The 40 Year Turnaround

Courtesy of fastandpray.com

Day 11 of "40 Days for 40 Years" 29 Days to Go

Haggai was written during a season when God's purposes were not being fulfilled in Israel. The nation had just come through a period of judgment known as the Babylonian Captivity, and was moving into restoration. The Medo-Persian king, Cyrus, had issued a decree allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. This account can be found in Ezra, chapters 1-3.

Because of opposition from neighboring peoples, however, work on the Temple stopped for 16 years (see Ezra 4:4-5). God then raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to bring a word of rebuke, correction and challenge to re-start the project. The Israelites were told that the reason for their lack of blessing and provision was because they had abandoned God's project for their own (see Haggai 1:1-11). They responded by repenting and renewing their efforts, thereby ending this 16 year delay.

Based upon their response, the prophet Haggai then gave a wonderful prophecy about how God was going to bless them and the project, ending the word with this great verse in Haggai 2:9: 'The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts, 'and in this place I will give peace,' declares the LORD of hosts'(NAS).

This is not just a promise for those Israelites, however, but is a timeless principle in God. His plan and desire is always that we go from glory to glory (see 2 Corinthians 3:18), faith to faith (see Romans 1:17) and that the latter is always greater than the former. Our redemptive and restorative God is ready to reverse the 40 year downward spiral of spiritual death in America and take us to levels of glory we've never before seen. That's what these 40 days are all about. It's what The Call is all about. Persevere! It's gonna be worth it.

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