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Nehemiah and the ways Satan attacks. 2 of 3

3/25/2023

Hi all,

We left Nehemiah with the intention of returning to Jerusalem to build up the protective walls of the city. This is a type of you and I strengthening what we have and perhaps for some, building up your 'walls of protection' around your life, is a new direction.

We sometimes see this with pastors and others when a person starts a house church. Sometimes they will caution about being in a cult. Sometimes they ask 'Who is your covering' or something like that, not understanding their New Testament was written by apostles doing church in the home writing to people in home based churches.

When people change direction in life - change churches, change jobs, focus on their marriage or children by dropping distractions in their lives (including some people) - people will offer everything from caution to anger, so today is about when Satan attacks. He is the accuser of the brethren, so it's normal life - you aren't being singled out.

Wisdom when you change direction
But here is how to at least temporarily lessen someone's accusations or anger towards you. Nehemiah 2:10 tells us the main 3 men who stood against the idea of the city walls being rebuilt were 'grieved' when they heard someone was seeking to do so. Until that point in time they could come and go out of the city and work their schemes at will.

That's like people in our lives who come in and out of our lives, often using us for their own schemes. They do so because we have not put up any protective walls around our heart, around our emotions, around our lives.

Step one, discretion
Nehemiah 2:11-16 tells us Nehemiah scouted the city for 3 days, at night so he wouldn't be noticed. He was examining what needed to be done, taking inventory of what remained and made plans to rebuild.

He tells us he did not tell any of the local elders. If you are contemplating a change of direction, or you are rebuilding your life completely or in part, start quietly in your heart taking inventory of what such changes would mean. Nehemiah did this 3 days, which is like the Lord dead in the tomb in preparation for the resurrection. There needs to be a 'quiet time' that is like death of the old as you realize the past is forever in the past.

Nehemiah was planning the walls to be rebuilt and never to be destroyed again. He was planning a good and permanent change to the city. This is how we must be when we strengthen what remains or change things by doing a new thing - we must be all in. We must be committed. We must take inventory and think through the changes our decision will mean to our relationships and life. If you're going to rebuild, rebuild well!

Reveal the plan, and the reaction
Nehemiah writes in 2:17-18 that once he was done examining the walls and had taken inventory of all that was needed, he shared it with the elders of the city. This shows us once we know what we are doing, we just share with the core people in our lives. You aren't ready yet to tell the world, you are just sharing with those in your 'city' of Jerusalem - immediate family, perhaps closest friends. The reaction should be they support you and will help, not hinder you. They are for you.

But Nehemiah reveals in 2:19-20 that Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem 'laughed him to scorn' and then also accused him of being in rebellion against the king:"What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?"

Evidently they didn't know Nehemiah was there under orders of the king, but even if they did, they laughed at him and despised him the text says. That is often what people will do to us. They will laugh, despise, and accuse. Just get ready for it if you are rebuilding your walls or changing the direction of life by asserting yourself.

If you are angry, depressed, or discouraged, you are living in the past. If you are afraid or worried, you are living in the future. If you are in peace, you are living today for today in the Lord. Find that peace.

Nehemiah answered their accusation in 2:20:"God is with us and we will rebuild. You have no part in what we are doing. You have no right in what we are doing. You have no ''remembrance' in what we are doing." Nehemiah was moving on and they couldn't go where he was going.

Many Christians think they are to be victims
Many read Jesus telling us to offer the other cheek, give the extra coat, walk the extra mile in Matthew 5:39-41 to mean we are to let people take advantage of us, but that is not what He was saying.

What Jesus said places limits on how much we are to offer ourselves, how much we are to give of ourselves, how far we are willing to go for others. We offer 1 cheek, 1 coat, 1 extra mile. We are not to be a victim, not to give away our wardrobe, not beyond 1 mile.

Jesus is saying our responsibility to others has limits.
After we walk that extra mile with a person, they must walk by themselves. We give 1 coat but keep our closet of clothes, for they now have to clothe themselves. We offer 1 cheek but then put a stop to it, for they must deal with their own anger. Let them do that.

Nehemiah answered their accusations. He stood up for himself for he knew what he was doing was God's leading. He didn't ask for forgiveness when they were offended, for he was in the right and they would just have to deal with their emotions.

Nehemiah realized his 3 accusers had no power over him. They no longer had any place in his city. They no longer had the authority to offer their opinion about the city. And they did not like being powerless. Amazingly, these 3 accusers still had their own areas they governed, but it was THAT work that bothered them.

Isn't that the way it is so often? People who accuse you or don't like the direction you're going, have their own full and busy lives to live. But for some reason (often demon inspired) they focus on you to rip you apart - sad, but that is the way of man and Satan.

We conclude next week seeing that once Nehemiah moved on he had a whole new set of friends who joined him in the work, and the wall was completed in 52 days. Until next week, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org
www.kwowi.org
Email me at cwowi@aol.com

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Nehemiah and the Lord's recent word, 1 of 3

3/18/2023

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Hi all,

In last month's e-newsletter I shared one of the things the Lord spoke to me concerning 2023, in part:

“Strengthen what remains...Strengthen what you have...For many, this will be a year involving a course correction...”

Nehemiah's experience repairing and rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem is similar to what the Lord said to me for this year. Strengthen what remains, and a change of direction.

Nehemiah - and a little history first
When Solomon died the nation of Israel split into 2 nations. The northern nation was known as Israel, and it was mostly 10 tribes who made Samaria their capital. They are called 'the northern kingdom'. They made their own temple and priesthood in Samaria which is north of Jerusalem, and most of their kings were evil.

In 722BC Assyria conquered Israel/Samaria and captured most of the population, resettling them in other nations under Assyria's control. Then they brought other people from those nations into Samaria and settled them there.

Over the decades the remaining Jewish population inter-married with the gentile refugees that Assyria had settled in the land, leading to half-breed Jewish people generally called 'the Samaritans'. They were very much hated by the 'pure blood Jews', and would not even talk to them. (II Kings 17:5-18, 24; John 4:9)

The southern kingdom was known as Judah and consisted of 2 main tribes, Judah and Benjamin. There were also the Levites who served in the temple, and remnants of the tribes of the north who loved God and wanted to worship in the temple following the laws of Moses. Most of Judah's kings were good. But the nation fell away from the Lord, and were conquered by Babylon in 587BC.

Almost there, but just a little bit more history...
Babylon carried away most of the Jewish population to Babylon. Among these captives were Daniel and Ezekiel. Jeremiah had prophesied they would be captive 70 years, 1 year for each of the sabbath years they had refused to keep. (Jeremiah 29:10-14, II Chronicles 36:13-21)

As mentioned above, Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 587BC. The ruler Cyrus decreed in 539BC the temple could be rebuilt, in the well documented, 'Edict of Cyrus'. Zerubbabel then led 50,000 volunteers to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, and the temple was finished in 517BC, exactly 70 years from destruction to restoration.

Decades later the walls surrounding Jerusalem were still in disrepair, leaving the temple and city open to attack. Nehemiah was the king's wine bearer, and asked permission to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. His request was granted in Nehemiah chapter 2, and the wall was completed in just 52 days; 445BC. (Nehemiah 6:15)

For our lives...
Many have gone through life-changing things in the last 2 years. In some ways it is similar to the ups and downs that Israel and Judah experienced over a much longer time. There were moments of confusion, conflicting prophetic words, prophets of various 'streams' of their faith prophesying opposing things. Friendships were broken, families and friends moved away or had to move due to circumstances - there are many similar things in our day.

Nehemiah wants to return to his roots. He wants to build up the defensive walls of the city. There are people all around him that don't understand what God has done in his heart and what he is trying to do in life. The walled city of Jerusalem represents our own lives. Outside the walls of our life is 'Judah', which are relatives, but not living within our 'city walls'. Those outside our 'walls' must be a lesser priority for us.

It is also in Nehemiah 2 that we learn of 3 men who are important for our study, for they tried to get Nehemiah to stop working on the wall. Their methods are what Satan uses against you and I today. Nehemiah's example provides an example for us concerning some of the things the Lord told me for 2023.

The names of the 3 men are:Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem.
Sanballat (Sinballat) was governor of Samaria to the north of Jerusalem, and his name means; (the Samarian god called Sin) "Sin will give you life." Or, "sin has vilified (made you evil)."

Tobiah means 'pleasing to Jehovah', and lived in the area around Jerusalem. He joined Sanballat to try to stop Nehemiah. Geshem lived to the south and east of the city. His name means 'hard rain', used in Israel of the fall and winter rains which can be overwhelming. He is known as "Geshem the Arabian", an Arab chief of those who lived in the area around Jerusalem.

Nehemiah was surrounded by those trying to distract him from what the Lord had called him to do. Do you ever feel like that?

Nehemiah was trying to strengthen what remained. The broken wall was still there, but it needed fixed. That's how our lives are quite often, or it feels like that. If you were with Nehemiah you could see the wall, where it was, the foundations in some places was the only thing left.

Nehemiah 2:10 says
"When they heard of it (Nehemiah coming to repair the wall), it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel."

The first thing to notice is that very often, any change of direction will make some people unhappy. These are people you would think would be happy for you, but they aren't. For personal and selfish reasons, they don't want you to 'rebuild your walls' of protection - they want full access to your life as they have had for some time. They now see you asserting yourself as shutting them out. It wasn't that Nehemiah was shutting them out, but by rebuilding the walls it meant he was setting the terms by which they could have a relationship with him. We need to do that - set the terms with some people rather than them dictating to us the terms of the relationship.

Maybe you are rebuilding your life, changing, and putting up a guard against those who are toxic or just not good for you emotionally and spiritually. But there is protection and provision from the Lord when we set our priorities right, when we wake up and realize we must first be strong within ourselves so that we may give out to others. This is time to strengthen our own 'Jerusalem' and get those walls built.

We will pick it up there next week, until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org
www.kwowi.org
Email me at cwowi@aol.com

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According to your faith 4 of 4, Go back to the original

3/11/2023

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Hi all,
Have you ever felt like the Lord gave you a promise for a loved one, perhaps years ago, but now that person is not walking with the Lord? Have you ever wondered if you should continue to pray or give up hope?

For example:A mom had wonderful things prophesied over her son when he was still young. But now the boy is a man in his twenties, and living like the world, not wanting anything to do with the God of his mother, and of his youth.

Yet she felt the Lord told her certain things in her heart about the call and purpose of his life - what does she do? Where does 'according to your faith be it unto you', enter this situation?

Every person faces circumstances contrary to their faith. Unexplained things. A child that gets deathly sick, a cancer that quickly takes a loved one. A tragic accident involving Christian teens. A job they thought God gave them and a few months later the company goes out of business.

Any number of things are allowed to happen by the Lord that we love so much, without any explanation from Him. What are we to do? How do we 'stand on the Word' when everything seems to have gone the opposite direction?

II Kings 4:8-37; the story of a woman who showed kindness to Elisha.
He passed by she and her husband's house regularly, and she showed him hospitality. Eventually they added a room to their house that he might spend the night as needed.

Elisha wanted to do something for her, and his servant, Gehazi mentioned they had no children. Elisha told her that 'next year according to the time of life you will embrace a son'. She told him at the time not to tease her, that he had better be right. Verses 16 & 17 tell us she did conceive and gave birth to a son as Elisha had prophesied.

Verse 18 tells us when the boy was grown, he was working in the field with his dad, and evidently became overheated, complaining of pain in his head. He died a few hours later. We need to remember the word of promise that Elisha had given her in v16, and that many years went by for the son to be 'grown' and working in the field with his father.

The power of the promise has not diminished over the years
Verses 22-28 tell us she laid the young man's body on the bed in Elisha's room, then only telling her husband "It is well", she saddled a donkey and raced to find Elisha. When she found him she said:"Did I ask you for a son? Didn't I say don't deceive me? Didn't I say don't tease me?"

In other words, she never asked for a son, she never asked for a promise from the Lord about him. Did God give her a word about having a son only to take him a few years later? She was rightly upset! The good news is Elisha raised him from the dead.

For our purposes we take the side of the mother of this young boy. She wasn't trying to get pregnant. When the man of God asked if God could do anything for her, she said she was fine. It was God's idea to have Elisha prophesy she would have a son. Now circumstances conspired to take her son of promise away.

What would you do?
According to your faith be it unto you. Would you say, "I don't understand it, but my son is dead. I guess that prophecy was just for the few short years we had him." Or would you do as she did, thinking that God would not have given the word to her had He not intended that baby to grow up to become a man and outlive his parents - and she was going to make sure that word came to fulfillment in her son's life!

Do you have promises closely held in your heart about a loved one? Does it look like those promises aren't happening in their lives? Do you ever wonder how the Lord will bring about what He promised to you?

Are you going to shrink back and say, 'Oh well, maybe I heard wrong'? Or will you be like the woman above who held onto the original promise and stand firm in the knowledge that the Lord will bring it to pass? Even if that loved one has to go through many sins before they give up and give in to the Lord, His promise will happen.

Jairus and his daughter
In Mark 5:23 the man Jairus came to Jesus saying:"My little daughter lies at the point of death, I beg you to come and lay your hands on her that she may be healed, and live."

That was the point of faith - if Jesus came to lay hands on her then she would live. As they were walking to his home a friend came and told Jairus that his daughter had died, so there was no use bothering Jesus about it. In v36 it says:

"Immediately when Jesus heard the news, He said to (Jairus), 'Be not afraid. Only believe."

What was Jesus telling Jairus to believe? It was the original point of faith:If you come and lay hands on her she will live. Once Jesus agreed to come to lay hands on his daughter, it really didn't matter whether the girl was alive or dead, with fever or dead, because Jesus said He would come and lay hands on her and she would live.

When Jesus told him:"Don't be afraid. Only believe", He was telling him to believe the original request - come lay hands on her and she will live. Sometimes we have to go back to the last time we knew that we knew the Lord had given us a word for someone or some situation, and rest in that word - even if it was given years ago.

It was the same with Lazarus in John 11. Once Jesus had determined He would visit Lazarus, it really didn't matter if Lazarus remained sick or was dead. Jesus is greater than any circumstance, so it didn't matter whether he had already been dead 4 days once he got there, or 4 minutes.

Go back to the last thing you know the Lord showed you, revealed to your spirit. Go back to that last promise you know that you know He gave you - and rest. He gave that word seeing the future, and yet He still gave it.

Let us recognize much of life is 'according to your faith be it unto you'. When faced with surprises in our life we can either expect to see 'all things that pertain to life and godliness' supplied, or we can bow to the circumstances. Whatever happens will be according to your faith. Let us choose faith over fear, the promise over the circumstance.

New subject next week, until then, blessings,

John Fenn
www.cwowi.org

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According to your faith 3 of 4, God tests us?

3/4/2023

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Hi all,
God doesn't test us with evil, but He does test us. Within the test we find an opportunity for growth according to your faith.

In James 1:2 we are told to; "...count it all joy when you fall into various tests/trials/temptations, knowing that the trying of your faith exercises consistency."

Notice he said to count it joy, which is a fruit of the spirit, meaning he isn't talking about 'be happy', which is an emotion. To count a trial/test/temptation as joy, you have to be in the fruit of the spirit of Galatians 5:22-23. We are to take our struggles to the Lord, and handle it spiritually, not a religious happiness and putting on our best Sunday morning church face.

Note:The reason I wrote 'fruit of the spirit' and not 'fruit of the Spirit', is because of the context. There are no capitals nor punctuation in Greek, so we only know by context if he is talking about the fruit of the Holy Spirit or the fruit of the born again human spirit. Because the context is the war between the works of the human flesh and the human spirit, it is clear the fruit of the spirit is the human spirit. We might also say the Holy Spirit IS love, joy, peace and so on. Fruit is therefore offspring of its parent tree. So the fruit of the human spirit is appropriate.

And to make sure everyone understands, James said in v13:"Now let no man say when he is tested/tried/tempted that God the Father is doing it to him. For God is not tested/tried/tempted with evil, and neither does He test/tempt/try anyone with evil."

How does He test us? The sacrifice of Isaac.
In Genesis 22:1 it says:"And after these things, God did tempt Abraham." A better translation would be, 'God did prove Abraham'. In other words, the Lord was going to put Abraham into a situation that would prove Abraham's faith and integrity, prove what was in his heart, as well as show his commitment to the covenant they two had made.

We might say that it certainly looks evil to ask Abraham to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice, but the other side is that God was proving what was in Abraham's heart. Even Abraham realized the outcome before it started, telling his son in v8 that 'God will provide a lamb (Lamb)', when in fact the Lord provided a ram for the sacrifice.

Abraham knew what was going on. He knew in covenant each covenant head, the ones who make the covenant, must give their most precious possession to the other. He also knew the Lord had appeared to him and told him his son Isaac would have children, which had not happened yet. So he knew either God would provide a sacrifice or his son would be raised from the dead, because Isaac was named by God as the one to father the nations. Hebrews 11:17-19 speaks of these things.

It was because his heart was proven that he from earth loosed his son of promise, that the Father God from heaven was loosed to offer His son of promise as the final sacrifice. "Because you have done this, not withholding your son your only son, that in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply you..."

Settled then, God does test us to prove what is in our hearts.
Psalm 7:9 talks of Him testing 'the reins of our heart', and Hebrews 4:12-13 reveal the Lord Jesus is the Living Sword of the Word who critiques our soul and spirit, thoughts and intentions of the heart.

He allows situations that give us the choice to accept or reject the challenge to grow. But the challenge to grow doesn't present itself with a big neon sign saying, "If you choose this path you will grow in the Lord!!! Choose me! Choose me!"

The opportunity comes with fear on one side and faith on the other. The key is having a revelation first, that the Father will provide if we make the right decision.

Pharaoh and Moses
There are at least 17 verses in Exodus telling us Pharaoh hardened his heart, and a couple that say God hardened it. How did God harden Pharaoh's heart? By giving him the opportunity repeatedly, to do the right thing. He kept sending Moses back to him.

Amy Grant's 1991 song; How Can We See That Far includes the lyrics:"The same sun that melts the wax can harden clay". The Lord kept sending Moses back to Pharaoh, who had the choice the whole time whether to cooperate or not. He chose poorly.

In John 6:1-13, feeding 5,000; the miracle of the loaves.
John 6:5 says:"He said to Philip, where shall we buy bread, that these may eat? This He said to Philip to test him, for He knew what He would do."

Any question coming from the lips of Jesus has to be a legitimate question. The miraculous provision later revealed had to have been there right then when Jesus asked Philip the question. The provision was hidden in the question and response.

If Philip had answered in line with the miraculous. In order to have faith, Philip had to have seen some things that would make Jesus consider that maybe, just maybe, Philip would look past the circumstances to faith.

What had Philip seen? He saw these things leading up to that question:
Jesus discerning (honesty) of his friend Nathaniel. John 1:45-46. He heard Jesus tell Nathaniel he would see angels ministering to Jesus. The turning of water into wine in Cana. The cleansing of the temple and ensuing teaching and discussion. Learned what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, including v16. Baptized people in John 3:22-36, heard Jesus teach. Saw the woman at the well and 2 days in Samaria where Jesus had told her about her whole life and the whole village believed.

He was there when the Nobleman's son was healed in 4:46-54. He was there when the lame man was healed at the pool of Bethesda in 5:1-15. He heard all of chapter 5 with Jesus teaching about His Father. In 6:1-2 he saw multitudes healed.

So with all that, the question:'Where are we going to buy bread for all these people to eat?', doesn't seem so out of place. Jesus we are told, was testing Philip.

Let us ask ourselves:Have we seen enough miracles in our lives over the months or years, to be able to make the choice for faith? Have you like Philip heard enough teaching, observed enough of His miracles, witnessed His faithfulness enough in your life up to today, when He asks your heart, "How are you going to handle this bill?" or "How will you handle this news", how will you answer? According to your faith be it unto you.

And that's where we'll pick it up next week. Until then, blessings,
John Fenn
www.cwowi.org and email me at cwowi@aol.com

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