HOW SECURED IS YOUR WALL?

Ne:2:18: Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king's words that he had spoken unto me.  And they said, Let us rise up and build.  So they strengthened their hands for this good work.

                                                                                                                                   

What’s in a Wall

Compared to many concerns, building a wall is less important. For lack of wall between countries, there is the danger of assimilation of cultures with our neighbour. This assimilation can lead to inter-marrying and gradually lead to losing of once native language, culture and most importantly ones religion. In the olden days, a city without a wall was easily invaded by robbers.  A wall therefore enabled a city to be kept truly indigene, keeping it safe and controlling who came in and went out.

Likewise, as Christians, spiritual walls are very important. In these last days of lawlessness, wickedness, consensus and peer acceptance a broken spiritual wall can be disastrous to ones spiritual growth. The devil is moving to and fro, seeking to devour Christians because his time is soon up. He can succeed when our fortifying spiritual walls are broken.

From the Book of Nehemiah, we will pick a few of Nehemiah’s spiritual and physical strategies of building the broken walls of Jerusalem.

Our Spiritual wall

Our Spiritual walls relate to the strength and stability of our Christian testimony. They relate to our capability of defending the faith. They relate to our moral strength in time of temptation. They relate to our ability to separate from the unbiblical values and attitudes of this world's system. Think of a walled city compared with an un-walled city back in the days before modern warfare. The walled city was much stronger and more easily defended than the un-walled. That's the way the Lord wants us to be. He wants to see strong, solid believers with a testimony that is plainly visible in this dark world. He wants to see Christians with a consistent lifestyle that is distinctly biblical even if it means painful separation from the values and the attitudes of the surrounding world system. Are we committed to a strong and solid wall policy or are we self-righteously satisfied with living in a rubble City?

Causes of broken walls

·  Complacency or self-satisfaction. Comfort leads to forgetfulness (as used by Balaam on the Israelites-Num. 23). When we begin to enjoy and crave for worldly things like the good clothing (designer), flashy cars, undreamed of functional buildings, etc. then we are gradually disintegrating our spiritual walls. Most Christians are living unimaginable lifestyles for comfort and have compromised their faith like the Laodicea church (Rev.3:14-22).

• Ecumenism or spiritual Globalisation. This multi-faceted, humanistic, deceptive tool of ecumenism is encouraging our compromise with un-righteous lifestyles, beliefs and the preaching of salvation through Christ. Christians should only be equally yoked with a faith based on Christ and Him only. 

• Churchianity instead of Christianity. We worship “God with our lips but our hearts are far away”. Most Christians today measure their level of spirituality or holiness by the number of church meetings they attend rather than righteous living and obedience to God’s word. We tend to practice humanism rather than the truth in the word of God. No wonder there are more churches being planted but evil keeps on increasing. 

• Lust for money. Bible says if we want to be rich, we will fall into a lot of temptations and the lust for money is the root of all evil. Greed and self-aggrandisement is misleading a lot of us into sin. The oiling tool for this lust for money is leading most Christians into the sin of covetousness and extortion (see 2Peter 2:2-4 KJB) 

• Unbelief/ doubts. In this modern day of technology and advancement in science, most Christians will believe in what they have seen and not what they have not seen. (like doubting disciple Thomas). Most Christians today will believe in logic and science rather than what the word of God says. Bible says godliness is a mystery and you can only decipher it with faith. 

• Worldly Acceptance. Most Christians today have made themselves equally yoked with the world in dressing, music, marriage, work, discipline (now made sweet- see Heb.12:11 KJB), relationships, etc. We have become spotted with the world (James 1:27 KJB). 

·        We rely on hollow philosophies and traditions of men rather than the word of God.

·      Our inability to study the word of God (2Tim. 2:15)

Steps to Reconstruction

As Christians, the key strengths to re-constructing our spiritual walls can be achieved through Prayer, the Bible, Fellowship, Holy Spirit, Fasting and working in the vineyard. For spiritual growth and protection, a Christian need not downplay these strengths.

How can we build solid spiritual walls in our lives? The first three chapters of Nehemiah contain a number of vital principles.

(1) There should be concern. When Nehemiah realized the sorry extent of the broken walls of Jerusalem, he was very concerned to the point of weeping and fasting (Neh.1:4). We too must show this kind of concern if we want our spiritual walls rebuilt. Do we weep when we realize how we cannot defend the faith because of a pathetic lack of knowledge of God's Word? Do we avoid certain things, for example TV and friends, when we realize how certain programs or lifestyle effects have contributed to the broken condition of our spiritual walls?

Furthermore, Nehemiah had a very prestigious job in the royal court of the Persian Emperor. But as a Jew, Nehemiah was willing to sacrifice the pleasures and privileges of his high position for the sake of God's interests. Are we concerned enough about our spiritual walls that we would sacrifice this world's prestige and pleasure for strong and solid walls? Spending time and expending energy in areas of God's interests usually results in loss of worldly prestige and pleasure. Think of the sacrifices that have been made by godly men and women you know in the interests of strong spiritual walls in their personal lives, campus fellowships, families and in the church.

(2) There should be confession. Nehemiah voiced his concern for the wall in a prayer of confession (1:5-11). Why confession? Nehemiah knew that Jerusalem had been destroyed because of Israel's sin in going away from the Lord (1:7). Notice that Nehemiah, who was not himself personally guilty of following other gods, links himself to the sins of the nation (1:6). Think of the condition of our own nation. Because we have followed false gods like materialism and secular humanism, our moral and spiritual walls lie in ruins. Are we Christians willing to link ourselves with the problem and confess that we have sinned? Whether it is personal, family, church, or national spiritual walls, rebuilding cannot begin before confession.

(3) There should be confrontation. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem he confronted the problem head on. He first confronted the broken-down wall itself. He made a thorough inspection to check out the extent of the damage, so that a proper plan for rebuilding could be formulated (2:11-15). Self-assessment. Nehemiah made sure that the people understood that God was behind this wall-building idea. God is always the promoter of spiritual wall-building.

(4) Finally, confront the opposition (2:19-20). In spite of the mocking, despising and slander, Nehemiah boldly claimed success because he knew that God would give them the necessary power and resources to carry out His building plans. The principle of confrontation must be practiced by growing Christians today. If our spiritual walls are in ruins or are in need of repair, we must first face the problem squarely. When we determine the areas and extent of damage we must then come up with a plan for spiritual rebuilding.

Do we have a problem with sexual temptation because of what we have been feeding our minds? Confrontation will probably involve the elimination of certain unhealthy intake so that rebuilding can begin. Is laziness or wasting time permitting spiritual rubble to remain in our lives where strong spiritual walls should be? Confrontation will most likely involve planning and maintaining a more disciplined and structured lifestyle so that rebuilding can commence. Remember that carrying out plans of confrontation will also involve confrontation with Satan's tactics which are always designed to get the Christian to stop building. But when there is in us a will to build there is a God who shows us the way to overcome any opposition.

One more point about the construction of the wall in Chapter 3 is particularly noteworthy. The whole wall was being built all at once. That is, one section was not being completed before another section had begun. Building activity was going on all around the city at the same time. The same is true in spiritual wall-building. We don't, for example, complete a section of the wall called "resisting temptation" and then move on to another section labeled "life style evangelism". Or we don't work on the Bible study part of our wall to the exclusion of the prayer and Christian service sections. No, we work on all parts of the wall at the same time. Balance in the Christian life is a very important part of constructing spiritual walls.

Conclusion

Building strong spiritual walls is not easy, but it can be done. This is the great encouragement and challenge to us from the book of Nehemiah. Let us not be content to live with broken-down walls. Let us be like Nehemiah's wall-building team and strengthen our hands for this good work. "Let us arise and build." Nehemiah restored rules to forestall discipline in Jerusalem. After restoration, we need to set up rules to safeguard our spiritual walls from decay; to ensure lasting peace in the Lord.Be constant in prayer and fasting.  Amen!