A reading of Nehemiah 4 brings home forcefully the thought
that faith and trust in God is not a substitute for diligent effort. We are
indeed called upon to be sober and vigilant, because our adversary has is
miscreant followers crawling all around God's people, looking for an
opportunity to strike. And it appears we can't all just pray about it and leave
it there; we must extend that prayer to take intelligent decisive action. It
even appears that God connects with us only at the point where our efforts of
love and faith are stretched to their human limit in doing God’s will. He of necessity must connect with us because,
on their own, our efforts cannot outdo the devil; so we will always need divine
connection/intervention.
I rejoice today that God is always available to defend and
guide us - even though many times the enemy seems to have us surrounded on
every hand, and all our efforts at spiritual reform appear futile. At points we
feel hopelessly dominated by the vices of the devil. If we’re careful enough though,
we’ll feel it in our hearts, and see it in our lives life that God is
constantly aware of all that is happening with us, and that He has a plan for our
escape and delivery from the arch-enemy. Oh that we’ll pray for the sustained
desire to seek God’s help.
We are also blessed with people in our lives who constantly
pray for us. Can you not feel it those
prayers working? But tragically also, so
is the devil. And so we must keep the prayers ascending, even as we continue to
exert the efforts to connect with God.
Father in Heaven, as today we will endeavour to rebuild the
walls of truth, of love and of justice - pillars of Your Kingdom - grant us
your servants a mind to work, a resolve to not surrender to the enemy, a
preparedness to stand in defence of Your holy cause. Grant us power over our
besetting sins, a vision of what is yet ahead, and a will to establish Your
honour in all the earth. This we pray, in Jesus' name, amen.
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