PASTOR’S CORNER: Stay on the wall. Don’t come down

Today, this is an encouraging word to the child of God, especially to those who are on active duty on the battlefield for the Lord. To those, who are engaged in the work of the Lord at any level, who are not saved in name only but are doing a good work for the Lord.

It makes no difference what you do, how small it is, or how insignificant it may seem to be for the Lord doesn’t look at the size, he looks at faithfulness and how committed we are to the work that we are doing.

Be sure this morning, when you make up in your mind to serve the Lord and you start using your gift in service for the kingdom, Satan will find some way to oppose you discourage you, and distract you from your assignment.

And oh, my church friends, we are all on assignment. No Christian called to salvation is without a gift and God has gifted all of us with at least one gift. Some have more than one, but whatever gift God has given us is to be used for the building up of the local church and to bring glory to his name. This means that all Christians ought to be doing something for the Lord.

But when we are trying to do the right thing then you and me become a target. Understand, that our enemy Satan wants us to be sidelined. He wants the child of God sitting on the dock of the bay watching the tide roll away, wasting time. If you are serving the Lord, if you are doing anything for the Lord, if you are coming to church on a regular basis, I want to encourage you this morning to “stay on the wall”…don’t come down! Don’t come down!” if you are doing good work, stay on the wall.

The one thing that causes people to stop their work is other people. Just when you are doing something good and making progress Satan will make sure that you hear something negative that somebody said about what you are doing to make you feel bad and quit what you are doing.

How many people have come off auxiliaries, left the church, quit singing, quit preaching because Satan used somebody to speak a word to them or put it out there where they can hear it to stop them in their tracks? For some, it has worked. As I have said many times over the years and it is a fact, that the number one weapon that the devil uses against Christians is discouragement! A discouraged Christian is not an effective Christian. If he can get us to lay down, he wins.

Community friends, we can’t win if we come down and we can’t lose if we stay on the wall. I know we all have some issues going on, battles that we are fighting, storms that we are trying to battle through. With limited vision, we judge our future by our present. We believe the lie of the enemy that things will never change. We speak negativity in our own lives and we quit.

Friends, this morning we can’t quit anything that we are doing if we are doing it for the glory of God. When God gives an assignment, it is up to us to carry out that assignment I don’t care what happens. Always remember this morning, a quitter never wins, and a winner never quits!

One of the most encouraging stories to Christians in the Bible is of Nehemiah and the assignment that he was on. Having got permission from his king to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall after hearing that it had been broken down, he was grieved when he heard that the Jerusalem wall was no longer standing (Nehemiah 1:1-4).

He goes to Jerusalem on assignment, in verses 7-8, but everybody is not glad that he has come to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall. When his enemies heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was a man to seek the welfare of the Jews. Sounds familiar? The Jews were hated here, just like the antisemitic hatred against them today but the Jewish nation is God’s chosen people. They are the apple of His eye, according to Zechariah 2:8.

In verse 18, Nehemiah told them of the hand of the Lord that was upon him and look at what the people said, “they all said, let us rise up and build. And they strengthened their hands for this good work.” Despite threats from their enemies, they kept on working and built the wall for the people who had a mind to work.

Community, when any group of people or members of the local church have a mind to work, they can do anything, accomplish any goal and defeat any enemy! They worked with one hand and held their sword in the other hand. And they kept on working. What if the saints would stand together with prayer in one hand and the word in their other hand and refuse to stop working? Oh, the lives we would touch, the souls that would get saved, the projects the church would raise, and the impact we would make in our community.

Nehemiah’s enemies sent to him for a meeting to do him harm (Nehemiah 6:2).

Nehemiah said, “I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down.” If you are serving the Lord, don’t let anybody cause you to quit. Stay on the wall. Don’t come down.