I often have people ask me if I believe in spiritual warfare…my answer is ALWAYS an emphatic YES! Many pursue by asking, “Come on Perry, do you really believe in angels, demons and the devil.” You’d better believe I do!
I’ve had some unique experiences when it comes to this stuff—and I do not talk about it often because it seems to either elicit fear on one hand…and on the other it seems to bring out people who seem to see some sort of demon behind every tree. (Seriously…if your car doesn’t start it’s probably NOT a demon—check the battery!)
What I want to do in this series of posts is bring out the obvious when it comes to spiritual warfare, to talk about things that we can all relate to—and in doing so I want to use a passage that, upon first glance, seems to have very little to do with the subject; however, upon a deeper investigation I’ve discovered that it is LOADED with practical application.
Nehemiah 6:1-13 is a passage that I myself have to go to quite often to examine myself and my surroundings. Let me take the rest of this post to set this story up…
In Nehemiah one we see that God moved in his heart to accomplish something great for Him. (Something I believe God puts in all of us!) And…as he pursued God’s dream things began to take place that were incredible…and because of his obedience the wall around Jerusalem began to be rebuilt.
BUT—when we attempt to do what God wants us to do there is always resistance. We see in Nehemiah 2:19 that all was not well as Nehemiah pursued God’s dream…people began to taunt him, but in Nehemiah 2:20 we see him managing to stay focused.
The enemy never gives up—Scripture says in I Peter 5:8 that he prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Jesus said in John 10:10 that he comes only to steal, kill and destroy—the LAST thing he wants is for us to do what God asks us to do.
In Nehemiah 3 the work rolls on…but once again in Nehemiah 4:1-3 we see the enemy mocking the work of God, seeking to get Nehemiah to STOP focusing on his work and into some sort of blogging war! But what does Nehemiah do—take a look at Nehemiah 4:14, he challenges the people to FIGHT…and in Nehemiah 4:15 we see God continuing to do an amazing work.
It was a back and forth deal…just like it is with many of us. Some days it seems like we are on top of a mountain when it comes to our spiritual lives…and then there are others when it feels as if the mountain is on top of us!!!
Some days it seems like God is right next to us…and then sometimes we doubt our own salvation.
Some days it seems like we open the Bible and the Word is SO ALIVE…and then sometimes we open it and might as well be reading a cook book because we would get about the same out of it.
Some days we go to church get so much out of it…and then sometimes we feel like our times was wasted.
Folks—warfare is real…always has been and always will be…tomorrow we will begin to investigate this a little more.