“Stone in One Hand, Sword in the Other – to build and to fight.” Now Think On This by Steve Martin

Dec. 18, 2019 Love For His People ministry Charlotte, North Carolina USA

“Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.” Nehemiah 4:17-18, NKJV

When the Lord begins a restorative process, rebuilding that which was once in place, or causing a former thing to be brought back to its previous position or creation, He chooses a people to do the job. Sure, He could just say, “Let it be done” as He did at the start of creation in Genesis, but He has chosen to do otherwise. And of course, He can do what He wants, as He wants, when He wants, for He is God the Creator.

Our place is to know what He is doing and get involved with His projects, when He is doing them, and not go out and do our own agendas.

Over the past decades, He has been restoring many things in the natural and the spiritual. In the natural, He is restoring the Land and the people the Jews, in and about Israel. In the spiritual, He is restoring the Body of Christ, the Church, made up of believing Jews and Gentiles, the One New Man as Paul talks about in Ephesians 2:11-17.

“Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called ” Uncircumcision” by the so-called ” Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands —  remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is  the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.” NASU

Both are now happening at the same time, in our lifetime.

Both are in preparation for His second coming, in these last days that we live in.

Both are necessary.

Both will be completed.

For again, HE is God.

And in case you haven’t realized yet, it is a fight. It is a war. For anything that the Lord is doing, our arch enemy, the enemy of His people and our souls, Satan the created one, is fiercely opposing anything that He wants done. But as we know after reading the end of the Book, our God wins.

Reading the Book of Nehemiah in the Tanakh, the Old Testament, is a very good example of what it takes to rebuild, to restore, to bring back what once was done, but destroyed over the years by our enemies. We must take heed of what it takes, and be doing it ourselves, under the leadership of the Lord Jesus and those He has appointed and entrusted to lead and guide us, all under the outworking of His Holy Spirit, Ruach HaKodesh.

Here is the how Nehemiah describes the completion, as partially noted at the beginning of this message. Then we will look at how he and the others got there.

Nehemiah 4:13-18, NKJV reads, “Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

And it happened, when our enemies heard that it was known to us, and that God had brought their plot to nothing, that all of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.”

Before they could start, they had to be of one mind and one spirit, and each had to be willing to do their part. Without all of them working together as one, the time and effort would have made it very difficult to complete the task the Lord had initiated. And if they hadn’t worked together, the work would not have been completed.

It is the same in our day. The Lord is doing a work in each nation, with both Jews and believing Gentiles, Christians, who have made the choice to hear and obey His directives. Are you one of those?

He is returning the Jews to their promised land, Israel. It is known as aliyah.

He is restoring the Church with the five-fold ministries. They are the apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists.

He is calling us to take back the positions that we have abdicated, letting the ungodly rule in positions that we have been called to rule in. That would include our national, state and local governments, educational institutions, entertainment realms, medical areas, social media spheres, and more.

As Lance Wallnau, the well-known speaker, has been proclaiming for years, we need to take back the 7-mountain tops that our generation and preceding ones have allowed to be taken over by non-believers.

“Lance is the innovator who introduced the “Seven Mountains of Culture” as a fresh template to explain how the church must engage culture at the turn of the century.” https://lancewallnau.com/about/

Nehemiah had the following words recorded of how they did it, those rebuilding the fallen and broken-down walls of Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. In Nehemiah 2:17-20 it reads of the opposition they faced, and how they proceeded despite it.

“Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me.

So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?”

So I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.” NKJV

ALL the people did their part, not just the leadership, the pastors, the “ones who always do everything. – only the 20% of the people.” ALL joined in and helped in the restorative building of the wall, to protect themselves and their families.

“So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.” Nehemiah 4:6, NKJV

We have to fight the good fight while at the same time building community in our families, our congregations, and ultimately our nations.

We have been chosen to do the work of the Lord – to spread His Gospel, the Good News of salvation found only in Jesus Christ, Yeshua HaMashiach, and then to build His kingdom.

For His sake, for our sake, and for our children’s sake.

Do your part. First, know what it is, and then do it with all your heart. His grace, provision, and direction will make it all happen.

Now think on this.

Ahava and shalom,

Steve Martin

Founder/President

Love For His People, Inc.

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Now Think On This #471 – in the year of our Lord 12.18.19 – “Sword in One Hand” Wednesday, 1:15 pm