Your Great Work Must Not Cease

Today I want to continue the line of thought that Roberto began last Sunday. He is preaching a series entitled “A Successful Life,” and he was speaking to us about how we, as children of God, have to live up to the vision God has placed in our lives, and he developed the subject in a very practical way.

And the general idea behind this is that, even when we have some sense of vision and purpose in our lives, it is easier for us to remain where we are because there are many obstacles along the way, many challenges to overcome. Last Sunday, he encouraged us to be very practical, careful, and thorough in understanding what our vision is, what is preventing us from getting there, and in establishing very practical steps to accomplish that vision.

And we know there is no reason why we cannot fulfill the vision God has for us in our lives, because we serve a great God. We were singing—singing ever since we arrived here at nine—about the almighty, merciful God who has every resource at His Disposal, and we entered into that time of worship.

And sometimes what happens is that we come to church, participate in that worship, the worship fills us, and we go home motivated; but when we encounter the obstacles of life that arise every day, we become discouraged and think, “That was just my emotions. I’m going to leave it there because now I have too much on my plate.” And what happens? Life keeps passing by; it keeps passing by. You know, it is incredible how quickly time passes.

And one day we arrive at a certain point and say, “But I have already come this far, and there are still so many things left for me to fulfill from the vision God has for my life.” We know that we have an enemy—the enemy of our souls—who is trying by every possible means to abort the vision and the blessing God has for us, but it does not have to be that way. We, as God’s children, are empowered by Him, because if He is a God of power, we know that power is within us, because we are His children and He wants to give us good things.

And there is a verse in John 10:10 containing the words of Jesus. He says, “The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy,” but look at what the Lord says: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it abundantly.” That is the God we serve. He is the God of abundance, and no loving father will withhold abundance and gifts from his children; on the contrary, he looks for every possible reason to give those gifts to his children. As a mother, I know that is true. Every day I want to bless my daughters more, and that is how our God is; that is the God we serve.

And today my desire is that the Lord would prosper your souls and your minds even more, that your minds and your spirits would be nourished. That is the purpose of the Word of God: to nourish our minds, to nourish our souls. Even the body is nourished when we soak ourselves in the Word of God, believe it, and walk in it; that is the purpose of the Word of God. And there are some verses in Ephesians chapter 3, verses 14 through 21, which I have adapted slightly to impart to you as a blessing, in the form of a prayer, as we now begin the message.

So simply listen to this Word and receive it into your spirits. “For this reason”—those are the words of the apostle Paul in Ephesians—“for this reason I bow my knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name, that He may grant each of you, according to the riches of His Glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner being through His Spirit.” Everything comes from there, from the inner man or woman, right? “That Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts, so that, being rooted and grounded in love, you may be fully able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, length, depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge, so that each of you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

“And to Him who is able to do all things far more abundantly than we ask or understand, according to the power at work in you, to Him be glory in the Church, in Christ”—in Congregación León de Judá—“throughout all generations, forever and ever, amen.” That is the Lord’s blessing for you today.

In his sermon last Sunday, Roberto urged us to bind ourselves to the vision God has given us, to establish it firmly in our minds and hearts, and to make it a reality for us. And he told us that we have to look at that vision in practical terms. When you leave it solely in the abstract, that is where it remains—something very beautiful, but it does not become part of the reality of our lives.

And just as a brick wall is built—how is a brick wall built? By placing one brick on top of another, right, with an element that binds them together—in the same way, the decisions we make each day, one decision on top of another, shape our lives day by day. That is why we are told to redeem the time; the Word tells us to redeem the time, and that is because every decision matters.

It may seem to you like something inconsequential, irrelevant, something that will have no repercussions whatsoever, but we know that the time we have belongs to God, and we know that what we do today—the bricks we lay, those decisions we make day by day—is what will establish the foundation for our future lives.

That is why it is so important to make the most of our youth. Sometimes young people think they will never reach the age of 30, 40, or 50. I remember when I was in college, I was 22 or 23—no, younger, from 18 to 22—and I would look at my teachers who were in their thirties and forties, and I saw them as almost elderly. But time has passed, and I have now gone far beyond them, and I am increasingly realizing how young I am now; but I have already begun to refer to those who are 30 or 40, and I now regard them as children.

The point is that we have to make the most of time because it passes, and we have to present something to the Lord as an offering from what we have received, because we have used our time well. And decisions are crucial—those decisions we make every day. Someone sincerely prayed this prayer: “Dear God, so far I have had an exemplary day. I have not yelled or fought, nor have I gossiped or kicked the cat. I have not cursed anyone, much less lied. But God, great is the task that lies ahead of me, because now, on this new morning, I am going to get out of bed.” Amen?

We can all identify with that prayer because, from the moment our day begins, we face countless situations that require us to make decisions. That happens every day of our lives. Some are small and others are large; some are expected and others are unexpected. But in any case, we are always making decisions, whether we are aware of the ones we are making or not, because every situation presents options. There is one—generally there is more than one—one or two.

The alarm goes off at the beginning of the day. I can decide to hit Snooze to give myself about nine more minutes—I think that is what it is on phones—and have it ring again so I can get up; or I can turn it off so it does not ring again and say, “I am going to sleep for as long as I please; I’m not going to work today”; or I can get up when it rings and continue my daily routine. In other words, even in the smallest things, there are always options. There is no such thing as having only one; we always have options, and so we have to know how to make wise decisions, because some decisions are not easy to make.

Some decisions paralyze us; others cause us to become stuck and fill us with anxiety and fear, because that is how life is: unexpected situations often arise. But for us as children of God, inaction or making bad decisions is not an option. Our decisions have to align with what the Word of God says. We should truly live biblical lives in which we embrace the truths of the Word and live on the basis of those truths—not on the basis of our own ideas, our carnality, or anything like that, but on the basis of what the Word of God says.

And it is not that we are special, but we know and have to recognize that the power of God is within us; we have to believe God. If He says there is an abundant life for us, we have to believe it. If He says there are riches in heaven at our disposal because Jesus has paid the price, we have to believe it. The more our thinking aligns with what the Word of the Lord says, the easier it becomes to make decisions. We no longer have so many complications, the flesh begins to be put to death and subdued, and we begin to make biblical decisions that bring pleasure to the heart of God.

And today I want to focus more on that decision-making process, and for that we are going to use the Book of Nehemiah. I have been studying the Book of Nehemiah for about a month, and I have fallen in love with Nehemiah. What a character, so worthy of imitation! And today I want us to consider his life.

The Book of Nehemiah has often been used for matters of leadership, and rightly so, but today we are going to apply it to the decision-making process, because the principles found there are useful for everything in life. They are useful for marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, work, every human relationship, and our ministry of service to the Lord in the Church. The principles found here in this Book of Nehemiah will be useful to us in absolutely every area.

So do not think, “Oh, well, since I am not a leader, I am going to switch off my brain.” No. This is for you, and it is for you to apply to your area of need. So then, who is Nehemiah? Nehemiah lived in the fifth century before Christ; it has been quite a while since he was on this earth. And he lived in Susa, which was the capital of the Persian kingdom.

He was Jewish and had very possibly been born in Persia itself, and he was a descendant of Jews who had been deported to Babylon. After that, things changed; other kingdoms came and went, one kingdom dominated another, and by then it was the Persian Empire. But he, his family, and his ancestors had been forcibly exiled to Babylon 150 years earlier, though by this time it had become the Persian Empire. And he was a servant of the king. He was not completely free as the citizens themselves were; rather, he was a servant. He may not have been quite a slave, but he was indeed a servant and was under the authority of the Persian king.

And he was his cupbearer. A cupbearer was someone who, when the king was served, would bring the wine right then and present it to the king; but before the king drank it, he would taste it, because it was a common method at that time for one of the king’s enemies to put poison in the king’s wine in order, obviously, to take him out of commission. So he would drink the wine to test it first and make sure that, if Nehemiah drank it and remained fine and nothing happened, then it was safe for the king to drink it.

So he was his cupbearer, and in that position as cupbearer, he was a person who was very close to the king. Sometimes cupbearers served as informal advisers—not at the political level, but he had to be able to engage the king in good conversation and be a person who was like a line of defense for the king because of the specific work he performed. And he had earned the king’s trust. He was a responsible man of integrity, and he lived very comfortably in the palace. He had everything he needed.

But although he lived in the palace, he never forgot his ancestors, and he never forgot the King of Israel. And in the first chapter—if we can turn to the Book of Nehemiah—the first chapter tells us that his brother came from Jerusalem to visit him. Nehemiah’s brother, who lived in the Jerusalem area, came to visit him with some companions, and Nehemiah took advantage of the opportunity. Remember that he cared about the place from which he and his ancestors had come, and he asked him about the condition of the city, about those who lived there, and about how the city itself was doing.

And look: in chapter 1, verse 3, we find the answer to his question. It says that they told him, “The captives who survived are in terrible condition and are suffering great disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem lies in ruins, and the city gates have been burned.” So when he received that sorrowful report about the condition of Jerusalem, Nehemiah’s heart was stricken, and God planted in his spirit a concern to do something to restore that beloved city.

Verse 4 goes on to tell us what Nehemiah’s reaction was. It says, “When I heard this, I began to weep, and for several days I mourned and fasted and prayed to the God of heaven.” His heart was touched, and he saw the need; just look at the powerful reaction he had. What happened was that, upon receiving that report, Nehemiah immediately understood that a city without walls, as Jerusalem was, was vulnerable to the enemy; it was a defenseless city. Anyone could enter it and cause harm.

And not only that, because a spiritual man or woman understands beyond the surface; they understand the consequences of life’s actions. And he understood that there was also a spiritual impact in the fact that the city of Jerusalem, the city of God’s chosen people, was in such a sorrowful condition. So when he received the report, he understood it on many levels; God gave him the discernment to understand those things.

There is a writer who says that Nehemiah was called to rebuild the wall, but first he prayed over its ruins, and I would add that he wept, not into the void, but before the Presence of God, just as all of us should weep before the Presence of God. His tears and his identification with the pain of those who were living there, with the pain of seeing the city in that condition, touched the heart of God. That is a principle right there, isn’t it? When we identify with pain, whether in our own life or in someone else’s life, and God sees that there is sincerity in it, God works; that is how God acts.

And there are many changes that do not take place in our lives, not because we lack the resources, because we have them in God—we have them—but many times we lack compassion, we lack the willingness to be there in the face of pain, we lack an understanding of the power of God and of who we are in God, and we also lack the ability to determine exactly where the need lies and what I have to do at this time.

Thank God Nehemiah had the heart of God within him and knew how to identify all those areas. In our own lives, in our families, and in the society around us, there are many walls in ruins, but many times we go on without recognizing that they are there. We come to church and recite again and again, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me,” but then we find it very difficult to put it into practice. Even sometimes when the breaches and burned gates in our walls are obvious—and obvious to others who see them as well—we nevertheless decide to do nothing about them.

By the time Nehemiah lived, as I said before, about 150 years had passed since the walls had been destroyed, which meant that none of those living in that area remembered the city with walls. They had lived amid rubble, seeing the rubble of the walls, and the inhabitants had already grown accustomed to seeing that rubble; sometimes that is what happens to us as well.

If we were honest, sometimes we see rubble in our lives, rubble in the lives of those around us, but we have grown accustomed to that rubble; it does not occur to us to think, to pray, to intercede, or to take action so that we may clear it away and so that God, with our cooperation, may then remove that rubble and cause life to change.

Many times, what we do is this: there is an image of an elephant in the middle of the room. The image is that many times there are families with situations in which the elephant is right in the middle of the family’s living room and everyone ignores it; the elephant is not there, yet the elephant is indeed there and is causing harm, but the elephant is not there—or we go around it to avoid the elephant, but the elephant remains there.

Do you know that unless you do something to remove the elephant, the elephant will not leave on its own? God respects us so much that He asks for our cooperation in doing things like that: removing the elephant, understanding where the rubble is, and doing what is necessary to remove that rubble from our lives. So that is the question I have for you today: do you know how to recognize that rubble, and are you willing to do whatever is necessary to remove it?

Otherwise, the breaches will remain there, and we will continue to be defenseless in certain areas. And do you know what? The enemy does not need the breaches to be very large in order to enter; as soon as the door is opened to him even a little, he takes advantage of it. So we have to be aware of those areas. Every day I have to be aware of where they are in the different areas of my being—my emotions and everything else—and when I recognize them, I must then close those breaches and put strong gates wherever there is an opening, to prevent the enemy from doing what he wants to do with my life: stealing my blessing and killing at its very beginning any vision God may have for my life.

The Christian life means being in a battle, and it is very easy to fight external battles, but the main battle is within the inner man or woman; that is where everything begins. Oh, if God would give us discernment to see that and do something about it, and the ability and power to do so. Again, it is not because the resources are unavailable; they are available, but many times we do not believe God.

So I hope that today you are already thinking about at least one area in which I have to make a change, in which I have to recognize that there is rubble there and I have to overcome it. I know that God will be with you if you decide to make improvements in one area so that you remain within the vision God has for your life.

I am going to give you an example involving someone I know; I will call her Lucila, my friend Lucila. It was evident that Lucila lived in bitterness; her face showed it, her behavior was rooted in bitterness, and she lived what I call a toxic life. Living a toxic life is very difficult, not only for those who live with the person who has that toxic life, but also for the person living it, because there is no joy, there is no hope; many things die and become impossible when someone lives a toxic life, especially when bitterness is involved.

And the energy this woman could have used to build others up, to help others and help herself, she used to bat away every ball the enemy sent her or that her own flesh sent her; instead of having energy for life, she had energy for continual complication and tension in her life. And the words of her mouth were like flaming arrows—terrible! Off they went and burned everything toward which her words were directed.

This woman was processing an episode of adultery by her husband, as well as many wounds, because she had been raised in a very legalistic church where she and her family had apparently suffered abuse. And in the eyes of any observer, this woman had everything going for her: a woman of order and balance; when you saw her from the outside, everything looked perfect. An immaculate home, everything in its place, exquisite food every day—appetizer, dinner, dessert—perfection. An impeccable professional, perfect in her work.

But inwardly she had a great deal of rubble as a result of her bitterness and her decision not to forgive all those whom she perceived to have hurt her. And what happened? It was only when she recognized that this rubble was in her life, that the fallen wall left her defenseless against the enemy’s attacks—it was not until that moment that she then decided to begin rebuilding her life in that area.

And today, thanks to the Lord, she is a woman who, when she weeps, weeps in the Presence of God. She no longer weeps with bitterness and a desire for revenge against her enemies, but is a woman who builds others up and wants to bless them. She understood the blessing that her heavenly Father extends to her, and because of that she has learned to have compassion for others; I mean, something completely different. Her life took a 180-degree turn; she changed direction and understood her need for God. Why? Because she recognized the damage caused by the fallen walls and by the absence of secure gates in her wall, and she began to do something about it.

Was it easy? It was not easy. She still has struggles; the enemy still whispers to her that she should use the same mechanisms she used before, but now she recognizes them more readily and has learned to overcome them. So that is what God wants to do in our lives. All of us, including the woman speaking to you, have breaches somewhere in our wall, and all of us need the Grace of God and the Power of God to make us determined to close those breaches, so that God’s wall around us may defend us from every attack of the enemy.

It is as simple as that—so simple and yet so difficult, isn’t it? It is easy to talk about it, but difficult to put it into practice; nevertheless, it is not impossible. We saw earlier that Nehemiah wept and prayed over the ruins. Let us look at Nehemiah’s prayer, found in the first chapter, verses 5 through 11—a beautiful prayer that can serve as a model for how we should pray when we face such a difficult situation in our lives.

That prayer says: “And I said: I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, mighty, great, and awesome, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant, which I now pray before You day and night for the children of Jerusalem, Your servants; and I confess the sins of the children of Israel that we have committed against You. Both I and my father’s house have sinned.”

Do you notice the prayer? He addresses God as someone who is right there. He comes with his need, and he comes with an attitude of humility, acknowledging not only the sins of others and of his ancestors, who were not only disobedient to God, but also acknowledging his own sins before God. In verse 7 he says: “We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and precepts that You gave to Moses Your servant.” Acknowledging our sins makes us humble.

The fact that we may have attained some spiritual maturity does not exempt us from sinning. Unfortunately, that is our human reality, but that is precisely why we come humbly before the Lord.

Verse 8 says: “Remember now the Word that You gave to Moses Your servant, saying: If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations,” which is what had happened to the people of Israel, isn’t it? They sinned and were scattered. But look at the promise: “But if you return to Me, keep My commandments, and put them into practice, even if your scattered people are at the farthest reaches of the heavens—no matter how far away from Me you may be—from there I will gather you and bring you to the place I chose as a dwelling for My Name.”

“They, then”—speaking of the people of Israel—“are Your servants and Your people, whom You redeemed by Your great Power and with Your mighty Hand.” What is Nehemiah doing? He is acknowledging that even though the people are in a deplorable situation, in crisis at that moment, and the city lies in ruins, God’s promises nevertheless remain in effect.

He says to God: I know that the circumstances I see do not have to remain this way forever, because You said so, because You once made a promise to gather the people once again, bring them to Yourself, redeem them, and bring salvation to the people. Then he concludes in verse 11 and says: “I beseech You, O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants”—he includes others as well, even though he is alone at that moment—“who desire to revere Your Name; now grant Your servant success and give him favor in the presence of that man, for I served as cupbearer to the king.”

So, did you see the process? First he says who God is and addresses Him as the God who is there beside him, before him—a God with whom he has a connection and fellowship—because there are no shortcuts, no shortcuts to having a connection and fellowship with God. If you have a friend, you cannot call that person your friend if you do not spend time with your friend, can you? It involves an investment of your resources: inviting that person to your home, accepting an invitation, spending time together, making phone calls. It involves an investment of time. There are no shortcuts, no short paths to the heart of God; we must do what Nehemiah did, day and night, maintaining that attitude of continual fellowship with the Lord.

And then, as we read in verse 11, he asks Him for success regarding what he already has in mind, asking Him to open the way. It says: “Now grant Your servant success and give me favor in the presence of that man.” That man referred to the king, King Artaxerxes I; he was not just any man, but a man who commanded authority and inspired fear in everyone who saw him.

So that is the prayer, and Nehemiah’s prayer is a model for us. Abraham Lincoln once said these words: “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my concern is whether we are on God’s side, because He is always right.” So in everything we must always make sure that we are on God’s side, and it is evident that this was true of Nehemiah as well. He was on God’s side, and we know it because God gave him the opportunity.

He waited about four months before presenting his request. Imagine: four months of seeking God’s direction, four months of asking Him, “Lord, open the door for me so that I may discern that Your time has come for me to present my request.” And during that time, he made good use of it; it was not wasted time. He used it to see what resources the earthly king had that he could use to fulfill the purpose of the heavenly King. He began to think and devise strategies for how he was going to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. So that time he spent, which perhaps appeared to be wasted time, was not wasted; it was invested very well in seeking those resources, in gaining understanding, and in developing confidence that God would provide what he needed to accomplish the goal he wanted to accomplish.

And we cannot go into detail, but we do know that God gave him the opportunity. One day he was before the king’s court, and the king saw that he looked somewhat sad and downcast and asked him, “Nehemiah, what is wrong with you?” because he was not ill. And it says that he was greatly afraid. And do you know why he was greatly afraid? Because before a king you could never have a serious, sad face; that could lead to your death. You had to serve the king at all times and maintain a cheerful disposition. If the king told you, “Stand here,” you stood there; if he said, “Stand over here,” then over there you stood. That was how it was.

But God gave him the opportunity, and he recognized it, and at that moment he said to him, “Look, I want to return to my city, to the city of my ancestors, where my fathers’ tombs are, and I want to rebuild the city walls.” That was the request he presented to the king. And not only did the king give him what he asked for, but much more than he asked for, and Nehemiah knew how to ask him for exactly what he needed. Why? Because he had spent time in the Presence of God and knew what he needed.

He asked for timber; he asked for letters that would allow him to go from city to city without any trouble, because remember that he was a servant—he was a servant, not a dignitary—yet Artaxerxes treated him like a dignitary, not like a servant. And the wonderful thing is that this same King Artaxerxes had stopped an attempt to rebuild the city of Jerusalem years earlier, so he already understood what Nehemiah was asking for and had hindered it in years past. But now God took it upon Himself to touch Artaxerxes’ heart and show him that this was something worthy of being done, so he gave him much more than he had asked for.

And I have a question for you: if three frogs are resting on a log and one of them decides to jump, how many frogs remain on the log? Two? Well, do you know what? Three remain, because it says that one merely decided; she decided—it does not say that she actually jumped. And the point is that many times we make decisions, sometimes in emotional moments, but we do not follow through on those decisions. There is a difference between making a decision and taking the steps needed to make that decision a reality.

Many times we know that we have to obey God in a certain area, and once again, in the moment, yes, we get excited: “I’m going to do it”; during worship: “How beautiful it is. Yes, Father, yes, I will; do that with me. Yes, the truth is, I have this bad attitude; tomorrow, I know that You—tomorrow I’m going to apologize.” But what happens? We get home, and sometimes we leave all those good decisions here. They are good decisions, but we have to put them into action, right? Because God’s dreams are much better than our mediocre dreams, so if He tells us something and asks something of us, and we recognize that it is an area of need or something new God wants to do in our lives, then we must obey.

I remember that 25 years ago, among the other roles I had at that time—this was when we were at the beginning of our pastoral ministry—I was the leader of the children’s ministry at the Church, and I worked very hard to build it up. At a point when it was already solid, had good teachers, and had leaders, God placed in me a concern to begin the women’s ministry. But like a little frog that wanted to remain on the log, I decided that I was not going to do it, and some time passed, about two years, and what happened was that God had to deal with me a little more firmly.

One of the things He did was dry up my love for the children’s ministry, which had been so deeply engraved on my heart; He dried it up. Suddenly, it was as though I had lost the anointing for that ministry, and it was a time of crisis and struggle for me. And I was so hardheaded that the Lord had to send me two prophetic Words. One of them came through a woman who did not even know who I was and who, in the way God does things, asked someone else, “Do you know someone in a Church named Meche?” That person knew of me and gave her my number.

And that woman called me—to this day, I do not know who she was—she called me and said these words: “I told you it was women,” and hung up. So, you know, I needed a little more encouragement from God. In the end, I obeyed, but I went into it while struggling with God over it. But I learned one thing: now, when the Lord speaks to me about something, I obey. It may take me three or four months, but it does not take me two years; I have learned my lesson. And likewise, perhaps you know of a direction in which God wants to lead you, and a word to the wise is enough.

So we know that Nehemiah then heard God’s call and responded by restoring the walls. He did not remain sitting on the log, but responded and decided to leave behind the comforts he had in the palace. He lived a very comfortable, luxurious life in the king’s palace, but he decided to obey God. Just imagine: merely getting to Jerusalem took him four months, so it was not easy. And when he arrived there, one might think, “Well, perhaps it became easier.” No—it was very difficult.

The first thing he did was go out with his horse and examine the condition of the city. It lay in ruins, in a terrible state; the gates were burned and everything was exactly as he had been told. Then he spoke words of encouragement to those who were there, and one of the things that encouraged these people was when he shared with them the testimony of how God had heard his prayer and of the resources God had provided him. Remember that he arrived there with timber, with all kinds of construction materials, with his mind full of ideas, with companions—full of resources. And he gave his testimony of how God had been supporting him up to that point, and that encouraged the people.

Throughout the entire Book of Nehemiah, there is a principle that is stated again and again: even when God provides one hundred percent of the resources, we, His children, must still be strong and courageous. We see that phrase as far back as the Book of Joshua, right? “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous.” So that is also found throughout the entire Book of Nehemiah.

He established strategies; he did everything; he formed construction teams; he organized all of it. I encourage you to read the Book. It is easy to read, it is interesting, and it is full of the principles of the Word. We then see that he managed both the big picture and the details, and that is where we often fail: we frequently see the major parts of what we have to do, but we are not careful to look at the smaller aspects of the components and design a plan of action for our lives so that we can then rebuild those walls.

And those principles apply to everything: whether you have to make a change in your spiritual life, your personal life, your work, or any area of your life, those principles apply. We have to manage the details, see the big picture of what God wants for us, and take steps of faith in those great things, but also break them down into their components so that we can succeed.

Nowadays, it is said that there is a new way of looking at why students succeed—why some succeed and others do not. It used to be believed that it was solely because of intelligence, and there are countless tests that measure an individual’s intelligence, but now the factor of determination and of continuing to run until reaching the finish line like a marathon runner is being studied more: running, running, running, and continuing onward despite the challenges. That is a new way of focusing on why some people succeed in their educational careers and others do not.

And that applies spiritually as well: that determination, that focus, because if there is no change, there can be no change, right? That is basic. We have to change how we see life, identify where our failures and our areas needing improvement are, and then determine how to build in order to fill the breach in the wall. It is as we said before: day by day, one decision is like one brick being laid on top of another to build the wall.

And God does not see things the way we see them. We often separate what is religious and spiritual from life, but God does not see it that way. He is interested in every aspect of our lives. And He is interested if your goal is to learn English, so take steps to learn English. It is that simple: where are the classes? Establish a plan of action for yourself. That is where we mostly fail, not in the vision. Many of us have vision.

If I were to ask each of you, “Do you have vision?” you have it in many areas. That is not the issue; we have to look at the components of it. And to succeed, we need three things that Nehemiah demonstrates very well. One is faith in the Lord. That is what gives you the assurance that you are not alone, that you are supported, and that all the resources of heaven are at your disposal. Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will supply all that you lack according to His”—poverty in glory? No, right? It says, “according to His riches in glory.” Our Father is a God who is rich in resources.

That comes first: faith in the Lord. Then comes focus. We live in an unfocused generation; we are doing so many things all the time. We are like—you know dormice, hamsters?—running on that little wheel, going and going on that wheel, and going and going on that wheel, and going, going, going. Many times we are like that: we believe we are doing great things, but we are not moving forward. We are still on the same little wheel we were on three or five years ago, and that is not what God wants. It is important for us to move forward in faith with what God has given us.

Nehemiah had enemies; two of them were named Sanballat and Tobiah. Please do not give those names to your children, especially Sanballat. (Laughter.) They were his enemies, and they tried in every possible way to distract him from the path God had for him. And the truth is that we establish priorities based on—that is, we do things according to our priorities. Where something is not a priority, we do not make time for it.

You notice that if you want to do something but say, “Oh no, but that isn’t so important,” what happens? It takes the last place on the list: “If I have time.” But in the Lord, we must establish very clear priorities and do those things that will transform our lives. So we saw—or we see in the story—that Sanballat and Tobiah did everything possible to distract him.

In Nehemiah chapter 6, verses 1 through 4—this is perhaps my favorite part of the Book of Nehemiah—it says: “When Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that there was no breach left in it”—although up to that time the doors had not been set in the gates—“Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me, saying, ‘Come, and let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.’ But they had planned to harm me.” Their intentions were evil.

And look at his answer: “And I sent messengers to them, saying, ‘I am doing a great work and cannot come down, for the work would cease.’” I am doing a great work and cannot come down, for the work would cease. In other words, if you have a focus and are focused on doing the work God wants you to do, do not abandon the great work to attend to other things, because your anointing to complete the walls is where God wants you to be—not where you want to be, but where God wants you. That is how it is.

So I believe that is something worth memorizing. Because there were many attempts: they threatened him with death; they mocked him. One of the things that caught my attention is that one of them—I believe it was Tobiah—said something like, “Those walls you are building are so weak that if a fox sits on top of the wall, the wall will fall down.” You know? God was doing wonders in the city, and what happened? They attacked them.

Many times, when you want to do something to close a breach in the wall—whether in your life, in the lives of your loved ones, in your family life, at your job, or wherever—do you know what will happen? Criticism will come. It will not be easy. Not everyone is going to say, “Oh, how wonderful that you are growing in that area.” No. Many times, that is when we make the most enemies, and we often make enemies even among those closest to us who supposedly love us.

So do not allow the weakness from your past to determine your future by treating those criticisms as though they were true and accepting them, because many times there are terrible things in our past. We did terrible things; we experienced failures, and the enemy takes it upon himself to whisper to us, “You cannot do that, because remember, the vision you believe in is not from God; it is in your mind, because remember that little matter you have back there in your past.” And he whispers that to us, and many times it stops us and freezes us in place.

The fact that you have been bad-tempered your whole life does not mean you have to remain that way. You can say, “Look, that is over now. Now I am going to close that breach in my wall, and I am going to be a man of compassion and grace.” The fact that you have devoted yourself to using your tongue to speak about your neighbor does not mean you have to continue that way. You can say, “Look, in the Name of the Lord, that breach is being closed. I am going to take practical steps so that I no longer fall into that temptation.” If you recognize your temptation, your area of need, and invoke the Presence of God there, the Lord will make Himself present and will do what He has to do.

Your great work may take a long time; there is no doubt about that. Things do not happen overnight, but if you persevere, you will see that God is real. I know it from my own life. Your great work may be, as I said, perhaps some bad attitude or some bad habit in your life. Your great work may be making time to pray every night with your little ones—they may be little or they may be grown—to pray with them, read them a story, and have that kind of quality time with your children at home.

Your great work may be completing GiD or a university degree that you left unfinished. In other words, you give that great work a name, but we all have one or many great works to do. The point is that we remain committed to that great work, recognizing that God will make it possible if we are faithful and obedient in doing our part.

No miracle is recorded in the Book of Nehemiah; there is no miracle there, but the supernatural movement of God is evident from the very beginning: in how He speaks to Nehemiah, how Nehemiah plans his strategy, how He opens the way for him before the king, how the king provides, how Nehemiah arrives and is able to encourage the people to do everything God had told him, and how he succeeds in completing the wall. In other words, the supernatural Hand of God can be seen at every step.

That is how our life is. Our life is no different from Nehemiah’s. If you set your mind on something and keep in view that you are going to accomplish it in the Name of the Lord, you will accomplish it. And look at this: that wall, which had been destroyed for 150 years, had remained destroyed. I do not know how long the breach in your wall or that burned gate has been in ruins, but in Nehemiah’s case it was 150 years. And do you know what? United, the people succeeded in rebuilding the wall in only 52 days. What seemed impossible became possible, and not only that, but it also became a testimony to many around them.

It is the same with your life—your life in the Lord’s hands. When people see you succeed in an area—when you used to be one way but now you are another, when you used to do that but now you no longer do it and instead do this—and these are good things, pleasing to God and in keeping with biblical principles, that is the best testimony; that is the best Bible we can share with others. We are open books. Others read our walk in us; they know when we truly believe God and when we merely say that we believe God.

And chapter 6, verse 16 says: “And when all our enemies heard of it”—when they heard that they had completed that wall in only 52 days—“when all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and felt humiliated, and they knew that this work had been accomplished by our God.” So your life—your changed, transformed life, your faithfulness in continuing to grow in the Lord and taking steps of faith—is the best testimony you can give.

It will amaze your wife or your husband; it will amaze your children, your neighbors, and your coworkers. They will all be amazed, and even if they do not believe in the Lord in whom you believe, they will see something behind it that is not natural, that there is a supernatural power. And that will make you the best evangelist you can be, when your life preaches in that way.

So we are all called to a great work, whatever the area may be. Isaiah 58:12 says: “And those who are yours shall rebuild the ancient ruins. You shall raise up the foundations of generation after generation, and you shall be called: Repairer of Breaches, Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.” That is your calling. Your calling is to build, to raise up the fallen walls, to put up gates; where there used to be breaches, there will no longer be breaches. The walls are a symbol of God’s protection, and that is what God is calling you to today.

Do you know what the work Nehemiah did with the people accomplished? It fostered life. It restored life to Jerusalem. If he had not done that, if he had not made the decision and had not taken the steps that followed his decision, it would not have been accomplished. Yet he accomplished it and was able to bring life to a city that was already dead and without hope. Others after Nehemiah continued building.

And one day, almost five centuries later, Jesus Christ Himself would carry out His Ministry in that very city. So, how marvelous! In other words, when you are faithful, you build up your walls, you construct the walls, and then God can carry out His complete Work. And it will not be only for your benefit, but for the benefit of future generations. Whether or not you are a mother or father, as I was saying, we are open books, and when we live lives according to the Word, we can impact the lives of others and begin to build a better family, a better society. That is what it is all about: that we be faithful.

And to finish, I want to extend a challenge to you, you know? Because a person hears a message, but must respond to the message. The Word says that it does not return to God empty, and I want it to return full today, so I am extending a challenge to you. The challenge is that right now—if you want to close your eyes so you can think better—right now, you identify for yourself just one thing in your life where you know very well that the wall has been destroyed, that there is a breach in your wall. We all have them. Think of that one thing alone. Do not lose focus by thinking of three, four, or five, but of that one thing alone.

And what I want you to do is speak God’s vision over that one thing you have thought of. And while you are thinking, I am going to read to you from Habakkuk 2:1–3. Look at what it says: “I will stand upon my watch”—in other words, you must be on guard, stationed in your place, firmly positioned there in your watchtower, looking to see where the breach in the wall is—“and I will set my foot upon the fortress”—standing firm on guard—“and I will watch to see what will be said to me and what I shall answer concerning my complaint.”

“And Jehovah answered me and said: Write the vision and declare it on tablets, so that the one who reads it may run with it. Although the vision will still take some time, it hastens toward the end; though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not delay.” What I ask of you today—the challenge I extend to you—is that you think of just one thing. And if you are unsure, ask one of your loved ones, and you will see that they will not give you just one thing, but a list of ten things in which you can improve.

Think of just one thing in any area of your life: personally, emotionally, in your way of thinking, or whatever it may be, and declare God’s vision over that area. Again, you know what that one thing is, and what I ask is that you keep your eyes fixed on the Lord, that you look at that one thing and see it as a project in your life, that you break it down into its components, write down those components, and write down strategies for succeeding in closing the breach in the wall that you know you have. Will you do that?

So you are committing yourselves before the King of kings to work on that one thing, and I know that the Lord will be with you. It says that even though it may take time to arrive, it will arrive. And why do we know it will arrive? Because it is from God, and we know that He has all the resources and that He will make it possible.

So join me in prayer to seal that purpose all of you have made and that I too am making today. Father, today we commit ourselves to keeping our eyes fixed on You. We decide to leave our comfort zone and, by faith, begin to take the necessary steps so that the one thing You have spoken to us about today may become a reality. Father, we recognize that there will be dangers, there will be challenges, that it will not be easy, that the enemy may whisper in our ear, saying, “No, it is not possible to do that.” But we recognize and declare today, Lord, that if the vision is Yours, You place all the necessary resources within our reach and You will work.

Our work is to be diligent, to be courageous, to make every effort, and to wait on You. Father, I ask You to make a reality of everything my brothers and sisters have declared today in their minds and in their spirits that they will put into practice, Lord. Father, because they have made a covenant with You, a commitment to You, and they know that You will help them. I ask You, Lord, to increase their faith, to increase their trust in You, that they may use all the resources around them, that they may discern Your movement concerning that one thing, and that, Father, one day very soon, because they made that decision before You, because they committed themselves before You to work in that area, Your blessing may come upon that area, Lord, and their lives may be better and they may leave an even better legacy to the next generation.

Thank You, Lord, because nothing is impossible for You, O God. For You all things are possible, no matter how difficult it may be, no matter what our emotions may say, no matter what attacks we may receive from the enemy. No matter how difficult or how uphill it may be, You will make it possible, Lord.

Lord, we declare that around every one of us here, around every individual here, around every family represented, a solid wall without breaches will be built, where Your Power and Your mercy will be made manifest, Lord—not only for the benefit of those who live within those walls, but so that many may see Your mighty deeds and Your wonders, Lord, and bow their heads before You, O God. Thank You, Lord. Amen.