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A Prayer for When We Want Encouragement within the Religion
By Kyle Norman
“Be robust, O individuals of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I’m with you, declares the Lord of hosts, in response to the covenant that I made with you once you got here out of Egypt. My spirit stays with you. Concern not.” (Haggai 2:4-5)
There’s an historic story involving a baby and a well-known artist. The artist is sculpting a big lion from pure marble. The kid asks, “How did you do this?” to which the artist responds, “I have a look at the marble till the lion reveals itself, after which I chip away all the pieces that’s not the lion.” This can be a beautiful poetic reply – and it’s an awesome picture of what it means to work in pristine environments. Positive, when you’ve a superbly hewn marble slab – and all of the instruments needed at your disposal, you may chisel a wonderful lion.
However what if that isn’t the case? What if, as a substitute of a hewn marble slab, you’re left with rubble? What should you don’t have all of the pristine instruments earlier than you? May you chisel out the identical lion; might you chisel out a greater lion?
That was what Israel confronted. Haggai prophesies to a gaggle of people that have returned to Israel from the Exile to rebuild the temple. Solomon’s Temple, in all its grand opulence, had been destroyed over 60 years prior – and now they confronted the duty, amid opposition and hardship, of chiseling out a brand new temple from the rubble beneath. However they didn’t have the wonderful supplies as earlier than. They didn’t have the pristine instruments and the countless provide of gold and silver that adorned Solomon’s temple. And so, the individuals seemed on the process earlier than them and obtained discouraged. How might they ever do the duty that God was calling them to do?
Have you ever ever felt that? Have you ever ever felt discouraged in your religion, as should you have been missing all of the assets essential to dwell your religion in the best way that God is looking you?
Haggai reminds the those who the Spirit of God was with them; that God was empowering their efforts, and that the glory of the brand new temple would outweigh the glory of the outdated temple. So be robust, the Lord says, and work. How would possibly this be a phrase for us at this time?
To Israel and to us, Haggai’s phrases ring out. Be robust, all you individuals of the land, and work, for I’m with you. Haggai’s phrases are rooted in an audacious perception that renewal will happen. His phrases resounded with encouragement and a great hope. However this hope isn’t concerning the ease of the duty, not the duty earlier than them was nonetheless giant. However the individuals might transfer ahead in hope due to the fact of God’s presence. Though they felt like the duty earlier than them was insurmountable, the actual fact is, God was with them. “I’m with you, declares the Lord – That is what I covenanted with you once you got here out of Egypt. And my spirit stays with you. So don’t worry.”
And it’s as a result of we root ourselves within the presence of God we hear the decision “to work” to behave within the resolve that the power of God’s arm will likely be evident in our lives. After all, this isn’t about working for our personal salvation; this isn’t about incomes our place earlier than God. When God calls Israel to work, God is asking them to dwell out their hopefulness. They have been to incarnate the very renewal that they believed could be revealed.
If we absolutely imagine that we’re not completed and that God will deliver new life to us, then we aren’t simply to speak about this. We aren’t simply to make this a slogan to slap on ads; we’re to dwell out this actuality. We’re to dwell out the very renewal that we imagine is being led to by the Holy Spirit. That is the fact that lies behind all our lives. We aren’t alone. The facility of God is alive and shifting throughout us. And so, to us, to you, at this time God says, “My Spirit stays with you. Don’t worry.”
Let’s pray:
Gracious and loving Father,
Generally the decision of religion appears to loom giant earlier than me, and I worry that I lack the power or the power to maneuver ahead. There are occasions when my very own failings are all I can see, my sins stare at me, and I worry that I’m not ok to do what you ask me to do. However I hear your mild name that my life of religion is extra about your power than it’s mine. You name me to work, to not discover you, however to dwell with you. Gracious Lord, assist me to open my coronary heart to your presence. Assist me to depend on you.
Could you make the locations of my weak point the locations the place your glory is revealed and your love is made recognized. In your spirit could you dampen my fears and insecurities, could you embolden me to step ahead into the locations you name me to go. This I pray within the title of Jesus my Lord, amen.
Picture credit score: ©GettyImages/pcess609
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