Opposition to God’s Work is a Spiritual Battle
Pray – (1/2 minute)
Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “. . . they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, ‘Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.’ But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, ‘You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.’ ” (Ezra 4:2-3)
Passage: 2 Corinthians 10:1-5
Since we live in a physical, material world, it is natural for us to look at the opposition that occurs within and without the church through our human eyes and forget that the root of opposition is spiritual. Satan hates God and he hates anything and anyone God loves. Our sin nature opposes being under God’s authority. Put those two things together and you have opposition to God’s work. Sometimes, that opposition comes subtlety as in the case Ezra described when the people who were living in Israel throughout the exile period, came and offered their help to the leaders of the Jews who had answered the call to return to build. Their intent was not to help, but to hinder. Zerubbabel and the other leaders recognized their scheme.
Paul says in Ephesians 6:12 that “our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against ruler, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This is the reason the church must be committed to fervent prayer and must understand God’s purposes for her. Many churches are dying because they want their church to be a closed group and to never change from meeting their own preferences. But God wants us to love Him and love people. He wants us to reach people with the gospel. All people. Anytime. Anywhere. In every way we can. Set your heart to support and pray for your church to do just that.
Apply - (2 1/2 minutes)
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Pray - (1 1/2 minutes)