KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Thursday, September 27, 2018
Chapters: Nehemiah 6-7
Message: Christ’s Strength To Do His Work
Hello My Friend,
This has been a very challenging week for me, in fact, challenging few months, not only for me, but my family. It is as though the devil is trying to prove something while God is saying, “Have you considered my servant, perfect and an upright, one that fears God, and avoids evil?” I am paraphrasing here, but this is exactly what we deal with quite often as Christians. If he messed with Jesus he will mess with us. When it seems like we are getting one attack after another you can be sure that the devil is on some kind of bender trying to get us to forsake God, and let me tell you, sometimes he is good at it. You see, the devil has no problem with us believing in God or even accepting Christ as our Saviour, but if he can get a professing Christian to stop or hinder the work that God has called them to do then he has succeeded. How? From telling the Gospel to others. The trick is the afflict to the point of walking away from Christ all together, thus keeping others from getting saved. “If others be partakers of this power over you, are not we rather? Nevertheless we have not used this power; but suffer all things, lest we should hinder the gospel of Christ. Do ye not know that they which minister about holy things live of the things of the temple? and they which wait at the altar are partakers with the altar? Even so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel.” – I Corinthians 9:12-14.
I have to admit that the more affliction I face the more determined I am to keep going, yes, I have bad days when it is hard to get out there and I stay home, but Jesus is my strength, He gets me right back out there the next day. The devil will use anyone, and I mean anyone, to hinder a person from doing what God has called them to do. Nehemiah and his small group of people were determined to get the walls built around Jerusalem, but there was constant opposition, first they mocked them, then they used the weak in faith to cause a division among them, and now they are attempting to stop them all together.
“Now it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” – Nehemiah 6:1-3.
“I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down:” Four times they tried to get him to stop and come down. Sometimes I talk myself into thinking that it was me that actually hindered myself, but I do not think it really was me, I think that it may have been God Himself, He knew I was in no state to go out there, He knew I needed rest, and to renew my spirit. Or perhaps it was for me to witness to someone, like I witnessed to my cousin yesterday. Some may say hindrances is laziness or procrastination, but I believe that sometimes God’s timing is in our waiting, and during that time He is preparing our heart. Think about it, are we really productive in doing God’s work if our heart is not right. Take Moses for instance, he was forty when he realized his people were not being treated fairly by the Egyptians and accidentally killed a man, he ran, but it was not until forty years later that God was able to use him. You see, our heart is the key to being effective for the LORD, He knows when the time is right for us to be called, now, when we are called and do not answer, that is when we hinder God, and when He will use any means necessary to get us to answer. “Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.” – Galatians 5:7-8.
Perhaps the biggest tactic that devil uses to hinder us is fear, the afraid to do anything kind of fear, he loves to place fear in our minds, and ninety percent of the time it is fear that keeps us from moving forward. We can overcome the devil through the power of God and even if we become weak and fall, God will pick us back up. When Sanballat could not get Nehemiah to walk away, he tried to instill fear into him.
“Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God.” – Nehemiah 6:5-9,15-16.
“O God, strengthen my hands.” It is Jesus who gives us the strength to get up and do the things that we have to do. Doing the work of God can be tiring and make us weary, especially when we keep getting hammered by affliction and calamity, but we can get through it with Christ. Praise God! We must admit, we are going to mess up from time to time, but we have a strong God to strengthen us and get us back at it. Believe it or not, every time we mess up, God prepares us to be ready for any person or thing for the next attack. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” – I Peter 5:8-10.
Now, when the devil realizes he cannot hinder us from doing God’s work, the next trick before he leaves us alone for a while is to attack us when we are finished and relaxing a bit. The walls surrounding Jerusalem were completed in fifty-two days, the city was huge and still needed a lot of work, but very few people were in it. Armed guards stood at the only entrance into the city, the gates were open during the day, but once the gates were closed no one was allowed to go through unless their names were found written in the register book. The register book was the Jews only documentation that they were true Jews that came from Babylon, anyone not found written in the book was considered an impostor and denied entrance.
“Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed, That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many. And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house. Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded. And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,” – Nehemiah 7:1-5.
“that they might be reckoned by genealogy.” Genealogy is a little different when it comes to God’s people, they are the souls that are saved. The same way in which a person can enter through the gate in Jerusalem, is the same way a person can enter the Kingdom of God. Whether Jew or Gentile, we must have our names written in the Book of Life or we will not be able to enter. Many people will stand before Jesus when they die to get the shocking news that they are denied entrance through those gates because their names were not reckoned by Christ. It is not what we do that gets us to heaven, it is not a feeling that we are saved that gets us to heaven,
it is knowing Jesus Christ as our Saviour that does that. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” – Matthew 7:21-23.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” – Nehemiah 6:3.
Today’s Prayer: God, I understand that there are some things that You allow me to go through so that I can learn from my mistakes and be an example to others, but I truly want to live my life the way You want me to. Lord, keep my eyes, ears, and heart on You, and help me to let go of hindrances that keep me from completing the work You have given me to do. Help me to be aware of the dangers approaching and to listen for the truths You tell me and not the lies that others want me to believe. Let me be discerning, cordial to others, yet not listen to their vain or my own understanding, but Yours. Put Your hedge of protection around me and kick the devil to the curb, I am not going to let him intimate me by fear or any other way that can hinder me from doing what You call me to do. I ask these things in Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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