The Enemy’s Modus Operandi

Reading: Nehemiah 6:1-16

 Copyright: Herman Asafo-Agyei I would like to continue this morning from where Pastor Ken Baker left off a couple of weeks ago, by saying that Nehemiah’s successful completion of his God-given mission to rebuild the wall, which he did in 52 days, must go down as an achievement inspirational to all believers. I should add that it vindicates the concluding statement in Daniel 11:32, that ‘’the people that know their God shall be strong and do great exploits’’.   There can no doubt that this is indeed a source of great encouragement to believers, as each one of us has a God-given mission to pursue and accomplish. Nevertheless, it should not detract from the all-important reality – and we must bear it in mind – that even where great accomplishments are achieved in the service of the Lord, we will yet need to call on His help and guidance if we are to fortify and sustain longevity of that achievement. Let me take a short parenthesis here and say that the apostle Paul, realising the dangers of self-conceitedness, addresses it this way in Philippians 3:12, ’’Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on……………………………………………………’’   The point for us to grasp, evidently, is that we should guard against allowing complacency to find a foothold in our spiritual journey because the workers of iniquity, as our Lord Jesus calls them in Luke 13:27, will scheme relentlessly to discredit the quality of a believer’s achievement or, if possible, topple it altogether. They adopt tactics, which come across as being pleasant and appealing. Yet, in reality, they are seductively packaged and disguised in all sorts of enticements to entrap believers, into abandoning the purpose for which God sanctifies us.Please turn with me to Matthew 2:7-13, focusing in particular on verse 7 and 8, just to give you a flavour of the seductive device I have just mentioned. This is the case of King Herod whose diabolical plot to kill Jesus, was disguised in the following request he made to the wise men: ‘‘Go and search for the young Child and when you have found Him, bring back word to me that I may come and worship Him also’’.It goes without saying that the plot was foiled by the refusal of the wise men to cooperate with the King’s instructions. They chose instead to stand firmly on their faith in the prophecy of the Holy Scriptures concerning the birth of The Messiah.     My message this morning is therefore intended to expose or draw attention to the methods Satan and his cohorts employ to infiltrate the lives of believers in order to accomplish their destructive aims and objectives. Believers would be exhorted to remain vigilant so as to avoid the enemy catching us off guard, bearing in mind also that it is fellow human beings that Satan collaborates with to act as agents in perpetrating those diabolical interests.In the book of Ephesians 6:11, the insightful apostle Paul describes the enemy’s tactics, as ‘’the wiles of the devil’’. To emphasize how seriously Paul treated the wiles of the devil and, for that matter, its importance to the entire body of Christ, allow me to cite three further references. In 2 Corinthians 2:10, the relevant key words are ‘’for we are not ignorant of his devices’’; in chapter 12 verse 7, ‘’a messenger of Satan to torment me’’; then in 1 Thessalonians 2:18, ‘’but Satan stopped us’’.  Satan is clearly not a Conqueror and in my view has zero authority. However, we cannot afford to ignore the fact that he is real, he torments and is, certainly, influential.    Returning to the book of Nehemiah, we can examine the methods of the evil one. Verses 2, 9, 10 and 14 of the 6^th chapter, provide us with useful clues.   Respectively, it would appear that their schemes are to harm (v.2), frighten (v.9), kill (v.10) and intimidate (v.14) the servants of God.I hope and know that, in time, we could all see clearly how this modus operandi is strikingly co-terminus with the devil’s manifesto as Christ Jesus outlines in John 10:10 as follows: ‘‘the thief has come to kill, steal and destroy’’.   Yet Jesus gives us a glowing ray of hope as he circumvents this statement by adding that He has come that we may have life more abundantly.   Captured in a single word, the devil’s goal is to cause us to fear, this attack is designed to wean us away from actively reaching for every good and perfect gift belonging to us in Christ Jesus, the hope of glory. Fear is a demon spirit, it gains entry into our situation via our carnal minds to challenge and weaken our will to expect a righteous harvest from God in due season i.e. according to His timetable. Negative outcomes for believers are products of Fear. As written in Job 3:25, “For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me and that which I was afraid of is come unto me’’So ‘beware of the dogs’ (Philippians 3:2), who are out to intimidate us and frustrate our efforts. Roll up your sleeves and tighten your seat belts in order to ward off the enemy’s onslaught. This we must do by remaining confident in the excellence and invincibility of the empowering word of God. As indicated in 2 Timothy 1:7, God has not given us a spirit of timidity: rather ‘’of power, love and a sound mind’’. I can identify many reasons why God could not have given us a spirit of fear.   In John 3:31, for instance, we are divinely informed that ‘’He who comes from heaven is above all’’. As the Holy Spirit, which now resides in our spirit is from heaven, it must follow categorically that we are above everything that Satan throws at us to destabilise our concentration on God. So, ours is to continue believing. That way, we offload the ‘pressure’, so to speak, on to our God.I will now suggest the following steps which I believe are worth considering as a way forward:

• We must resist the devil. When we do this, God neutralizes the schemes of the adversary. James 4:17 admonishes us to ’’submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you’’.          
• We must be faithful servants, just like Nehemiah. When God is pleased with our faithful service to Him, there are untold benefits to us. For one, Proverbs 16:7 teaches that, ‘’when a man’s ways please the Lord, He causes even his enemies to be at peace with him’’.
• We must persevere. When success is achieved as a result of perseverance, fear is transferred back to the enemy, causing him to loose self-confidence. We can see this principle reflected in verse 15,when the wall was completed in 52 days.

Finally, based on lessons learnt from this book, I would like to pray with those of us who believe that they are in the process of rebuilding aspects of their lives; those involved in a project which has either completed or nearing completion; those who may be at the tail end of taking medication for depression and requiring the strength to combat relapse. Nehemiah’s prayer, is, simply, for God to strengthen his hands – chapter 6:9. Lets us be steadfast in our faith that God will honour His word to His people as promised in Isaiah 41:10,’Fear not………I will strengthen you……………………….’’