Have you ever started a project and had a hard time getting it finished? Boy I have. There is a building in the downtown area that has been in the process of being remodeled for a couple of years now. When we moved here in 1981, it was a hub of business.  It had a bank in it, many oil company offices, a deli, and yes, an aerobic center (it was 1981 after all). Our city boomed a few years back and a person bought this building.  They went through it, gutted it and construction crews came in and started putting in metal studs. Then one day, the construction stopped. I really don’t know why. This building has been sitting in this condition for over a year now. The building sits there. Right next to it is a new fast food restaurant and fairly new pharmacy. The hospital that is nearby has recently been remodeled. But this building just sits empty, unfinished.  It has no purpose. It is just there. The owner has gotten distracted.

My life is a lot like that building. I want to build my relationship with God, so I make a commitment to spend more time in prayer and more time in The Word. With a shopping trip to Mardels, my arms are filled with a new prayer journal, bible study material, and highlighters. When I sit down to do my study, the phone rings and there goes my “dedicated” time. I commit to fasting. Next thing I know, I get an invitation to lunch. Life distracts me. The distractions are not necessarily bad things. They just become the urgent thing in my life. Somehow the urgent takes over what’s important. (Can I get a “preach it” out there?)

Distractions. The Jews struggled with them over and over. Think back to the time Moses went to Mount Sinai to get the 10 Commandments from God. The Jews that were waiting on Moses to return quickly looked for the next shiny object (golden calf – “kaboom ching”) and started worshipping it. When we move forward in the history of the Jewish nation and go to the book of Nehemiah, they still struggle with distractions. Honestly, they are a problem for Christians today. Distractions are one of satan’s tools that he uses on us. It’s a very successful tool.

Nehemiah is working for the king as a cupbearer (modern day wine steward) when his brother, Hanani, comes to him. Hanani tells him that the Jews are in trouble. They are disgraced, and the walls of Jerusalem have been torn down and burned. Nehemiah’s heart broken. Nehemiah’s mourning turned him to a time of worship. He spent time in confession, prayer and fasting to seek where God was leading him. (Remember, WORSHIP THEN BUILD.)  He wanted God to direct his steps.  It’s not lost on me that Nehemiah was a student of the Law of Moses. During his time of worship, he goes back to scripture in Deuteronomy 4:25-31. It is the very scripture where God says He will scatter the Jews if they disobey Him and become wicked in His sight. Nehemiah knew what God wanted for the Jews.  He knew God’s desire to have a relationship with them.  He also knew that God would not tolerate disobedience. (Praise God that just as then, today God gives me a way back to Him through His Son, Jesus Christ.)

One of the next times Nehemiah took wine to the king, the king realized that Nehemiah was distraught.  Once Nehemiah tells King Artaxerxes the circumstance of his people, he gets permission to go and help them rebuild the walls.  Just as it happened with Ezra, the king gave Nehemiah supplies to rebuild. When I read this, the scripture Romans 8:31 come to my mind – “If God is for us, who can be against us?”He provides all we need. Soon after Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he inspected the walls. He assigned different families to work on different sections of the wall. It was time to build. Time to focus on the task that God placed before him and the Jews.

All is well in Jerusalem. Progress is being made…then comes trouble, a distraction. In Nehemiah’s time, those that opposed the rebuilding were afraid the Jews would become too strong of a nation to keep under control. As threats grew stronger, Nehemiah stationed people around the wall to protect the workers. I love what Nehemiah says in chapter 4:20 “Our God will fight for us”. It is encouraging to me that even though satan tried to distract Nehemiah and his “construction crew”, they kept building. They were faithful and those that were attacking became frustrated. (4:15)

Have you ever felt that you were being attacked? Sometimes it is obvious where the attack is coming from, but not always. Have you been growing spiritually or a part of a ministry that is helping those in need? You can bet satan is not happy about it. Sometimes you are attacked in so many areas that you can’t stay focused on what is important in life. Consider the fact that satan is after you.  Spiritual warfare is real.  If you feel that there is no end in sight, if you feel that the hits just keep on coming, take courage. Nehemiah was right “our God will fight for you”.  Daniel 10 gives a very specific time that God sent an angel to fight for Daniel.  There is a battle around us daily. As hard as the battles are, take courage. You have already won if you are in Christ.

In 2004, I was attacked. I know it was a spiritual attack with a very physical implication. A few of us had started a ministry to reach out to students on the local college campus. It was booming. Many students became Christians and many others were learning about Him. God was at work. Then just like that, I was diagnosed with the “C” word, cancer. Our family was turned upside down. I praise God for my husband who helped me stayed focused on God throughout this battle. It would have been easy to get distracted from God’s call for me at that time. Part of this story that I love is a young man in our ministry approached us and asked “Why are you different? I’ve seen many people diagnosed with cancer, but you are handling it differently. What makes you so confident that you will be healed?” Needless to say, we had an opportunity to sit down and talk to him at length about Jesus Christ and who He was. My conviction came straight out of Paul’s writing in Philippians 1:21, For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain.”The point is God takes things satan means for harm and can do great things with it. After all, HE IS GOD. Today I continue to praise God that cancer did not distract my family from building on Jesus Christ.

Back to Nehemiah. The first part of chapter 5 hurts my heart (5:1-13). It is a group of Jews that take advantage of other Jews. They enslave them in debt, literally. Their children are sold into slavery to other Jews in order to make a living. Let’s just take a minute and stop here. Let this soak in. Debt is a distraction.I’m not talking about house payments. I’m talking about house payments that are not manageable. (Hear me on this! This is not about businesses that have gone under, or illness that throughs a person into debt. This is a pride issue of keeping up with others.) We live in a society that we MUST have the newest cars, designer clothes, best electronics, big houses, and “toys” we don’t need. All of a sudden, we are building on “the name of success” and not Jesus Christ. Reality is we are covered in debt. This is a heavy price to pay. Chasing these things cost us time with our family. Chasing the newest items cost us time in ministering to others. Chasing these things cost us time alone with our Father. I know. I’ve lived this. It was a hard life. It was hard on our marriage, our family, and our friends. When our focus is not on where God has called us, we look just like the building in the picture above. We are unfinished. We have not fulfilled the original purpose that God called us to do for His kingdom. Jeremiah 29:11, says that God has plans for me. Where do we choose to build?

Hang with me here, this is getting a little long, but this next part may be the most important. Nehemiah knew that God wanted relationships with His people. Nehemiah knew now that he was governor, he had to lead by example. He showed the Jews what it looked like to live in relationship with God.  If you have time, read Nehemiah 5:14-19. Nehemiah went against the norm. You may want to underline the end of 5:15. “…But out of reverence for God I did not act like that.” Other governors put heavy taxes on the Jews, so they could live “above” others. Nehemiah says he did not do that ANDhe had 150 Jews and officials that ate at his table as well as foreigners. Nehemiah was generous. It would have been so easy for him to do as other governors had done. It was expected of him to act that way. But he did not. As a follower of Jesus Christ, I should look different. I need to use the tools that God has given me to build my relationship with him. What tools you ask?

Christian Tool Kit

• Fill our lives with the Spirit
  • Galatians 5:22-23 (The Message) But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

• Encourage and hold each other accountable
  • Hebrews 10:24-25 (NCV) Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds. You should not stay away from the church meetings, as some are doing, but you should meet together and encourage each other. Do this even more as you see the day coming.

• Be generous
  • Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.

• Do Good to all
  • Galatians 6:9-10 We must not become tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time if we do not give up. When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers.

• Pray for God to do exceedingly more through His Spirit
  • Ephesians 3:16-21 (NIV) I pray that out of his glorious richeshe may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.

Take your tools and get busy building. God calls us to build. Build our lives for Him, build up our families and friends for Him, and build our relationship with Him. Do not get distracted and cause your building to be unfinished. Become the temple God created you to be. Continue to build on the cornerstone, Jesus Christ.

Be blessed – Cherie