If Your With Us You are For US

Ezra 4


It shouldn't surprise us when the enemy comes along side us and tries to disrupt what we are trying to do. It would seem as though when things like this happen that we would be on the guard but often times we are caught unaware. Maybe because we can't believe people would really be that deceiving or have such plans as to destroy us. The fact is that it happens today just as it did in the day of Ezra.

Vs. 3 summarized says that the enemies of Judah and Benjamin were being sly in trying to befriend them and join in their work to rebuild the Temple of God but it was only to confuse them and cause them frustration in hopes that they would stop.

Have you ever had that happen?

I can remember one time when we knew the Lord was calling us to do a huge project in our work among an unreached people group and it was Huge! We had been working towards this big event for 3 years. Striving to find the people where they lived, looking for ways to reach them with the gospel and then hand them one. Well, we were ready and finally the Lord gave Dwayne and I a vision to see that more than 300,000 people would receive the gospel message. It was huge it would require 13 teams coming in small groups starting in June and going to August. It would mean our team in the area would be considering the risks and with much prayer and preparation it was time to carry it out. One of our team members came to us and questioned our vision and our purpose. Dwayne and I said, give us time to pray about it and give us time to seek the Lord. It was after 3 days of praying and fasting we knew that it was the enemy putting doubt in the heart of our team members to try and discourage us and thwart Father's plan.

We went back to the call to do this project. It wasn't from us because we knew the risks and the hard work it would take to make this happen. But the Lord called out the Laborers, He provided men of god to write the Tracks and to provide us the tools to distribute them. He provided two sisters in Tennessee to fund the whole printing of over 150,000. tracts... God was at work and we had to trust Him...

We went back and told our whole team. This project was moving forward and they had to trust the Lord in this because it wasn't our plan but His......

Proverbs 19:21 says, " many plans are in mans heart but the counsel of the Lord stands forever.' this is our verse to claim when we begin to face struggles or discouragement.

The men of god though in Ezra were able to distinguish what the intent was because they knew these men were not of the Household of God. So the men told them no you can't join us or help us this is for the God's people to build. This made them mad and so they went to the King and told him of their plans.

the people however were frightened of the people over the river and the word says in 3:3 that the people of God were fearful of the people of who were living in the land by the river. So they already were fearful now they know for certain that they are out to hurt them and stop them.

Ultimately the people stop work on the temple for a time. We are going to see in Haggai as we jump over to read the accounts of what God had to do get His people back to work and see how the Lord works to encourage and give strength when we His people are fearful and have little faith.


Some of the lessons that have popped out at me in these chapters so far are:

Obedience to Authority
Obeyed the Law of Moses - today we would obey the Word of God
Gave praise and Glory to God rather than Man- They worshiped God.
In the beginning they stayed focused in the midst of fear of what lay ahead of them.
In the end they allowed fear to grip them. -

Today as I think back over Ezra 1-4 I can't help but see myself in them. I do some of these very things and I've allowed the enemy to cause me to become ineffective in what God has called me too because I am fearful!

2 Timothy 1:7 " for God has not given us the spirit of timidity (fear) but of power and love and discipline. "

May we claim those things today:
Power, Love, Discipline

Ministering: giving help, serving

This week as I have been studying in 1 Samuel and the Lord has been meeting me each day and teaching me so much~

Ministering- did you know it means ; giving help , serving........


I knew what it meant to minister but sometimes my thinking doesn't always match my actions. For instance, I know what it means to me when others minister to me- they serve me or speak a word into my life... but sometimes when I see myself ministering to others it is a bit warped. I don't see my role in Ministering always as it should be; meaning that my attitude doesn't match up with my actions. The Lord revealed to me this week that I sometimes have the attitude of Pride and Righteousness (not Right with God - but in the flesh, Right with myself) - This was such a revelation to me that as I went about my day- I asked the Lord to speak to me about things I've done in the name of " ministering" where I've had the wrong heart attitude. BOY was I humbled!

So as I looked deeper at the life of Samuel something stuck out to me that hadn't before.

Samuel served the Lord~ Ministered to the Lord and then the Lord spoke to him. But what strikes me as so very important is that verse 7 says, " Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor had the word of the Lord yet been revealed to him."

I use to think man how can some one serve the Lord and Yet not know Him but my thinking while it seemed right , should have been ....

While serving the Lord when will one encounter Him and the Word of the Lord be revealed.

1 Sam. 3: 1-10
Samuel finally did encounter God and God had revealed a word of the Lord to him. He was to carry this message to Eli and he wasn't to spare a word.

1 Sam. 3: 11-15
Samuel had an encounter with God and it was rare in those days. Not only did the Lord stand before him but he also gave him a prophecy to speak to Eli. In 1 Samuel 3: 15 says, " So Samuel lay down until morning. then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. But Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli."

Here, in my opinion, is where the rubber meets the road. Our faith with obedience produces fruit. Thus, Samuel had received a word and now was asked to step out in Faith to tell this prophecy to Eli and trust that the Lord would do as He said.

He does- but not so easily. Here is the other cool thing the Lord showed me.

Sometimes when people bring things to us it is anything but pleasant. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it reveals sin in our lives. Other times we sometimes have to receive an angry word and not allow it to hurt us but realize that the one speaking may really be the one hurt and having the problems. Whatever it may be - Eli's response is an example for us all of a person who willingly received a rebuke with grace and chose to trust that God was working all things for Good. It was totally evident that he trusted God and that it was necessary.

1 Samuel 3: 16-18
" Then Eli called Samuel and said, " Samuel, my son."

And he said, " Here I am."

Eli said, " What is the word that He spoke to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you, and more also, if you hide anything from me of all the words that He spoke to you."

So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him.

And Eli said, " It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him."


This conversation says so much to me as I strive to be a person who Ministers to the Lord. Who Serves the Lord!

I so want to be able to receive rebuke first from God, my lord and savior, and from man. I just think Eli possesses a character trait that says, he values honesty and integrity. He made mistakes along the way in his ministry. It was obvious because his Boys were anything but good. But it didn't devalue his devotion and love to God. He knew that God would do what was best for Him and for Israel. Thus he could receive the word from the Lord - via Samuel.


This week- I guess I was just praying all week that the Lord would continue to grow me in this way; being a person who is able to receive rebuke and discipline from HIM and others.

I am not so gracious - but I do desire to be and I do want to live a life that says I value God's discipline so much so that I am willing to receive it however it is He choses to disseminate it. Obviously when things happen our flesh sometimes rule the moment but my prayer is that I get better and better at not allowing my response to be longer than it should be and to really chose the SPIRIT rather than the FLESH response.

More on 1 Samuel later this week.......

blessings,
Melissa