FEBRUARY 10, 2021

PSALM 139:13

“For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.”

I GOTTA BE ME!!

I want to start off today with something I often say when officiating a wedding. Standing in front of me are a Bride and Groom, who have said that the person standing beside them is the choice of their heart to spend their life together. They are in the words of scripture the “two becoming one.” Beautiful isn’t it? Yet, I also add this to what I say,

Real love is something beyond the warmth and glow, the excitement and romance of being deeply in love. It is caring as much about the welfare and happiness of your marriage partner as about your own. But real love is not total absorption in each other; it is looking outward in the same direction --together. Love makes burdens lighter because you divide them. It makes joys more intense because you share them. It makes you stronger so you can reach out and become involved with life in ways you dared not risk alone.

It is something like this that happens when we Open our hearts to God, there is a beauty, a oneness, a unity that results, but this does not mean that who you are, your uniqueness as a person somehow disappears.

You see, God will never ask you to be anyone other than who you are. He’s not asking you to be just like other believers. He’s not asking you to copy those around you that seem to be well-liked or accepted. In other words, God doesn’t spend time trying to cover up who we are. Rather, God devotes himself to uncovering who we truly are—who he made us to be.

Psalm 119:13 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.” God formed you wonderfully and uniquely. He gave you a personality, gifts and abilities, and a calling all your own.

God looks past all the exteriors we create to try and fit in. He sees through all our efforts to cover up what makes us unique and different. He sees us for who we really are women and men fully loved and accepted by our Creator.

Craig Dennison writes the following:

“Discovering your identity begins with a journey with God to your heart. If you’re wondering who you truly are, you need not look past yourself, but rather, with the Holy Spirit, take an honest look at yourself. Don’t shy away from your insecurities. Don’t shy away from that which makes you different. Allow God to reveal how he sees you. Allow him to reveal to you the true desires of your heart. And allow him to lay a secure foundation for you built on his unconditional love that you might live vulnerably and honestly.”

Today, allow God to reveal how he sees you. Ask him how he has formed you and made you unique. And allow him to empower you to be yourself today.

___________________________

BONUS

Reflect on some of these scriptures as you prayer fully come before God today.



1. Psalm 139:13-14 You alone created my inner being. You knitted me together inside my mother. I will give thanks to you because I have been so amazingly and miraculously made. Your works are miraculous, and my soul is fully aware of this.


2. Psalm 119:73-74 You made me; you created me. Now give me the sense to follow your commands. May all who fear you find in me a cause for joy, for I have put my hope in your word.


3. Isaiah 64:8 Yet you, LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.


4. Matthew 10:29-31 What is the price of two sparrows–one copper coin? But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without your Father knowing it. And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are more valuable to God than a whole flock of sparrows.


5. Jeremiah 1:4-5 The LORD gave me this message: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”


6. Psalm 139:16 You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.

 

 

OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART

 

FEBRUARY 9, 2022

PROVERBS 4:23

“Keep your heart with all vigilance, 

for from it flow the springs of  life.”

_____________

 

 "OPEN THE EYES OF MY HEART"

I have come to understand that if we are going to experience the full and abundant life that God has for us, we must learn to live with an open heart.  Living with this open heart is not always easy, because some of us are wounded and hurt by life experiences, as a result we live a closed off and self-protecting life. We go through our days with protective walls up around our hearts, and understandably so. Yet, in that state of being we can miss God’s nearness, fail to notice the time of God’s visitation.  God is calling us deeper, God’s wants us to know abundant life. He’s calling you and me to encounter him with an unrestricted access. God invites us to a safe, uncluttered, and vulnerable place where we will discover the benefits of an open heart: life, hope, peace, and joy.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” Life comes from the heart both physically and spiritually. Just as the heart pumps blood out to the rest of your body, your heart pumps out spiritual life. In scripture “heart” often refers to a person's center for both physical and emotional-intellectual-moral activities. Our heart is the place where God is constantly speaking. God wants you to experience his presence at your very core.

I believe Jesus had this in mind for us, when in John 15:4 he says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.” God longs to be with you. God longs to speak to you, guide you, pour out his love on you, and remain with you every day, moment by moment. 

I invite us all to take time today to open our heart to our loving God. Ask God to reveal to you any walls you have built up around your heart. Cast down any walls you’ve built up at the feet of Jesus and open your heart to him. Today, may you find that newness that only God can provide.

 

CENTERED on WHAT?

 

FEBRUARY 8, 2022

BIBLE READING

JEREMIAH 24:7

“I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.” 

 

 CENTERED ON WHAT?

We were made for relationship with our Creator. “We were made to know and be known by him.” This truth defines our identity and our behaviors. This truth is meant to lay the foundation on which we live, think, feel, and act.

I believe we would all confess today that we have lived with wrong things at the center of our lives. I know that I have.  Here is what I found, when my life is centered on self-focused pursuits, like earthly success, admiration of others, identity in my work,  (you add yours), I only found disappointment, exhaustion, and unfulfilled desires. Not the greatest outcomes!!

God says to each of us, there is another way. God says that we can stop this self-c3entered pursuit and start enjoying life centered on intimacy with our Creator. Jeremiah 24:7 says, “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.”  We are created to live out of the powerful knowledge that our God is real, knowable, loves us, and is closer to us than we think.

What you need to be reminded of today, me too is that

You were made to live with the knowledge of God’s love in every life moment You were made to taste and see that your God is good.

You were made to live in communion with your Creator, that every moment would be filled with the abundance of his presence.

You were made to know that God has life for you. He has love for you. He desires the best for you. God wants your heart.

Today let’s center our life around relationship with him. Let’s root and ground ourselves in his unceasing love and faithfulness. I really, really believe that when we take that step, our lives will be forever changed as we set your eyes (center, focus) on the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).

"PROMPTLY and SINCERELY"

 

FEBRUARY 7, 2022

In today’s devotion we are going to focus on the fact that we talked about on Sunday in our Talk, God is first and foremost after our hearts. That’s another way of saying that God wants us to enjoy an intimate relationship with Him.  May the truth of God’s pursuit of our hearts, and God’s grace-filled commitment to us, stimulate a pursuit within us of his heart. What if, as I suggested last week Friday, we were to begin our day with “God, what will we do together today?” as we set out to experience the fullness of his love and compassion.

 

BIBLE READING

PSALM 23:6

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.


MY HEART: "PROMPTLY and SINCERELY"

We have relationship with our Creator not because we sought him out, but because he is always pursuing us. Seeking our hearts.

Ephesians 1:16-18 says:

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.

If we need a fresh understanding of God’s pursuit we need only to pray as Paul did: asking God to enlighten the eyes of our hearts. We need only to look to the pages of Scripture and see story after story of God pursuing those who turned away from him. The book of Haggai describes the heart of God to pursue his people and seek to have them turn toward him.

Here is the beautiful message of the Bible, I remind you of it often, because it’s too good not to share. There is nothing we could do to keep God from pursuing us. There is no sin too great, no distance we could run, that would discourage God from loving us. From the moment we were born God has been pursuing your heart, longing for relationship with us.

God is after your heart right now. He simply wants you to know He is with you and for you. Respond to God’s pursuit today by giving him your heart.

I believe Augustine understood this truth when he declared:

 

 Give God your whole heart in response to his great love and grace for you. Open the door of your heart to him and rest in a revelation of his loving-kindness. May your heart find peace, joy, and fulfillment today in the fact that God will never stop pursuing you.

 

 

 

 

 

FEBRUARY 4, 2022

BIBLE READINGS

Haggai 2:18-23

18‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: 19Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “ ‘From this day on I will bless you.’ ” 20The word of the Lord came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month: 21“Tell Zerubbabel governor of Judah that I am going to shake the heavens and the earth. 22I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother. 23“ ‘On that day,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘I will take you, my servant Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Romans 13:11-12

11And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.


2 Corinthians 6:2

2For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

THE TIME IS NOW

I read one time the following: "Sometimes we overestimate what God will do in the short term and underestimate what He will do in the long term." What do think, do you do that? Here is something I keep learning, that when God makes promises, He never breaks them. In Haggai’s time, the people were disappointed and ready to quit when they didn’t see the immediate results they expected. Sounds very familiar doesn't it? Hits close to home for many of us.


REFLECT


As you think about the scriptures above here are a few questions to ponder.

What “seed” is still in the “barn” in your life?


What are your hopes?


What harvest are you looking forward to?


A FINAL THOUGHT


The way I see it, God has chosen us, just like He chose Zerubbabel to lead in Haggai’s time. What a special picture to be a signet ring, an emblem of God’s identity. When we give our hearts to Him fully, we carry His identity. How will you recommit yourself to building up your spiritual strength? The time is now.

PRAYER


God, I’m willing to wait to see results on Your timing, but I’m ready to do Your work now.


Thank You, Jesus, for giving Your life to include me as a builder of our Father’s house. Amen.

CHALLENGE

Commit to start each day by praying, “God, what will we do together today?”

 

FEBRUARY 3, 2022

BIBLE READINGS

Haggai 2:15-17

15Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.

John 14:23

23Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.


Romans 8:28

28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

HUNGRY I COME TO YOU

Just like in the Old Testament, hard times can drive us to seek God with a hunger for Him that is sometimes lessened in easier times. While bad things aren’t always from God, it’s true that God sometimes allows hard things in our lives to drive us to seek Him more. Author C. S. Lewis called these experiences "God's Megaphone" God's amplified voice of love seeking to awaken or alert us to long and hunger for him more deeply. I have found, perhaps you have as well, God never disciplines us to punish us. He always disciplines out of love and care to restore us to himself.

That is what we witness in the story described in Haggai. The people didn't stop believing in God, nor did they did they forget the call to build the temple, they just became distracted by other things, and those other things were of lesser importance. Doesn't that happen in your life? It sure happens in mine! It is easy to be distracted isn't it? The Psalmist says "My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." (Psalm 84:2) Now that is hungering for God. Near the end of Psalm 84 the Psalmists proclaims

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

The Lord will give grace and glory;

No good thing will He withholdFrom those who walk uprightly.

How do we walk "uprightly"? Well the answer is by our obedience to God, as John 14 says above by "keeping his word." Notice the promise John 14:23 ends with is that God will make his home in us. What better outcome coould there be!!

REFLECT

What hardships has God allowed in your life?

Did you respond to these difficulties by drawing closer to Him, or did they push you further away?

REMEMBER

God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Jeremiah 31:3

PRAYER

“Lord Jesus, my soul aches at the mere mention of Your name. My heart leaps for every rumor of Your coming, and each possibility that You will manifest Your presence. I’m not satisfied with mere spiritual dainties. I’m ravenously hungry for You in Your fullness. I’m desperate to feast on the bread of Your presence and quench my thirst with the wine of Your Spirit.”

(Prayer from Tommy Tenney, Experiencing His Presence: Devotions for God Chasers)

 

FEBRUARY 2, 2022

BIBLE READINGS

Haggai 2:5-9 NIV

5‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ 6“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. 8‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. 9‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”

Exodus 6:6-7

6“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. 7I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

YOU ARE FREE

As I was thinking about our readings today, the words of the Apostle Paul kept going through my mind. THose words found in Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

In verse 5 above, Haggai recalls a time when God’s people were slaves in Egypt, and God set them free. Today I have a short exercise for us, that I believe will help us to remember the "freedom that Christ has set us free" from.

REFLECT

What has God set you free from in the past?




What do you need God to shake loose from you right now?




Where do you need His glory to be revealed to you?




Are there areas of your life where you need to experience more freedom?




Where do you need to experience more of His peace?




Prayer

God, will You reveal Your glory, freedom, and peace in the weakest parts of me? Lord, continue to show me these parts that need to be rebuilt.

 

FEBRUARY 1, 2022

BIBLE READINGS

Haggai 1:13-15

13Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. 14So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, 15on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. In the second year of King Darius

Hebrews 10:24-25

24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

WORDS that MATTER

Our devotions this week reflect the series THE TIME IS NOW that we have been looking at in our Sunday talks based on Haggai. As I have been reading and rereading this Old Testament prophetic book I keep asking the questions, what does this Bible book have to say to me? To us? To our Community of Jesus? Pastor's questions huh.

Here is what I notice in today's reading from Haggai above, that the first words that God speaks through Haggai, is to announce his presence with his people. Remember, these are the very same people who have built their own "high end" homes instead of rebuilding the Temple, saying it is not time for the temple rebuild. God say "I am with you." Now that's a loving God who is committed to his people. Maybe i am wrong, maybe I am the only one, but I often need the reminder that God is a very real presence in my life, and that even when I get distracted and self-focused, God speaks into my spirit and says "I am with you." Those 4 words matter, don't they?

Do you personally know that God is with you? Pause and answer this question.

How might knowing and believing that God says to you everyday "I am with you" affect the way you live out each day? Take a moment on this .... would it make a difference in your day?

You see Haggai wasn’t suggesting Zerubbabel or Joshua do it on their own. We note above in our reading that God stirred up the spirit of the entire community of God’s people. The whole community was called to be part of the rebuild. God stirred up the spirit of all, to begin to rebuild his house, with the promise of his presence among them. They began to work on Building God's house together.

REFLECT

In what ways can a community of Christ-followers encourage you to live enthusiasically for God?

How might your enthusiasm impact those around you?

Who is in your community? Name them aloud, and thank God for each one.




PRAYER

God, You didn’t just ask us to build Your house. You said, I am with you; build my house. Thank You for being with us. With your strong presence and help we will build your house.

Thank You also, for the encouragement and enthusaism of our community members that "spur us on to love and good deeds" so that at the "proper time, we will reap a harvest."

Amen

 January 31, 2022

BIBLE READINGS

Haggai 2:1-4 

1 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet: 2“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts.

Luke 9:62 

62Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Colossians 3:23

23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,

STRONG IN THE LORD

Have you ever started something with great enthusiasm, only to struggle and become discouraged a short time later? We all have.

On Sunday we talked about two sources of discouragement that God points out to the people through Haggai, Comparisons and a lack of progress.

Comparing where we are, with someone elses finish. In Haggai, they compare their 1 month of toil on the temple rebuild, to Solomon's maginificent finished temple. Which by the way was a 7 year building project. I don't know about you, but I get incredibly discouraged when I compare. Compare to where I am to the finish of other people.

Second cause of discouragement is just a lack of progress, and results. The people are a month into this, and this is not going the way they had visualized it. We're trying so hard, but we're not getting anywhere.

I'm not where I thought I would be.

She's ahead of me. He's doing more.

They've got this. I don't have it.

I'm trying my best, and I'm not making progress,

and so one day, you feel like these people did,

"I'm not even sure it's worth it."

Ever have experiences like this? I believe we all have.

Today let's answer a few questions.


What setbacks have you experienced as you follow Christ?


Have those setbacks dampened your enthusiasm, or made you stronger?


How has comparison to others or lack of progress impacted your desire to keep growing in your walk with God?


What do you feel keeps you from being strong and doing the work you need to do to get past discouragement?

REFLECT

God's antidote to discouragement is "Be Strong and Do the Work." As you “do the work” of focusing on what God has for you rather than on comfort or comparisions or lack of progress, how can you stay consistent with what God has revealed to you to do?

PRAYER

God, You didn’t just ask us to build Your house. You said, "I am with you; build my house." Thank You for being with us. Holy Spirit, help each of us to identify the places we’ve allowed discouragement to hold us back. God, make us strong to do Your work. Amen.

CRUCIAL PRIORITIES

 January 28, 2022

Psalms 63:1-6 

1O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. 2I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. 3Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! 4I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. 5You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. 6I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night.

Haggai 1:10-12 NLT

10It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. 11I have called for a drought on your fields and hills—a drought to wither the grain and grapes and olive trees and all your other crops, a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.” 12Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of God’s people began to obey the message from the Lord their God. When they heard the words of the prophet Haggai, whom the Lord their God had sent, the people feared the Lord.

START NOW

January 27, 2022

 

Haggai 1:9 

9“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.

John 14:15 

15 “If you love me, keep my commands.

Psalm 119:105 

105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

HE STANDS READY

January 26, 2022

 

Haggai 1:8 

8Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord.

Philippians 1:6 

6And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Isaiah 30:21 

21Your own ears will hear him. Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” whether to the right or to the left.

Micah 6:8 

8No, O people, the Lord has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.