Prayer Journal

Friday, December 19, 2003

Men, have you ever reached into your pant's pocket to get something and are surprised to find nothing there? Immediately, you check your other pocket, but it's not there either. You try to remember where you last had the object. You're convinced that you placed the object in your pocket in your morning dressing routine but have no idea where it is. If you took it out, where did you leave it?

Later, you place some loose change in that pocket just to feel the coins running down your leg onto the ground beside you. You then realize that you probably lost what was in your pocket without knowing it. Like breadcrumbs falling to the ground behind you, you wonder if there is a trail behind you. I hate it when that happens. First, you don't know where to look for what you lost and too often you don't even know exactly what you put in your pocket, much less where to look for it.

The prophet Haggai noted the same phenomenon among God's people. The house of God was rundown and in disarray while the homes of the people were in great shape. God was not pleased with them and commanded them through Haggai to fix the problem. It's not that they needed to surrender everything to fix the temple, but they shouldn't ignore the need to maintain it either. They were wasting money that God wanted in circulation.

I've found another problem with having a pocket with a hole in it. It changes the way I do things. For example, I have to modify where I put things (in the other pocket) and I also have to remember to avoid putting something in there by habit. I not only stand to lose things with a hole in my pocket, but I have to adjust my lifestyle as well.

Is there something in your life that has captured your attention to the point you can't hear what God is trying to tell you? Are you throwing away things that would otherwise bless God's people? Are you misusing resources that God intends you give to his work? All these are valid questions, but there is one possibility you may not have considered.

Is it possible that God blessed you with something for the express purpose of giving to a particular person? But you don't do it even though God brings them to your mind often. Then, after a while you find that thing is no longer in your possession. You might have lost it, abused it or destroyed it. You might have even sold it to someone else with a hole in their pocket at a yard-sale for the grand sum of ten-cents. I wonder what eternal good that ten-cents earned you when God wanted the object given to someone in His Name?

I also wonder if this verse in Haggai is the inspiration behind the old saying, "Use it or lose it?

Just Thinkin'... WebServant

Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

Copyright © 1998-2003 James R. Green and Prayertower Ministries
All Rights Reserved

Prayertower
Past Devotions
Pray4me
PrayerRm

I'll pray today for...
* My spouse
* My children
* Their friends
* My friends
* My employer
* My city
* My country
* Civic leaders
* Schools
* Teachers

* The sick
* The lost
* Those in despair
* The hospitalized
* The grieving
* Widows
* Orphans

* My church
* My pastor
* Church leaders
* Other churches
* Persecuted church
* Missionaries
* Myself