Devotional
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 12 and Psalm 24 This was a serious celebration. Two great choirs walked atop the City walls, encircled the City of Jerusalem with their songs of praise and thanksgiving, and then met in the Temple to offer great sacrifices of praise to God in music and song, “rejoicing because God had given…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 11 and Psalm 23 Jerusalem’s temple had been rebuilt and now its walls were complete. Under Ezra and Nehemiah’s ministry, Gods people had rededicated themselves to the Covenant. To a certain extent their physical and spiritual missions had been completed. One of the remaining challenges, however, was how few people were living…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 10 and Psalm 22 Faithfulness to God and our worship of God are all-of-life matters. That’s why, as the Israelites renewed their Covenant with God (see Nehemiah 9:38) and sealed it formally, they made it very clear that they were taking upon themselves certain very specific obligations in a number of areas…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 9 and Psalm 21 For three whole weeks after being drawn to the Temple for a mass gathering of worship and listening to God’s Word, the Israelites seem to have been reflecting on their own lives and their national history in light of the Word. Suddenly all of God’s dealings with them…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 8 and Psalm 20 The temple had been prepared for worship. The City wall had been repaired and the gates had been set in place. From the 25th day of the month of Elul (Neh. 6:15), the sixth month, nothing physical prevented the people from gathering en masse to worship. All they…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 7 and Psalm 19 Despite all the false accusations against him over the course of the building project, Nehemiah had not come to Jerusalem for political reasons. He had come out of an honest, heartfelt hunger to see the walls of the Sacred City restored. His heart was to see God’s people…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 6 and Psalm 18 As the wall-rebuilding project steadily progressed, Nehemiah faced relentless attacks from those opposing the project. A variety of diabolical weapons were employed by the opposition ringleaders, Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem. Over and over they employed false friendship (v.1-4), slanderous accusations (v.5-7), intimidation (v.7-9), manipulative counsel/false prophecy (v.10, 12-14)…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 5 and Psalm 17 Nehemiah 5 presents a difficult season in the life of the returned exiles. The work on the wall was under threat again. This time, however, the threat came not from an outside enemy but from the financial and material strain the ordinary people were under. Much to Nehemiah’s…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 4 and Psalm 16 Due to the Emperor’s permission to Nehemiah, the sworn opponents of the wall-building project, Sanballat and Tobiah, had no authority to stop the work from going ahead. This meant they had to resort to the mental, emotional and spiritual attacks of insults, criticism, discouragement and the threat of…
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Daily Readings: Nehemiah 3 and Psalm 15 Nehemiah was a visionary leader who had the gift of seeing the end goal, as well as how God’s people could accomplish that goal. In chapter 3, we observe that he also had the gift of entrusting work to others and allowing them to express themselves by getting…
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