Rise Up and Defend Your Faith in Prayer

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. (Nehemiah 4:7-8)

Now, this is interesting, here we see the world (who normally can't agree upon anything) joining forces to stop the Jews from following God and serving Him as He has called them to. And like the Jews of old we too face opposition when we set out to rebuild the walls. When we set out to separate ourselves from the world and serve God in the way He has directed us to we will undoubtedly be opposed. The enemy will seek to stop our work by threat, violence, or even with the promise of earthly fame, riches, and pleasure. Did he not do this with Christ Himself? Indeed we see this third tactic used in the book of Matthew.

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Matthew 4:8-10)

But no matter what way we are attacked it is important that we continue on in our work, we must be attentive and watch for the attack, we cannot allow ourselves to become comfortable lest we are caught off guard when the attack comes. We must watch day and night as we continue on and it is only though prayer that we will find the strength to continue our work in the midst of the attack (see Nehemiah 4:9). And finally we must stand prepared to defend our faith from the attacks of the enemy, and no doubt we will need the support of those around us who share our faith. We must join together in prayer, and in our labors, to help guard each other from the temptation of laying down and giving up.

And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to naught, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. (Nehemiah 4:14-15)