I found this on the July teams website. I thought it was great and want to share it with who ever read this. Its pretty lenghty so I’d take two goes at it.

 

Haggai speaks again: Why I’m going on the World Race

Hey teammates, I just posted this in my regular blog and wanted to make sure to share it with you guys too. God was showing me some pretty cool stuff when I was reading Haggai this morning. He spoke directly to me through it, and I know He will use it to speak to you guys, too.

Haggai 1
5 Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 6 You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”  7 This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.” … 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 his own house.”

Whoa. That’s some pretty intense stuff. God uses his prophet Haggai to totally CALL OUT the people for living only for themselves–not for the Lord. The people had been living a life filled with waste, gluttony, ungratefulness and generally not being good stewards of their resources. Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. God had told them to use their resources to build His house, a new temple, but instead they used them on themselves in wasteful ways. So God uses Haggai to remind the people.  Give careful thought to your ways. They certainly hadn’t been!

God reminds the people that HE is in control.  What you brought home, I blew away.  As much as they choose to live out their own lives, ignoring the instructions God had given them, He has the ability to wipe it all away in the blink of an eye.

Thankfully, the people listen to Haggai. Verse 12 says, “The whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.” Woohoo! They listened! So now what? They finally begin to work on the house of the Lord! As they do, God tells them in verse 13: “I am with you.”

As I’m reading this it strikes me. So  much of my life I have only looked out for myself. I’ve been concerned with what I will eat, what money I will earn, where I will live, what career I will work. I’ve been so blessed with resources yet so much of the time have been so ungrateful for them and have been so wasteful. How much of my life and my resources have I really given to build the house of the Lord? I can’t really say–not much! There have been moments, certainly, but on the whole…I am a selfish being! I have not always given careful thought to my ways. The funny thing is, we know that all of our work in this lifetime is fruitless if it is done for earthly things (read the whole book of Ecclesiastes).

So once the people have been admonished by God speaking through Haggai, and they begin to work on the house of the Lord again, some pretty cool things happen.  God encourages their new direction.  Be strong, all you people of the land, and work. For I am with you. He then tells them what He will do, now that they have begun working for Him. I will shake the nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory. …And in this place I will grant peace.  WOW!!! How cool is that! Personally I can’t wait to see the ‘desired of all nations come’ to the house of the Lord. I can’t wait to see the peace that the Lord will bring, once His people start turning to Him, offering their work and their entire lives and all their resources to build the house of the Lord. That’ll be the day!  And God says, From this day on, I will bless  you. Meaning, from the day the people begin working on the Lord’s house.

As I read the book of Haggai, I hear the Lord speaking to ME. He is reminding me that I have been given my life and these resources/blessings for one purpose: to build the house of the Lord. To be a servant, living only to usher people into the presence of Jesus Christ, my savior. I know that God is calling me and calling the Church as a whole to Give careful thought to your ways. To work for Him and not for ourselves. And when we do that, when we offer EVERYTHING, He will use us, he will bring the desired of ALL NATIONS! He will fill His house with glory and grant us peace and bless us. AMEN!!!

God has called me to go on The World Race starting in July 2008. My hope and prayer for following His call is that He will show me how to work for Him, how to give of myself and use my resources to build His kingdom. I ask of Him to be with me and my teammates as we venture around the globe…Lord, we want to bring glory to your name alone. As we leave behind everything that we know and are comfortable in, we want to give careful thoughts to our ways, that we may serve only you, not ourselves. We want to go to the nations…please use us to reach out to the Desired of all nations.