In the face of opposition
Ezra 3
10 When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel.
11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; His love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
The Israelites were building the second temple of the Lord. They faced opposition but they took their places to praise! Our bodies are His temple now and He lives inside of us so we need to build on that. We need to lay that foundation and get that down deep or nothing else will stand. We need to take a moment to realize and celebrate this fact because God is good, He has good plans for us and His love for us endures forever. Life isn’t always good but God is always good. Sometimes that’s difficult to believe but what I want to talk about today is pressing forward when we face opposition. The opposition is only to stop us just like it tried to stop these or Nehemiah when he was building the wall. He faced all kinds of opposition and it was continual but he finished, in the very face of opposition. He had to set a guard and watch night and day but he also had to keep working. We must not stop. We have a job to do. It’s Kingdom work.
So, what is the solution and the way that we combat this opposition? It’s done by praising, hiding the word of God within our hearts, continual pressing, and keeping our faith by keeping our eye on the prize. Our faith is the very reason we believe and it should back everything else that we do.
If God has asked you to do something and you face opposition, it’s a good sign that you are going in the right direction. The enemy would love to stop you from doing Gods work. If we keep backing down in the face of opposition, we will not move forward or progress. We must go forward in faith to the high calling: that’s what faith does. Faith doesn’t back down every time something doesn’t go right, faith presses on and stands up when it feels like sitting down. The Word says that “if we don’t stand in our faith, we won’t stand it all.” Faith doesn’t go off of what it sees or feels but instead what it believes. So, it’s time to stop taking a seat and take your rightful place in God and know that He is with you.
What you focus on will eventually overtake you: you steer where you stare. That is why we must not focus on the problems that the enemy throws at us, but focus on our God: the problem solver, His goodness, our calling, and why we started. We must get our minds on Christ because as proverbs states: “As the a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” We need more peace and confidence and the only way to get that is to keep our minds on Christ, to have the mind of Christ, and to be confident in Him.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.” Isaiah 26:3
I’m sure that it would be easy for the driver of a race car to fear the wall and so therefore focus on the wall, but then he’d end up hitting it anyway. Also, while he’s focusing on the wall, he’s pretty much just forgotten about the race. I’ve learned that faith isn’t the absence of fear but choosing to do the thing you fear anyway because it’s what you know that you need to do. That’s why the word says so many times, “fear not”. There will be an opportunity to fear every single day and often multiple times a day.
Aren’t we like the fearful driver so many times? We focus on what we don’t have, what we are scared of, the what if’s, the whose, and the whats instead of God and His power. We miss out on our lives so often and the why behind them because we get caught up in the stuff that really don’t matter and before long it does exactly what it was sent to do: stop us.
I’m sure that drivers are trained on what to focus on and yea, he wants to avoid hitting the wall but it isn’t his main focus. And yes, he has other drivers coming at him from all angles. He’s aware of that and that they want to knock him out of the race BUT he also knows that’s part of the race. That’s also part of and a fact of life but we must keep our eye on the prize.
Paul says it like this:
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Hebrews 12:-4
In other words, you will face problems. It’s not if but when. We have a race to run and we must run that race well and in order to do that we must throw off everything that would try to hinder us or it will slow us down. If the enemy can’t stop us, he’ll sure try to slow us down by wearing us out or discouraging us. That’s when we must not faint for the harvest comes later. I’ve never been a runner but I can imagine the reason why runners run wear such little clothing is because they don’t need anything tripping them up or slowing them down. We got to get rid ourselves of the dead weight that tries to just hang on to us. It’s killing us.
I heard a message once on being a train and letting the little dogs bark. A train has so much momentum that it’s not easily agitated by little barks or voices that try to stop it and it’s not intimidated by the bites. It’s a train. Be the train. Ignore the little voices inside your head and don’t pay attention to the ankle biters or haters that try to stop you out of envy; or the enemy will keep you so busy putting out fires that don’t belong to you and chasing your own tail that you won’t accomplish what God called you to do. We must keep the main thing the main thing. The best way for me to picture things is with an analogy. Jesus spoke in parables so that we might understand.
We are surrounded by the example of those who have gone before us, the believers around us and the Word of God within us. We have lots of reasons not to give up while we feel like we have lots of reason to give up. We must always believe truth and look to Jesus. He is truly the author and finisher of our faith. Not only did He come to set and be the perfect example, He also made a way. He is way maker. He made it possible. He didn’t think only about the pain that He’d suffer although He dealt with that but as Paul says for the joy that was set before Him, He endured the cross. He’s now sitting on the Fathers right hand because He didn’t quit or give up. We must not either! We’ve come to far to give up now.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
That’s good news. We have something to look forward to!
Jesus faced much opposition and even hostility! He says that we will too so when we become discouraged in our souls we must talk to our souls like David did and encourage ourselves in the Lord. That’s the best prescription. The Psalms are full of encouragement if you ever need a pick me up. You can literally sense how down the writer was when he started but before long he had prayed and talked himself up. The best way to fight lies is with truth. The truth is, sometimes we don’t have anyone else to encourage us or that completely understands, but Jesus does.
God called Abraham His friend and we are His descendants. He also loved us so much that He sent Jesus to make a way for us. We must not faint or give up. We must believe the simple but great truths that we were taught from the beginning so we don’t forget our why. We must throw off all the junk, all the stuff and the sin that slows us down and would try to entangle us, that keeps us back from running well so that we can press on. We need to get better at forgetting what lies behind us and realizing, no, we haven’t obtained it or taken hold of it YET, like Paul says, but we need to get in the habit of forgetting and pressing. We have something to reach for and it’s not behind us.
Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: Philippians 1:6
God wants to finish what He started in you and in me but we must be willing and work with Him.
God has a bigger plan! Now that we know we have a job to do and we are reminded that we will face opposition, let’s remember that the way we overcome is through the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony! (Revelations 12:11) Let’s not forget what Jesus did for us and let’s not stop sharing what Gods done for us. He died to save you and if you have accepted and so He’s saved your soul, you’ve got reason to rejoice if you can’t think of anything else. We have to get our fire back. It’s easy to forget what He’s done for us when we face trials of many kinds but their are other souls to gain in the Kingdom. That’s the real reason that the enemy would try to hinder us. And if we so easily forget then we forget WHY He came and WHY He commissioned us. We can’t extend what we don’t have or have forgotten that we do have. If we have forgotten that He came and what He did for us then we have taken our eyes off of the prize.
The enemy is the accuser of the brethren and he comes to wear out the saints. Focus on God and what He says. Wait on Him, He will renew your strength. Encourage yourself in the Lord and know that He can strengthen you like He did David to go get back what the enemy stole from you. When we go to the enemies camp, we must go with God. We aren’t to fear our enemies but we are to fear God and to worship Him. When anything else becomes our focus or fear we put it before God and it becomes bigger to us than God, it becomes our god. When we fear God with a reverential fear it causes us to actually trust Him and keep His commands because we know and trust that He is God and that we need Him.
So if you’re tired or weary today, it’s time to plug into God and His word. If your discouraged today, it’s time to encourage yourself in the Lord and encourage someone else. If you’re down and out, it’s time to sing. The Bible says to put on the garment of praise for the Spirit of heaviness. I’m talking to those who know who feel like they want to give up and quit or question if they really even have a gift. We all have seeds of greatness on the inside of us waiting to be planted and used. Don’t be silent about it and find someone else to encourage. It’s the fastest way to reveal the lies you believe and in turn will encourage you too.
We can praise even before we start and we should praise all the way through. We should stop along the way each time we make head way and celebrate our wins. Because remember, the fastest way down is down so look up!! God is for and with you and His power is on the inside of us! The VERY SAME POWER that raised Jesus from the dead is living on the inside of you. Think about that, ‘resurrection power’! He’s never lost power, never will and He doesn’t fall off of His throne. He’s the same God yesterday, today and forever more and that’s reason to celebrate. That’s why we can sing and that’s where our focus should be.
Dear God, our Father,
Thank You for going before us. Please forgive us when we doubt you: I know You created us for so much more than what we even believe. Your plans are good. Your ways and thoughts are so much higher than ours. May we get our mindset on You today and seek You to find out what You’d have for us to do. I know You are our strength and helper in troubled times. Thank you for Your Son and Jesus for being our perfect example and our way Maker. You died and rose and conquered hell and you faced everything we’d ever have to face. I can’t do it alone but I know I can do all things through You. Show me the way you’d have for me to. I know that i’m not alone. Thank You and in Your precious name, Jesus Christ, amen.
