We are living in days where God has been asking His people to prepare for global change (spiritually, politically, globally). We are already seeing some of those changes happening with the war in Israel so unexpectedly and suddenly beginning.
One aspect of the preparedness that the Lord has been instructing is for each family or individual to find their tribe or their community— then become a part of what He is doing (building) in that place. Become rooted because winds are coming that will require you to be rooted in Him but also rooted within a people that you have been joined to.
Two types of winds will come as you gather together— the winds of adversity that require a safe refuge of unified people and fortified people that have been prepared to withstand great storms. There will also be a wind like that in the Book of Acts that will fall upon those who have gathered and waited according to the instructions of their Messiah. The mighty wind of His Spirit that comes from on high and falls upon each one.
Build That Wall
For quite some time I have been drawn to the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was to return to Jerusalem with the exiled people and was commissioned to rebuild the wall (fortify the wall) and gates that protected Jerusalem. This amazing story was about the return of God’s people from exile and the restoration of them to God’s ways.
God promised Moses that He would scatter His people if they were unfaithful but He also promised to gather them again when they returned to Him and were faithful once more. Nehemiah remembered this and gathered the exiled Jews back to Jerusalem and together they rebuilt the walls that had once protected them. God is calling His people back and rebuilding their covenant of faithfulness to Him. He is revealing the gaps in the spiritual wall and calling for repentance and reconciliation to His ways.
But if you remember this story— THE OPPOSITION WAS GREAT! Nehemiah commissioned the families that had returned to Jerusalem to rebuild particular portions of the wall. But as they built, along came three governors who were enemies of the Jews to attempt to stop Nehemiah from the work of rebuilding the wall. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were fearful of the return of the Jews to Jerusalem and fearful that they would become a mightier city than their own.
When 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.” Nehemiah 2:10
They began threatening the work and threatening Nehemiah. They were out to discredit him, assign false motives to him, harm him, and stop the work that would fulfill God’s plan. They tried to intimidate him with false reports, they went to other nobles to try to rally supporters who would stand against Nehemiah and they even tried to deceive him with false prophets (see Nehemiah chapter 6).
Many accusations and threats came from these three governors who would continually distract and call Nehemiah away from the work that he was doing. Finally, another false allegation came from Sanballat through a letter filled with accusations and false information. This time Nehemiah refused to meet with them and send this reply,
I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”” Nehemiah 6:8
He knew that he was fulfilling God’s work and therefore it would be successful. The threats and accusations would not stop the completion of the work of God. Nehemiah stopped sitting in the position of being defensive (and distracted) and returned to the posture of obeying the Lord and no longer being distracted by accusations and false reports.
These enemies were trying to wear down Nehemiah with ongoing threats and intimidation which would stop the work of restoration (of a nation and a people returning to God). He prayed for the Lord to strengthen his hands and then he carried on with the work. When the wall was completed, the neighboring nations looked upon Jerusalem and they lost their confidence and were afraid. For Jerusalem was a mighty city once again.
Why am I reminding us of this story? It is because we are seeing this happen once again today. The same spirit that Sanballat operated in has been active once again. God has called for the exiles to return to His ways. He is fortifying the walls in His people and raising up modern-day Nehemiahs that have been commissioned to rebuild— to align and to restore one people under one God in faithfulness and unity. This is our protection from the winds of adversity as well as our posture to gather and receive the outpouring of His spirit which will come as a mighty wind.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” Acts 2:1
The Lord had instructed them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the gift that was coming. So they joined together in constant prayers and in obedience to the Lord’s final instructions.
We are being called together to pray, worship, align our lives to the Word, and repent of anything that seeks to divide us from Him or one another. There is a call to repentance and restoration. There is a call to rebuild the places that have fallen or allowed the enemy entrance. There is a call to strengthen the hands for the work ahead. There is a call to come together—
We must be aware and recognize that those who see this as a threat will come and issue false reports and accusations. They will demand that you leave your work to come to defend yourself. Do not be distracted.
If you are working to fulfill God’s plan and purposes then remain faithful to the work and pray that He would strengthen your hands once again. God is repairing the walls of His church. He is making us mighty by uniting us and removing all slander, bitterness, hatred, disobedience, and compromise that have left the walls in disrepair. A great work is being done and a mighty wind will come as we wait together and work together.
Let us remember the final prayer of Jesus before He went to the cross,
My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23
Nehemiahs— ARISE! Call in the exiles and restore the ancient ruins.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on Inscribe Ministries
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