Have you ever thought that you work so hard but can never seem to get ahead? If so, this message is for you!
In the Book of Haggai, which is only two chapters long, we witness the prophet to the Jewish people admonishing them to see that their priorities were out of order and blessings were being held back because of their neglect and current condition of the House of God. A spirit of apathy (lack of interest, enthusiasm, feeling, emotion, excitement or concern) crept in among them and caused the people to forget about restoring their place of worship and instead they focused solely on their own dwelling places. These people lived in well maintained houses while the house of God laid in ruins: Haggai 1:3-11 KJV:
3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? 5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. 6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. 7 Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. 9 Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the Lord of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. 10 Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. 11 And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.
Consider your ways! No really…! Think about it. You get up early and go to a job with a systematic approach to perform your job duties and requirements. You collect your paycheck, pay your bills, take care of your children, your household, put something up for a rainy day, and maybe even treat yourself every now and again “IF” you have something left after all of your obligations have been met. By the time Monday rolls around you barely have enough gas money. Have you ever received some money and before you knew it, it was all gone? Does this sound familiar? Aren’t you tired of living from paycheck to paycheck? Here is a synopsis of the aforementioned conduct that the bible scriptures speaks about:
- You have sown much, but reap very little
- You eat, but it is not enough
- You drink, but you are not full
- You clothe yourselves, but are not warm
- You earn money, but it’s like putting it in a bag with holes in it
- You brought the money home, but God blew on it
These things speaks volume in the areas of un-fulfillment, lack, destitution, brokenness, poverty, non-productive, unsatisfied and most of all it speaks about a cycle or a negative repeated pattern known as a generational curse.
So what is the answer to annihilate this cycle of destitution? Your seed! But wait, where is your seed? Oftentimes I hear people say, I cannot afford to tithe, give an offering, etc. Or they will simply say, “I don’t have it.” These are all excuses and no truth is found in any of these statements. The problem is found in the priorities of the individual.
2 Corinthians 9:10 Amplified says, “And [God] Who provides seed for the sower and bread for the eating will also provide and multiply your [resources for] sowing and increase the fruits of your righteousness [which manifests itself in active goodness, kindness, and charity].
So you see for yourselves that a seed will always be provided to you from God and He will also multiply your resources for sowing, therefore we are never left without a seed for sowing!
So again I ask…Where is your seed? Haggai 2:18-19 NKJV says,
‘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: 19 Is 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.’”
Is your seed still in the barn? The “barn” can be your pocketbook, the grocery store, the mall, the boutique, Toys R Us, your bank account, your hairdresser, your heart, or wherever you choose to put your seed that has become first place over the building up of the Kingdom of God. You cannot expect a harvest if you have not planted anything. Lack does not yield increase; or more simply put in the words of my grandmother, “no deposit, no return.” You have to take the seed out of the barn and sow it in the ground if you expect to yield a harvest. While some may continue to say, “I can’t afford to sow,” others who are willing and obedient and those that are tired of the cycle of poverty are ready to redirect their finances, put their priorities in order and receive their harvest in abundance.
Last, please do not neglect your responsibility to the House of the Lord. Repent of being bound by the spirit of apathy; seek deliverance and ask the Lord for a stirring in your spirit concerning your church. He may be asking you to restore worship, the youth ministry, the men’s ministry, etc. Maybe the outreach ministry could use some restructuring. Whatever the need is in the church, become a yielded vessel that God can use to bring glory to Him. Your willing heart and obedience is the act of taking your seed out of the barn and sowing it in the ground. Sow with expectation! Expect a change in your finances, your marriage, your life, your children, your ministry, etc. when you decide to put God first in your life.
I pray that this message stirs up your spirit so that you can come into a greater victory by learning how to get your seed out of the barn and into the ground so that you can yield your harvest!
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