AUGUST 12 "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE!"

This is now the 2nd to 3rd time the Jews face opposition in the rebuilding project. Now it's coming through different individuals, this time it's the SanBallat & Tobiah team. It comes through mocking, gesturing and intimidation. Opposition is a formidable enemy. In the middle of all this opposition the people come to Nehemiah and say, "we can't do this". You'll notice they come to Nehemiah right after they agree to pray together and believe God. How many times have I prayed with people and agreed with them to believe God and then, the next week, "Pastor we/I can't do this". You'll notice when they come to Nehemiah and say "we can't do this" they mention nothing about the opposition, they mention nothing about Sanballat or the intimidation. They come up with another reason, "the people are tired and there is just too much rubble".  In other words, "this is too big a mess".  But it was always too big a mess, from the first day they showed up at the site, it was too big a mess, when they prayed to believe God, it was too big a mess (that's why they prayed), now all of a sudden,  "too big a mess" is a reason to quit, but it has nothing to do with that, what it really has to do with is that "opposition and intimidation" is working on the people. And rather than admit..."hey Nehemiah, we can't handle Sanballat & Tobiah" they come up with another excuse. Well hey folks, why can't we just be honest? Opposition does wear us down, opposition does occasionally cause us to quit. Think of the areas in your life that you gave up because it was just too much of a battle. This is not just opposition, it is demonic opposition, which makes it 10 times worse! Most Christians seem to get by in their Christian life with little, personnel, spiritual investment in their lives. Their devotional time with God is practically, if not fully, "non-existent. And most get by like this, they're not functioning on full cylinders, they're like a 6 cylinder car functioning with two bad spark plugs, but they're functioning and it works, for now. Until....until opposition comes, until demonic opposition comes, that's when we find out, we don't have what it takes to press through. We are quick to throw down the shovel and tell our leader, "this is too much, I can't take this!" They cry out, "we can't do this" and what's sad, is they are probably right. They don't have the intestinal fortitude to see it through. MC Hammer, a famous Hip Hop singer once had a popular song in the 80's, "We got to pray just to make it today", well that's actually not true, we are praying today, to make it through next week, next month, next year. Prayers today, are to prepare us for the future, it is the prayer's of the past that are actually guiding us through today. A famous General was once quoted as saying, he once had a young soldier stand by his side before a fierce battle they were, within minutes, getting ready to engage in and the young soldier looked to the General and said, "sir should we pray now before we enter battle?" The General paused, then looked at the young soldier and said, "son, if we have not already prayed and sought God prior to today, for this battle, then we have already lost!".