“I have a restraining order against Satan.....Father God signed it with
the blood of Jesus, and the Holy Ghost served him with it.” (Anonymous)
Many people living in the area were against
the people of Judah and Benjamin. These enemies heard that the people who had
come from captivity were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel. So they came to Zerubbabel and to
the family leaders and said, “Let us help you build. We are the same as you, we
ask your God for help. We have offered sacrifices to your God since the time
King Esarhaddon of Assyria brought us here.”
3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other family leaders of
Israel answered, “No, you people cannot help us build a temple for our God.
Only we can build the Temple for the Lord.
He is the God of Israel. This is what King Cyrus of Persia commanded us to do.”
4 So the enemies began to discourage them and tried to
frighten them in order to stop them from building the Temple. 5 These
enemies hired government officials to work against the people of Judah. The
officials constantly did things to stop the Jews’ plans to build the Temple.
This continued the whole time that Cyrus was the king until Darius became the
king of Persia. (Ezra 4:1-5, ERV)
The Jews in Ezra’s time experienced
these struggles. Satan uses these tactics today to restrain your Christianity…
·
COMPROMISE-(See
Ezra 4:1-3 above) The Jews rejected the help of their neighbors because they
wanted to worship others gods in addition to the one true God. Many people
practice cynicism today. This is combining the best parts of different faiths
to come up with a unique belief. We can often allow our faith (and walk with
God) to be watered down, and not be at full strength. God’s relationship with
you is not a buffet that you can pick and choose you favorites at. God wants
100% of you.
·
DISCOURAGEMENT-(See
Ezra 4:4 above) A person can feel like all hope is lost (whether that’s true or
not). What’s the use in trying? When discouragement hits, work for God often slows
down, and morale plummets. Avoid those
that are discouragers, and run into the arms of your Encourager. Be a spiritual
champion.
·
FEAR-(See Ezra 4:4
above) Both healthy (real) and unhealthy (imagined) fear exist in our world
today. God can handle the big stuff in your life. Your job is to focus on
rebuilding the rest. Satan uses shame, guilt, and “what if” to make this tactic
effective.
·
WORLDLY (EXTERNAL) PRESSURE-(See Ezra 4:5 above) This is a way for Satan to bend (and break)
you on the outside. Instead run to Jesus (unrestrained) with everything that’s
in you. What Satan cannot do on the inside; he will finish off with
misinformation, lies, and half truths externally. Don’t be afraid to lead even
in adversity because God has big, good things waiting for you.
So since we stand
surrounded by all those who have gone
before, an enormous cloud of witnesses, let us drop every extra weight,
every sin that clings to us and
slackens our pace, and let us run with endurance the long race set
before us. (Hebrews 12:1, VOICE) Don’t
allow anything to hold you back because many people (earthly and heavenly) want
you to succeed in your Christian walk.
Adversity puts you in
Satan’s line of fire. As you draw closer to God, Satan turns up the heat of
trials because he wants to stop you.[i]
[i] Inspired by the sermon “Restrained: The
Comeback” (installment three) Sunday September 20, 2020, Pastor Dave
Jansen (CPG) and Pastor Jon Fulton (CPW). All CenterPoint churches are
open in-person at 10am. They will continue to meet online at
facebook.com/centerpointchurches or centerpointchurches.com/live.
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