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A Prayer for When We Want Encouragement within the Religion
By Kyle Norman
“Be sturdy, O folks of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I’m with you, declares the Lord of hosts, in accordance with the covenant that I made with you while you got here out of Egypt. My spirit stays with you. Worry not.” (Haggai 2:4-5)
There may be an historical 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 take a look at the marble till the lion reveals itself, after which I chip away every little thing that’s not the lion.” This can be a pretty 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’ll be able to chisel a high-quality 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 in case you don’t have all of the pristine instruments earlier than you? Might you chisel out the identical lion; may you chisel out a greater lion?
That was what Israel confronted. Haggai prophesies to a bunch 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 high-quality supplies as earlier than. They didn’t have the pristine instruments and the infinite provide of gold and silver that adorned Solomon’s temple. And so, the folks appeared on the process earlier than them and received discouraged. How may 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 in case you have been missing all of the assets essential to stay your religion in the best way that God is looking you?
Haggai reminds the folks that 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 previous temple. So be sturdy, the Lord says, and work. How would possibly this be a phrase for us at the moment?
To Israel and to us, Haggai’s phrases ring out. Be sturdy, all you folks 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 very good hope. However this hope isn’t in regards to the ease of the duty, not the duty earlier than them was nonetheless giant. However the folks may transfer ahead in hope due to the truth of God’s presence. Regardless that 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 while 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 energy of God’s arm shall 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 stay 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 accomplished and that God will carry 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 commercials; we’re to stay out this actuality. We’re to stay out the very renewal that we imagine is being led to by the Holy Spirit. That is the truth that lies behind all our lives. We aren’t alone. The ability of God is alive and shifting throughout us. And so, to us, to you, at the moment 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 flexibility or the energy 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 adequate to do what you ask me to do. However I hear your light name that my life of religion is extra about your energy than it’s mine. You name me to work, to not discover you, however to stay with you. Gracious Lord, assist me to open my coronary heart to your presence. Assist me to depend on you.
Might 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.
Photograph credit score: ©GettyImages/pcess609
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