They were just trying to intimidate us, imagining that they could discourage us and stop the work. So I continued the work with even greater determination. Nehemiah 6:9 NLT
The enemy of our souls will go to great lengths to keep us from exclusive faith and behaviors. He does not care if we wish to become “spiritual.” In fact, he is quite happy with that because it will inoculate us against the one, true spirituality. But if we choose to say, “I am going to be this: a servant of the One, True God, and not that: the slave of my desires,” then he will do everything in his power to prevent that. The common strategies he uses are displayed very clearly in the book of Nehemiah.
The enemies began with mockery. “If even a fox walked on that wall, if would fall down” (4:3). They try to make our attempts to please God look foolish. They tell us that what we are doing will not work, that it will fail, that this exclusive faith is “too much.” Do what Nehemiah did: pray more intensely.
Then they move to attack (4:7-8). We are inundated with temptations. They hope to wear us out, wear us down. We get our focus off the Lord, off loving him exclusively, and focus on the attacks. Again, do what Nehemiah did: keep the focus on the work, Christlikeness, while recognizing your weak places and mounting a special guard there.
Next is entrapment (6:1-9). The enemy uses “sweet reason” to persuade us to compromise in just one area. “Come on, let’s talk this out. You can be as rigid as you like in all those other areas, but you can relax here, certainly.” But having gotten the knife in one place, it’s all too easy to get it into a lot of others.
Finally, there is the lure of self-protection (6:10-14). Go into the temple; use God to protect yourself. We are tempted to pull in, to shorten our defensive lines. Dr. Donald Barnhouse said it. “You don’t have to defend a lion; just let him out of the cage.” Do not allow the enemy to get you focused on yourself. Focus on your Heavenly Father and live courageously. Let him do the protecting.
Called To Be Transformed 