“Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24).
Beloved, you are not building upon the rock if you need a preacher to thunder at you to obey God. Or if you need a set of rules laid out for you. You don’t need a rule book, you need a passionate love for Jesus.
Did you know that Satan sometimes puts people in league together just to hinder your labors for God? They come together in an effort to discourage you or discount your ministry. But if you are on a divine mission — called to do a work for the Lord — no plot against you will work.
Nehemiah was called by God to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The work was progressing wonderfully when Satan stirred up a hornets’ nest to hinder it all. Four very prominent leaders joined in a plot “to do [Nehemiah] mischief” (see Nehemiah 6:2).
If you don’t deal with your doubts, you will be given over to a spirit of grumbling. You will live that way and die that way because your doubts cannot simply be suppressed. They must be pulled up by the roots!
Just three days after Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, they encountered a new test. They had been singing, shaking their tambourines and testifying to the power and strength of a mighty God. They were boasting that He was leading and protecting them — and then they arrived at Marah, which means “waters of bitterness.”
“Ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord” (James 1:6-7).
Many Christians sit in the house of God and murmur and complain, as if God doesn’t hear them. But God does hear our murmurings — accusations that He does not care for us, insinuations that He has let us down.
God warned me not to give voice to nagging doubts and fear — not to my wife or friends or colleagues. He said to take those doubts to Him and ask Him to heal my unbelief.
“They that carried us away required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalm 137:3-4).
The people of God were in the hardest place of their lifetime and as they were carried away, their captors required a song of them. Yet, all they felt was depression, despair and hopelessness.
Today people want to be everything but a servant. In fact, their pride is repelled by the idea of servanthood. A popular Scripture is, “Thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7).
What is Paul really saying here? He is explaining that a son who has been taught correctly knows he is legally the king’s heir with all the rights that accompany the position. But he loves his father so much that he chooses the role of a servant.
When you are shut in with God in prayer, the Holy Spirit will always lead you to God’s revealed Word. Christ is the living Word and He will build up your faith.
We are commanded:
“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. . . . Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. . . . And take . . . the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:11, 13, 17).
Most Christians do not listen to God. They go to Him to talk! Yet the Scriptures reveal that any person who was ever used of God learned to remain in His presence until he heard from Him.
Scripture makes it clear that the Lord wants to talk to every one of us. “And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left” (Isaiah 30:21).
“Praying through,” a term coined by the early Pentecostals, to some meant staying on your knees until you were assured that you had received an answer from God. To others it meant continually coming back to the Lord until you had the answer in hand. (This was also called “persevering in prayer.”)
As a young boy in early camp meetings, I heard people testify, “I’m going to lay hold of the horns of the altar and I won’t let go until God answers.” Yet, I don’t believe this is the truest meaning of “praying through.”
The Lord led me to read chapter two of Nehemiah and I saw something I had never seen before. This chapter contains an encouraging story for all who come to the Lord with a heavy heart.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia. This meant he tasted the wines before they were brought to the king’s table to be sure they weren’t poisoned. Over time, Nehemiah became a trusted servant to the king.