After I looked things over,
I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials
and the rest of the people,
“Don’t be afraid of them.
Remember the Lord,
who is great and awesome,
and fight for your families,
your sons and your daughters,
your wives and your homes.”
Nehemiah 4:14
Nehemiah, as a wise leader, brought the people together and gave them three different commands about…
1) …their enemies,
2) …their God,
3) …their loved ones.
These word apply to us as well:
1) Our enemies: Don’t be afraid of them!
2) Our God: Remember him! Focus on how great and awesome he is!
3) Our loved ones: Fight for them!
“Don’t be afraid” or “Fear not” is the most repeated command in the Bible! Someone has said it is in the Bible 365 times – one for every day of the year. It is repeated so often because there are a lot of scary things in this world.
Most of the time the most repeated command is followed by the most repeated promise in the Bible: “I am with you.” This time it wasn’t God saying, “Don’t be afraid!” It was Nehemiah who said it, and instead of saying, “God is with you!” he said, “Remember the Lord who is great and awesome!” We can often get so focused on what frightens us that we forget about our God who defends us!
And then Nehemiah says to fight for the ones we love. In II Corinthians 10:3-5 Paul writes,
For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.
The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.
On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.
We demolish arguments and every pretension
that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,
and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Is there something that stirs fear in your heart right now? Then do what Nehemiah challenged the people of Jerusalem to do – fight! Fight by…
1) …remembering God and who he is!
2) …getting on your knees and praying to him for help!
3) …while you are on your knees, pray for yourself and your loved ones to follow God and his ways!
While you are on your knees, pray for the ministry at Crossroads today! Remember, our Lord is great and awesome!
