Ezra 4:4
Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,
Building something for God is not easy. Anytime you see someone trying to do something for God, there has always been something Satan used to hinder them from succeeding. Ezra discovered this when he tried to rebuild the temple. It seemed that everyone should be excited about the rebuilding of the temple, but the hindrances showed themselves once they started building something for God.
There ought to be a desire in your heart to build something for God. I would hate to go through life and never build one thing for God. You ought to have a desire to build a Sunday school class, a bus route, a great church, or build some ministry for Christ. It would be terrible to go through life, and one day at your funeral, have nothing to point to that you built for God. However, when you attempt to build something for God, you will immediately see hindrances that will try to stop you from building. There are five hindrances you will face if you try to build something for God.
The first hindrance is adversaries. Ezra 4:1 says the adversaries heard that Ezra builded the temple, and they immediately came to try to stop this great work. You cannot build something for God without having adversaries. If you have no adversaries with what you are building, you are likely not building anything at all. I don't care if you are building something for life or for God; you will always have adversaries when building something. This is why you need to toughen up. Too many believers are so soft that when the adversaries come, they stop building. You have to expect adversaries, and the fact that they are adversaries means it will make you uncomfortable as you build. If there were no adversaries to overcome, there would be no pleasure in looking back at what you built. Toughen up, and don't let the adversaries stop you.
Compromise is the second hindrance to building something for God. The adversaries tried to get Ezra to let them build with him, but he was wise to their compromising offers. Compromise always pokes its ugly head out when you are building something, and it always offers a better and easier way to build, but it will destroy what you are building. Compromising separation from the wrong crowd will destroy God’s power working through your life and ministry.
Troubles are the third hindrance to building something for God. You must be creative when building something because some trouble will present itself to stop you from building. Creativity and determination are the only things that will keep you from quitting when troubles arise.
Frustrations are the fourth hindrance to building something for God. People will frustrate you as you try to build something for God, but don't let what frustrates you get you off focus. You are building something for God to help people, but you can easily get sidetracked if you focus on what they are doing that frustrates you.
“It’s never good enough” is the fifth hindrance to building something for God. People will compare you to works of the past, but you must realize God is working through you. Don't let the comparison game stop you from building something for God. Every work of God is a great work. Don’t let the naysayers stop you from continuing to build what you are building for God.
Comments