Thursday, October 22, 2009

Reminders

God is pounding a message into my life - and I need to sit still and hear. We've been hearing about Nehemiah the last two weeks. When I sit down on Monday to write the curriculum for the mid-week kids' program, I think about it again. Nehemiah built a wall - and it was a positive thing. While he waited to be able to return to Jerusalm, he prayed. He prayed for God to open doors and bring opportunity. When he went before the king to talk to him, Nehemiah prayed. During the first week of these lessons, I read a book. The author wrote about a different topic entirely. However, she included the same theme of focusing on God through prayer. Not "please do this and we want that" prayer, but prayer that spends time in God's presence, acknowledging who He is. The second week of these talks at church I also attended the OCW fall writers conference. The main speaker, Eva Marie Everson, read and discussed Nehemiah chapter 2. Her point was that while the people were working on the wall, they were also defending it with swords.
The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
The speaker pointed out that we can defend our work as we set about doing what God has placed before us, defending against opposition by staying in the Word.