Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways and set your mind on what has come to you.
- Haggai 1:5
God has a great big, wonderful, fulfilling life planned for you and me, but if we are stubborn (see Exodus 33:3) or hard-hearted, then we will miss what He has for us. Stubbornness and refusal to hear and obey God's voice keeps us set in our ways and unable to make progress. When we find ourselves in this condition, we often fail to stop and ask ourselves what the problem is.
Today's verse recounts a time when God's people were dissatisfied and experiencing many problems, so God told them to consider their ways. Many times when people are not fulfilled in life, they look everywhere except within themselves to find the reason. If you are unfulfilled in your life, do as God told the Old Testament people to do and "Consider your ways." Ask God to speak to you about "your ways," and pay attention to what He says. I have had to do this many times, and I have had to make changes in my thinking, my motives, or my behavior as a result. As I considered my ways over time, I found I was stubborn, hardheaded, opinionated, proud, and many other things that kept me from making progress. But, thank God, He has changed me! I pray He keeps on changing me and never stops.
I want everything God wants me to have and nothing He doesn't. I belong to Him and so do you. He wants you to have a happy, blessed, wonderful life, full of satisfaction and fulfillment. If you aren't living that kind of life, take time to consider your ways; ask God to show you what needs to change; and then do what He tells you to do.
God’s word for you today: Don’t be afraid to face the truth about yourself, because it sets you free.
Different Kinds of Giving
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth: And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”
Genesis 14:19–21
When Abraham got the news that his nephew Lot had been captured along with the residents of Sodom, he gathered his trained servants and went to war. Despite facing a coalition of five kingdoms, God granted him a great victory. When Abraham was making his way home, he met Melchizedek and gave him a tithe from the spoils of war. In those days, soldiers were frequently not paid a salary, but were instead allowed to take the possessions of their defeated foe as their compensation. Abraham had every right to keep what his men had won in battle, but, instead, he willingly gave ten percent of what they had taken to Melchizedek.
There was no law that required tithing as of yet, but Abraham recognized that since the victory was God’s rather than his, it was only right that he should acknowledge the help he had received by giving back part of what he had gotten. Robert Rodenmeyer wrote, “There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving, and thanksgiving. Grudge giving says, ‘I have to’; duty giving says, ‘I ought to’; thanksgiving says, ‘I want to’.”
There are few subjects more touchy in churches today than giving. People argue about whether they should tithe, how they should determine how much to give, and what is required. That is the wrong focus. If we are looking at the God who freely saved us and gives us all that we have in the first place, we will be trying to figure out how to give more rather than less.
Genesis 14:19–21
When Abraham got the news that his nephew Lot had been captured along with the residents of Sodom, he gathered his trained servants and went to war. Despite facing a coalition of five kingdoms, God granted him a great victory. When Abraham was making his way home, he met Melchizedek and gave him a tithe from the spoils of war. In those days, soldiers were frequently not paid a salary, but were instead allowed to take the possessions of their defeated foe as their compensation. Abraham had every right to keep what his men had won in battle, but, instead, he willingly gave ten percent of what they had taken to Melchizedek.
There was no law that required tithing as of yet, but Abraham recognized that since the victory was God’s rather than his, it was only right that he should acknowledge the help he had received by giving back part of what he had gotten. Robert Rodenmeyer wrote, “There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving, and thanksgiving. Grudge giving says, ‘I have to’; duty giving says, ‘I ought to’; thanksgiving says, ‘I want to’.”
There are few subjects more touchy in churches today than giving. People argue about whether they should tithe, how they should determine how much to give, and what is required. That is the wrong focus. If we are looking at the God who freely saved us and gives us all that we have in the first place, we will be trying to figure out how to give more rather than less.
Today’s Growth Principle:
A Christian who does not willingly give to God has a heart problem, not a financial problem.
The Key to Fulfillment
by Joyce Meyer - posted August 13, 2017Now therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways and set your mind on what has come to you.
- Haggai 1:5
God has a great big, wonderful, fulfilling life planned for you and me, but if we are stubborn (see Exodus 33:3) or hard-hearted, then we will miss what He has for us. Stubbornness and refusal to hear and obey God's voice keeps us set in our ways and unable to make progress. When we find ourselves in this condition, we often fail to stop and ask ourselves what the problem is.
Today's verse recounts a time when God's people were dissatisfied and experiencing many problems, so God told them to consider their ways. Many times when people are not fulfilled in life, they look everywhere except within themselves to find the reason. If you are unfulfilled in your life, do as God told the Old Testament people to do and "Consider your ways." Ask God to speak to you about "your ways," and pay attention to what He says. I have had to do this many times, and I have had to make changes in my thinking, my motives, or my behavior as a result. As I considered my ways over time, I found I was stubborn, hardheaded, opinionated, proud, and many other things that kept me from making progress. But, thank God, He has changed me! I pray He keeps on changing me and never stops.
I want everything God wants me to have and nothing He doesn't. I belong to Him and so do you. He wants you to have a happy, blessed, wonderful life, full of satisfaction and fulfillment. If you aren't living that kind of life, take time to consider your ways; ask God to show you what needs to change; and then do what He tells you to do.
God’s word for you today: Don’t be afraid to face the truth about yourself, because it sets you free.
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