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Discussion Forum : Articles and Sermons : You Can Triumph Over All The Opposition Of The Enemy - Zac Poonen

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Christisking
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 You Can Triumph Over All The Opposition Of The Enemy - Zac Poonen

[b]You Can Triumph Over All The Opposition Of The Enemy [/b]- [i]Zac Poonen[/i]

In Nehemiah 2:1, we find that Nehemiah had never been sad
in the king’s presence before. He was not a gloomy type of
person. The king had always seen him happy. And now he was
sad. But he was not sad concerning himself or his family. He
was sad because Jerusalem was in such shambles. O that there
were more people in the church like that today! The king
said, “Your face looks so sad! This is nothing but sadness
of the heart.” And Nehemiah was afraid. It was a terrible
thing to ruffle the opinions of a king in those days. I love
to see Nehemiah’s honesty in admitting that he was afraid.

Fear is not something we can eliminate completely from our
lives. We will feel fear as long as we are here on earth,
but we must never act on fear. Paul said he had fears (2 Cor.7:5).
But he never acted on those fears. If you are in a dangerous
place, one day if you are going to serve the Lord in a place
where your life is going to be threatened - there are
many places like that today - naturally you will feel fear.
You don’t have to feel ashamed of that. We are human.
But we must never act on the basis of that fear. We can be
careful and act with caution, but not with fear. Fear is the
opposite of faith, and when you act in fear, you are acting
in unbelief. Never forget that God cares for us.

Although Nehemiah was afraid, he still told the king,
“My face has to be sad because the city, the place of my
fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and the gates have been burned
with fire.” So the king asked, “What do you want?” Nehemiah
prayed a quick, short prayer (the best thing to do in such
situations) and replied, “If it pleases the king, please
send me to Judah to rebuild that city.” The king said,
“How long are you going to be away?” A time was fixed and he went.

He went to Jerusalem and stayed alone three days without
going anywhere - probably fasting and praying (Nehemiah 2:11).
Then he rose at night and took a few men with him. He had
not told anyone what God had put into his mind, because
he knew that there were enemies who would try and hinder him
(Nehemiah 2:10). He knew it was no use gathering people
together who had no burden for God’s work. So he went with
just a few and inspected the walls and gates.

As soon as this was known, opposition began, just like in
Ezra’s time. As soon as someone is concerned that the name
of Jesus should be honoured, opposition begins immediately.
The devil is alert to such moves among God’s people. That is
one reason why people don’t go out and live for God and
serve Him. They are afraid of opposition from the devil.

But actually one way of knowing that you are in the will of
God is that you find yourself being confronted by the devil
frequently. If the devil leaves you alone, you can be fairly
sure that you are completely outside the will of God.

As far as I am concerned, one of the indications that I am
on the right path is that the devil stirs up people against
me and stirs up all types of situations to hinder me.
Throughout church history, this has been the experience of
all who have sought to serve the Lord in sincerity.

Sanballat and Tobiah mocked and despised the Jews and said,
“What is this you are doing? You are rebelling against the
king” (Nehemiah 2:19). But Nehemiah replied saying, “The God
of heaven will give us success. We are going to arise and build.
But you people have no portion or right or memorial
in Jerusalem. We do not work together with you.”


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Patrick
www.jonahproject.org


_________________
Patrick Ersig

 2009/5/8 12:20Profile









 Re: You Can Triumph Over All The Opposition Of The Enemy - Zac Poonen

Thank you Brother - much needed message and one I've so prayed that someone would post.


[i]"........... Fear is not something we can eliminate completely from our lives. We will feel fear as long as we are here on earth, [b]but[/b] we must [b]never act on fear.[/b] Paul said he had fears (2 Cor.7:5). But he never acted on those fears. If you are in a dangerous place, one day if you are going to serve the Lord in a place where your life is going to be threatened - there are many places like that today - naturally you will feel fear.
You don’t have to feel ashamed of that. We are human. But we must [b]never act on[/b] the basis of that fear. We can be careful and act with caution, but not with fear. ........"[/i]

 2009/5/8 17:20





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