Commissioned

The reading of Scripture brought such sorrow to the people when they begin to understand the commandments of God and the grievous way that God's people have broken these commandments. This broke their hearts. Scripture reading is important in personal spiritual revival because the word of God brings.life to the reader, it is evidence of a true spiritual revival. It is the Spirit of God that indwells the Believer and brings understanding of the Word to the individual. The joy of the Lord is our strength and faith in God’s compassion and love will draw us to the place of joy.

Nehemiah’s enemies want him to travel away from Jerusalem to harm him. His enemies bribe the prophets because they sought every means to stop the rebuilding of the wall. They were hoping to hurt Nehemiah’s integrity, will, and authority by tempting him to break the mosaic law. My enemy that is trying to make me stumble is busyness and diverting time to temporal rather than eternal work.

Nehemiah doesn't wait until he isn’t so busy to deal with the complaints of the poor who are being oppressed because of his compassion for their plight. The chief motivation of their oppressors was the stress of drought in the economy. Nehemiah dealt with the issue by appealing to the lenders to reduce the interest charged on borrowings. He demanded the return of property taken from the poor, among other things. Church leaders sometimes are quicker to deal with the complaints of the wealthy than those of the poor because the richer ones give more to the church. They are motivated by mammon.

Nehemiah respond to his enemies’ ridicule by praying to God about words of the enemy. Nehemiah respond to military threats by praying and positioning men to guard the project twenty four hours. The work was hindered because of tiredness of the men doing double duty. Nehemiah respond to discouragement and fear in the people by encouraging them to fight for their families and remember that God was on their side. My respond to discouragement and fear is to trust God, my Shepherd. The “walls” of complete surrender need to be maintained in my life to protect me from temptation and sin.

Nehemiah need to build the walls quickly because of security reasons, the more delay in the project would give the enemy time to build forces against them. He assigns so many teams in order to make the work more manageable. They are motivate because they wanted the walls built and they wanted to keep at bay the enemy. The kinds of problems that Nehemiah would need to solve with so many teams working simultaneously range from personality clashes to insufficient material for labor.

Nehemiah was in a crucial moment. The king could have dismissed him from service and banish him forever from his presence. He prayed quickly and silently before he answered the king because he wanted God to intervene. This quick “arrow prayer” related to the four months of prayer he had just finished because it was an extension to the months of prayer.

Nehemiah’s situation compares to Esther’s in that they both were interceding on behalf of God's people. God places his people in strategic positions today in the community, in business, in the military, in government so that they can be intercessors and be the light of Christ in every situation. Our responsibilities to God is to be in communion with Him and know his ways so that we will not be the cause of danger to our positions and our lives.

The basis of Nehemiah’s appeal was that these were God's servants. Nehemiah argued his case before God as seeking protection for God's servants. From this we learned that intercession brings results.

Q1. (Nehemiah 1:1-6) Why does Nehemiah pray day and night for four months? Why does he fast and weep? Isn’t that excessive? Nehemiah prayed day and night for four months because he was seeking directions from God. Nehemiah fasted and wept for the plight of his people. His love for his people and the enemy's evil plans against them were weighing heavily upon him. No it was not excessive. We ought to continue in our prayer and supplication until we've received an answer.

I think Shecaniah’s solution to the people’s sin of intermarriage was as a result of him believing and walking in obedience to God' commands. When presented, the people respond to Schecaniah’s radical solution favorable, except for a few. Ezra implement it not immediately but over a period of time.

Ezra reacted with disappointment when he hears of the sin of intermarriage. He does not react for show. Ezra does not over-react. He grieve over the sins of the people because he had taught them the laws of God. When we don’t grieve over the sins of God’s people our hearts will become harden.

Ezra weighs out the gold and silver vessels when he entrusts them to individuals, and weigh them again when they are delivered to the temple to ensure that the people did not remove any for themselves. Is is an act of distrust and at the same time showing them that there is always accountability. Steps to prevent embezzlement is good for Christian organizations because the enemy will bring temptation. Preventative measures will minimize the opportunities.

Ezra calls the people to fast as a part of them consecrating themselves as they go to God requesting protection on their journey. Fasting does not compel God to answer our prayers instead it brings our body and spirit under control and humbling ourselves before God.

I think the prophecy that says, “They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn” was fulfilled when Jesus was on the cross. Concerning the fountain that cleanses from sin and impurity (Zechariah 13:1), this has also been fulfilled when the blood flowed from our Redeemer for the cleansing of our sins. It will please God so much when all the Jews finally believe in Jesus because He has always called them His children. Every father want to know that his children is safe with him, our God want His children to live with Him in eternity.

God is so condemnatory towards shepherds or leaders who take advantage of their office and exploit the people because they are supposed to be representing him to the people. Jesus’ standard for leaders according to (Mark 10:42-45) is that they be servants even as He came and served. In government, if we followed Jesus’ standard the elected officials would always consider whats best for the people and serve them with fairness. In our workplace we'd always seek to know God's will and follow His directions[ the same is true for the church and home. In all things, let His will be done.

To operate from a policy of mercy and compassion we must have genuine love in our heart for others. God commands justice for the poor and oppressed in our culture, we can we be sure that the poor are treated justly in our courts by letting mercy dictate the judgment being meted out. Aliens in our country, sojourners from another land are treated, for the most part, with fairness and dignity; but at the same time upholding the law of the land when they are found to be illegally entering our country. Speaking truthfully with others is so important to God because he hates liars, in Proverbs one of the seven deadly sins is a lying tongue..

As Christians we tend to make worship about us, rather than about God. This is evident when we disregard some sounds simply because they are not agreeable to our ears. In the Psalms we are told, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise" and yet some of us dictate what is an acceptable sound in their presence. We should evaluate our churches and our worship patterns by the manifested presence of our God; when the worship service is spirit-led. To make our personal worship a matter of the heart, and not just rote readings and prayer we should dedicate our self to seeking more of the knowledge of God.

We so easily fall into the trap of trying to do God’s work with our own strength because we think we can do the work on our own. “Not by might, not by power, but by my Spirit” tells us that it is by the Spirit of God the work will be done. This truth should be consciously a priority in my life, so that in all things I will give it over to God.

Joshua’s filthy clothes represent sin. God deal with this by robing him in a garment that represented God's cleansing and forgiveness. The message this prophecy was intended to convey to Joshua the High Priest was that God did not turned away from him, but rather He cleanse and forgave him of his sin. For the Christian leaders who have sinned this message is encouraging for them to turn to God in spite of the sin and be forgiven.

In this passage, the prophet calls all mankind to be still before him showing that they've put their trust in God. In the context of God aroused to protect his people from attack, silence is appropriate in honor of God's presence. God now moves on behalf of His people. For the enemy of God, silence represents a time to in terror, awaiting the judgment of God. For the believer, silence before God represent a recognition of His presence.

A message of repentance from sin is an important part of the Gospel because it teaches that sin separates us from God. When we remove repentance from the core message of Jesus conversion is stunted. The hearers will continue in sin and repentance unto conversion never happens. God wants you to repent of all known sin in obedience to His commandment, live a discipline life and walk in closeness with Him.

Haggai’s image of Zerubbabel being God’s signet should have encourage Zerubbabel because he was being told that God had given him authority. He had received God's blessings to go forth with God's authority. The leader’s signet signifies the power of the leader. The person holding the signet has the power of the leader and is in place of the leader at that moment. Listening to God’s Spirit makes you effective as his agent when you boldly follow His direction. You are authorized to speak and act for Jesus when you speak the unadulterated Word of God.

Today, disciples are defiled by wanting to align themselves to the world and the things of the world. The danger of acting as if doing church work, that it somehow makes us holy by association; is blinding the child of God from the truth. They find themselves in a rut of doing the same thing over and over and feeling good about it, but missing the mark, they fail to seek God and allow the Spirit of God to rule in their heart leading them to the truth and into doing the Will of God. A Believer can deal with spiritual defilement and sin by repenting and seeking the guidance of the Spirit of God to move away from the influences of spiritual defilement and sin.

Discouragement is a common experience. When Joshua was about to take the helm and lead God's people into the Promised Land God give Joshua the high priest this command, "Be strong and of a good courage." God then gave him this assurance, "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." Joshua saw how God dealt with Moses and now knows that God will do the same with him, as leader. To deal with my own times of discouragement, God’s command and assurance for me is always, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." This command and assurance I must keep firmly rooted in my heart, in my spirit; knowing that God is indeed FAITHFUL and will do as He said He will.

God sometimes disciplines us through hardships and circumstances (Hebrews 12:7-11)and sometimes through us not having all that we need; when we are faced with these situations we must be disciplined to trust God. We must rely on the Good Shepherd, that He will provide and meet our need. At the present I am not experiencing any hardship. Today I chose to deliberately have a thankful heart and give God praise, glory and honor for who He is - FAITHFUL.