“Don’t be afraid of them. Put your minds on the Master, great and awesome, and then fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.” Nehemiah 4:14
I had a great time with Pastor Talo, the Overseer for New Hope Asia yesterday. He’s a big Samoan Bloke with a heart of gold, a great appetite a classic sense of humour, and a passion for Jesus. I asked him what he wanted me to speak on at New Hope Tokyo, and he said, “Whatever the Holy Spirit leads…” He’s seen many churches planted in Japan, Myanmar, The Philippines, Korea and Taiwan etc. He said he loves seeing the Aussies do ministry, they’ve got the “Aussie” Spirit he said.
I look at this verse in Nehemiah, and he says, “Don’t be afraid of them, Put your minds on the master, great and awesome, then fight…” Nehemiah had a burning call to rebuild the walls. And he knew it wouldn’t come easy, he would have to fight! I think this is one of the redemptive gifts of the “Aussie spirit,” When we know we have to fight, we’ll go for it, guts and all! One of the biggest curses on our nation is apathy. Not caring, no motivation, no vision, no get up and go!
We need a wake up call, we need someone to blow the trumpet, we need to assemble the armies of the Lord and say today we fight! Not just for us, but for our “brothers, our sons, our daughters our wives and our homes!”
What will the future look like if we don’t grow and plant churches? If we don’t give our all to the work of the Lord? What could marriage look like? What could the media look like? What could our schools teach? How bad could things get if we don’t assemble on the battle field and say, “Today we fight!”
The price we could pay for apathy us incomprehensible. There is a stirring in my spirit to take ground for the kingdom. We need to think and live and act like the Army of the Lord, and nothing else. Will you stand with the Lord and say, “Today we fight!”
Lord, where you go we go. In Jesus name. Amen.