What is in your way

What is in your way?

When Sanballat heard...he became angry and greatly incensed. (Nehemiah 4:1) 

Nehemiah was given the task of rebuilding the wall.

Once we become born again God commissions us to rebuild our lives. We are to become a mighty fortress and refuge in Him for others to discover the goodness of God for themselves.

This task takes place throughout our lifetime.

In the process "many are the afflictions of the righteous" BUT The LORD delivers us out of them all. (Psalms 34:19)

We can learn a lot from Nehemiah's wall building task.

God's enemy and ours, will use every tactic possible to stop us from building our lives in Him. The names change from Nehemiah's time but the spirit undermining us in our endeavors still operates with the same M.O. (method of operation)

Sanballat was the governor of Samaria. A city well known for it's difficult people. Got any of those in your life?

Tactic #1: He used his anger and indignation to attack Nehemiah and his crew with words, intimidation and humiliation.

However, Nehemiah and the people continued to build working with all their heart.(4:6)

In the face of the Sanballat's in your life...what will be your work ethic?

Continue building with ALL your heart, soul and strength for God is with you.

"Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people." (Colossians 3:23)

Tactic #2: To thwart their progress Sanballat found others to plot together with him in order to stir up trouble against Nehemiah. Peer pressure.

They kept putting out "fake news" to try and discourage the builders, to tire them out with their continual harping using negative statements. (4:7-12)

Nehemiah looked things over and recognized where the attacks were coming from.

He considered the source and spoke to himself and his crew, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome! Keep fighting to build...do it for you, your family, your sons and your daughters. " (4:14)

Wise counsel for us today.

Our God IS AWESOME. Steel ourselves for the marathon ahead because we are building a fortress and a refuge for ourselves, our loved ones and others who will look to us for help in the future.

Accomplishing any large task is tiring.

Building a legacy, a life of value for God's kingdom and His purposes is HUGE.

There will always be pressures that will attempt to foster discouragement and taunt us with - the job is too big, it's impossible, it can never be finished and you have too many factors working against you. Sound familiar?

The only cure for fatigue and discouragement is focusing on God's purposes.

Remind yourself of:

His calling on your life
Your goals for the future.
God's protection that surrounds you, even in times of great difficulty and stresses.
Overwhelmed, tired and discouraged by the task in front of you?

"Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, He will come with vengeance, with divine retribution, He will come to save you.'" (Isaiah 35:3-4)

God's intention for you: the high honor of partnering with Him to advance His kingdom in the earth. He rewards His servants handsomely. In this life with His presence and in the next with...His glory!

Put your hand to the plow. Stop looking back to the naysayers and agitators. Keep on keepin' on in Jesus' name!

Today's challenge:
Look things over as Nehemiah did. Assess the situation looking through the lens of God's perspective.
Remind yourself you've undertaken the huge task to become a vessel of honor fit for the Master's use.
Realize what a privilege it is to work with God to advance His purposes in the earth today.
Determine to fortify yourself with how great God is and IF this is the enemies best shot to try and undermine your intention to build a legacy for His glory...well, he just messed with the wrong person.
Allow the fiery darts, the attacks, to fuel you rather than deflate you.

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