Topic: Abandoning God’s Assignment? [Thursday 20, July 2017]
Memorise: Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. – Haggai 1:9
Read: Haggai 1:5-11 (KJV)
5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.
8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.
9 Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.
10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit.
11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
Bible in One Year: 2 Samuel 15-16; Ezekiel 12:7-20, Hymn: Sing hymn 14
MESSAGE:
“What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31
The above scripture clearly tells us that God can be for us. It is so reassuring to know that God can stand for you. Whenever He is for you, anyone against you is in trouble. However, do you know that just as God can be for you, He can also be against you? Yes, He can if you check through the Scriptures; you will see many instances where God stirred up the enemies of His children to fight against them (Judges 4:1-3, Judges 6:1-10). They remained defeated until they realised their evil, repented and ran back to God. Judges 13:1 says,
“And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.”
Every time you turn away from God, violate His word or live to gratify your fleshly lusts, you turn Him against you.
Moreover, God can personally fight or frustrate the efforts of His children. In our Bible reading, because some people refused to complete the building of God’s house, He decided to frustrate their personal efforts. It is frightening to see the extent God can go to in fighting His own children! In Haggai 1:6, it is written that his people worked like elephants but brought in the harvest of ants. They ate but were never satisfied, and their thirst could not be quenched no matter how much water they drank. No matter how many clothes they wore, they could not get warm. They worked and were paid, but kept losing their wages. Haggai 1:9 even goes further to say that if they managed to bring in any little gain, God would blow it away. God also prevented the heavens from releasing rain and the earth for releasing its increase. He went further to declare a famine on their land. This was God fighting His children and not any devil Why the fight? It was because they abandoned God’s house and focused on building their own mansions with the resources God had given them. If you abandon God’s assignment or project in pursuit of yours, you are calling for God’s hammer. In any way you have erred, repent today and turn to what you abandoned, and the Lord will turn away from His anger.
Prayer Point: Father, prosper all Your missionaries in mission fields across the globe. Back them up with signs and wonders. Help them to win souls and to disciple your end-time army.
Open Heavens Daily Devotional guide was written by Pastor E.A. Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, one of the largest evangelical church in the world and also the President of Christ the Redeemer’s Ministries.
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