ElizabethNeedsGrace

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is warm today. I don’t have to work on Monday’s, so I had a relatively lazy morning with my little family. I had begun typing out a message on our soul sister chat and then I realized I was typing a book and I thought, “why don’t I do this on a blog post format so it’s easier to share?” So, 3 hours later and here it is! I just wanted something simple but once again the “amazing” web wanted to make this way more complicated. So, lets dive in and see how this works for us!

I am currently in-between bibles at the moment. My daily reading bible has completely detached from the cover and pages are falling out and I prefer my study bible just for studying simply because I am an avid note taker and if y’all have seen that thing you know how marked up and papers added for extra clarification it is, so I’m on the hunt for a new daily reader. The only problem I have with that and I feel you all can relate, is that a good worn and used daily bible is you know where EVERYTHING is, and i’m not talking the bible layout in itself, I am talking about the feel of your bible that you have grown with and carried for a while. I think a trip to Mardel’s in Johnson City is in my future.

The reason I bring all that up, I had grabbed an older bible of mine from my teens to my early married years (yes, it’s covered in duct tape and pages falling out too! lol!) and I came across a sermon Dustin had preached out of in the book of Haggai, where Haggai is delivering a message from the LORD to Zerubbabel and Joshua. God wants them to rebuild the temple, the Israelites don’t think the time has come and God uses Haggai to question them on the matter. In verses 3-4 he pretty much ask them “Is it time to live in your Cieled houses (Elaborately decorated homes) while the temple lies in waste?” In verse 6 it talks about the consequences of neglecting God’s house and in verse 10 God’s displeasure with their priorities results in their land being in a drought and thus affecting their crops. To back track in verses 5 & 7 the Lord calls the people to “consider their ways” nudging them to reflect on their actions and the resulting consequences.

What immediately spoke to me was “considering my ways.” I have more than once had moments in my walk with God where I let my “inner temple” (1 COR 6:19-20) lay in ruin while I take more care of my selfish worldly desires. I can get so caught up in “me” that I let my convictions and priorities slip. Unfortunately, it’s easy done. For example, I made sure to prioritize my prayer time with God, making sure I am spending time with His Word and working on the things God ask of me when it comes to my rolls in the church (Please keep in mind I don’t mean this from a legalistic view, rather a personal relationship where I put my time and effort into as well). All was going well, as this does take discipline and desire, and then the stomach bug hit. ever since then I have not been pouring into my relationship with God and I can feel that. Does God still love me and accept me into his family even though I have been laying low? Absolutely. He’s not mad at me or pushing me away for being distant, rather God is calling me to “Consider my ways.”

It is important to the Christian to regularly assess whether our priorities align with God’s. We don’t have to wait until we notice the distance before looking inward either. A simple reflection of “Am I investing more in personal comfort than in God’s Kingdom?” This also can be used as, in our time and what we are giving our time and attention to when God calls us to use our attention elsewhere for Him. When God was calling the Israelites to rebuild the temple and they didn’t think the time is right, the Lord quickly set them straight. We must remember that when God calls us to do something or to work on our inward self we must do so promptly, trusting that God will provide whatever we need for that situation.

So let us all “consider our ways.” You may be on that right path, or you may be needing to draw closer to the Lord, or act upon a calling God has called you to. Whatever it is and wherever you are in your relationship with our Father, He will see us through it. He promises to never leave or forsake us and that is not just for those desperate or terrifying moments but in our everyday lives as well.

My prayer for each of us is that we will be obedient to our Father in work and in spirit, in our work lives, personal lives and within the church that we are called to. I pray for your well-being, your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs all the time and I do hope you all know just how much I love you all and how appreciative I am for our church family, I can say with a confident heart that what we have is not everywhere, so must cherish and nourish it.

Until next time,

Elizabeth.