WEEK 3, DAY 16: Identity
Identity by Ruth Fraser, Crossland Community Church
Scripture Reference: Nehemiah 6
The enemy is never to be our focus, but being aware of his schemes safeguards us from a lot of needless trouble. The story of Nehemiah clearly unveils the cards the enemy is holding, exposing the devil’s hand. In order to derail us, his first cards are fear, intimidation, mockery – but when defeated he comes back with a different game plan. In round two he stoops to personal attack. This type of attack is relentless, where the enemy bombards us with his lies over and over again. The enemy is also not above publicly maligning and falsely accusing the men and women of God. He does it to Nehemiah and he does it to us. Nehemiah is not frightened or discouraged, his prayer is “O God, make my hands strong” not “God take my problems away”.
IDENTITY
Nehemiah continues to rebuild. The enemy continues to plot against him. This time he comes with a carefully crafted deceptive plan. A crippled prophet tells Nehemiah to hide in the temple because the enemy was going to kill him. Nehemiah is unaware that the prophet is hired to lay a trap for him, yet he does not hide. He acts out of his identity, not out of fear. It is important that in times when we do not know who to believe that we act out of our identity as children of God. In these days of conflicting news, it is not easy to discern the truth. The enemy hopes we will become fearful and act accordingly and sin. We must remember our identity and stay true to who we are in Christ. This will make us people of discernment who are able to stay on task and complete our God given assignments.
PRAYER
Heavenly Father, I bless Your holy name. I praise you because You are a good God. Lord, we are living in troubling times. I pray for wisdom, insight, and strength for Your people. I pray that while the eyes of the world are upon us, that we would act like Your children and bring You glory. Fill us with Your Spirit so that we would know who we are. In times of personal attack, I pray that we would not act like Satan, accusing and defaming others. Instead help us to act like Jesus, forgiving others and keeping our eyes on You. Help us to stay on task, let nothing distract us from our relationship with You. Help us to continue to build Your Kingdom. In these times of deception, it feels like a carefully crafted plot is being formed against us. I pray that no plan of the enemy will succeed. I pray Your people will know the truth and will walk in the truth. Your word is the truth. Set us apart from the rest of the world. In Jesus name. Amen
