Digging Deeper 8.1.24
Ezra 4:1-6,21,23-24 ESV
[1] Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel,
[2] they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.”
[3] But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”
[4] Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build
[5] and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
[6] And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
[21] Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me.
[23] Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes’ letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease.
[24] Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Digging Deeper Thoughts/Questions to Ponder
When God’s people get serious, committed and dedicated to Expanding the Kingdom of God. The enemy will come to seek to hinder and stop your work. What ways now or in the past when you have been serious, committed and dedicated to Expanding the Kingdom of God that the enemy has sought to hinder or stop the work?
Like in this text, throughout history we see satan may use the strategy to come strongly against you or the church, or he may change his strategy and seek to join in. He seeks to mix religion with culture and compromise. Do we see his strategy working today in the American church? Is it working?
The enemy will use any means possible to get you, the church to cease it’s work for the Lord Jesus. The enemy will look into history and see your past failures and flaws, and seek to remind you of them. For he knows that it can dishearten you and he hopes that it will cause to give up. Remember, it is satan who condemns, Romans 8:1 AMP – Therefore there is now no condemnation [no guilty verdict, no punishment] for those who are in Christ Jesus [who believe in Him as personal Lord and Savior]. By all means, the Holy Spirit of God will convict, but it is the condemnation of satan that causes the work of God to cease, whereas the conviction of the Holy Spirit will always motivate you to continue in the work of God.
May we always be on guard to NOT allow unwholesome thoughts or motives to enter our hearts and minds that would hinder the work of God in the church. If such was to happen, how might one change those unwholesome motives and thoughts? Instead of hindering the work, how might you advance the work of God in and through the church?
When we see the work of God being hindered may we pray, be courageous and hopeful. The weak will overcome the strong by faith, and God will get the glory!
Digging Deeper Prayer Thought
Lord Jesus, help me to be strong and courageous because of my Faith in YOU oh Lord. Help me to be on guard against the strategies of the enemy as he seeks to dishearten me and cause YOUR work Lord Jesus to cease. Lord, as I see others in the body of Christ who seem to be disheartened or discourage, may YOU use me to encourage them and to stir within them hope. Lord, as I and the church are always seeking to be serious, committed and dedicated to Expanding the Kingdom of God in our community and beyond, may we be fully aware that the enemy will NOT sit back and let happen without trying to hinder YOUR work in and through YOUR people. Therefore, my I be 100% committed to deepening prayer, Victorious Breakthrough Prayer, deepening study in YOUR Word and a deepening fellowship with my brothers and sisters in the work. Lord, I am weak and I know that YOU will be glorified in my weakness when the strong, when the enemy is overcome because of my Faith in YOU!!
Love, Prayers and Blessings
Pastor David