The people in Haggai’s time had a problem. They were working hard, but getting nowhere. The blessings of God were missing from their lives and God sent Haggai to help them understand why. Could their problem be ours as well? This is the time of year for evaluating priorities and setting goals for the coming year. Don’t forget to consider God’s priorities as you do. God had something to say to the people in Haggai’s day on that subject. Could a book written in 520 BC have a lot to say to us, too?

Merry Christmas,

I pray that you are enjoying a wonderful day rejoicing in the birth of our Savior! And I look forward to another year of growing in the grace and knowledge of our great God along with each of you in the coming year! Many blessings to each one of you!

Today’s Readings:

Haggai 1 & 2
Psalm 147.7-11
Proverbs 30.20
Revelation 15

10 Important Goals & Priorities for Christians

Haggai 1 & 2:

Wrong Priorities

The people in Haggai’s time had a problem. They were working hard, but getting nowhere. Chapter 1:

6 “ You have sown much, and bring in little;
You eat, but do not have enough;
You drink, but you are not filled with drink;
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
And he who earns wages,
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

The blessings of God were missing from their lives and God sent Haggai to help them understand why.

² “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”’”

³ Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴ “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” ⁵ Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!

Their priorities were all wrong.

Selfish Priorities

They were more concerned about their own homes and personal comfort than they were with the work of God. And it wasn’t working out so well for them!

⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! ⁸ Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. ⁹ “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. ¹¹ For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

Consider Your Ways

As we approach the New Year, how are “your ways”—your priorities? Are you interested in what God is interested in? Are you giving into the work of God? Do you tithe or just give God what is left over, if anything? What if you decided to take God at His Word this coming year and give Him the first fruits?

And what about your time priorities? Do you make time for church each week, do you take time to pray and read God’s Word, and do you have a plan to grow in your relationship with Him?

Here are some possible goals that each one of us might pray about as we “consider our ways.”

The 10 Most Important Goals & Priorities for Believers:

• Get Up Earlier

This can be challenging since many of us burn the candle at both ends but getting up a little earlier than we have to can make all the difference in how the rest of the day goes.

Have a quiet cup of coffee, read a chapter in the Bible, and talk to God about your day. Talking about Jesus, Mark said:

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed (Mk. 1.35).

• Get to Know God Better

Make it a priority to know God better through His Word in the coming year. If you have never read the Bible regularly and even if you have, find a plan and follow it. You can follow me here or find another Bible reading plan. But have a plan. It won’t just happen.

• Go Deeper

Study the Bible. Read it in context. Look up keywords. Purchase a good Bible study and work through it alone, with a friend, or in a group setting. You might start with my study on Colossians. It’s free and you can access it at your own pace. If you’re interested, you can start here: Introduction to Colossians.

• Talk to God Daily

Talk to Him about your worries and concerns, thank Him for His blessings, and praise Him for His character. Don’t let this be something you merely talk about. (If you’d like to purchase my eBook on prayer, there’s a link below. It’s a short read but can provide some helps to jumpstart your prayer life.)

• Confess Your Sins

Don’t allow your heart and mind to be weighed down with guilt, fear, and anxiety because of unconfessed sin (1 Jn. 1.9). Confess them to God and when necessary to others (Matt. 5.23-24).

• Repent & Repeat

Follow confession with a decision to go God’s way from that day forward. Pray for His help and step out in faith. You will fail at times. It may even feel as if you’re confessing and repenting over and over but if you do it with the right heart attitude, change will come. 

• Be Part of a Family

Biological families are important but even more important is being part of a spiritual family (Heb. 10.24-25). If you are not an active member of a good Bible-believing and practicing church, you are hindering your walk with God and your spiritual growth. It’s that simple and that important.

If you don’t believe me, meditate on the “one another” passages in the Bible. Here are just a few (Rom. 5.14; Gal. 5.13, 6.2; Eph. 5.19, 21; Col. 3.16; 1 Thess. 3.12; Heb. 3.13, 10.24-15; Jas. 5.16).

• Mentor & Be Mentored

No matter where you are in your walk with God, there is someone who can benefit from what you have learned. And each of us needs someone farther down the road of spiritual growth to help challenge us and hold us accountable.

• Rest in God

Meditate on the gospel and all that it means. It’s more than a one-time thing. The gospel should impact us every day of our Christian life.

The more we come to know Him, the more we practice confession and repentance, and the more we understand who we are in Christ and His love for us, the more we can rest in His sovereign control of our lives.

• Make God’s Number One Priority Yours

The Apostle Paul said he made it his goal, his priority goal, to please God (2 Cor. 5.9). Someone said if we please God, it doesn’t really matter who we displease. But if we displease God, it doesn’t matter who we please.

Your Goals & Priorities

So, what are your goals and priorities for the coming year? As followers of Christ, let’s make sure our priorities are God’s priorities and that our number one goal is to please Him (2 Cor. 5.9).

Today’s Other Readings:

Psalm 147.7-11:

Those Who Fear Him

The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy.

Do you “fear the Lord”—that is do you reverence Him as God? Do you take Him at His Word and have more concern about what He thinks rather than anything or anyone else? In what are you placing your hope? Is it your abilities? Your job? Your spouse? Or something else, rather than the Lord?

Proverbs 30.20:

An Adulterous Woman

This is the way of an adulterous woman. She eats and wipes her mouth, and says, ‘I have done no wickedness.’

Just as a woman can be seduced by an unscrupulous man, many a man has fallen into the trap of an adulterous, carnal woman.

Proverbs 7 says:

21 With her enticing speech she caused him to yield,
With her flattering lips she seduced him.
22 Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter,
Or as a fool to the correction of the stocks,
23 Till an arrow struck his liver.
As a bird hastens to the snare,
He did not know it would cost his life.

Ladies, we must be on our guard all the time and purpose to stay pure, in our thoughts and attitudes, and stay focused on God and His will for our lives (Gal. 5.16-17).

But we won’t stay pure in our outward actions if we don’t first choose to think about the right things and develop godly attitudes (Rom. 8.5-6). This is one more reason why it’s so important to take God’s Word in regularly and to spend time with Him in prayer.

Revelation 15:

Those Who Blaspheme God

The seven bowl judgments are about to be poured out on Satan and his followers, but even as they see the wrath of God, they will refuse to repent and, instead, will continue to blaspheme Him.

We sometimes see that on a smaller scale in the lives of those around us. Sometimes you watch people struggling with the consequences of sin and wonder what it will take for them to wake up and turn to God. But, instead of turning to Him, they shake their fists at Him, deny His existence, or go deeper into sin.

Coming Up:

In the next few days, we’ll talk about how to face tests and trials, the danger of believing lies, how the Bible is not 66 books, but one, and the importance of giving our best to God. I hope you’ll join us.

Get Ready for the Coming Year with a Plan for Your Bible Reading

Christmas has come and the new year will be on us before we know it. What will you do to make Bible reading an ongoing habit in the coming year? I want to encourage you to set a goal to read through the Bible. As I said in the introduction, if you join me, I’ll take you through a plan that covers both the Old and New Testaments in about 15 minutes a day. Sign up here for my daily email. It can serve as a gentle reminder to stay on track and I believe you’ll benefit from the additional background and application comments that I share. Start today so you can begin the habit and it will be a regular part of your day come January.

My Bible in a Year series will also be on YouTube this year. You can subscribe now and preview the first video here.

You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or Pinterest. Just click on the social media icons. But nothing replaces having the daily devotion pop up in your inbox each day. It, usually (occasionally life gets in the way), goes out at 6 a.m. MST.

Blessings as you grow in Christ,

Donna ♥

Note about this post:

I began blogging through the Bible in 2012 and have done so every year since then. These posts are the product of many edits and additions throughout those years. Some days I make major changes, other days fewer. 

I recently read Jen Wilkin’s book None Like Him about the attributes of God. One is His incomprehensibility. In it, she says, “God is incomprehensible. This does not mean that he is unknowable, but that he is unable to be fully known.”

I have found that to be true each year as I’ve gone back through the Bible. Sometimes I find myself feeling as if a passage just appeared there for the first time. I’m reminded that no matter how many times we read through the Bible, we have only scratched the surface. I hope you feel the same.

Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways,
And how small a whisper we hear of Him!
But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26.14)

Prayer for Busy Imperfect Pray-ers 

Do you ever struggle with prayer? Do you sometimes feel it’s just one more thing on your to-do list or that you don’t measure up in this area? Me, too, but these are some of the strategies that I’ve learned through the years that have helped me have a more consistent and meaningful prayer life.