The value of faith and steadfastness in the midst of spiritual struggles

Challenges and oppositions are not alien to the Christian who decides to follow Christ. This statement would seem like a contradiction, but I think it is not. Nehemiah did not know Christ, but he trusted his God - also ours - of whom every generation of Jews told the wonders and miracles for his people since the exodus from Egypt.

Nehemiah was not only the leader who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and awakened the people from their spiritual slumber, but he was also a champion of the faith. Spiritual struggles are won through faith. Without faith, effective and efficient leadership is practically impossible. When the opposition intensified its mockery and death threats, when the people fainted in the immense work that lay ahead, Nehemiah was not intimidated and moved on. As much as they tried to intimidate him into turning him away from the work that God had entrusted to him, his firmness and his faith allowed him to unite a people who built the walls of the city with one hand in the construction work and the other grasping the sword to face any opposition from the enemy. "All those who were working on the reconstruction wore their sword at their waist" (Neh 4.18NVI).

Nehemiah's example as a man of courage and faith certainly inspires us. Our adversary, like Samballat, Tobías and Gesén - enemies of Nehemiah and therefore opposed to the will of God - is insistent and tries to disorganize our faith to lead us to inconsistency, fragility, softness. Faith prints firmness, patience, perseverance and is, as the Apostle John says, the foundation and guarantee of our victory in Christ: “because everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that conquers the world: our faith ”. (1 Jn 5.4).

Let us remember that the world is “upside down”, that is, it is conducting itself contrary to God's designs and plans. The world is the system of values that fight against the will of God, it is not about the people, it is about the prince of darkness who has darkened minds with his humanistic recipes to captivate us with his empty promises.

When we are busy in the work of God, faith and firmness in the fulfillment of duty will give us the feeling of constancy and perseverance so as not to hear the enemy's “siren songs” insistently calling us to deviate from the supreme goal (Neh 6.3).

In Christ, through his redemptive work, we can rebuild the walls that the enemy has managed to break down. Let's close the gaps and put the main door that gives access to the gospel of salvation firmly in place. That door is Christ. “I am the door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved; and he will go in and out and find pasture. " (Jn 10.9) The values of a world whose walls are in spiritual and moral ruin crash against the values of the Kingdom of God. Spiritual struggles are confronted with the steadfastness that comes from saving faith. My prayer is that we continue, with God's help, building walls and building lives in Christ for his eternal glory.

God bless you!

Suggested Reading: Nehemiah 6