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Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Are you one of those people who is amazingly gifted with the ability to “multitask”? Most women raising children are great ‘multitaskers’ as they often are doing many things at one time, even with little kids clamoring for their attention. Some say that this remarkable ability deteriorates as we age, but I’m not so sure. Come with me back to Jerusalem in 445bc and let’s watch many ‘multitaskers’ working together to accomplish the amazing task of rebuilding the WALL around the city.
Nehemiah 4:15 reports this: “When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work. From that day one half of my men did the work while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.” (Nehemiah 4:15-18)
It should not be difficult for us to paint this picture in our minds of workers and guards and multitaskers doing both working and ready to use their weapons to fight at the same time. School was in session for the children, do you understand and agree? These Jewish adults knew Israel’s history well. They were REBUILDING a city wall which had been demolished by the invading Babylonian army 140 years before. Many of them and their ancestors had been exiled captives in Babylon prior to their release to return to Jerusalem.
This city Jerusalem they were rebuilding had a mixed history of glorious years way back with Kings David and his son Solmon and occasionally through the ensuing centuries when God’s hand of blessing, peace and prosperity was abundant in Jerusalem. But there were also many years, even decades, when times had been very difficult as wicked leaders had led the people away from God and God’s justice, discipline and judgment had come upon Jerusalem.
In this remarkable season of “multitasking”…rebuilding and defending simultaneously, adults were teaching their children and grandchildren one of the most important lessons in life! Have you learned how to live life building a God honoring legacy in the trenches of life while defending yourself and your family against those who would seek to defame or defile or destroy your family, your life and your legacy? Ponder that powerful question…and what is your answer?
About 500 years later, the apostle Paul was led by the Holy Spirit to help God’s people in the first century and beyond, even to our day, understand how to Spiritually & Practically LIVE what Nehemiah’s people were doing. Ephesians 6:10-18 is a very powerful instruction on LIVING defensively in the power of the “Armor of God” which is made available to us by the Holy Spirit of God through the multi-faceted miracles which God accomplishes in us when we fully trust Jesus Christ to be our Savior.
The key, hinge statement in Paul’s declaration is this: “PUT ON the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Eph. 6:11) That’s what the people building the wall were doing. With a sword strapped to their side they picked up big rocks or made mortar or shoveled dirt into the crevices in the wall! Those troweling in the mortar did so with one hand and with the other they held a knife ready to jump into battle to defend their families! TODAY we must PUT ON God’s Armor… it’s an activity, an action, an intentional, strategic process, EVERYDAY.
But wait a minute, I can hear you saying. Much of the armor of God Paul speaks of is DIVINE, SPIRITUAL armor that GOD puts on me like the breastplate of righteousness or the helmet of salvation, I don’t make myself righteous or save myself. RIGHT, you are right my friends! So, what does it mean? It begins with “the belt of truth firmly buckled around your waist…” (Ephesians 6:14) It all begins right there, every day, every hour of every day.
God’s TRUTH… about you and me, about our world, about sin and salvation, about evil and good. I take the action of IMMERSING my mind and heart, my life in God’s TRUTH! If I don’t… I will succumb to the suffocating avalanche of untruth, deceit, distortion, information overload in which I live every day.
If I don’t engage my world, in every part of my life, with God’s TRUTH, then I will be drawn away from truth and before long sucked into the quagmire of living a dysfunctional life, far, far away from God’s design for me.
That’s why “Walking with Jesus” is so important. We are trying to produce a practical, spiritual experience everyday which will immerse you, in a multisensory way, into God’s TRUTH which should be practical and useable all day long, no matter what your age is, or your education, or marital status or where you live in the world! I hope you have discovered the good work of my partner Rod who prepared the AI assisted graphics and videos found when you open the banner picture at the top of each edition of “Walking with Jesus”.
And I hope you always worship with a powerful song at the end of each “WWJ” edition. So how will your use of the “Belt of Truth” and “Breastplate of Righteousness“ and “Shield of Faith” and “Helmet of Salvation” and “Sword of the Spirit” all be used by YOU today as you multitask…trying to meet the practical expectations and demands of your day while defending your mind and heart from every scheme of the dark kingdom?”
I think we need to pause right here and give this some serious thought, maybe even developing a practical personal plan of action. And here’s a great worship song to help us. . .
Today’s Scripture: Nehemiah 4:15-18.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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