Friday: Further Thought ~ Facing Opposition
Further Thought:
Ellen G. White, “The Builders on the Wall”, “A Rebuke Against Extortion”, and “Heathen Plots”, pp. 635–660, in Prophets and Kings.
“The opposition and discouragement that the builders in Nehemiah’s day met from open enemies and pretended friends is typical of the experience that those today will have who work for God. Christians are tried, not only by the anger, contempt, and cruelty of enemies, but by the indolence, inconsistency, lukewarmness, and treachery of avowed friends and helpers” – Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 644.
Image © Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com
“In Nehemiah’s firm devotion to the work of God, and his equally firm reliance on God, lay the reason of the failure of his enemies to draw him into their power. The soul that is indolent falls an easy prey to temptation; but in the life that has a noble aim, an absorbing purpose, evil finds little foothold. The faith of him who is constantly advancing does not weaken; for above, beneath, beyond, he recognizes Infinite Love, working out all things to accomplish His good purpose. God’s true servants work with a determination that will not fail because the throne of grace is their constant dependence” – Page 660.
Discussion Questions:
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I have told the parable of the peas before, but it is worth telling again because it is applicable to the current lesson:
Behold a pea plant in my garden bore a pod with three peas in it. And it came to pass that in thecourse of time the pod fell to the ground and split open throwing the peas onto the brown earth.
The first pea looked around and shivered. The earth was very brown, and it was very green. It was sore afraid, so it said to the other peas, “This brown earth is not the place for a green pea. We must be separate and keep pure.” And it gathered itself up and rolled back into the pod, gathering the pod around itself shutting out the brown.
The second pea looked around and shivered. The earth was very brown, and it was very green, so it said to the other peas, “I stand out so much here and I will be fairly easy pickings for the birds. So, it rolled in the dirt and covered itself with brown. But the second pea said in its heart that it was still green on the inside.
The third pea looked around and smiled. The earth was very brown, and it was very green, so it said to the other peas. “This place is very brown and is need of much more green!” And it put down its roots and grew towards the light, forming a fine pea plant with lots of green leaves. It produced fine fat pods filled with more peas.
And the gardener scratched his head and said, “This is something I need to think about!
opposition - You can't control what opposition you face but you can control how you react to it.
opposition begins - The purity of religion will always expose opposition.
Encourage - Working in God's field is hard work; however, God has promised a blessing if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is My disciple, truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”
Stop - William Tyndale, who was the first to translate the entire New Testament into English from Greek in 1526, was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1536.
Action - For we are powerless before this vast army that comes against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.” Where is your eyes fixed today?
Great work - We are not merely children of God going home to glory; but we are fellow-workers with God--keepers of beacons to imperiled mariners in a dark night of storms--oarsmen of a lifeboat out on the wild ocean saving drowning souls from destruction. Yea, we have a great work in regard of our glorious God and Savior.
Satan knows those lies, those accusations, which really get to you – and he knows how to throw them in your face. We can’t stop it, so we have to learn to deal with it!
Nehemiah had the discernment to see the slander strategy was all about fear, and he wouldn’t give into it. No enemy can make us afraid; all they can do is try to make us choose fear – but it is up to us to choose it.
One of Benjamin Franklin’s proverbs from Poor Richard’s Almanac wisely says: “Since I cannot govern my own tongue, tho’ within my own teeth, how can I hope to govern the tongues of others?”
May God bless us as we stand steadfast in midst of opposition.
Amen!.... (Thank you and Happy Blessed Sabbath!)
To collaborate or not to collaborate, that is the question?
1 pray for guidance
2 does it involve compromise of my principles?
3 will it affect my witness?
4 examine their and my agenda
5 most important will the outcome give glory to the LORD?
Everyone has a mission. All we have to do is to be connected to Christ. He does lead His sons and daughters through the way is best for them. His purpose is to build up their character reflected on His. We all have challenges to face! We need to work hard and let Him guide us. He is our ultimate pastor.
Anointing, anoint your servants eyes so we can see. Anointed we need you more than ever.
We are no match for the wicked one. He operates just like the way he structured gambling games. He allows us to win one or two times then he sucks us into his scheme and never releases us until he leaves us empty or dead.
Many times we as individuals or as a church compromise thinking we are doing a good thing in love, or just to live at peace with others but many times Jesus is displeased with us.
How many times we get suck into holidays without even knowing what we are doing?
One young girl went home and told her grandma about Halloween and they can buy something simple to celebrate. The grandma wrote in bold letters and placed it outside THE ONLY GHOST WHO LIVES HERE IS THE HOLY GHOST. She was not pleased. How any times we compromise with our own? Compromise starts somewhere- creeping compromise.