“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” ( 1 Peter 5:8).
One of the critical aspects of any army that wins over a territory is that once it possesses the territory it must figure out how to hold it. This is often by deploying guards in certain strategic positions. Behind these are also troops ready to be deployed in case the enemy surfaces back again. These guards watch the fort 24/7.
When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall and had the structures in place against incredible opposition he knew his task was half finished. As the wall went up opposition mounted. The enemies were ready and determined to raid and pull it down. Wisely, he “prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat” ( Nehemiah 4:9). When this did not stop them, “Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows” ( vv 13). He went further, “half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor” ( vv 16).
It is through these conditions that the wall was successfully rebuilt. A lesson here is that when God opens doors for us and we possess the land, it does not mean relaxing thinking it is game over. In fact the enemy becomes even more vicious once a believer has taken over his space. Then he goes native. The Believer in Christ must therefore stay awake day and night in prayer, which is the surest guard against the enemy’s intrusion, lest he loses his possession.
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, as you open doors for me and I take possession of the land help me be alert to any of the enemies dirty schemes that I may guard jealously all you have given me to prosper, this I pray in Jesus’s name!
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09/05/2024 - 10/05/2024 All day“The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them” (Deuteronomy 28:2 NIV)
For some reason very often some Christians are found despising the importance of being enterprising. To some being enterprising
can be equated to the love of money and it’s pitfalls (1 Tim 6:10). There are some Christian communities where running enterprises is frowned upon as being overtly worldly. On the contrary, far from it, being enterprising is clearly an avenue God has given believers to raise resources for their well being and promotion of the rich Gospel.The Bible is full of enterprising characters who were used mightily of God. Abraham was apparently a good rancher that he “became very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold” (Gen 13:2). Job was hated by Satan who sought to destroy him because “He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area” (Job 1:3). The Lord Jesus Christ was born and raised in the house of Joseph, the carpenter (Mathew 13:55). Carpenters do not create works of beauty to donate for free. To prosper they must run sustainable enterprises which pay taxes and make profit.
The Apostle Paul would often rely on enterprising people to support him in his ministry. One of his worthy converts “was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house” (Acts 16:14).
Though Paul was a ranked Jewish legal scholar once he went to the mission field, other than cling to his titles by burdening his hosts he often dabbled in tent making to support himself. In Corinth he teamed up with an amazing couple, Priscilla and Aquila, and “because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them” (Acts 18:3). This couple run a successful tent making business that enabled them support mission work.
And then of course, there is the noble woman of character, as told in Proverbs 31, who “selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings.. She sees that her trading is profitable...She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes (vv 13-25). What better illustration is there to emulate being enterprising.
When the body of believers is filled with enterprising people it generates resources important for church upkeep. Further, the work of God is then supported without being dependent on sources that might compromise the mission, as sometimes we see!
Prayer for today: Lord father God of creation, as we see in scripture you have given us the gift of enterprise, and so, I pray to use this gift such that you bless me as you did to our father Abraham and all other great saints before for the glory and expansion of your kingdom, this I pray in Jesus’s name!
