to build a Temple of God for God. Israel would never be a nation without a Temple of God for God to rest in. To be a nation, Israel needs a Temple for God, not a human governmental structure.

The Israelites in this scripture happen to be believers like you and me who once lost our way in the world and have finally returned home to God by rededicating our lives to Him. Again, Prophet Haggai is giving us the first step we need to take for a fruitful and lasting walk with God. Prophet Haggai is asking you and me to rebuild the Temple for God before doing any other thing.


1 Corinthians 3:16-17 (TLB)
16 Don’t you realize that all of you together are the house of God and that the Spirit of God lives among you in his house?
17 If anyone defiles and spoils God’s home, God will destroy him. For God’s home is holy and clean, and you are that home.

1 Corinthians 6:19 (TLB)
Haven’t you yet learned that your body is the home of the Holy Spirit God gave you and that he lives within you? Your own body does not belong to you.


If you still do not understand what I am driving at, I am not talking about you going to buy land to start a building project for God. The Temple of God today is far different from what it used to be then. The Temple of God is YOU and ME. It is YOU! The Temple of God is YOU, the person reading this.
Our ignorance of the above fact is the reason we are facing difficulties in our Christian walk. When we, therefore, come to the realization that the Temple of God is not the beautiful edifice we meet in every Sunday or Thursday or Friday to worship but our own bodies, we will begin to better understand our Christian walk.

Like the Israelites then, most of us know or knew this before we fell for the things of the world.
Like the Israelites then, most of us started rebuilding the Temple but stopped because of external opposition, discouragement, and self-interest.
Like the Israelites then, we had seemingly good reasons to stop rebuilding the Temple.

But, what we are not considering now is what they also did not consider then – the danger of NOT BUILDING THE TEMPLE.
Like them, we are not considering the absence of an Almighty Ruler, the absence of divine law and order, the absence of divine development or developmental structures, etc.

Then, the Lord was very surprised at the actions of the Israelites; and He is surprised that we are walking in the same ignorance today. The Lord did not expect the Israelites to think of themselves when the correct structure – A Temple of God for God – was not in place.
It did not make sense or look right for His people, called by His name, to think of themselves first when they knew very well that they had to put the correct structure in place first, which was God's Temple

It is the same today. The Lord does not expect you to be thinking of your worldly needs when you have not thought of your spiritual need, which is Him (GOD). Why? When your attention is on the Spiritual need (GOD) first, the physical needs will automatically align themselves to you.


Matthew 6:33 (TLB)
And He will give them [(food, drink, clothes)] to you if you give Him first place in your life and live as He wants you to.


To the Lord, it did not make sense for the Israelites to think of settlement when they did not have a Temple in place for Him to rest in.
And it is the same story today. We are thinking of our physical needs more than our spiritual need – GOD. We are more concerned about what we need to eat, what we need to wear, where to sleep, the business to establish, who to marry, the car to buy, etc.

What happened to we knowing Jesus for ourselves? What happened to us understanding salvation with fear and trembling? What happened to us walking in faith like the heroes of faith in Hebrew 11? What happened to us praying without ceasing? What happened to us putting on the whole armor of God so that we will be able to stand safe against all the strategies and tricks of satan? What happened?!


Haggai 1:2-4 (TLB)
2 “Why is everyone saying it is not the right time for rebuilding my Temple?” asks the Lord.
3-4 His reply to them is this: “Is it then the right time for you to live in luxurious homes when the Temple lies in ruins?


If like the Israelites then, you are still saying or thinking this: “IT IS NOT THE RIGHT TIME FOR ME TO REBUILD MY TEMPLE”, you are walking or living in a demonic delusion from the pit of hell my brother/sister.


THE TIME TO REBUILD THE TEMPLE IS NOW! (…to be continued)