Verse: Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building Ezra 4:4
Story: God brought the people of Israel out of Babylonian captivity; when Persian Empire overthrew the Babylonians. Persian king Cyrus gave permission to go back and start building the temple of God. Moment they started building the temple, enemies started discouraging and tried to frighten them. It went for six years, then the work stopped for next 10 years, but the Lord sent messengers and reminded them to restart the work that they started. They listened and restarted the work, took another 4 years to complete the work.
Lesson: Lord brought us out of captivity of sins when we received Jesus as our personal savior into our lives. At that time we took lot of decisions to live holy and to have the God’s kingdom as the priority in our lives. But discouragements, trials, fears have forced us to wrong priorities. Now we are lost in our troubles. Lord is reminding us to change our priorities. Also stop being fearful and discouraged of situations.
Prayer: Father Lord, teach me to live a life as per your plans and purposes. Let my focus be doing your will. Amen