Wednesday, September 1, 2010

"When God Blows It Away", by Pastor Kevin Lynch

God deals with things on different levels. Collectively, individually, corporately, religiously, spiritually, physically...

He doesn't like when His house is in disarray.

Your house prospers when His house is running smoothly.

But if it's reversed?

Haggai 1:6 (Amplified Bible) - "You have sown much, but you have reaped little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages has earned them to put them in a bag with holes in it."

Ever experience the above scenario? Perhaps even right this very moment?

Nothing is going right. You are working very hard to make ends meet. You are even giving at church. Yet...life is like a giant bag with holes in it. You can't sustain anything. Not relationship, not self, not finances, not anything. Life is an exercise in futility when it doesn't click like it should.

Why?

You pray. You give. You read the Word. You pray some more. Still...it just isn't working. You are not...happy. It's a struggle. A major struggle.

God says "Consider your ways and how things are going in your life" (vs. 7).

God says that many have been so busy building their own house that His house lies in ruins.

"(9) You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it]."

That is called backward living. The presumption that God will allow Himself to be put on a shelf until a time that is convenient for you. That after you get done ordering your life and setting it all up, you will turn to God, dust Him off and insert Him into some small facet of your well planned existence.

Convoluted, upside down, backward, inside out thinking.

"I blew it away!"

Feeling "blown away" today?

Matt. 6:33 - "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

There it is.

The proper order of God.

Silly rabbit. Did you think God would set aside His carefully prepared plans while you submitted a revision? Did you think He would admire your wisdom and tenacity for pulling up your own bootstraps and setting out to conquer the world yourself? Did you think He is merely a rubber stamping quality controller?

"I blew it away!"

It feels like being blown away, doesn't it? Yes, I know. I have been there.

Upside down can actually seem like right side up when we are deceived. Except things don't quite work the same. It's like being in the Bizarro World.

Not to fret. It can be fixed.

Haggai 1:12 - "...all the remnant of the people [who had returned from captivity], listened to and obeyed the voice of the Lord their God [not vaguely or partly, but completely, according to] the words of Haggai the prophet, since the Lord their God had sent him, and the people [reverently] feared and [worshipfully] turned to the Lord."

Done.

Hey, there it is! If you are not pleasing God by caring for His house first, then you are in captivity my friend.

Return to God's way. Turn to Him FIRST. Fill His house with the first fruits of your giving of yourself, your earnings, and your praise and worship.

The promise is every bit as much as He has promised over the centuries.

"(13) Then Haggai, the Lord's messenger, spoke the Lord's message to the people saying, I am with you, says the Lord."

I am God's messnger to you today. He is saying as strongly today as then...

"I AM with you!"

My strongest suggestion is to get to that place in your life today!

Keepin' it Real,

Pastor Kevin <><

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