The Book of Haggai

Greetings! As we begin our 21 day consecration, I invite you to meditate on a small book in the Old Testament entitled “Haggai”. He was a prophet whose written ministry of two chapters only covers approximately four months. But wow, what an important four months those were! It was Haggai who the Lord used to accelerate the building of God’s Temple which had laid dormant for approximately 16 years. Has God given you plans and dreams which have laid dormant for months, maybe even years? Though it was written in 520B.C., I believe this book still speaks to us today. At some point in our lives, we all need encouragement! Come join me starting tomorrow for the next 19 days as we journey through this book of God’s first post-exilic prophet. It may be small in its’ number of verses (38), but it is large in its ability to energize for your heart....
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Day 16: Quiet, Please!

My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him. (Psalm 63:5, Amplified Bible) “The heart and soul of the Christian is learning to hear God’s voice and then developing the courage to do what He asks us to do…Busyness is akin to something the Bible calls worldliness – getting caught up with society’s agenda, objectives and activities to the neglect of walking with God.” (Page 119) These somewhat biting words are located in the 11th Chapter of Bill Hybel’s Book Too Busy Not To Pray. The chapter is entitled Slowing Down to Pray. We cannot learn to listen for God’s voice until we’ve learned to discipline our souls (minds, emotions, and wills) to wait on the Lord. This involves quieting oneself and keeping silent in the presence of God. And this is the manner in which we get to really know who God is (Psalm 46:10). No, this may not be exciting! But at this point in our walk with God, we are not looking for excitement. We are looking for transformation which only can occur when we move out of our world and into...
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Day 15: What’s in Your Wallet?

For I cried out to him for help, praising him as I spoke. If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen! He paid attention to my prayer. Praise God, who did not ignore my prayer… (Psalm 66:17-20, NLT) You may have seen the CapitalOne credit card commercial whose motto is “What’s in your wallet?” Basically, its message is that if a person does not have a CapitalOne credit card in his wallet, rival credit card companies will inflict high rates and fees upon him. This commercial conveys a message of the problems a person may have if he does not possess something. By contrast, the Psalmist tells us in the Scripture about the problem we may face if we do possess something. In chapter 10 of the book Too Busy Not To Pray, Bill Hybels teaches about how we can be “Cooling Off on Prayer”. One of the things that can throw cold water on our prayer lives is “old-fashioned sin” in our hearts. Whenever there are elements of bitterness, jealousy, lust, pride, arrogance, frustration (which can be passive anger), etc. filling our hearts, these things can really put a damper on our prayer lives. Again, I must stress that consecration almost always involves the confessing of sin in our lives. So the question is: What’s in your...
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Day 14: Pray? Really?

SCRIPTURE: 1 Once Jesus was in a certain place praying. As he finished, one of his disciples came to him and said, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” 2 Jesus said, “This is how you should pray: “Father, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come soon. 3 Give us each day the food we need, 4 and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. And don’t let us yield to temptation” 5 Then, teaching them more about prayer, he used this story: “Suppose you went to a friend’s house at midnight, wanting to borrow three loaves of bread. You say to him, 6 ‘A friend of mine has just arrived for a visit, and I have nothing for him to eat.’ 7 And suppose he calls out from his bedroom, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is locked for the night, and my family and I are all in bed. I can’t help you.’ 8 But I tell you this—though he won’t do it for friendship’s sake, if you keep knocking long enough, he will get up and give you whatever you need because of your shameless persistence. 9 “And so I tell you, Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:1-9, NLT) “Look me in the eye and tell me-yes or no-if you you’ve prayed about this (situation) fervently and regularly over an extended period of time.” This is a quote from Chapter 9 of Too Busy Not To Pray, which is entitled “Prayer Busters”. In other words: Have you prayed about this consistently (undeviatingly) and persistently (continuously, constantly, perseveringly, tenaciously)? Wow! This really hit me right between the eyes, as in smack in the middle of my brain. I may think about my situations non-stop. I may complain to others about it passionately. I may even talk to myself constantly about it. But pray? I mean really, PRAY persistently, passionately, and perseveringly? Sadly, even as a pastor, I rarely do this. As Bill states on that same page (99), “Unfortunately I joined the club whose motto is “When all else fails, (then is when I decide to really) pray…” As April quickly approaches, let’s first repent and then make a list of...
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Day 13: A God Who’s in the Details!

If the request is wrong, God says, “No.” If the timing is wrong, God says, “Slow.” If we, ourselves, are wrong, God says, “Grow.” But if all the above is right, then God says, “Go!” (Page 86 of Too Busy Not To Pray) SCRIPTURE: When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. Then I said “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands…O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.” …The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?” With a prayer to the God of heaven, I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.” (Nehemiah1:4-5, 11; 2:4-5, NLT) In reading this Scripture, I am both amazed and discouraged by the details of Nehemiah’s prayers. Even while he’s in the presence of the king making this huge request, Nehemiah is constantly praying. Chapter 8 of Too Busy Not To Pray is entitled, “The Hurt of Unanswered Prayer”. What struck me about this chapter was the amount of detail and length of time Bill and his staff spend praying over one staff decision as described in page 87 (Too Loving to Say Yes). And even while making the decision, Bill is still asking God to lead him as to what he should do. Then just before he makes the decision, the Holy Spirit tells him, “No.” But what startled me was when the potential candidate asks Bill, “Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?” Bill was disciplined enough to trust what God had told him. I wondered: what would I have done if I were in his place? Would I have taken this as an open door? Would I have disregarded what I sensed the Holy Spirit had spoken to my spirit and simply walked through the trap door Satan had opened, thinking it was God? Not only must every step of our lives be guided by prayer, but...
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Day 9: Focus!

Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.” (Mark 11:22-24, NLT) I had a picture taken of me last week in the balcony of our church. The photographer wanted to try something new, so he asked me to lean against the balcony railing so that he could get the main auditorium as a good background to the picture. I thought this was a great idea, but the problem was that I am afraid of heights. Wondering how I was going to sit on the balcony railing without panicking, I came up with a great idea. Instead of focusing on the drop behind me, I would focus on the photographer and his camera. And guess what? It worked! My focusing on the right thing made the difference, not only in me and my fear of heights but also in how the picture came out. My face was full of calm and not anxiety. In Chapter 7 of Too Busy Not to Pray, Bill Hybels teaches us about “Mountain Moving Faith”. His main thought is that mountain moving faith focuses on God and not the mountain. In reading the Scripture on which he bases this Scripture, I began to see three keys need in order to possess a faith that brings God results to impossible situations. I observed that mountain moving faith: 1. Sees God, not the mountain. (Mark 11:22) 2. Speaks what it believes. (Mark 11:23) 3. Secures in the heart what it believes before seeing it happen. (Mark 11:24) If we are going to have the productive prayer lives both that God wants and we desire, then we must learn to discipline ourselves in the area of focus. (Psalm...
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