Gap Standers Intercessors Network (GSIN)

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Monday & Thursday Fasting Times: 12am - 6pm (Your Time Zone)

New to Prayer & Fasting?  If you're new to prayer & fasting, see links below on fasting, partial fasting ideas, and please seek medical advice before fasting.

Fast Type: Liquids only, Absolute/Dry Fast, or Daniel Fast (You Choose)

Liquids Only Ideas: Smoothies, Meal Replacement drinks, Protein drinks, Broth liquids, and drink lots of water. 

Dry or Absolute Fast: Drink no liquids and eat no food.

Daniel Fast: Fruits, Vegetables, and Water (No meats, sweets, dairy)

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Disclaimer:  Before fasting, seek the advice of a physician or other qualified health provider with any questions about your medical condition before fasting

Haggai 1:5 (NKJV) - "Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways!" 

Haggai 1:5 (NIV) -  "Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways."

The essence of the message from Prophet Haggai was all their efforts were getting them nowhere. They plant but reap no harvest, they drink but remain thirsty, they put on clothes but are still cold. What they were doing was not working.

If things in your life are not working, then it’s time to consider your ways.

Haggai was sent to these people to help get their priorities back in line with what’s pleasing to God. We read that these people had begun to drift away from God, and they lived with misplaced priorities. Nothing or no one in our lives should take the place of God! We must keep 'first things first', and seeking God and His ways should always be our first priority!

If there are things not working in our lives the way they should be working according to the Word of God, then remember, there is nothing wrong with God’s Word, there’s nothing wrong with God… we must look within and consider our ways!

In the book of Haggai, the Temple had been destroyed by the Babylonian empire seventy years earlier and God had charged the people with the task of rebuilding the Temple. But they kept putting it off. Instead, they built their own good houses, and they left the house of God in ruin, even though He had given them the assignment, "rebuild the Temple.”

They kept saying, “It’s not time.” They went about pursuing their own dreams, their own desires, and their own wants, and neglected the house of God.

Haggai’s message to the people was put first things first. For the Temple to lie in ruins was not only an indication that they were prone to procrastination, but it also indicated a neglect in worshiping God.

I’ve discovered and observed over the years that when you get sloppy in some things, you also tend to get sloppy in your relationship with God as well. If you get sloppy in the mundane things, the things you do every day, then you usually get sloppy in your relationship with God.

They got sloppy and it surfaced in their relationship with God. In 1 Corinthians 10:11-12 from the MESSAGE Translation the Apostle Paul writes about stories from the Old Testament saying, “These are all warning markers—danger… written down so that we don’t repeat their mistakes.” The reason that we have this account in the book of Haggai is for our benefit. Why? So that we don’t repeat their mistakes.

I want to give you 5 principles I’ve learned from reading the book of Haggai:

1. Stop making excuses for not putting first things first.

2. Stop being selfish thinking only of your wants and your desires.

3. Take a good look of where you have put the things of God in your list of priorities.

4. Stop being the reason that your blessings are being blocked.

5. Let God hold the highest place in your life now and forever.

It’s time to put 'first things first' and receive the maximum and highest level of God’s best.

So, whatever happened to the people in Haggai? They eventually followed God’s instructions as they were given by Haggai as chapter 1 verse 14 reveals, “…they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.”

And now, look at the results in Haggai 2:19 where God says, “…from this day will I bless you.”

The words from the prophet stirred them up to action. And as a result, they received the blessing of God.

I’m asking you now, consider your ways. Don’t make excuses. Now is the time to seek God and put His ways first.

Jesus instructs you to, “Seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness, His way of doing and being right…” (Matthew 6:33 AMPC). I’ve said it like this many times before, when you do “His way of doing things,” then you’ll also get “His kind of results.” Put God and His way of doing things first in your life and step into the maximum and highest level attainable.

Source: Excerpts from Jerry Savelle Devotional, What We Do First, April 1, 2023