I have found that people offended with God mostly are hurt because they believe God isn’t paying attention to them, so as human nature is, we would prefer to reject others before they have the opportunity to reject us. Many people do this with God. It is a strategy of the enemy to sow seeds of doubt in us that God is not involved in our lives nor does He really care about us. Nothing could be further from the truth.
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Discovering His Trustworthiness
The opening chapter of the Song of Solomon reveals a facet of His character- a “face” of Jesus if you will, a tender-hearted shepherd. Getting to know Jesus in these different facets opens our eyes toward His character and His attributes in addition to forming a deeper relational bond to Him. The Shulamite begins by telling of her desire for her beloved and confessing her love and then we see that her love is directed toward this face, the shepherd.
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Journey into God's Heart
Why is it important to know the emotion of God towards humanity, specifically, toward me? Moreover, why does it matter to God that we are acquainted with His affection?
As a child I always desired to please my parents, in fact I am sure it is natural that children desire to know they are doing well and experience the joy of their parents toward them. For girls, usually its the approval of the Father that becomes a primary imparting of confidence in self worth and confidence to grow as a woman, and maybe for Song with their mothers it is similar; to feel the approval of your mother gives confidence in your success as a man.
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Reformation
Bringing about reformation takes a lot of administration. Chapter 13 of Nehemiah shows how important it is to have strong leadership in the area of administration. Are you an administrator? God has a big plan for you! God has made all the parts of the body, and we each need each other to continually reform and reform and keep the fire burning until the return of our Lord.
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The Power of Thanks
And it is commemoration day! The city, the temple, and the new establishment of the Jewish people is being established with Thanksgiving! That's right, choirs of thanksgiving!! Find out how you can renew your mind with thanksgiving and the hidden secret God gave us in His word.
Read MoreInhabit the Kingdom
Making the Kingdom your primary focus is step one. Once again Nehemiah's amazing administrative skills shine through as he now orchestrates where all the families of the land will dwell. One-tenth will have the honor of living within the city walls, in the heart of Jerusalem. The new kingdom is being established with God's heart, yet under the Persian government… can you imagine?
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ALL OR NOTHING
When it was all said and done, Nehemiah gathers everyone together to put it in writing. All the people vowed from now on they would keep the Law of the Lord and take personal responsibility in the upholding of the spiritual foundations that had now been re-laid. This required everyone to be onboard, committed, ALL IN.
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THE SPIRIT & THE WORD
The Word is alive and active, powerful and spiritual. When we read the Word do we believe it will teach us, fill us, carry us and lead us in our day? We should! We should be leaving room for God to speak to us when we read the Word each day so it can launch us into the Spirit and guide us into times of repentance, renewal and reset.
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For the Love of the Word
NEHEMIAH Chapter 8 is the beginning of the spiritual revival and the people were renewed in their reverence for the scripture, worship, and understanding of the law, for starters. With every revival, there is always a "rebible"- that is, a heightened hunger and release of the Word of God.
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Trust the Process
There was a lot more to the rebuilding of the walls than building them. We are talking about administrating and entire city of people, getting them to work together, and having a plan that would ensure the future success of the protection of Jerusalem. How was Nehemiah going to be sure that these walls didn't get torn down again? He trusted the process even when he couldn’t see the full picture.
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Consistency
In Chapter six we see Nehemiah once again battling opposition. Gossip, attack on his character, his motives, false prophets... OH MY! The key to staying strong in the midst of accusation consistent focus. "Whatever God has called us to do, beware of being sidetracked with fruitless issues." - D.K. Campbell
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When Will Jesus Return?
When we begin with the end in mind, refocus and reset, we find it is all about a wedding. And like all weddings, there is much preparation to be done. This wedding, unlike others, however, does not have a set date we have been made aware of. Can you imagine? Preparing for your wedding, but you do not know the date. You do however know the things that must be done to prepare.
The two-fold preparation of the bride being made ready, and the fullness of the bride (those yet to come into the family of God) being won in heart to Christ. With the mandate of the Great Commission, making disciples of all nations, we show our love to our bridegroom by obeying this (and all His) command(s).
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How Much Time Does it Take to Grow My Faith?
Jesus said, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed you can say to this mountain “move from here to there” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” It is interesting that He choose to use the “seed” as a faith analogy. When you think about it, a seed can give birth to an entire forest. But, how much time does that take?
Read MoreThe Chief End of Man's Existence
The ultimate future and hope for all believers is that Jesus is going to return, and when He returns, He will be established as the King over the earth. This is the Blessed Hope of every believer- the second coming of Christ. It is easy to get sidetracked with living good lives, acquiring good things, and building great things in the name of Jesus on the earth- but there is one chief end to all man’s purpose. That is to fear God and obey His commandments. There is one thing that “this” is all unto. Keeping that in front of us, we realize that we have lost a zeal in the Western Church for Jesus Himself.
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The Generous Leader
It’s funny how when there is something from the outside coming at you, you tend to band together and get over your differences pretty quickly. But, when there is little or no outside opposition, you start to see the small things right on the inside of your own home or family or community and even nit-pick things that really are not important.
In chapter 5 Nehemiah learns that the Jews were charging each other interest when lending to them, and this brought about a whole lot more findings…
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God Will Fight for You
This is probably the most significant and strategic passage in the book of Nehemiah for prayer strategy. In this chapter we not only see the leadership required for a unified corporate prayer strategy, but we learn about the enemy’s tactics.
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Do Something, Together
Nehemiah demonstrates how a leader needs to be actively involved. The “rubbish”, in Hebrew, it’s the only occurrence of this word. The next nearest translation means “rubble”, “dust”, “debris”. The picture in my mind is like what ground zero looked like after 911. There was so much, that it took so many, many people so long to clear it. I imagine the workers at the beginning full of strength and patriotism for their country. Then after months, and years, see the heaps upon heaps still staring at them in the face can feel like a dent has hardly been made.
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The Action of Watchmen
The watchmen in the book of Nehemiah demonstrate “action”. Their actions? They "prayed" and "stationed guards". This is a two-fold, double barrier strategy. While I am praying, you stand guard. There is a misconception that prayer, waiting or watching is “passive”, but that couldn’t any farther from the truth! Watching and praying is work. It is very active…
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Nehemiah's Opposition
As surely as God places a calling on your life, opposition will come. But what if opposition isn't meant to stop you, what if it's meant to strengthen you? In this study of Nehemiah chapters 4–6, we look at how one man's unshakeable focus in the face of ridicule, conspiracy, and false prophecy reveals a timeless blueprint for every believer facing resistance. If you're in a season where everything seems to be pushing back, this is for you.
There is a difference between "good" and "God". I have good ideas all the time, seriously, I do. I have great ideas, in fact the problem is that I have so many ideas I have to really sort through them and ask, “Is this a good idea, or a God idea?” all the time. Nehemiah prayed, fasted, went to his leader, and had much confirmation before the opposition came.
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The Heart of a Sojourner
Sojourner. It is about the journey into the heart of God. This song has been ministering to me, helping me slow down, and remember the pilgrimage is about the journey, and what happens in us and through us in the journey of the pilgrimage. It's never been about the destination, but the obedience to go. Recently published on my youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Rblntx_z7o
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