Christ never taught that believing in Him and His Word makes life easier. In fact, He promised us that we will have trouble – we will be persecuted. We will be mocked, laughed at, and made fun of. Well, what do we do when that happens?
Today, we are examining how we would exercise Divine Strategies when we are Discouraged, Disturbed and Distracted by what we see and hear.
Ice Breaker
How would you differentiate between Discouragement, Disturbance and Distraction?
Brain Storm:
Main Text : Nehemiah 4:1-23
God put it on Nehemiah’s heart to rebuild the wall, God moved the king as to allow Nehemiah to go back to Jerusalem, and God put everything into place so that the walls of Jerusalem can be rebuilt for His glory. So what does Satan do? He tries to stop it. Doesn’t Satan work the same way today? When God is doing something, Satan tries to get in the way. And he uses the same tactics back then as he does today too. So we are going to look at three of Satan’s tactics to stop God’s work. Discouragement, Disturbance and Distraction.
- How did Satan use Sanballat and Tobiah discourage the “work?”
- What was tactic they used to discourage the “work”?
- Is this Tactic still used today?
- What did Nehemiah do? What do we do when this happens?
- Satan doesn’t give up easy, so Sanballat and Tobiah went a little further. readVerse 7-8.
- Can you see Satan using external “forces” to cause a disturbanceto the “work”?
- What did Nehemiah do? Verse 9
- What should you do when you are disturbed by “the plan of the enemy” you have heard?
- Read Verse 10-12 . Describe how Satan used internal “forces” to distract the “work”.
- What does Complaining do to the “Work”? 1Thes. 5:18
- What did Nehemiah do?
- How would you compare Satan’s strategy and Divine Strategy? John 10:10
Take Away:
What have you learned today about Nehemiah exercising Divine Strategy?
How would you handle Discouragement, Disturbance and Distraction?
