Dear friend,

Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other. (Nehemiah 4:17 NIV)

What tremendous challenges Nehemiah had building and battling! He had the physical challenge of building the wall and while continuing to build he had to take up the sword and battle against opposition. And with all that came the spiritual and emotional challenge of battling resistance internally and externally.

If you are familiar with the story, you know Nehemiah responded to all this by continuously entrusting himself, the building, the battling, and the people to the Lord in prayer as he looked to Him for the grace to succeed.

With that in mind I think about the building and battling we do at Insight for Living Canada. In working to build the Kingdom there is the physical work we do with our operations, order fulfilment, website, store, social media, communications, and donor ministries. But we don’t do those things in a vacuum. We also face spiritual and emotional challenges and threats that would undermine the work if we didn’t overcome them.

We are building and battling in an interesting time. We’ve come through a global pandemic, which turned most things upside down. Life has not been the same and although the future has always been uncertain, we sense it more acutely. More than ever it now feels more uncertain.

Yet, in terms of ministry, we know that it is in times of uncertainty and fear that people are more open and the Good News of God’s Word and of Jesus Christ shines brightest. So we have new opportunities to minister and share God’s Word. It’s also an occasion for meaningful soul care as many struggling people call in for prayer for themselves and their loved ones.

The touchstone for us continues to be the fact that lives are being impacted with God’s Word. This encourages and motivates us to persevere in building and battling. We take encouragement from, and echo, the words of Nehemiah, “The God of heaven will help us succeed” (Nehemiah 2:20).

Nehemiah didn’t succeed by himself. He had a team of people working with him. They believed in the cause and gave of themselves to make it happen.

The same is true for us. You are on our team and as you give of yourself through prayer and finances, and as we continue to proclaim the truth of God’s Word, God blesses and lives are impacted.

Will you continue to build and battle with us as part of our team? Can we count on you to encourage us this month through your prayers and financial gifts?

Nehemiah and his team completed the wall in 52 days, which was an amazing feat. But even more significant is what Nehemiah wrote in 6:16, “When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated. They realized this work had been done with the help of our God.”

When you team up with us and lives are transformed, the watching world sees and God gets the credit.

That’s the best and makes our work together even more worthwhile!

Building and battling with you,

Steve Johnson

Executive Director

PS By prayerfully sending your gift today you will build and battle with us, lives will be changed, and God will get the credit