Yesterday
I wrote that if God has called you to do something - great or small, there are
a couple of promises you can stand on.
We covered the first promise yesterday.
If God has called you He has promised that He will be with you! If you missed it you can see it here: Has
the Lord Called you to do Something - Great or Small?
Today we're going to
talk about the second promise.
Haggai 2:13-19(NKJV)
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.
15‘And now, carefully consider from this
day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of
the Lord—
16since those days, when one came
to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but
ten; when one came to the wine vat
to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty.
17I struck you with blight and mildew and
hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the Lord.
18‘Consider now from this day forward, from the
twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of
the Lord’S temple was laid—consider it:
19Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the
vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’”
Often
times another thing that stops people is a feeling of unworthiness. "God can only use "good"
people to make things happen. He could
never use me." Let's look at the
scripture above.
In the
first part God seems to agree. In
speaking of an unclean people God says "and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer
there is unclean." But look
what happens. "‘Consider now from this day
forward".
Did you
catch that? Consider now from this day
forward. There is a turning point, a
clear dividing line. There is a day that
we go from being unclean to clean in God's eyes. When is that day? It's the day that each of us accepts Jesus as
our Lord and Savior.
Why? Because Scripture tells us that we are washed
clean by the blood of Jesus. If that
sounds like religious gobbledy gook let me put it another way. Because at the point that we accept Jesus we
become one of the "good" guys in God's eyes.
Good not
from the standpoint that we will be perfect and never sin again because we know
that isn't true but good from the standpoint that we have chosen sides and we
are on God's side. Our heart is right
with God.
So the
first thing God has called us all to do is accept Jesus. Have you done that yet? If not then take a minute right now. Just say something like this. "Dear Lord, I can feel you calling
me. I can feel it in my heart. I'm not sure about all that you want but I
can feel you calling. I'm ready to
accept Jesus as my Savior. Jesus please
come into my life and guide me. And
whatever else you are calling me for God, I am ready. Please guide me in the direction you want me
to go. Amen!"
Once you have accepted Jesus there is no reason to feel unworthy. You have already crossed the "from this day forward" line!
Now what
was that second promise again?
9Is
the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and
the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will
bless you.’
Each and
every time that God calls, if you will answer the call, He will bless you. That's a promise that you can count on from
God!
