We have previously seen that although we know God’s will, we still need to pray for it. We must continuously stand firm in faith. Some of us have fair-weather faith that works well when things go well. The Lord wants us to have a faith that endures and trusts in God through even most difficult circumstances.
When God gives a vision to someone or a group it is not always plain sailing e.g. did the Israelites just walk in and conquer Canaan? No they had to fight each step of the way.
The God-given vision for your fellowship will require you to fight to bring it to pass.
Just because your church vision is from God it will not happen without input from you!
Let us look at the life of Nehemiah to see what it takes to fulfil his God-given vision. God has sent Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and restore the city. But Satan raised up severe opposition to prevent the rebuilding of the city. The book of Nehemiah offers an excellent insight into Satan’s tactics against God’s people.
The book of Nehemiah: a summary in brief
Chapter 1; Nehemiah is in captivity in Babylon. He prayed and repented quoting Deuteronomy 30 for the restoration of the Jews to Israel.
Chapter 2; Obtains favour with the King and sets out to form a rescue plan.
Chapter 3; He organized people in families to rebuild Jerusalem in sections.
Chapter 4; We can learn how to watch out for the devil’s tactics and how Nehemiah responds each time.
Chapter 5; Nehemiah sorts out the internal problems amongst Jews.
Chapter 6: 1-8; Their enemies using a range of tactics continue to try and stop the Jews.
Verses 9-19:
Verse 9; Nehemiah offers specific prayers
Verse 10-13; Shemaiah was hired as a false prophet to frighten Nehemiah
Verse 14; Nehemiah prays again
Verse 15; The wall of Jerusalem is now half finished
Verse 17-19; Tobiah pulls strings to try to frighten Nehemiah by sending threatening letters.
Satan still uses the very same tactics to frighten God’s people as they fulfil
their vision from God. So watch of for these dirty tricks and use the weapons that Nehemiah used successfully (NB prayer).
We have been called to build up God’s people. Let us pray and act and be totally dependent on God as the enemy tries to thwart your vision or your church’s vision from God.
Amen
Prayer