Give It Back

Do you want to have a little fun today?!  Let's do a GIVEAWAY!  I have a copy of Nora King's book  
30 Days to a Better Prayer Life to give away.  

In the past couple of posts, we have looked at the book of Nehemiah and in those posts, prayer has been mentioned as a vital part of rebuilding.  You can click below to read the last two posts if you missed them. 

Build with a Sword by Your Side 

Sound Your Trumpet 

In Nora King's book, she outlines key principles of prayer.  It is an amazing book every believer should have in their book library.  To enter to win, you just have to "like"  the "Living Free in Him" fan page on facebook, leave a comment, or share this post.  You have until midnight Friday night to enter to win!

Now we will continue with Nehemiah...Chapter 5

For about seventy years, the Israelites were held in captivity by the Babylonians who invaded Jerusalem in 597 BC.   They were held in bondage by their foreign enemy.

Now, let's fast forward to Nehemiah's time (444 BC).  The Isrealites had been freed from the bondage of the Babylonians since 536 BC, which means they had been free from foreign captivity for about 90 years.

Can you imagine the outrage when Nehemiah (who was still a servant in the King of Persia's home) discovered there were Jews being enslaved by fellow Jews, their own brethren?  In Chapter 5, that is exactly what Nehemiah discovers. 

Before Nehemiah had arrived to Judah, an economic crisis had struck their land.  A famine coupled with the need to pay high taxes forced many of the Israelites to sell everything they owned including land, homes, and even members of their own family to be slaves.

They told Nehemiah:

"We are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards."  Neh 5:5

We are like the Israelites.  We have already been made free by the blood of Jesus.  We were once captive and a slave to sin, but as children of God, we are free!  Yet, many of us are in bondage for a variety of reasons.

Why are we enslaved?  Sin may be coerced us back into bondage.  Lies of unworthiness often keep chains on God's precious daughters.

Two things are certain...YOU ARE  FREE and IT IS NOT IN YOUR POWER TO REDEEM YOURSELF.    Only Jesus can redeem us and He already has.  We need only to receive Him.

Just as Nehemiah was offended at the oppression of His fellow brethren, Jesus is grieved and righteously indignant by the oppression of His people.  

Nehemiah pleaded with his brethren to "Please stop this usury!"

"Restore now to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also a hundredth of the money and the grain, the new wine,and the oil, that you have charged them. "  Nehemiah 5:8-11

As the Israelites had to restore to their brethren that which was rightfully theirs, our enemy has to give us back everything he has stolen from us!  He has no right to keep you in bondage or take what is yours.
Demand him to give it back to you (In Jesus' Name).  You belong to God.  He paid for you with the precious blood of Jesus.  The enemy has no right to anything that is yours.   You are God's daughter.

 No, it is not in our power to redeem ourselves.  But, thankfully we don't have to repay.  We never could.  The Lord says, "Restore! Give it back!"  And His Word is final.

"You are free!  If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed."  John 8:36



 

Sound Your Trumpet

"And them I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, 'The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.'"  Nehemiah 4:19

Yes, we are still in Nehemiah.  Oh, what a great book this is!   


Building is hard work.  Whether it is rebuilding the broken areas of your life or building the Kingdom of God, it takes work.

I know from personal experience rebuilding brokenness is something no one else can do for you.  Others can pray for you and perhaps counsel you, but only you and God can actually do the rebuilding.  The work can be great and extensive. 

As Christians, we are separated and spread out around the globe.  Missionaries in particular may go extended periods of time without fellowship with other strong believers.  In America, most of us have the privilege of interacting with other Christians on a regular bases, but even we are separated at times doing the work of the Lord.
 
In the next verse, an answer is provided for those who have been engaged in the exhausted work of rebuilding brokenness or busy in building the Kingdom of God.

"Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there, Our God will fight for us." Nehemiah 4: 20

Sound your trumpet.  Rally around others and ask for prayer.  Don't stay isolated, get with other believers who will stand in prayer with you.  Then, believe your almighty, ever-present, all-loving, all-knowing, never failing, always faithful God will fight for you!   

Sometimes when we are going through a difficult time, we pray and we pray and we fight and we fight.  I'm not saying we shouldn't pray and that we shouldn't use the Word of God as our weapon of warfare.  But, what I am saying is that it isn't up to us.  God is our defender. 

"The battle is not yours, but God's"  2 Chronicles 20:15

He will fight for us.  Surrender the battle to Him and He never fails.

"Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle." Psalms 24:8

Do you have a battle you have been fighting? A marriage issue?  A financial crisis? A hidden sin?  An area of bondage?

Sound your trumpet!  Rally and ask others to pray.   Give the battle to Him.  He is always victorious! 

If you would like me to  pray for you, I'd love to be someone who could rally around you in prayer.  Please feel free to contact me via email or facebook, I'd love to pray for you. 

Build with a Sword by Your Side

We have been adventuring through the book of Nehemiah discovering some powerful truths tucked away in this obscure book. 

In case you missed any of the previous posts on Nehemiah, here are the links:

Grab a Brick and a Bible

You Have No Right

One Man

Identifying the Lie

In "Identifying the Lie", we discussed the importance of recognizing when your enemy is trying to discourage you and beat you down.  Satan would like nothing better than for you to give up and stop rebuilding.  His whole agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy. 

When we are going through a battle, we need reinforcements.  We need others to stand up behind us and beside us and lift us up in prayer. When the enemy of the Israelites came and threatened to kill the Israelites to cause their work to cease, Nehemiah sent in reinforcements.

"And our adversaries said, 'They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause their work to cease.'" Nehemiah 4:11

"Therefore, I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings, and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows."  Nehemiah 4:13

Our reinforcements are the people who stand with us in prayer, who help us and are strong for us when we are weak.

When you are doing the Lord's work or making spiritual gains in overcoming past bondages, the enemy will come to discourage your efforts and will attack at times to shaken your resolve.  Not everything is a spiritual attack, but it is good to keep your armor on and be ready.

In Ephesians 6:11-13, God has instructed us to...

"Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle with flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, and against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand." 

In the next verses, 14-17 of Ephesians, the Lord explains the armor of God in detail.  I encourage you to go to the passage and read it all.   For lengths sake, I will mention only one- "the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God."  We must have our swords to fight our enemy.  The power of God's Word will defeat the enemy. 

Now, back to Nehemiah...when we left the Israelites.in verse 13, the enemies were coming and the Israelites were prepared for battle with reinforcements and their swords by their sides. 

Let's see what happened...

"And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work."  Nehemiah 4:15

Again the enemies left!  Sandballet and Tobiah left in Chapter 2 when Nehemiah spoke truth and again the enemies left here when they saw they were prepared to fight!  The enemy prefers an easy target.  When he sees you are armed with the armor of God and the Sword of the Spirit, he may just leave.  If not, swing the Sword by speaking the Word of God and then he will!

"So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah.  Those who build on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction and with the other held a weapon."  Nehemiah 4:16-17

Everyday we MUST have on the whole armor of God.  Everyday.  Aren't we always in the process of building?  Everyday that we are building and becoming all that God intended for us to be, we need to carry our Sword.  We need to have our weapons of our warfare ready for battle so when it comes, we will not falter. 

Work with the Lord to rebuild and restore the brokenness in your life.  But, build with a sword by your side. 


Suggested reading:  Nehemiah Chapter 4 and Ephesians 6: 11-17

Identifying the Lie

Nehemiah is a book full of wisdom and practical Biblical truths!  It is a hidden gem in that I just discovered it!  It was always there, but I never saw it before a couple weeks ago!  Discovering new truths in God's Word is living pouring pure water onto dry soil...so refreshing and invigorating!

So far we have looked at Chapters 1 - 3 in the previous posts...

Grab and Brick and a Bible

You Have No Right

One Man

So, now we are on Chapter 4.

In Chapter 4, Sanballat and Tobiah return.

"But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews."  Nehemiah 4:1

Whenever we are doing the Lord's work, there will be demonic forces that strive to dishearten the laborers and belittle the work being done.  Sanballat and Tobiah represent those demonic forces.

Tobiah joined in the mockery saying, "'Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall.'"  Nehemiah 4:3

In whatever kind of ministry you are doing, whether it is at home with your children, at church, in the community or mission field, forces will be at work to discourage your resolve.  These forces whisper doubts of your effectiveness.  We must identify these whispers as lies.

Also, as we rebuild what the enemy has broken in our lives, he will lie to us in an attempt to make us think that it is no use.  The enemy (Satan) will try to coerce us into believing we will always be broken or so weak that if something little (like a fox) comes along, it will tear us down.

This lie is not the truth! 

"Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world."  "Whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith." (1 John 4:4, 5:4) This is the truth--we are overcomers and victorious in Him. 

"Now it happened, when Sanballat and Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion." Nehemiah 4:7

When the gaps in our walls are being restored and closing in towards wholeness, we need to be alert and on guard for spiritual attack.

"Nevertheless we made our prayer to God, and because of them we set a watch against them day and night." Nehemiah 4:9

Pray and watch for spiritual attack. 

While the Israelites were rebuilding, they also kept watch for attack.

"Then Judah said, 'The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall.'  And our adversaries said, 'They will neither know nor see anything, till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease.'' Nehemiah 4: 10  

The enemy will wait until you are exhausted and beaten down to attack.  He knows it is easier to defeat you at those times.  There have been times in my life when the "rubbish" seemed overwhelming.  I needed so much work to rebuild that it was discouraging.  I grew tired of rebuilding. The enemy would lie to me and tell me I would never be whole.  I could have given up, except one promise kept me building.

"Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ."  Philippians 1:6

The Lord will complete what He started.  He will rebuild the broken areas of your life.  You have to work with Him, but He has promised it will be rebuilt!  Don't listen to the lies of the enemy.  Satan would like nothing better than for you to remain broken and defeated.  God wants to rebuild you so you are healthy, whole and strong.

Chapter 4 of Nehemiah is filled with riches.  We will continue with the rest of Chapter 4 next time.  

One Man

In the last two posts, I have been journeying through the book of Nehemiah.  In case you are just joining in the fun, here are the links for first two posts.

Grab a Brick and a Bible

You Have No Right

The Holy Spirit desires to rebuild the broken areas of your life.  There will be Sanballats and Tobiahs in your life who will try to discourage you.  Many times, our thoughts can be that discouraging voice.  Be mindful of your thoughts.  Do they line up with what the Lord has said to you?

Just today those thoughts came in an attempt to discourage me. Then, I remembered the post and what I wrote about and I know those discouraging thoughts are not from the Lord.

I am standing on the Word of the Lord.  His Holy Spirit is helping me rebuild and I will arise and build!  The Word of the Lord will be accomplished.

If you remember, in the last post "You Have No Right", Nehemiah had just finished telling Sanballat and Tobiah that they had no right to Jerusalem, so in other words, "Shut it!"  That was at the end of Chapter 2.

Moving on to Chapter 3, I noticed that Sanballat and Tobiah were nowhere to be found.  They are not mentioned again until Chapter 4 and there it says that "when they heard that we were rebuilding the wall", which tells me they left.  The enemy will leave when you speak the truth.  He may return again, but he has to leave at that time! 

Now Chapter 3 is all about rebuilding the wall.  At first glance it appears to be a lengthy list of people who helped build the wall.  It could be easy to just skip over it and not pay much attention to Chapter 3.  I know when reading through parts of the Old Testiment it is tempting to skip over lists of people (like the "begats" lists), but it is all in there for a purpose.

What do I see when I read Chapter 3?  Well, first of all I notice that there were a multitude of people who helped with rebuilding the wall.  In addition, all the materials they needed to rebuild were already there. What does this mean?  To me, it means that these people were there all along and they could have rebuilt the city at any time. They were already in Jerusalem.  Why did it take over ten years for them to decide to rebuild?

To me this indicates how one person, Nehemiah, can make a difference.  It took Nehemiah going to Jerusalem and inspiring the Israelites to rebuild in order for the walls and gates to be rebuilt.  One man made a difference with his belief and enthusiasm.

The other factual nugget revealed in Chapter 3 is that the Lord will bring the right people with the right skills and materials to accomplish His will and plan.  The list of people who helped with the wall is remarkable.  It appears that the whole city came out to help, given all the names listed.

Do you realize that the city walls and gates that had for all practical purposes been destroyed for one hundred and fifty years were rebuilt in fifty-two days!  And it all transpired with the inspiration of one man who listened to the voice of the Lord and inflamed enthusiasm in a nation! 

Wow!  Nothing is impossible with God.  We need to always remember how one person can truly make a difference in others, their nation, and the world!

And that, my friends is Chapter 3...isn't Nehemiah a hidden treasure?!  Chapter 4 is good too!  I will be discussing Chapter 4 next time.  {smile}

"Let us rise up and build" Then they set their hands to do this good work.  Nehemiah 2:18b

"Let us rise up and build"!!  

You Have No Right

In the last post Grab and Brick and a Bible I began discussing the book Nehemiah.  I am falling in love with this book in the Bible!  There are so many jewels here.  Last week I didn't even know where this book was in the Bible!  Oh, how God's Word is surprising!

In Chapter 2 of Nehemiah, Nehemiah is going back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls and gates that were destroyed.  I did a little history checking and below is a timeline as to when all this happened as far as I can discern.  This is all fascinating to me and I hope it is to you as well! 

597 BC- King Nebuchadnezzar (King of Babylon or Persia) invades Jerusalem, destroys the city and Temple and takes the Jews captive (including Daniel).

536 BC- King Cyrusof Persia released the Jews to return to Jerusalem.  At this time the Jews started to rebuild their homes and the Temple.  However, enemies came after King Cyrus died in 530 BC and destroyed the work that had been completed on the temple.

522 BC- King Darius I of Persia encouraged the reconstruction of Jerusalem and the Temple was rebuilt
between 520 and 515 BC.

464 BC - King Artaxerxes of Persia began his reign.

457 BC-  King Artaxerxes issued a decree to Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem and establish a government. Before this time, from 536 to 457 BC, the Israelites were struggling.  They had rebuilt their homes and managed to rebuild the Temple, but the city still lay in ruins.

456-454 BC - Samaritans knocked down the rebuilt sections of the wall and burned the gates of Jerusalem.

444 BC- Nehemiah asks King Artaxerxes if he can return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls and gates.

I felt this timeline was important to understand the history of how Jerusalem was destroyed and the lengthy process of rebuilding.  So, now we are at 444 BC when Nehemiah has gone to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.  (Note it has been ten years that the walls have lain in ruins.)

"Then I (Nehemiah) said to them, 'You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire.  Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.' 

And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me.  So they said, ' Let us rise up and build.' Then they set their hands to this good work."  Nehemiah 2:17-18 

Nehemiah is encouraging the Israelites to rebuild.  He is saying, "The King granted us permission and God has made a way for us to rebuild!  So let's do this thing! "  (Sue paraphrase)

However, whenever someone is called to do something great, there will undoubtedly be naysayers to discourage. 

"But when Sanballat, the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and beshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, 'What is this thing that you are doing?  Will you rebel against the king?'" Nehemiah 2:19

Oh friend, how I LOVE the next verse coming up...

"So I answered them, and said to them, 'The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right in Jerusalem.'" Nehemiah 2:20

When you are doing what the Lord God has called you to do, the enemy will try to come and discourage you.  When you begin to work in cooperation with the Holy Spirit to rebuild the broken areas of your life, the enemy will come to try to convince you to stop rebuilding.

I love how Nehemiah responded!  He spoke to his enemy (just like Jesus did) and stood on the Word of the Lord.  He spoke back to the enemy and he shot his enemy down with a mighty truth.

 "You have no heritage or right." 

The enemy (Satan) has no right in your life.  You have a heritage as a child of the living God and Satan has NO right to your life!  Tell him.  Speak it as Nehemiah did.  When the enemy comes to discourage or defeat you, tell him to leave in the name of Jesus. (Jesus did.) Tell him he has no right to be in your life.

So many truths and jewels in this book.  There is even more to come!  Rebuild the brokenness.  Allow the Holy Spirit to come in and fill in the holes and close the gaps of your heart.  He is more than able.  He desires us to be whole and not have holes.  The enemy, Satan, has no right in your life.

 "Let us rise up and build."  



 
               

Grab a Brick and a Bible

This past weekend was simply AMAZING!  I went up to Pigeon Forge with about three hundred other ladies for Redemption Church's women's conference.  Aquilla Nash was our guest speaker.  Can I just say ANNOINTED...ANNOINTED...ANNOINTED!!

God met us there in a very real and personal way.  If you have never experienced the power and presence of the Lord God, you need to. 

On Friday morning, Nora King ministered.  She spoke on the book of Nehemiah.  I don't know about you, but I cannot say I have spent much time in the book of Nehemiah.  Actually, I don't know if I have ever read it and don't ask me where it is in the Bible.  I had to look in the Table of Contents to find it!  (To help you out, it is on page 675 in my Bible, three books before the Psalms.)

But, I tell you...I am reading it now!  Wow, there is always more to learn in the Word of God! 

In the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah is a servant to the King of Persia.  He was taken captive by the Babylonians when they invaded and destroyed Jerusalem.  Nehemiah finds out his home land lies in ruins, walls destroyed and gates burned with fire.  He goes to the king and asks to return to his home to rebuild the walls of his home land.  The king likes Nehemiah and grants his request to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

Nehemiah is a portrait of the Holy Spirit.  The name "Nehemiah" means "Yahweh Comforts".  The Holy Spirit is our Comforter.   The walls of Jerusalem represent the brokenness of our lives.

The Holy Spirit earnestly desires to rebuild the broken areas of our lives.  

How about you?  Do you have a hole in your wall?  Has the hammer of life beaten your wall to rubble?

Perhaps you are like me.  God has repaired many areas of my wall, but there is still an area that is broken.  I have a hole in my wall that only the Holy Spirit can fill.  I am inviting Him in to fill in the hole, to restore, and to heal.   

The Holy Spirit wants to rebuild the brokenness in your life.  Will you let him?  Will you work with Him to repair brick by brick what has been destroyed?

I won't lie to you.  It won't be easy.  Rebuilding is work.  It is worth it.  When the Holy Spirit restores a wall, it is reinforced with the iron of God's Word.  The blood of Jesus fills in the cracks and provides a strength that cannot be penetrated.

Are you ready?  Grab a brick and your Bible and get busy building!  The Holy Spirit is already at work.

"So they said, 'Let us rise up and build.' Then they set their hands to this good work."  Nehemiah 2:18b

Suggested reading:  Nehemiah Chapters 1 and 2.