Ask God What Your Circumstance Means
Sunday, December 1
Haggai 2:17-19 (NIV)
“I struck all the work of your hands with blight, mildew and hail, yet you did not return to me,’ declares the LORD. From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit. “’From this day on I will bless you.’”
Devoción
Before the resurrection of Jesus and subsequent day of Pentecost, most of God's people did not have the Holy Spirit indwelling to give clarity when they wondered about the meaning of their challenging circumstances. And in Haggai's day, most of Israel could not even read, much less have several copies of Scripture in their households and at their fingertips as we can. How rich we are, indeed, even when life throws us a few curve balls.
Yet, we are often tempted to fall into mechanical patterns of interpreting circumstances according to a few simple religious rules, rather than asking God to reveal His wisdom and will to us and searching Scripture diligently for the answer. This sets us up to be fooled, just as Joshua was fooled by the Gibeonites (Joshua 9) when he went by his natural faculties without praying for God to reveal wisdom and His will in his circumstance.
The coming year, 2025, will add challenges and opportunities to your current circumstances. Will you give up your simplified religious rules for interpreting events and making decisions? Will you ask God for wisdom regarding what He is doing in your challenges and what His will is for responding? Why not begin praying now, and pray throughout December for a revelation of God's will for you in 2025? What does God want you to do differently? What does He want you to stop doing? What does He want you to start doing?
Be listening in the Spirit, testing against Scripture, and focusing on how to serve Jesus better. Then when the fast comes in January, you can be asking for power and love to accomplish what the Holy Spirit shows you rather than recovering from the holidays like a deer in the headlights, wondering how to make the next trip around the sun better than the last one.
Oración de hoy
Querido Padre Celestial,
I confess I have too often put my mind over Your Holy Spirit, trying to figure out too many things by religious principles and rules rather than asking You and depending on Your Word in Scripture and guidance from the Holy Spirit. At the end of December, I'd like to be ready for the new year. Reveal Your will to me. Show me the sins I need to gain victory over. Show me the spiritual disciplines that will bear fruit in my life. Show me new callings and fields for ministry growth. Help me accept the pruning You have for me. In the Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Aplíquelo hoy mismo
Today’s devotion describes how we can seek God first and submit our plans to Him throughout the month of December. This month offers many distractions, both pleasant and unpleasant. But Jesus’ words endure: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you as well. (Matthew 6:33)
Recursos:
- Are you allowing the wind of the Holy Spirit to penetrate His wisdom and will within you? Are you listening to His still and small voice? Watch the message, “The Wind Of The Holy Spirit”, and build your faith to follow the Holy Spirit.
- Are you waiting on God, or is He waiting on you? Read John 3:6-8 and ask the Lord who He would have you minister to.