Hosanna Restoration Church

In the hearts of all who love God, I believe there is this recurring question of what do I need to do in order to get closer to God and to experience more of His presence and promises? We all go through times of giving up on finding the answer and sitting back and waiting for some great sign. We also go through times of wondering if we are in fact included in God’s plans. At times of discouragement, we may even go so far as to say we really don’t even care to find out. But none of these plans really satisfy, because in our hearts there is longing for more of God’s presence.

So what do we do? In this passage of scripture, God has declared that He is going to make them heirs of His blessings. These blessings begin with seeds of peace and prosperity being planted among them. Don’t you want God to plant seeds of peace and prosperity in your life? I have to say that there is room for more peace and prosperity in my life.

God tells them that He is going to make them a symbol and a source of blessing. Wouldn’t you love to be a source of blessing to others? Wouldn’t it be great to be a symbol of blessing; to be so blessed of God that people would see what God has done in your life and give God glory for it?

Then God tells them not to be afraid or discouraged, but instead to get on with the rebuilding of the temple. If we look at this on a personal level we can hear God telling us not to back up or get discouraged. He is telling to just stay on the path and expect Him to be true to His word. We just need to keep building.

My prayer for you and for myself is that we will see and experience more in 2004. Psalm 147:11 says that the Lord’s delight is in those who honor Him, who put their hope in His unfailing love. God loves it when we expect Him to be kind and good and loving.

So what is it that we must do? It seems that we really have a pretty easy assignment. We need to tell the truth and be just in our verdicts. We need to be loving and merciful just as God is loving and merciful. We need to love righteousness and hate unrighteousness. We need to love the sinner and hate the sin. This applies to our own lives as well as to the lives of others. For some, the hardest person to forgive is themselves.

Let’s make it our goal to be symbols and sources of the blessing of God. Let’s get on with the building of these temples of the Holy Spirit that we live in. Let’s stake our claim for more in 2004.