Persevere in Faith (Ezra 4:4–6)

Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. And in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
—Ezra 4:4–6

Oh, get the picture here. God’s people are rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem according to God’s Word. They’re doing what God has called them to do. What the Spirit of God has stirred them to do for the glory of God’s name. And as they’re doing it, the people around them are discouraging them. And doing everything they can, including bribing people to frustrate their purposes and their plan. They’re making accusations against them. And the result is fear among those who are working, and frustration.

Ezra 4:4–6 teaches that opposition often follows obedience.

You can only imagine all the emotions as you’re trying to do what God is calling you to do, and you’re facing basically attacks from all sides. This is just one of so many places across God’s Word where we are reminded… Where we are taught… Where we are told by God, when you are doing my work, it will not be easy in this world. You will face discouragement, so don’t be surprised.

You’ll face fear. You will experience frustration. You will experience accusations against you. This is one of the names of the adversary, the devil. He is the accuser, he is the deceiver. Satan is the destroyer. He does not want God’s work to be done in his Church, among his people. He doesn’t want God’s work to be done in your life.

This is Ephesians 6. There are spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms that do not want God’s work to be done in your life or through your life. And so, don’t be surprised when you face discouragement, fear, frustration, accusation. And let all these things lead you to press into God all the more. Do not give the adversary a foothold in your mind and your heart. Fight in all the ways that Ephesians 6 says to fight… With truth, with righteousness, with the Word of God, the helmet of salvation, with continual prayer. Trusting that God is your Defender and your Protector and your Provider, and his purpose will ultimately be accomplished in you and through you.

Ezra 4:4–6 pictures the spiritual battle behind delays and distractions.

So trust in him. I don’t know what discouragement you’re facing right now in your life, what fear you’re facing in your life, what accusations you’re facing, or frustrations you’re facing in your life.

I don’t know what you’re facing, but God does. And I want to encourage you based on Ezra 4:4–6, to press in in prayer to him. Let’s do that now. Let’s just lay these things before God.

Oh God, we confess, we acknowledge ways. We are discouraged right now, ways we may be afraid right now, ways we may be frustrated right now in this fallen world. And we trust that discouragement does not come from you. Fear does not come from you, and frustration does not come from you. And so we pray for freedom from all of these things. We pray for freedom from the accusations of the adversary. God, we want to press into you. Please make us holy, help us to honor you, glorify you with our thoughts, our desires, our actions, our interactions with others, and to trust you as we do.

This verse reminds us to trust God when we face discouragement and fear.

We pray for encouragement from your Spirit in all these ways. We pray for freedom from fear, we pray knowing that your perfect love for us casts out all fear, and we pray with confidence that your purposes cannot ultimately be frustrated, your purposes in our lives, through our lives. So we trust in you. We praise you, Jesus, for taking our sin upon yourself so that the accusations of the adversary against us do not stick.

God, we pray for freedom from all of his schemes and victory over all of his schemes in our lives, in our churches, in the work you’ve called us to do, to be salt and light in this world, to proclaim the gospel, to build up your church, to spread the good news of your love among all the nations.

Prayer for the Tamazight Berber People

God, we pray today for the Tamazight Berber people of Algeria and Morocco, 5 million of them.

We know anyone who’s working to spread the gospel in Algerian Morocco right now is facing all kinds of challenges, discouragement, fear, frustration, accusations. God, we pray that you would give them victory, that you would cause the gospel to spread. I pray that over every person working for the spread of the gospel among unreached people right now. God, for victory over discouragement and fear and frustration, and accusation. God, we pray that your purposes would be accomplished among all the nations, through your people and all the work that they are doing.

And God, we pray for that in each one of our lives. Thank you, Jesus, for your Spirit in us that removes fear from us, that encourages us, that reminds us your purposes will be accomplished, and defends us against all the accusations and tactics of the adversary. All glory be to your name, Jesus. You have conquered sin and death and Satan, and we trust in you as our Defender, our Protector, our Provider, our Lord, our Savior, our Deliverer, and the One who will lead us through whatever spiritual battles we face. We pray all of this according to your Word in Ezra 4:4–6. In Jesus’ name, amen.