Nehemiah and Opposition
The common denominator with every type of opposition thrown at Nehemiah were the strategies of prayer, purpose, and perseverance. The enemy of our souls wants us to stop praying, lose sight of our goal, and to stop working
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The common denominator with every type of opposition thrown at Nehemiah were the strategies of prayer, purpose, and perseverance. The enemy of our souls wants us to stop praying, lose sight of our goal, and to stop working
On that first Christmas, the divine Son of God took His first human breath as He entered humanity as one of us. The moment of Jesus’ birth was an event like none other in history, and it changed the world forever. Its appeal was...and still is...irresistible!
I want to be wholly rooted in Scripture and willing to jettison anything that keeps me from pursuing Him. I have made a list of things that I want to do this year to “shake it up”—to keep myself open and winsome and spiritually agile.
What do you see when you look in the mirror? How do you perceive yourself? Someone has said, “Perceptions are reality.” Someone else said, “Whatever you think you are—you are!”
Here is a bold statement: If you see yourself as a sinner, saved by grace, you will sin and your Christian life will be mediocre at best. You will be riddled with guilt and open to Satan’s attack along that line. In other words, what we believe about ourselves determines our behaviour. One of Satan’s most successful schemes is that of keeping Christians ignorant of their true identity in Christ.
Even though Saul behaved in an un-kingly manner, he was still the Lord’s anointed—a role that demanded respect. How would David respond to Saul: by kneeling before a king or attacking an enemy?
Really knowing Jesus is essential to consistency. That happens by spending time in the Word, seeing Christ in the pages of Scripture, and experiencing and trusting Him in our daily lives. This is what I want for you and me.
I'm convinced that one of the reasons mountain climbers connect themselves to one another with a rope is to keep the one on the end from going home. Guys out front never consider that as an option...but those in the rear, well....
One reason we might not see Scripture’s relevance is because we focus on the discontinuity between the world of the Bible and our world and conclude Scripture’s irrelevant. Instead, we need to look at the points of continuity.
The happiest people on earth ought to be those of us in God’s service. Even though our work is terribly serious, we ought to have more fun and have a better time doing it than anybody in any other career or calling.
One of the most important purposes we can have is to live a teachable life. As Pastor Chuck Swindoll says, “Our acute need is to cultivate a willingness to learn and to remain teachable."