Devotionals

"If one carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with the edge he touches bread or stew, wine or oil, or any food, will it become holy?" ‘“Then the priests answered and said, "No.” 13And Haggai said, "If [one who is] unclean [because] of a dead body touches any of these, will it be unclean?" So the priests answered and said, "It shall be unclean.” 14Then Haggai answered and said, " 'So is this people, and so is this nation before Me,' says the LORD, 'and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean. (HAGGAI 2:12-14NKJV),”

Bros something cannot become holy by allowing it to touch the holy things of God. Just as something unclean whatever it touches will also be made unclean… So if we have sin in our lives and serve the Lord and do works for Him, all of our works are unclean. God made it clear that all that they did, every work as a nation was unclean and what they offered to God was unclean because of their sin. If we carry on in sin and try to serve the Lord then all that we do is in vain because sin pollutes the holy things of God. A little leaven leavens the whole loaf… You cannot mix the things of God with the unclean things and sins of the world; it corrupts every work- the whole lot… “A little leaven leavens the whole lump (GALATIANS 5:9 NKJV)”. Sin has the stench of death on it and sin does lead to death and touching a dead body was equated to being unclean and being in sin is equated with being spiritually dead… And separated from God… “because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy (1Peter 1:16 NKJV)." Bros let us all be in pursuit of holiness chasing after Jesus everyday, with everyway. Leaving far behind that stench of death- those sins that lead to death and make us unclean and all that we do that is unclean; unholy before our Holy God. Those sins that touch our ministry destroy every work, the ministry we are called to do before the Lord, the things we offer to the Lord. Abide in the things of the Lord to stay far away from the things of death, the sins of the flesh and of the world. Thank You Lord that we can be made clean by You when we are obedient to You and confess those sins and repent and turn fully back to You-amen!

“Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, spoke the LORD's message to the people, saying, "I [am] with you, says the LORD. (HAGGAI 1:13NKJV),”

Bros first the remnant receives the Lords message sent through His messenger Haggai. Then secondly they obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the words of the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him, then the people feared the presence of the Lord.

 “Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the LORD (Haggai 1:12 NKJV).”

Thirdly the Lord told them “I am with you” He always is and this is a great reminder for us too! The fourth thing we read in verse 14 the Lord did was stir up their spirit. “So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God (Haggai 1:14 NKJV),” The remnant heard and received from God the message He had for them and they obeyed and feared His presence, then their God told them He was with them and then He stirred their spirits to accomplish His will. God has a plan, an order for the way He does things and when we follow His plan- His ways, Gods will gets accomplished in our lives just as the Lords will for the remnant was accomplished through the obedience of the remnant. So then great blessings were theirs and just as it can be ours when we obey the voice of the Lord. Sin can block blessings, but obedience can bring blessings. Listen, hear and receive from God His instructions, do it His way- obey HIM and He will be with you- “ I AM WITH YOU SAYS THE LORD” and He will stir you to accomplish His perfect will in your life-amen!

“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 HAGGAI 1:6NKJV).”

Bros sounds like maybe this could be any one of our current life stories- right? Always lacking it seems; never enough and always wanting just a little more… This is where one would have to consider their ways as the Lord has Haggai tell the remnant hey wake up and stop being so concerned with your own homes. They were engulfed in making sure their homes were beautified and kind of gave up on the Lords Sanctuary. They were totally caught up in their personal needs and wants and just put the things of God on the back burner… Bros it is only when we put God first in our lives, our affairs and above everything else or in the correct priority will He bless our labor. It is only when the remnant sees the task God has put before them and completes the task He has put before them will He bless their labor once again. So true for us too! We get side tracked on our priorities and pretty soon if we consider our ways we can notice how seemingly out of nowhere our flesh has gained prominence in our lives and became our main priority and God somehow ended up in last place in our priority list and then we went on cruise control and woke up lacking and wondering what happened… It is so easy for us to take our eyes off the Prize, to slow down in the race, to look back to see how far ahead we are only to discover we missed the mark, we veered off course because we were looking in the wrong direction for blessing and to the wrong things for fulfillment of the things we need in our lives… "But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:33 NKJV). Bros God knows we have need and we only need to look to Him and Consider Our Ways to see where we are in our priorities and to see where we have placed God in the priorities of our lives- amen!

“The LORD has taken away your judgments, He has cast out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, [is] in your midst; You shall see disaster no more (Zephaniah 3:15 NKJV).”

Bros just as the Lord took away their judgments and cast out the enemy of the remnant of Israel, He can and will do that for you and me. Always good to remember and be reminded that the Lord can still take away judgments and cleanse us from those sins that bring the judgment. The Lord is gathering the remnant of Israeland He will redeem them and restore them and they will take great joy in their Redeemer and so too we can also rejoice in our Redeemer. He will throw out their enemy and their enemy will be absent from them, he will give them escape from the enemy. The Lord is going to be right there with them and they will see disaster no more. In the Masoretic Text and the Vulgate it reads fear instead of disaster. When God is in your midst you will see” Fear No More.” Bros when we go to the Lord, turn to the Lord, repent to the Lord and seek His face and are walking in His Holy Spirit and led by His Holy Spirit- His Truth we are no longer walking in the flesh or the cares of this world. The Lord will be with us and fear will have no power over us, what can it do to us if Jesus is in our midst? No matter how pernicious the enemy is he is powerless over The King of Israel- The Lord and us when we have Him in us! He loves you and me and His love is perfect in that it casts out fear just as Zephaniah said the Lord is in your midst and they would see fear no more. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love (1John 4:18 NKJV).” Bros the Lord’s love is perfect and He takes away our judgments or penalty for our sins and cast out our enemy, fear comes from the enemy and when the King of Israel, the Lord is in our midst how can the enemy be present or have any reign in our lives- so we shall see fear no more because He is with us and He is our Redeemer and He loves us. “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him (1John 4:16 NKJV).” Stay close to the Lord and when you; “Draw near to God and He will draw near you (James 4:8 NKJV).” Remember He is the One that will take away your judgment, cast out your enemy, will be in your midst and you will “Fear No More” because He loves you-amen!

“…For the LORD their God will intervene for them…, (Zephaniah 2:7 NKJV).”

Bros the Lord has such a humongous love for His people; Zephaniah says previously in verses six and the beginning of verse seven they shall have pastures, shelters for shepherds and folds for flocks. He says the coast shall be for the remnant of the house ofJudah! They shall feed their flocks there and lie down in the evening in the houses ofAshkelon, He is giving them rest, and security and comfort even after God announced His judgment onJudahand all the surrounding nations. And our merciful God says He will intervene for them, literally it is to visit them. I know for most of us there are those times where we have been in a place where we are separated from God in our walk and maybe it might be from sin and think that God has left us or abandoned us or stopped hearing our prayers and we feel like God is not with us? This should be great encouragement to all of us. In the midst of their rebellion God is reaching out to them because He cares for them and loves them and is concerned for them… No matter where you are at right now God is with you and He will intervene for you and He will visit you right where you are at in your walk- in your relationship with Him, He cares, He loves you no matter what and He will not stop loving you, because you belong to Him now and forever- nothing can stop or take away His love for you. But sin will separate you from His love and receiving all that He has for you. Just know that God is reaching out to you always in His love, mercy, grace and always desires a close personal relationship with you. No matter how far you may have strayed- He wants you to come back to Him; He will intervene for you and visit you-amen!

“And it shall come to pass at that time [That] I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, 'The LORD will not do good, Nor will He do evil.' (Zephaniah 1:12 NKJV).”

Bros as Zephaniah delivers Gods coming judgment God says He will search Jerusalem with lamps. He is going to put some light on them because it is so seeped in darkness there and He will punish the men who are matured and settled deeply in that place of complacency. He is going to reveal His light in that wicked dark place to expose the sin that exists and later on in His prophetic revelation delivered by Zephaniah He will petition them and encourage them to humbly turn back to God and repent and prevent them coming to a place of destruction. Darkness can not over take Gods light, evilness will never prevail over Gods righteousness. Sooner or later all evil or sin is exposed to Gods Light, sin never prevails, never promotes righteousness or right living, only living for God in His righteousness can produce light that shines for God. Zephaniah uses strong terms in saying they are “settled in complacency,” literally means on their lees; settled like dregs of wine. Lees is the insoluble matter that settles from a liquid, especially a wine, the sediment, dregs… grounds, the least valuable part of anything, the worthless particles that settle to the bottom. They just lie there dormant and have no real value they are the impurities that aren’t part of the value of the pure liquid they are contained in, like dregs of society were often thought that they have no value just take up space, a residue that remains with the good, a small quantity that brings nothing to the value of something just diminishes the good by existing in a non conducive way… Just like we can be complacent like they were; lying up on their beds like sloths, not wanting to be conducive or productive in the things of the Lord. Thinking the Lord will not respond to this situation or that situation and when He does not respond it’s as if He God does not exist. It’s because He is merciful and patient and longsuffering with each one of us just as He was withJudah. And there is a time and place when the Lord will not tolerate this behavior any longer, this complacency and He warns them and gives them much grace to turn back, to humble themselves, to repent because He loves them and He loves us. Maybe you like me have grown complacent in areas of your walk with the Lord and need this push, this shove out of the bed of complacency, this occasion to rise to the top from the bottom of the barrel of being idle, feeling worthless and of no value to become something of value to the Lord. To shine brightly for the Lord, to not be part of the dregs- that small quantity, but be the first fruits; a vessel of honor for God. Lord help us to turn to You, to repent, to humble ourselves to avert any coming disasters that we might live a life worthy of the calling You have given each one of us. Help us to get out of the dark bed of complacency and into Your Light so we can shine brightly for You Jesus and serve the living God-amen!

“Those who have turned back from [following] the LORD, And have not sought the LORD, nor inquired of Him (ZEPHANIAH 1:6NKJV).”

Bros the idolatrous priest and pagan priest were worshipping false gods and burning incense from the housetops. They turned back from following the One True and living God. This caused the judgment because they had forsaken the Lord God, they had become an evil perverted sinful nation, a brood of evildoers and corrupters to the highest level, they provoked God to anger and they were so full of sin and evil they did not seek the Lord or inquire of Him. “They are all hot, like an oven, And have devoured their judges; All their kings have fallen. None among them calls upon Me (Hosea 7:7 NKJV).” Their priests promoted the worship of Baal and nature and all the government officials were corrupt. This sure seems like it is a reference to what is happening in America today… There are those who want to worship nature and Gods creation instead of worshipping the Creator of these things they glorify & worship creation instead of the Creator! Instead of turning to Him they turned away from Him, in fact they turned and worshipped Baal on the housetops- doing it right in the Lords face. No shame, in complete arrogance and prideful hearts. Bros we see this today, folks are not ashamed of their sin, they openly flaunt it in everyone’s face and even in Gods face, their arrogance, prideful behavior once was appalled not long ago and now no one even gives it a second thought when they see this sinful behavior on the streets of America and even maybe right on our own housetops… Bros in these last days we need to seek God and turn back to Him and check and make sure we have not let any of these false idols slip back into our lives or are allowing them to take place from our housetops… What’s going on at your housetop? What’s coming out of your housetop? “Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the LORD (Lamentations 3:40 NKJV);” We ought check our priorities and make sure God is number One- amen!

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls--(Habakkuk 3:17NKJV).”

Bros you may be in a season where the efforts of your labor are not producing or yielding any fruit or results. Things are out of your control and you see nothing but lost opportunity, failures, more waiting and time consuming endeavors with little or no results and heartache in the things you had hoped would be very productive or maybe life sustaining for you and your family. You have put your heart and soul into the labor of your hands and stretched your giftedness in using your mind to create and produce and yet there is no harvest. How life’s disappointments can bring much heartache and especially when we feel we have poured ourselves into making a way or producing a way to provide for our families to no avail. And even in ministry maybe there are those areas of waiting and seeing no blossoms, no fruit and even though there be great labor that seems like failure with no results… there is nothing seemingly gained or no yield to acknowledge. Maybe also there is a temporary separation from the flock, the fruit of fellowship, enjoying a time with the brethren, prayer, and studying Gods word together not by choice but it exists… all the waiting and failures life has to offer seems to have mounted to heights that are now highly visible in every area of your life and you are consumed with dread night and day, you may be overcome, overwhelmed… But look at the words Habakkuk paints of dismal failure of all creation and that sin and rebellion have brought on, are a stark reminder to all of us that life is not always pleasant and full of joy and happiness all the time we don’t always succeed at everything in fact we fail a lot. Even though he is terrified by the coming invasion of Judahhe will trust the Lord. He has confidence that God’s plans for now and as in times past as to how He will accomplish His perfect will gives Habakkuk trust in Gods wisdom and redemptive work. Habakkuk trusts in Gods salvation just as we should no matter where we are at right now in our lives, no matter how bad things are in our lives or how much waiting we have to do, no matter how much we lack or feel we need right now- look to the Lord as Habakkuk is saying and rejoice! “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation (Habakkuk 3:18 NKJV).”He will show you great and mighty things when you trust Him and His plan…“The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's [feet], And He will make me walk on my high hills…(Habakkuk 3:19 NKJV).” He never fails-“EVER,” have you ever seen a deer run- they run with confidence and endurance we only need to look to the Creator that gave them that ability to navigate extreme terrain at full speed with hardly a split second to survey it and react to it- they run, jump and land like they are on springs as soon as their feet hit the ground they spring right up in the air in one swift motion. God gave them those navigation skills and abilities just like He can and does give us the ability to navigate through lives challenges... We need to have confidence in the Lord as Habakkuk trusted Him in dire times; we need to trust Him and His plan today for our lives-amen!

“O LORD, I have heard Your speech [and] was afraid; O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make [it] known; In wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2 NKJV).”

Bros as Habakkuk prays for Gods mercy after God makes known that He intends to useBabylonfor judgment againstJudah. To which Habakkuk cannot believe because they are even more corrupt thanJudah. Habakkuk comes to realize he can trust God no matter what the circumstance because God is perfect and His plans are perfect! Bros I have been praying and reading these verses over and over as God is ministering to me in the midst of my years as a Christian… Habakkuk is pleading with the Lord to revive the Lords work in their lives even in the midst of their rebellion and asking for God to remember mercy in the middle of wrath. Even so I find myself examining myself and not wanting to be complacent in my walk and ministry unto the Lord. Not wanting to grow stale or faint or cold or become a fixture that sets in the presence of the things of God but yearning to be on fire again for the Lord and the things of the Lord. Do you remember how on fire you were when you came to the Lord and He forgave your sins and you received salvation from the Lord Jesus Christ? You wanted to shout from the rooftops how awesome God was, you wanted to read His word every second, you wanted to tell anyone who would listen about Jesus Christ, you wanted to tell the whole world what Jesus had done for you, and that He is alive and living in your heart. You never tired of studying His word, going to Bible studies, serving Him, doing missions trips to share the Gospel and now you might be like me saying Lord revive your work in me in the midst of years, stir my heart, ignite a fire, smack me on the back and throw me back in the game, help me O’ Lord to have a zeal, a thirst an hunger after you O’ Lord. “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works (Hebrews10:24NKJV)…,” We are called to provoke one another and encourage one another to good works, worthy of God. I pray that my heart and also for you if your heart is lacking that your heart would be stirred up to that which it was when we first entered this great race… “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares [us], and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12:1 NKJV)…,” Lord please whatever is standing in the way get rid of it, Lord take away all the obstacles whether they be in our mind or any other version of complacency that keeps us complacent or weighed down or on the bench and from seeking, serving and living for you with zeal, on fire, with a never ending hunger and thirst-amen!

“The LORD [is] good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him. (Nahum 1:7 NKJV).”

Bros a few thoughts on this scripture-God is good but we can hardly fathom how good He is to us. To me it seems like that word good isn’t big enough, meaningful enough, powerful enough, awesome enough, eloquent enough or good enough to really describe our God and how good He is really. But we read in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke where Jesus says that God is good and no one else is good so that should change our thinking of this word or the value we assimilate into this word and the meaning of what we consider good- right! Somehow it seems we have come to associate good as kind of mediocre or just OK... But in reality only God is good so that changes and elevates the meaning and our use of the word when it is used to describe God. I hope I never forget how good He is and that I would see how good He is every moment, every second, and every breath of my existence that I may give thanks unto Him in all things.

“So He said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one [is] good but One, [that is], God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17 NKJV)." “So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one [is] good but One, [that is], God (Mark 10:18 NKJV).” “So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one [is] good but One, [that is], God (Luke 18:19 NKJV).” So that settles it for me how about you? Also, great to be reminded that God is a stronghold that we can take refuge in that day of trouble. We can run into the protection of the Lord at any given moment or second we choose, but in reality it is better to remain in that fortress of His protection all the time and turn to Him and be in Him in every situation. Also, that we would ask the Lord to guard our heart and mind so that when the enemy shoots those fiery darts they would be extinguished on contact, even mid-flight they would go out and lose their sting of poison- that they would not have the power to penetrate or be a burning burden in our thoughts less they move us to an ungodly action that would cause us to slip outside of that fortress- our stronghold we have in the Lord and His might. Bros He knows those who are His, those who believe in Him, whose belief is grounded and rooted in Him. He knows those who trust in Him, those hearts given over to Him in trust, because He is God and He is good. I would say He is very good in the most extreme elevated way we can say GOOD! His protection is ours and isn’t that so awesome to know that we have the best protection, the best fortress, nothing can compare or equate to God and knowing that we have that stronghold in the day of trouble and all the time in between. He knows those of us that trust Him. So if He knows you and knows your trust is in Him, and He is good as we know that to be a fact bros, then we are blessed to say the least. Nothing can get to us or at us without going through God or God knowing about it… He knows everything including those who trust in Him! Bros I have to say we have the greatest security in Him, the greatest comfort, peace, love, joy, and every good thing and can take refuge in knowing Him and trusting in His strength not ours, we can rest in Him and we ought to abide in Him because He truly is GOOD- amen!