Sat.’s Devo - Don’t Give Up.

Read: Ezra 4-6; Ps. 137
It should not surprise us that the devil would want to stop the building of the temple. Look at his tactics. First he comes to them with flatteries and deceit saying they wanted to help. They even said they served the same god. I have heard that so many times lately. There is only one God and he is Jehovah and there is only one way to him and that is the door, Jesus.
When they couldn’t get to them with their deceit they started troubling them and hiring counsellors to frustrate their plans. In other words, they tried to infiltrate their ranks using people on the inside. Next they wrote letters to the king telling them that these people, the Jews had a past of rebelling against kings and if they were allowed to finish their temple, they would not pay their taxes. The king did some research and found out what they were saying was true and commanded that they stop building.
God raised up prophets like Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the Jews to turn to God and trust him alone. Zerubbabel and Jeshua heard what the prophets were saying and rose up and started building again. Of course, the governors were upset and sent a letter to Darius telling him what the Jews were claiming. They were claiming that Cyrus decreed the temple be rebuilt.
This was the best thing that could have happened because when the king went into the archives he found the decree and ordered them to continue building and funded the rest of the project. They finished the temple and had a great passover celebration.
Let this be an encouragement to us. When God wants to build the church or bless our family or whatever he has promised you…there is no man who can stop him. We might have to fight for our promises but we will win!
Lord, don’t let us stop building when the enemy comes against us with their lies and deception. Give us strength to persevere till the end.