Gate–Daily Prompt

I was pleased to see the daily prompt today is gate. I just finished teaching a Bible Study from Nehemiah and Ezra called Prayers in the Battle.  We started out in Ezra to obtain some historical context. We talked about rebuilding the temple and the return of the Jewish people from Babylon back to Jerusalem.

Next we dove into Nehemiah. I gave the other ladies in my Bible study a timeline of Ezra’s, Esther’s, and Nehemiah’s life and importance. It helped us understand the context of the books we were studying.

We discussed how the prayer of Nehemiah chapter 1 followed a similar pattern as the Lord’s prayer.    We found parallels to what is happening today with great opposition between different cultures and religions.  We saw how Nehemiah’s prayer can be our prayer.

In chapter 2 we looked at the king’s question to Nehemiah and his prayer before he answered the king. As the Israelite’s were returning to Israel after their captivity in Babylon they were seeing that not only was their temple in ruins, but the 10 gates and the wall that surrounded Jerusalem for its protection were broken down as well. Nehemiah was heartbroken that his city was in ruins.

Opposition began before work even started.  Nehemiah secretly surveyed the need  of rebuilding the wall and then made his call for help. Again there was opposition. How do you react to opposition when you know you’re doing God’s work?

In chapter 3 we discussed how they were working side-by-side, to support others, working together, and edifying the people.  We looked at supporting scripture in the New Testament from 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Romans 15:2, 1 Corinthians 14:26, and Ephesians 4:11-16.

The next chapter brought increased opposition in the form of jeering and laughing. We also noticed that one was working and one was battling. They had part of their workers standing watch with arrows, spears, bows, and armor. We discussed the battle being the Lord’s not ours. We moved away from Nehemiah for the next day and we talked about the armor of God that is available to us as described in Ephesians 6.

We returned to Nehemiah 5 to see conflict between the Jewish classes. But the larger issue was deliberate disobedience of the word of God.   In Nehemiah 6 we saw renewed opposition and false news. Does that sound like today? Fear was rampant however they gained courage in the face of opposition.

After the wall and gates were finished, the enemies saw and heard that the work was done by the hand of God. Do your enemies see and hear you as you use God’s word against the enemy? Remember Jesus in the wilderness.

In chapter 8 we discussed the Feast of the Tabernacles and how Jesus has fulfilled that feast for us as our Bread of Life.  Chapter 9 was the last chapter that we discussed in our study. The Israelites give God praise after reading the law.  In verses 26-38 we saw parallels to the present time that we live in. Actually, we saw many parallels to today.  I would encourage you to read Nehemiah!  It is a wonderful book!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/gate