A Great Work

• Printable Version - Share on Facebook - Posted by Dion Todd January 16, 2016 - Filed in Devotional - 9,402 views
  Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I can't come down: why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you? Nehemiah 6:2 WEB
  
  Nehemiah was organizing the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem after it had been destroyed and the people carried away into exile. When he began, his enemies laughed at him, but then as he started to close the gaps in the wall, they became much more serious and plotted to kill him in order to stop the work from being completed.
  
  Nehemiah's enemies planned to invite him to a banquet and assassinate him so that all the people following him would stop the work that he had started. When they tried to lure Nehemiah into their trap, he simply replied "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down." Then he continued on and completed his wall while working with a trowel in one hand, and a sword in the other (Neh. 4:17).
  
  Our enemy may start out using laughs, jeers, and gossip to attack us, but if we keep on with God's work, he will devise much sneakier traps and distractions for us that scale to our level. He has done this a long time and he knows what works. Like someone inspecting a wall, he keeps searching for the small cracks to get in through, and it is hard to get him back out.
  
  The enemy's plan is to get you distracted, trip you, make you fall, to make your testimony worthless. To make the salt lose its flavor. To stop the work. To stop God from fulfilling His plan in your life. To steal, to kill, and destroy (John 10:10). When tempted, remember that you are doing a great work, and that you cannot come down.
  
  Prayer: Father, please give me a clear vision and reveal the traps that the enemy has set for me. Help me to focus on the work at hand and not be distracted. Fulfill Your will in my life, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray.
  
  Note: Good morning! One thing that I don''t think we''ve ever mentioned is Amazon Smile. It is a service from Amazon where they will donate a small portion of your Amazon purchases to a charitable organization of your choice. All you need to do is go to smile.amazon.com instead of just amazon.com. At the top, you will see an option to choose your organization and when you shop, go to smile.amazon.com. Other than that, it''s completely the same as shopping at Amazon. Of course, I am mentioning this because Refreshing Hope Ministries is one of the options, but you can also choose many other great organizations, possibly even your local church. Since it costs you nothing except a moment to set it up, I encourage you to check it out. Have a blessed day :)!