Day 322
Haggai 1:4-5
"ls it time for you, 0 ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways."
The prophet Haggai was used by God to rebuke the people of God for having the wrong priorities. The temple was destroyed and needed to be rebuilt. The people were building nice dwelling places for themselves and seemed unconcerned about their place of worship. God told them through the prophet that they were experiencing financial difficulty because their priorities were wrong. No matter how much they brought in, it appeared as though they were earning wages and putting them in bags with holes. God could not bless them and protect them from the devourer, because they were not honoring the Lord first.
In Matthew 6:33, Jesus said if we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, all the things we need to function on this earth will be added to us. When we take care of God's business, He takes care of ours. When we do not try to bless ourselves, he will bless us. Our material goods will last longer, we will get better deals on our purchases, and we will find goodness and mercy following us wherever we go, when we put God first.
In raising our children, their spiritual needs must be put above their natural needs and, more importantly, above our own carnal desires. We only have a relatively short time to help shape their lives and affect their eternal destinies. Our first and foremost concerns should be about the things that will last forever.
As members of the Body of Christ and our local churches, we must realize that men and women in our communities and all over the world need to hear about Jesus and be saved. Those who are saved need to be nurtured with the love of God and the Word of God. The work of the ministry must be important to us. We must make sure that we are faithful in giving our tithes and offerings and giving physical labor and material goods. We must be faithful to pray and speak positive words that will build up and not tear down.
We will never know how much God can provide for us and bless us until we learn to put His work first and trust Him to care for us. Even in our time allotment, we must put God first. Our personal time of prayer and study of God's Word must not be the last thing on our list each day and rolled over to the next day because we did not get around it. Let us seek God early. Putting Him first can help us to always put our worries and fears to rest.
I will make the things of God priority in my life. I will love and serve Him daily through prayer, study, giving, godly speech and Christ-like behavior. He will take excellent care of me.