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HELEN SANDERS
9-19-2025
CONSIDER YOUR WAYS
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Have you ever had a pocket with a hole in it? Things fall out and you may not realize it until it is too late. I have lost numerous things over the years because I did not know there was a hole in my pocket.
Haggai was a prophet whose personal life is unknown, yet he was used greatly by God. One of his famous words were “Consider your ways.” He was the first prophet that ministered to the remnant of Israel that returned from Babylonian captivity. Israel had been enslaved because of their sin for 70 years, and now they were coming back home. When they got there, they wanted to build their houses and take care of “their” things. Haggai said in 1:3-5 “Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, this people say, the time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built. Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled (roofed) houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”
They were preoccupied with their own problems, but they were not doing what they should spiritually. They were building their homes but neglecting to build the house of God. In verse 6 Haggai let them know why things were not going well for them. “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.” Again, in verse 7 he said the second time, “Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.”
When we do not do what God tells us to do and do not make it a priority, we can expect lack in our lives. We can expect that when we earn money what it says in verse 9 will come to pass where it says, “Ye looked for much, and lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow (blow it away). Why? Saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.”
There is a spiritual drought in many churches because of the lack of taking care of the church’s needs first. Many think that they cannot afford to give offerings and tithes, but we cannot afford not to. If God was concerned with his temple in the Old Testament, you can be sure that he is concerned with the Church in the New Testament. When I learned about tithing and taking care of God’s house first it made a remarkable difference in my life. When I took care of God, he took care of me.
If you are struggling trying to pay bills and rob from God what is his tithe you can be sure things will get worse. Many think the tithe was part of the law and it was done away with, but the tithe came long before the law. It is a principle that started with Abraham. You give God what is his and take care of his house and you can be sure that he will take care of you.
In Matthew 6:33 it says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added (not taken away) unto you.”
Does your pocket have a hole in it? Perhaps it is time to examine what you are doing with the money that was in it.
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