I will fight to preserve His glory in me and in the church

From: October 24-31, 2006 Study: # 467

TOPIC: “I will "fight to preserve His glory in me and in the church” Haggai 2:1-9 God allowed the nation of Israel to return to Jerusalem after having been prisoners in Babylon. While they were captive the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed, nothing was left standing and for this reason their spirits were discouraged. Nothing is easy or comfortable in this life if our strength leaves us. Our enthusiasm tends to leave when we are going through diverse trials. The spirit begins to feel discouraged according to the adversity we must live through. But, in life we have to go through a series of experiences for our faith to be tested. Bad experiences will arrive to discourage our spirit and to take away our strength. We live struggling in God’s grace as his people and being thankful for His kindness, His love and favor. We will grow, learn and strengthen. When we have to fight and struggle we live an active life where we cannot give ourselves the luxury to lose the strength and the courage. We sometimes think that we can take life lightly without having to face bad consequences. But, it is not this way; if we become careless nobody will be able to deliver us from affliction. God has given us promises and many of us neglect them, we don't receive them, we get evolved in the difficult situations of our daily lives and forget them. From here, we begin to forget them; we get more evolved in our circumstances. We stop living and taking advantage of God’s promises and of the exquisite things that He has for us as His people. There are many things that are necessary for us to do, there are promises that we must receive. But in order to receive them we must be well prepared. Time that we don't take with value and faith is time wasted, time that will not be known to us. Beloved, the times began to pass by for you and for me and the train we must get on is about to arrive. Mathew 25:1-4 The five wise virgins had filled their lamps with oil, but the other five did not. All of them became sleepy, but the five senseless virgins didn't have time to buy their oil and to leave with the groom. We sometimes think that we can make crazy decisions and that we won't have to face consequences, but we will have to face them, we live this life so vain as if God was hidden, but God is present listening. He doesn't hide, but we do. Open your eyes, be careful! We must not continue to pass the time in the silly things of this life because then we will begin to decay spiritually. We should not play games dangerously in God’s path. God is doing many things among us in these times. If our lamps are not filled with oil when there are so many situations that we must go through in our lives, we will have terrible consequences. We should always have our lamps filled with oil even when the worst storm strikes. There are good things, special things that come from God for all those who are standing where they must stand in God’s precise time and if we aren’t we will lose the blessing. It is he easy for our bodies to doubt, it gets tired and if this happens we will not be able to do what we need to do. We are people who have been chosen by God to do great things, miraculous things. But, sometimes our bodies get used to seeing God’s greatness as something natural. We should walk according to what God has requested and demands from us. What we have is because God has given it to us. If we walk for human things, for earthly things we will not get anywhere. But if our conviction is that God is the one

who does and will continue working and that nobody can stop Him, then He will continue working in us until the end of our lives. He will be pleased with our faith. Mark 2:5 Mathew 15:28 According to Haggai 2:1-9 they were rebuilding the temple, there were no funds because Nehemiah who had helped once was no longer there. For this reason the temple was rebuilt with what they had. The people didn't like to wait, before captivity they had the glory of Solomon’s temple, a temple with lots of gold and silver, extremely exquisite and splendorous. Those people were not willing to wait for the rebuilding of the temple. In many occasions God has to break our thoughts, will and desires to form us correctly, because we are vessels of mud in His hands and He is the great potter. Jeremiah 18:6 They became discouraged as they rebuilt. Everything that we’re expecting becomes desperation, but each day we need to continue working with all our strength even in the midst of our tiredness. God has been rebuilding in our entire life. It would be good if everything was handed to us without doing anything. But if we want to see the glory of Jehovah we will work for it and make sure it will never leave us. Nothing is easy. We can demand and pretend to know how things should be done, but those who work harder can see more and achieve more as God has expected. The Church of the Lord is to see His glory and not to be anyone’s carpet. We all have to struggle to preserve His glory so that the moment of the blessing will be completed. We must wait patiently for what God wants. For many years we have been rebuilding till this day to become His nation. We must strive and have no fear. We should be thankful because He has called us to show us His glory. Romans 8:28 God called us among millions of people so that we can enjoy his glory. We must not fear in times of adversity. There is no need to fear but to make an effort so that this glory will become greater. The glory that Jehovah wants to bring is greater than the last year. As soon as we open our eyes we will see and understand. The evilness of Hell wants to intervene in the holy things so that the glory of God will not descend and steal our faith and joy. But, the more we know the times the harder we will work. God was rebuilding because there was idolatry among the people. He has been doing the same with us. After all, our enemies will have to flee. What is not rebuilt in Mega Zoe cannot remain in Mega Zoe because some love the world more than they love God. We have sustained the promises that God has given us. We have walked a long road where we have lost many things, but we have not stopped. There is a great glory that must be reached, seen and touched forever. The greater the circumstances we live the greater His glory becomes and the more we will see His power. The enemy doesn't want a holy and compassionate church to stand, or to be rebuilt, but our hope and the fullness that God has for us is in the Church. Our time has come! One day the Desired of the Nations will come and that day we will go with Him. He will govern for a thousand years, He will come riding a horse and we will be with Him. God wants to bless our lives in everything. When the glory of God is upon His house there is a lot of well-being. The last glory of this house will be greater than the first one and He will give us peace. The devil doesn't want us to live in peace, but the peace of God is engaged for His house and for the nation that seeks him. That peace leads us through the doors to enjoy His glory. There is a nation with blessings and peace; it is the glory of God for these days. Amen.