Day 189 - First Things First

📖Daily Reading

Haggai 

🎥 Video  

Join me on my morning walk as we rise and shine together by walking through the Bible daily and learn a practical applicable coaching nugget from the ultimate life coach - our creator (whatever that means to you). No judgement zone here, all are welcome, we are all on a spiritual journey because we are after all spiritual beings having a human experience.

 

📝 Reflection 

Haggai 1: 2-6

“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: The people are saying, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.’” Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai: “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!”

 

I was so energized this morning by Haggai, what a powerful book!  The phrase ‘first things first’ came to mind, this actually is part of a well known C. S. Lewis quote: “You can’t get second things by putting them first. You get second things only by putting first things first.” Or in other words “When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.”  

So Haggai comes on the scene, the people have been allowed to return to Judah and they are in the process of rebuilding Jerusalem. They decided on their own that it wasn’t time yet to build the Temple. Here we go again…I picture God smacking his forehead, saying; ‘Really?. I bring you back and all you are worried about is looking out for #1, which apparently is not me!!’

We are a hard headed, stubborn, fearful and prideful species aren’t we?

So He sends Haggai to remind them to put first things first. I love that he chooses the sons of leaders, Zerubbabel and Jeshua, to lead the people into obedience and to organize the people to rebuild the temple. It even says that “ the Lord sparked enthusiasm” or ‘stirred the spirit’ of the Zerubbable, son of Shealtiel governor and Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest and the whole remnant of God’s people.  When we are living from a fearful place we can get things backwards. We get busy doing, building, achieving and striving to meet our needs. When we start from a place of putting God first then a lot of our ‘needs’ we realize are just wants and desires. We also realize that all of our genuine needs are more than met and we become content, a lot of the desperation, anxiety, chasing just begins to melt away. 

That doesn’t mean we don’t still have dreams, desires and goals but we put them in their proper place, 2nd and then we actually have space to enjoy them. Enjoyment, contentment and satisfaction feels like abundance because it is. We might actually experience additional material abundance or we might not, we learn to love and appreciate what we have, this includes relationships as well. We enable ourselves to live from gratitude and freedom. Which paradoxically allows us to receive more with pleasure and with generosity. Let go to receive. Put your attention, time and focus on God and your spiritual development and the rest comes more easily. 

In chapter two verses 15- Look at what was happening to you before you lay the foundation of the Lord’s Temple. When you hoped for a twenty bushel crop, you harvested only ten. When you expected to draw fifty gallons from the winepress, you found only twenty…. When the foundation of the Lord’s Temple was laid. Think carefully. I am giving you a promise now while the seed is still in the barn. You have not yet harvested your grain, and your grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, and olive trees have not yet produced their crops. But form this day onward I will bless you.” 

✍🏼Daily Journal Prompt 

Are there 2nd things you are making first in your life? Give an example? How can you get things back in proper order?

📖Tomorrows Reading

Zechariah 

Coaching Opportunity

Let's make 2023 the year of YOU by laying a solid foundational mind set! The world needs what only you have to offer! Give yourself the best gift ever, the best version of you is ready to rise & shine!

Book your free📞Wake Up Call today to learn if this is what you have been waiting for!  

If you have stuck with me this far, then you are not reading this by accident, I believe God has a plan for you and is calling you forward!😉🤩

 

CONNECT WITH ME

Subscribe to Rise & Shine✨Together Daily Encouragement

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/felecia.b.holmes (personal)

Rise & Shine Together Private Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1093183278239989

You Tube: Rise & Shine Playlist