The God of heaven will give us success!
Nehemiah 2:20 I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.”
Today let us look at all the things that are intimidating us and hindering our progress and say: The God of heaven will give us success! Say Amen.
Nehemiah did not give in to threats from his enemies, but he was focused on his project and assignment given to him by God. However, the strategy used by the enemy would be heinous so that it hurts you deeply and you give up, he knows where to push the button and frustrate you.
From nowhere you will be attacked, people would just throw words that cut you so deep that you may also collapse, have you experienced that? One particular sister (non-Christian) told me, during a huge fight in their house after the marriage of her son, she stood as a single mom educated and took care of him, but he spoke words that shook her to the core, he dragged 20 years old incidents in front of his newly wedded wife. She came to me shattered with a broken-heart, I shared Jesus with her and also gave her an opportunity to teach in our Abide School. Hallelujah!
Fear not says the Bible, read:
Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”
2 Timothy 1:7 For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Romans 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
During times of crisis and chaos, we got to loudly read the above verses and fill our hearts with faith. Say Amen.
It is not going to be hunky-dory always…..never…..hurricanes are bound to come, Nehemiah received not only the favour of the king but also received provisions and recommendation letters, read:
Nehemiah 2:8,9”…because the gracious hand of my God was on me, the king granted my requests. 9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me.” However, the next verse says that “Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.” Yes, there will be people along the way to hinder the work of God.
When we relocated our ministry to Hyderabad, my daughter had just completed her intercollege studies and had to join professional college, my son was in junior school studying class 4. I landed in Hyderabad along with my maid and my little son Joshua and went straight to the house that we had already taken for rent. The owner a Christian knew our testimony and he came to hand over the keys, I stood there bushed out from the strenuous journey and various other emotions of moving into a new city – ALONE (my husband and daughter were joining me after finishing work) Mercilessly the owner looked at me and said: “ you cannot clap hands and sing and conduct prayer meetings in this house because this is an upscale residential area where you cannot make noise.” In fact, moved by my testimony his wife had offered her house for rent but this man talked to me like that. He should have spoken good words of blessing to me but he humiliated me and treated me very rudely. That is how my journey started in the new city, God blessed our efforts, obedience and perseverance in the midst of afflictions. I write this after 14 years in the new city, we have started our own Church, Government approved school for the underprivileged called Abide School and much more. The God of heaven will give us success!
It’s not enough to be equipped with plethora of educational qualifications, skills and what not, the most important tool you need to make it in life is PERSEVERANCE! Are you hearing me? Abusive words would be spewed at you, you might be humiliated in front of your juniors, your husband may treat you like worm…whatever…don’t quit friend. Be an over comer and succeed, God is with you!
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill
“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after the other.”
– Walter Elliot
I preached this sermon in our Shiloh Revival Church, Hyderabad; however, the day before that I was bombarded on all sides through verbal abuses, discouragement, sickness in body and what not. On the day I stood on the platform to preach, fighting against all odds on the way, I felt ‘zero’ anointing as the demon pointed out few people who sat disinterested. I suddenly remembered the core subject of my message, “Nehemiah 1:3” The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” Yes, it is broken…
• Many Christians have stopped coming to Church, they feign that they are watching online service
• Many elders feel that they have become too mature and great that they don’t need to attend church, they travel for vacation but have given up on church.
• Today, October 1 I read in the news that two juveniles, that means teens entered a minor girl’s house and raped her mercilessly. The walls are indeed broken.
• Freebies are given very enormously to people to garner the votes of people by hook or by crook. Corruption is eating into the roots of the society, right from approval of kinder garden school to providing jobs for money has become norm. The walls are indeed broken.
. An archbishop in the troubled Indian state of Manipur has said that around 249 churches belonging to one ethnic group were destroyed in the first 36 hours of a wave of violence in May, 2023. 4,786 houses were destroyed 58,357 people were relocated, including 22,000 kids in 351 relief camps.The walls are indeed broken.
God had assigned the job of rebuilding the walls to chosen people like Nehemiah, so I preached indeed. You need to be equipped for the battle. How do you do that? Prayer, Bible reading and fasting. This life is difficult. Times of peace will be followed by times of war, so be alert. Persevere with determination focussing only on the assignment given to you.
Illustration: When Mr.Ratan Tata’s mom was admitted in the New York hospital diagnosed with cancer, he took a break from his work and stayed with his mother for around 4 months. During this time he wrote the Tata’s strategic plan in hospital, after his mom passed away, he came back and submitted the plan to the board but it was politely rejected. A few months later, he became the Chairman of Tata Group Industries, he rather defiantly implemented that plan that went out to become a smash hit. We need to learn the art of overcoming odds and winning.
When the world without Jesus can do it, we can do it more powerfully with Jesus on our side.
The God of heaven will give us success!
