Are you willing to stand strong under
persecution to carry out the will of God? That is a big and important question
all followers of God must answer at some point in life. God does not always
call us to do the safe things for Him. God does not always ask us to go where
it will take no stretching of faith to go. God wants to mold us and shape us
and sometimes that means we must go through some hard times.
Today we started the book of Ezra.
Ezra is called by God to go back to Jerusalem and begin rebuilding the Temple
of God in the city. All the prophecies pointing to the hope of the return from
exile are now beginning to be played out. Their work however is met with obstacles.
There are people living in the land who do not want the exiles to return. Some
of these people were other nationalities brought in from regions all around
when the Babylonians exiled the Jews. Some of these are Jews who were not
faithful and may have been left behind in the land. Read again these words of
Ezra 3:3 … “Even thought the people were of afraid of the local residents, they
built the altar at its old site.” (NLT) Even though they were afraid, thy built
anyway.
What is God asking you to that will
stretch your faith and trust in Him? Are willing to do it, or are you going to
shyly step back and do what is only in your comfort zone. Some of the greatest
change this world has ever seen was because people allowed God to stretch them.
How can God use you?
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