Approved Attitudes for Believers

Haggai 1:12-15
Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the LORD.” So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. NKJV

It is with much gratitude to God for His continued help through the year that was; I also pray for His continued guidance into this New Year. This is the year people will need to adopt a change of attitude in to receive God’s blessing and anointing. Allow me to reiterate that by God’s help we have been able to see growth in the church branches both in numbers and infrastructure, however all this is attributable to God only. Pastors are only but servants in these branch churches and God moved the people to start working in His house.

So much has been said about attitudes by psychologists, motivation speakers and other writers that I don’t need to belabour the point; it will be like whipping a dead horse. One day someone I quite highly esteem and respect told us that for any team to achieve good results, people must change their attitude. While addressing a team of professionals in security field he said that for something to be done well it takes ten percent expertise and ninety percent attitude. I found this quite interesting and I started to study some members of the team without their knowledge for a period of four months and in that short time I was able to actually see the difference in the performance of the five sets of employees I had picked doing the same job very differently.

One group of five had taken the manager’s word and changed their attitude and approach towards their tasks/work and they did their work almost to perfection while their counterparts who chose to ignore the manager’s word and instead decided to complain and murmur all the time. The performance was dismally short of what was expected of them, and this led to some disciplinary hearings and subsequent suspensions.

Through these observations I was able to clearly understand why God punished the children of Israel for their constant whining and complaining against God and Moses. The worst of such is found in Numbers 14:26-30 – And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who complain against Me? I have heard the complaints which the children of Israel make against Me. Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the LORD, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. NKJV

The attitude matters a lot in everything people do; however before the Lord can stir people’s spirit, they must first have the correct attitude and drive towards His Word and Work. People can’t take God’s Word casually and expect Him to move among them. The attitudes with which someone approaches the Word of God and Work matters a great deal. Their attitudes towards the house of God were reproved by Prophet Haggai because they had become complacent and they didn’t want any changes but they wanted to maintain status quo in their lives. It is important to note that these people chose to obey the word of God through prophet Haggai.

Initially these people were comfortable to let things be, they continued to decorate and rebuild their house and homes but none thought it necessary to replicate the same in the house of God. Anybody telling them otherwise could have been easily branded as busybodies, troublemakers and agitators but thank God for the two servants of God namely Zerubbabel the governor of Judah and Joshua the high priest of the time. They were the first to respond to the message brought by prophet Haggai; God moved their spirits and roused them out of the limbo they had lain for so long; disrupted the status quo they loved. He wanted them to start afresh but normally most people are not happy to have their daily routines interfered with.

The people in Jerusalem then had previously chosen to ignore the house of God. They competed in building and decorating their houses to suit their standards but nobody took interest in the house of God. I think this is an exact replica of what the situation is today. However, through these two capable leaders, God moved their Spirits and that of the people; which makes me believe that much change can be achieved if the people in leadership change their attitudes first; it is easier to influence change while leading by example.

If and when all leaders, both spiritual and political change their attitudes, it is easier for the people to change theirs as well.  When parents change their attitudes to issues the children follow suit effortlessly because people connect easily to what they tangibly see than what they are told or imagine. Part of the problem that existed then was partly attributable to the leaders of the time. I wish to dwell in the present status and not the previous; I want to talk about a people who had accepted the Word of the prophet and the spirit of God was moving powerfully amongst them. When the spirit flows among the people great things like reconstruction again, both physically and spiritually happens.

These people chose to obey the Word of God; they shifted their focus from self loving; self centeredness and all sorts of selfish behaviours to Godly focused. They turned and started to rebuild the house of God. When people change their focus from the self first to God first great things are achievable in all aspects of peoples’ lives. Blessings are received in plenty; this may sound very easy but I can assure you that must be accompanied with the correct attitude in the leadership.

To be able to correct such situations both spiritual and political leaders must stop blaming one another; people should take responsibility for their actions or inactions. Blame game must end here and now! No blaming the congregation by their leaders or the vice versa because everybody should participate accordingly. Blame games in the Church of Christ is a despicable thing to be happening, everybody has a role to play in building the body of Christ. The buck has to stop somewhere; the led and leaders must accept their responsibilities and roles. If and when things are not going on well it is improper to start blaming one another for things that are happening or that which are supposed to happen but don’t see the light of the day.

That, I implore all is the correct attitude to adopt this New Year. Accept correction positively when at fault and also encourage others to correct you as you correct them positively too. I am talking about both leaders and people who are willing to receive a new spirit this year and move forward to build the house of God both in spiritual and physical sense. Everyone is a leader in their own right so there should be no more finger pointing this time around as the leaders are also the led at different times; this really depends on which angle one looks  at it. The entire body of Christ needs to adopt a servant leadership whereby all are humble as Jesus Christ personally was.

Obedience to God’s word has no substitution whether one is in leadership or being led. When God speaks it is for reason, in the time of prophet Haggai it was about a people who had abandoned the house of God while concentrating on the building and beatifying their own habitation. This again is a true reflection of what is happening today where people seek every physical comfort for themselves and nobody gives a second thought to the houses where they receive spiritual comfort. This I believe is as a result of people being complacent about their spiritual status; the enemy is at work to make them neglect their spiritual reserves.

During times of war and subsequent captivity the people who remain behind are called the remnants; in this case they discovered that their situation was out of disobedience to the word of God. They knew very well that for them to continue in freedom they must turn to the Lord, there was no other means of escape for them. They needed to restore the house of worship to its glory, they needed to have an attitude shift otherwise they were doomed. The people in Jerusalem at the time knew the score if they didn’t change, therefore they obeyed the word of the Lord and started rebuilding the house of God.

The world today is held at ransom by Satan, people are held captives in their very own homes because their children have been rendered useless by consumption of hard drugs and alcohol just to name a few. Both parents walk around with their heads bowed asking where did we go wrong, what didn’t we give to our children? This situation is not pretty to look at or to be in at all. Both male and female children have been held captives by prostitution and sexual adventures on the internet; children remain glue to their screens and parents re none wiser. While this is happening parents call it development and yet they are just captives as in the physical war times.

Ordinarily people expect captivity when there has been war; but let me say this, the war is on and our adversary is the devil; he is constantly turning children against their parents and the vice versa but no one seems to understand this. They have abandoned the house of God to lay in dilapidated condition while we are expanding our own mansions all round. By them I am referring to all people including spiritual leaders, whose majority are after building palatial homes using money intended to help the orphans, the disabled, the aged and homeless or even the people ravaged by both natural and man made disasters, the list is endless. Such monies, diverted from the needy people can only bring disaster to the users. It might not happen upon the individual but has a potential to haunt their children and other dependants of such people; disobedience to the word is a costly affair my brethren.

Deuteronomy 30:2-6

and you return to the LORD your God and obey His voice, according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and with all your soul, that the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity, and have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where the LORD your God has scattered you. If any of you are driven out to the farthest parts under heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you. Then the LORD your God will bring you to the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul that you may live. NKJV

Sometimes I wonder what makes a normal human beings’ heart to stray away from the presence of God; but even when that happens, which quite likely, He says the He will bring you back. So in whatever sort of captivity that people find themselves into is a result of their disobedience and disregard to the Word of God, He faithfully says He has compassion to gather them back, piece by piece and return them to their rightful place before Him. It doesn’t matter how far one has been driven, how deep you have sunk; how much time you have lost while under whatever evil influence you find yourself in, He will restore you back to Himself.

Even leaders, both political and spiritual should obey the word of God in order to receive His spirit so that they can lead His people effectively. Whatever circumstances surrounding the captivity are irrelevant since God is ready to overlook all that if and when they willingly turn to Him for help. He says that you cannot be overcome by the same; God promises to return them at the right time and bring them back on track.

God claims responsibility for scattering people, whoever people don’t claim responsibility for pushing God to act that way. This has to happen before the relationship can bond; people must realize that He is always so merciful and forgiving that should be otherwise all human beings could burn in hell. He is never vindictive, He pours out grace and overlooks every wrong doing, and he accepts people as if nothing had ever happened. He is ready to bless those who return to their senses and start rebuilding, start showing concern for His word and house. The house of God is the place where each and everyone go for spiritual nourishment and comfort; it needs your attention too, just like your own house. It needs a fresh coat of paint; repair the floor, sinks and all like any other house we should come out and start planning about, include it in our budgets.

Job 1: 21

And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” NKJV

He so beautifully put it regarding striving for material gain but everything you do in the house of the Lord will be rewarded both on earth and in the everlasting life. People seek to accumulate all sorts of properties and abandon God’s word and house yet when they leave the will do so naked and empty handed, what a shame? People need to reflect on such and change their approach to issues that relate with God. By saying I am not advocating for laziness or discouraging people from achieving the lifetime goals, no, people need to hard.

We must have the approved attitude to achieve this standard, the attitude with which everyone thinks about the house of God before the think about their own; an attitude to listen, learn, read and share the word of God and not the politics of the day. A lot of time has been taken up by our concern about things that can perish any moment, this that cannot last a season and we have forgotten about the eternal things that we can take away when we leave this world.

James 1:11

For no sooner has the sun risen with a burning heat than it withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beautiful appearance perishes. So the rich man also will fade away in his pursuits. NKJV

Everything we strive to work for and indeed achieve is nothing if obedience to God is not willingly forthcoming. Grass and flowers look beautiful but fall off and perish when the sunshine falls on them. The rich man and the famous also fade away in the in pursuit for excellence. Obedience to the Word of God is the source of all blessing, progression and multiplication. Whenever people make conscious choice to follow what God has said to them through various servants, then their status changes from ordinary to extraordinary. The accomplishments of the obedient are notable and last longer as opposed to those who don’t whose pursuits fade away into oblivion.

In times of prophet Haggai, the people and their leaders realised the futility of seeking individual comfort and turned to concentrate on the house of the Lord as well. Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the LORD.” The Lord promises to be with everybody who is ready to move of their complacent attitude and start showing concern both in thought and deed for His house. The time is now and not tomorrow brethren to restore the house of God to above the former glory, the bible clearly say the present house should have more glory than the former.

Prayer:

Father in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, May you help me to change my attitude this coming year to suit your purposes. Give me a spirit that is suitable to follow you and give the same to my readers too.

They need to be moved to think about and love your house as they do theirs. Bless them as they return to you because your faithfulness fails not; for from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Lord I pray that you may bless all the people who have in past contributed in one way or another to make the ministry a success; those who gave their money, time, other tangible; intangibles and prayers.

May you remember them in the time of remembrance and may your perfect will be done upon their lives! Amen.

This Devotional was Written by Bishop Joseph Koburu Mukiira of Maximum Victory and Joy Worship Centre and Brought to you Courtesy of Journey 2 Joy International Ministries Inc. USA.