In this season God is highlighting the book of Haggai. Many prophetic voices are echoing the word of the Lord: It’s time for the rebuilding of God’s house.
BUT! Do we really understand how to apply this word in our day? I have heard many prophetic voices speak this word accurately, but then misapply what it means: They apply it to some man-made agenda or false teaching or the misapplied “new thing” prophecy.
The time has come, not only for this word, but also to align the prophetic voices to the Lord’s true intent for this word! What does it mean to rebuild His house? We cannot simply apply it to any agenda that we believe the Lord might have for this season. We have to look at the definitions, analogies and teachings the New Testament gives for His house and then apply it correctly to these teachings.
“Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people say,
“The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”
Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!
“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.”
Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! 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.
“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. Therefore, the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 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.”
~ Haggai 1: 2-9
Consider Your Ways
God’s house, His true New Testament church made up of living stones, lies in ruins. He is calling us to the work of rebuilding it. The complaint in the book of Haggai was that everyone was dwelling in their own panelled houses, while God’s house lay in ruins.
We must consider our ways. To consider something means to deeply think about it. To contemplate it. We need to consider and ask ourselves: “Are we really busy building God’s house the way He wants it? Or, are we building our own little kingdoms, what we call God’s house, built on man-made systems and institutions? “
We will touch on some of the elements of God’s true New Testament house in the last section of this blog.
The Funnel of Cleansing and Purification
A few months ago, I had a dream about the book of Haggai. In the dream, I looked at a piece of paper. The paper was torn on both sides. It was wide at the top and narrowed towards the bottom. It looked like a funnel.
The Words Haggai 2 was written in bold on the piece of paper three times: top, middle and towards the bottom. Promises of God were written underneath each heading.
When I read Haggai 2 after I woke up, I discovered the following promise:
“The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts.
‘And in this place, I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
~ Haggai 2:9
If we are willing to obey and rebuild God’s house the way He wants it, He promises that He will fill His house with His glory and that His peace will rest on it.
The context of this verse is very important. Before God will fill this latter temple with His glory, He will first shake the nations:
“For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.
~ Haggai 2:6-7
Before the glory falls, everything will be shaken. This is where the FUNNEL features. The promises of God take us through the funnel. A funnel is wide at the top and extremely narrow at the bottom. In order to rebuild God’s house, we need to go through this funnel.
This speaks of a process of deep cleansing and purification. The narrow end of the funnel is PURE TRUTH where all human add-ons and mixed seed will be filtered out. God wants us to build His house exactly according to HIS blueprint and design. Before He can entrust anyone with this major responsibility, He will take us through the funnel (and the shaking), ensuring that the pure truth is cultivated in us first.
Going through the Funnel
Some time ago I had a very intense experience. I was busy praying for God’s house to be rebuilt and restored. The next moment I felt as if I was situated at the bottom end of a funnel, at the very narrow part. As I wanted to go through, I sensed the presence of an angelic messenger standing at the entrance of the last part of the funnel. The message I received was that I could not go through.
I asked God why I was not allowed to enter. In a vision, I saw that I had baggage. I saw a very small backpack on my back. It was preventing me from going through.
I wanted to take it off but I wasn’t able to. God showed me that it represented mindsets that I carried. These mindsets had roots and I saw that the roots of the backpack had grown into my brain.
Jesus then said to me that He is the only one able to remove it. I asked Him what these mindsets were and I repented as He revealed them to me.
After repenting, I felt my body being pushed through this narrow space. This went on for some time. Then I felt how I was pushed out on the other side! It felt like I was birthed into something new!
This message of the funnel is an extremely important one. As long as we hold on to ungodly and inaccurate mindsets and concepts, God will not allow us to be part of this promise: The promise of the rebuilding of His house and of being partakers of the glory of His latter house.
These mindsets can be so subtle that we are not even aware of them. Like the small backpack on my back that barely carried any weight. These are the very mindsets that will stop God’s house from being built among us and in the way He wants it.
We need to throw everything off and allow Him to take us through the narrow end of the funnel and cultivate PURE TRUTH in us. Do you have an open and teachable spirit?
Laying the Proper Foundation
The most crucial part of any building is the foundation. If the foundation is faulty in any way, it will cause much trouble and instability in the future.
“For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
~ 1 Cor 3: 9-11
A while ago God showed me in a vision that He is now busy laying proper foundations in the process of rebuilding His house. I saw each layer being laid with much care.
While the Ekklesia that I’m a part of were interceding for the laying of the foundations, we pondered on the physical process of how a foundation is laid.
Modern foundations are made out of concrete produced by a mixture of gravel and cement. The size of the gravel stones determines the strength of the concrete. Smaller gravel stones form stronger concrete. Gravel stones have to be under a certain size for them to be used in the foundation. If the stones are too large they will be thrown back into the crusher and crushed to the correct size.
The Lord revealed to us that this ties in with the concept of going through the funnel. If God is taking us through the funnel, to lay a proper foundation for His house, our self-regard needs to be the correct size.
A rock that is too large will not be able to fit through the funnel. God will take us back to the crusher to crush our pride so that we will be useful to Him in what He has called us to do. The crusher is the process of repentance through laying down fleshly mindsets and pride.
Back to the analogy: stones that are too hard to be crushed are thrown out. If we refuse to be crushed, God will not allow us to be part of the building of His house.
While we were praying, God also showed me a game of chess, in checkmate. I saw His Hands removing the pieces that are playing their own game and are not willing to submit and yield to His game plan.
We received confirmation of this word the following day, while we were at a conference. A man stood up and said that he heard a loud noise. The noise was the sound of foundations being laid. He saw people laying foundations and Jesus walking up to them with the building plans and asking them whether they were building according to His plans. This was such an amazing confirmation to us!
Elements of the Latter House
Please note that the following is only a summary of the main points. My husband plans to cover this topic in more detail in his booklet “The Household of GOD – Exploring the Vision of the Future City Church”, due to be released in March 2023. Make sure you are subscribed to this blog to not miss it.
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The New Testament City Church did not divide into denominations nor separated themselves by different names. It was simply known as ‘THE CHURCH’ in that city (1 Co 1:2, 2 Co 1:1, 1 Th 1:1, Rev 1:11). The house that the Lord is rebuilding for Himself is a united household with believers who refuse to be known by any name other than followers of Jesus Christ – the Church.
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They Gathered In Homes throughout the city (Rom 16:5, 1 Co 16:19, Col 4:15, Phm 1:2) and on occasion got together for bigger gatherings. But, all these smaller gatherings formed a greater network that functioned together for the benefit of all. They did not just see themselves as one body in the city theoretically. They shared resources and responsibilities practically in their daily lives (Act 6:1-3). They had shared elders, deacons and five-fold ministry equippers.
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Keeping the Unity of the Spirit Despite Differences was part of their value system. They allowed for differences of conviction and opinion on non-essential matters (Rom 14). They did not force their convictions on others nor made it a requirement for fellowship. Jesus Christ through the bond of the Holy Spirit was their basis of unity, not any doctrine or institution. They received one another, just as Christ received them (Rom 15:7).
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Thriving Under Persecution and Economic Instability was one of their distinguishing traits. It was an underground movement without easily recognisable buildings, large gatherings or easily restricted leadership structures. They also took care of one another economically and functioned under God’s supernatural love economy that was unaffected by earthly events (1 Cor 16:1–4; 2 Cor 8:1–9:15; Rom 15:14–32).
The accusation God brought against His people in Haggai 1: 2-9 was that they were spending their resources on themselves, instead of using it to build His house. In the New Testament, this means that we should invest our resources in helping to disciple believers, to spread the gospel and to develop and build God’s Kingdom on earth and not to build our own little empires.
There is much more that could be said on this topic, but I believe this gives a good overview. Remember to subscribe to be notified when the booklet is released.
I can almost hear some people say to themselves: “We know these things”. The question is not how well we know these things, but whether we are living them daily.
May the Lord rebuild His house that lies in ruins!
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