"So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart."
~Nehemiah 4:6
Nehemiah 4 offers us an amazing illustration of faith. There was great ridicule of and opposition to the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem. But under the leadership and encouragement of Nehemiah, the people continued to build. The people remained faithful even when the Ammonites, the Arabs, the men of Ashdod, Sanballat, and Tobiah plotted and threatened to fight against Jerusalem (v.7-9) and even when the strength of the laborers were giving out and there was so much rubble that they felt they could not rebuild the wall (vs. 10). They remained. They remembered the Lord, who is great and awesome (v.14). They went back to work. They were prepared to fight, if necessary, and they relied on God to fight for them (v.20-23).
Walking in faith, in the Spirit, is like that wall. There will be great opposition to your faithful, spirit-led lifestyle. There will be many who will ridicule, scoff, and laugh at it. There will be those who will look for the exposed places to attack (vs.13). There will be times when you feel your strength is giving out because living by the Spirit takes unnatural intention. There will be times when you feel like you're not getting anywhere. And there will be times when you'll have to stand guard and be prepared to defend your faith.
So why would one choose to live by faith and by the Spirit? Because the Lord is great and
awesome(v.14), because God will fight for us(v.20), and because He will give us success (Nehemiah 2:20).
"But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope."
~Galatians 5:5
Go forward, then, with the power of the Holy Spirit filling you and strengthening you to keep building and defending your wall of faith built on the Rock, our Cornerstone. It will be worth it.
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