Man of Good Work Ethic

            How many hours do you spend working on certain activities? Sometimes we spend way too many hours on the work in the world instead of spending hours on the work in the kingdom. The work of the kingdom starts to become desolate if we do not make it a first priority. During the time of Haggai, the people were focused about their own work than God’s work. There are two considerations from the book of Haggai on how to be a man of good work ethic.

            First consideration is thinking about the work you are doing. The people were more concern about what they were doing. They were putting all of their energy into their house by decorating it. People were only focusing on their work instead of the work of God (Haggai 1:4). God wanted them to consider their ways on what they were doing. Do you make God’s work secondary in order to make your personal work primary? A man of good work ethic will make the work of the kingdom a first priority while putting everything else second on the list.

            The second consideration is thinking about the work you should be doing. God wanted them to reconsider their ways by rebuilding the temple. If they were to rebuild the temple, the Lord would be pleased and glorified (Haggai 1:8). If they were to make the choice to not build his house, God’s eternal kingdom and the Messiah would not come in the future. All of their produce would not be as good as it should be due to the lack of their laboring hands. A man of good work ethic will reconsider the hours he spends on a certain activity in order to make God’s work a first importance.

            Our work must be the work of God. I want you to start making his kingdom a first priority. The important activity is getting back to work in the church. The other activities become bad only when we start to make it a number one priority over the work of God. Think about what you should be doing now instead of what you were doing earlier. There will always be projects that need to be done. Find the one project and get to work! 

Man of Prayer: Specific Requests

            What was the last request you said in your prayers? Your request may have been someone who is sick, someone who has lost a loved one or someone who is struggling with sin. There are three prayer requests we sometimes forget to pray to God.

            The first request is praying for our enemies. Matthew 5:44 says, “…love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” It does seem weird to pray for people who would oppress and harm you. Yet, God still wants us to make a request to him about our enemies in order to learn to love them. We are not better or important as much as they are not better or important than us. Do not forget to pray about your enemies.

            The second request is believing our prayers. Matthew 21:22 says, “And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” How often do we have a lack of faith while making requests to God? When we are making a petition to God, it is like a formal written request telling God this is what I desire to happen. God wants us to have faith and be confident in order to receive what we desire. Do not forget to pray about having more confidence in God.

            The third request is avoiding temptation. Matthew 26:41 says, “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.” Our spirit and flesh will battle each other every day when we strongly want something. As long as we keep making requests to God to avoid temptations, our spirit will not be defeated by the desires of our flesh. Do not forget to pray about being on the alert for our temptations.

            It might be hard to love an enemy when they hurt you. It might be hard to rely on God if it feels like he has not been faithful to you. It might be hard to resist your temptations when you feel like you want to give up. I want you to write down specific areas within these requests and pray to God for a better outcome of these areas. Let your requests be known to God! 

Man of Disguise

            Every year in the month of October, people put on costumes. Nobody recognizes the person under the costume because their identity has been hidden.  They may even act and talk differently in order to mimic the costume they are wearing.  We sometimes put on costumes too.  We pretend to be something other than what God has called us to be.  There are third passages to remind us why we should not put on a costume.

            The first passage is Galatians 3:27. It says, “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  The key word is clothed.  If we belong to Christ, then we must be clothed in him twenty four seven.  We cannot put Christ on for church functions and then take him off when you are out in the world.

            The second passage is Romans 13:14. It says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.” Instead of taking off Christ, we need to sink into his garment. As long as we submerge as ourselves into Christ, there is no way our minds will be able to forethought any desires we have to take off Christ.

            The third passage is Ephesians 4:24. It says, “…and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.” We will be dark in our own understanding and our hearts will be hardened if we do not lay aside our old self. God wants us to dress in Christ in order for the spirit to renew our minds. Do not cause pain to your Holy Spirit by walking in an unworthy manner.

            We must never change or hide the fact that we belong to Jesus. I want you to go to the places you normally go to during the week but before you go into those places, examine yourself to see if you are wearing a different costume other than Christ. If you are, take it off before you walk in and put on the costume of Christ. Let Christ be seen all around you!