Nehemiah 4:1-14
As Nehemiah and the Jews were rebuilding the wall they faced opposition from Sanballat, Tobiah, and others. Nehemiah prayed and asked God to turn their insults back for the people worked extremely hard to rebuild the wall. When the wall was almost completed, they faced opposition and the people prayed to God every single day, while posting guard 24/7, to meet out this threat they were facing. Nehemiah as he is posting guards says to them “Don’t be afraid” because God is great and awesome and will fight for us.
In my ten years of ministry, including one year at GCC, I have experienced the power of God and His protection when faced with opposition. Sometimes when our leadership made a decision, there were some that opposed the decision, that gossiped about the leaders, and even left the church. These were certainly difficult moments within the ministry. Yet I remember our Pastor always stopping us when we were venting or upset. He would say let us pray and ask God to intervene. Let us ask God to put a hedge of protection around us. Let us ask God, if necessary, to remove the thorns that are attempting to disrupt what God has planned for the church. Every single time, the opposition somehow disappeared. They had their hearts softened (and they apologized later), they were forced to change because other members confronted them, or they simply left. One of the best advices I ever received by my loving dad about the ministry is to “keep your head down and keep running forward”. Sometimes that is what is necessary when we face trials or oppositions, keep working at it without focusing on the distractions.
We’re about to launch into a major project, launching a second service, and there may be some opposition and gossip that may stir around it. While we are unable to prevent these from happening, we must pray and ask God to intervene on our behalf. If we handle it our own way, it will always and most certainly end messy. The Lord is certainly had hand as to why we are transitioning to a second service and because it is God’s will, I know that God will protect us as long as we remain obedient to Him and His will. This doesn’t mean that we don’t do anything. We must continually, every single day, be in prayer and be on guard. If someone is gossiping or attempting to oppose the project, we must confront the problem head on before it is too late. Let us be on guard every single hour, asking God to put a hedge of protection around us in this crucial time of our ministry.
Proverbs 6
To free yourself from the snare of a neighbor or a stranger, we must be able to give it all we have to free ourselves just like a gazelle under the hand of the predator. Don’t give up when trying to overcome and keep going even to the point of exhaustion. Be like the ant that is consistently working hard and never giving up. Ants don’t have anyone telling them what to do yet on its own it is storing up ahead for the harvest.
God hates the following six things including the seventh which is the worst of them all: It begins with pride, a lying tongue, murder, heart devising wicked schemes, feet that rush to sin and evil, liar, and a scorner that sows discord in the church.
There is absolutely no reason for a man or woman to commit adultery. It makes no logic or sense. A thief stealing because he or she is hungry can be understandable but cheating on someone, that makes no sense. Therefore don’t let the lust in your heart lead or dissuade you from wrong decisions.