God has created man with successful supernatural plan for his life. And He also gave him Wisdom, Authority and the freedom of Choice. Man is not robot, they can use their freedom of choice. They can choose to have their own plan for their life or they can say yes to God’s plan. Whatever choices they make, results are connected with it. That’s why, we see often failures, losses and separations among Christians. It is not the God’s plan for man to be failed in life, HE wants man to see prosper.
Today, We will discuss about some reasons why men failed in their lives, businesses and ministries. The scripture from the Bible which speak loud is from Haggai 1.
HAGGAI: 1-8 NKJV
In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”’”
3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” 5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
6 “You have sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
Important Note;
Very first thing, we need to realize and understand that, it is God’s message spoken by Haggai. These are the Words of God but tongue is used of Haggai to speak to the nations to remind them their call and purpose of life. And it is kept in the Bible for a reason that me and you can understand the plan of God our lives. Circumstances, situations and atmospheres may change but God’s plan never changes.
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away- Mathew 24:35 NKJV
God’s word still have the same power and life which was in the beginning. We need to dig into the word and grab our portion of Blessings and life.
Secrets of Success
There are some important basic principles of success which we need to understand fully. Some of them are described below.
1. Get back to work.
Israelites were given a project from God to rebuild the house of God. They started to build and laid foundation but they stopped building temple of God due to the opposition of Samaritans and they start making excuses that The time is not right. And the project was laid for 16 years. Then God rebuked through Haggai that it is right time for you to build your own houses but not for my house?
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Haggai 1:4
Haggai rebuked the people and we can see anger in these words. He used the word “Paneled Houses”. I checked the free dictionary and got the definition as below
“a house of prostitution in which the rooms have secret entrances to facilitate theft from customers by accomplices of the inmates.”- thefreedictionary.com
God said their houses the house of prostitutes who followed the world not God. Not only Israelites stopped the work of God by making lame excuses, Now a days, Many Ministers, Pastor and Leaders also have stopped uncompleted projected because of oppositions and failure. But I would advice to all my friends, Get back to work now. Fasten your seat belts and get ready for work. Trust in Lord and control the position, Success is yours.
2. Consider your ways
Second important thing in the ministry, business or personal life is to consider the ways. Prophet Haggai quoted this phrase two times, first in verse 4 and other in verse 7 and both time he mentioned, thus says the Lord of Hosts.
He wants to make sure that this is from the Lord that you all need to consider your ways. Because there are some ways which look right to man but in the depth, there is death. Proverbs 14:12
This is the major mistake which we make to choose the right choice for our success. We always look circumstances with our eyes, think with our minds, and follow our heart to pursue success but we fail because these all are organs of body which are not perfect.
In Ruth 1, Elimelech chose to leave Bethlehem and moved to Moab because of famine. He made this choice because of his flesh. The word Bethlehem means ” the house of bread” and Moab was the cursed city. God has cursed this city for ten generations because of the sin of Lot’s daughters. In other words, Elimelech left the city of bread and moved to cursed city. In the result of his choice, not only he died his both sons Mahlon and Chilion died.
We need to understand fully that our one wrong choice can destroy our whole life. Always make Choices with the help of our high priest, Jesus Christ, who is life, truth and way. John 14:6
3. Focus your Priorities
In the verse 6, there are five basic human needs which God had stopped for the people who rejected their call for Work of God.
I. Fruitless life, “You have sown much, and bring in little”
This means there is not any profit or fruit in your businesses and ministries because you have rejected the God’s call and became selfish by doing your own things. And God has Stopped the fruit from their lives. As Jesus cursed the fig tree because it refused to bear fruit. Mathew 21:18-22
II. Unsatisfied life, You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
Next three things belongs to our physical needs, eating , drinking and clothing.
we need to understand this revelation that God is our providers. We cannot meet our needs by our self ever unless we depend on God.
Jesus Christ said clearly to his disciples in Matthew 6:31 NKJV
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
But when we stop working with God, God stop our basic needs. It is the Biblical rule” No work no food“.
“For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat.” 2 Thessalonians 3:10 NKJV
III. No Saving, And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.
when Israelites refused to work with God, God stop blessing them. Bags with holes means not knowing when money come and where it go. Many people under the sun living such life, they do not understand fully where money go. They need to understand that life without Christ is nothing.
Jesus Christ said clearly in John 15:5 NKJV
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.
4. Another chance
Our God is so loving and gracious God, He always love us, and give us other chances to stand again and fulfill his call for work. In Verse 8, He gave another chance of re-establishment.
Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord.
This is open call for everyone to evangelize the world. It is asking everyone to Go and bring nations to Christ and build a church of new testament.
The notable point in verse 8 is, Go up to the mountains. There are always certain mountains in the believer’s life and we need not to worry about these mountains. We need to speak with the faith and authority. Not any single mountain would be able to stand against us.
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. Mathew 21:21 NKJV.
5. All Glory is for Lord
Verse 8 is very clear about it that Lord says that i may take pleasure in it and be glorified.
Everything is from God and for God so we need to glorify him not ourselves by our words. when we start glorifying ourselves our downfall starts from that point of time, because “I” is the center of SIN.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:10 NKJV
Conclusion,
Our God is Creator and sustainer of the Universe. Everything is under his control. Though HE has given free will but He has given wisdom also. If we will submit our will, mind and lives to God and we will be faithful to our call. He will bless us and we will live satisfied, successful healthy life. This depends on our choice, Make Choice and say yes to God, you will be experience supernatural life.
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