#ThatMomentWhen–you are attacked on your assignment!

Hey there BCU Family!

As usual, you have the option of listening to our podcast (click the BCU avatar below to listen), reading the notes or BOTH. In any case, we pray the podcast blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy your study!

Let’s dig into Nehemiah chapter 4!

V1) But it came to pass, that when Sanballat [his name means enemy in secret] heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

Now the work was going fine—everyone building as they should and here comes the enemy. Once again angry from just hearing that the work was being done. Notice how that spirit started off alone in mocking and teasing the Jews.

V2And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

Then Sanballat speaks in FRONT of his people and a Samaritan army—who knows HOW many people that was! That prideful, angry, distracting spirit needed an audience to help stop the work on the wall.  He goes on by name calling, belittling their efforts—like they could not do this alone, questioning their ability to sacrifice, would they be able to do it in a day? How could they get stones out of burnt material?

God had that covered when Nehemiah got all his supplies from the king/letters. See..the enemy does not know everything! Nor was it his business to know! He kept pulling out the fiery darts to stop the work of the Lord. We need to recognize the darts for what they are and rather than argue in the flesh about WHY we are called, we need to rest and continue working knowing WHO called us! And EVEN when things on the assignment really start to look impossible–remember OUR God specializes in the impossible! Ask me how I know!

V3Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall.
In ancient times, the walls built around cities were tremendously thick and high–some in Babylon were reported to be 380 feet thick and over 100 feet high. Obviously an animal who averages 4- 31 pounds was NOT going to break the wall down. That comment was a distraction from the enemy. We have guard against being distracted! Those comments/tricks serve two purposes: to delay you from doing God’s work or to destroy you in the process of doing the work. And in either case, the end result is not what God has called us to.

v4Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity:

v5And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.
What I LOVE about these verses is that Nehemiah and his folks never answered these people. No justification, no explaining, no running, no getting in feelings, no stopping the work, no hiding—they took it to the Lord! The mothers of the church used to sing “if I hold my peace and let the Lord fight my battles, victory, victory shall be mine!” It is not necessary in every case to get into someone’s face. Let the Lord do the work!

v6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work. 

This scripture is just speaks to my heart and it where the BCU tagline comes from. In the midst of the attacks, they KEPT working. We keep ministering, we continue serving, being a blessing, preaching, ushering, whatever your job is. You may cry and get hurt—no doubt!! Give it to the Lord and keep working. You’ll be blessed for it.

v7But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,

v8And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.

So now the walls were up and and the gaps were being closed, Sanballat and Tobiah — and now the Arabians, Ammonites, Ashdodites are heated!!!!!!!!! So they join forces to fight against and hinder the building process. The more determined you are to do what God says, the more you’ll be fought against. When we recognize these attacks as spiritual rather than personal, we know how to respond PROPERLY.

v9Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

Verse 9 says they prayed and watched. Prayer will not always stop the enemy, but it will strengthen YOU! Are we watching?  Not in a creepy, fearful way–using the wisdom and discernment God gives us.  Does the enemy come through that co-worker or family member? Through an old, new, smoldering flame? How about creeping up on you with self-destructive behaviors like over-eating or nipping. Perhaps loneliness, fear, people talking about you effects you? Then you respond in angry outbursts, passive-aggressive behavior, slothfulness? The enemy may come in a different vehicle but the operating parts are usually the same. Different package—marked new and improved, but the contents are still the same! WATCH so you KNOW who the enemy is, how he is attacking so you pray and GUARD against it! Amen? Amen!

Well, BCU family we have to stop here, but there is PLENTY more to this challenge for Nehemiah coming up, so, please stay tuned for that! In the meantime, there are other podcasts for you to enjoy–you are welcome to peruse the BlenCouragesU.com site 24-7!  You can also see what we are up to on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram! You can also listen in and subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and iTunes.

Before you go, please comment and tell us what stood out to you in this lesson and how will you apply it?We’d LOVE to hear from you!

In the meantime, thank you for stopping by and may God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you! #StayOnTheWall!

 

 

Love,

 

BCU

 

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Warning: Do NOT miss YOUR flight!

Hey BCU Fam!

As usual, you have the option of listening to our podcast (click the BCU avatar below to listen), reading the notes or BOTH. In any case, we pray the podcast blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy your study!

As a person who likes to fly, I am usually very fastidious about printing my boarding pass, getting to the airport early, getting my baggie with the liquids out, checking my gate, etc.

A few years ago, I was connecting to a flight in Chicago and had a 2-hour layover. I checked the gate location a few times and proceeded to it, while getting breakfast and coffee enroute. Once I got to my gate, I had my nourishment and chatted with friends via telephone/text, checked emails, social networked..just doing my thing.

When I saw the plane come in, I waited for the announcement so I could board. When the counter flight attendant started talking about customs forms, I got a little nervous…it turns out that flight was going to Toronto, Ontario—CANADA! Apparently there had been a gate change and I didn’t hear it/check again. Thank God, the new gate wasn’t far away and I made my flight--I was the very last one to board. As I sat down, the Lord spoke to my heart and put my faux paux in a spiritual lesson.

Family, I was so busy with other things, I didn’t pay attention to anything that may have told me that my gate had changed. I didn’t hear an announcement, see that people had left the area or look up to quintuple check my gate information. Many times, we are so caught up with the cares of this life, we don’t hear or heed the small, still voice of God. We don’t double check His word about the things we should be doing (or not). And we let people (rather, the spirit that operates within people) to grieve and vex our spirits, rather than going to God in prayer about it. These actions can cause us to miss the blessings of God. Even more grave, we can miss Heaven or the rapture!

Remember the parable of ten virgins from Matthew 25:1-13? Five were foolish and five were wise. While waiting for the Bridegroom, the foolish ones let their lamps go out rather than keeping them trimmed with oil, as the wise ones did. Consequently, when the bridegroom came, the foolish virgins were scrambling to look for oil from the wise virgins, (who told them NO–go buy some) and were left behind because they were NOT ready! Maybe they were too concerned with the cares of this world to take care of business? Maybe they thought they had plenty of time to get right? Mayhap they were not listening/paying attention to the Lord’s voice and followed someone else’s? Walking in the flesh, rather than the spirit? We’ll never know, but we can learn from their error.

With all the noisome pestilence about us, it’s not always easy to stay Christ-focused, I admit. God has provided ways for us stay on high alert and in tune with us. Along with the baptism (Acts 2:38-39), in Jesus name and the gift of the Holy Ghost–which is our guide on the inside, reading God’s Word daily, committing it to memory and making an effort to practice living it will help us to hear God’s voice clearly. This way, we don’t follow a strange voice, but flee as Jesus said in John 10:5. Strange voices are full of trouble! The more we listen to God and practice following His word, the stranger the voice of the enemy will become.

Bottom line? As we journey on to our Heavenly destination, let us keep in mind that God gives wisdom liberally (James 1:5) and wants us to use it liberally. Some things we do can be recovered from, while others can be life-altering and regrettable. Every word, thought or deed has a consequence and rather than making fleshly decisions that will cause pain, grief and suffering, let us walk in the Spirit so we suffer for the cause of Christ, (rather than for our own foolishness) reap blessings, God be glorified through us and we go back with Him when He comes. Amen? Amen!!!

Thank you so much for stopping by! We LOVE interaction, so tell leaving a comment would be a good thing! To make it easier, think about answering these questions:

B) How do you stay focused on God through your day-to-day activities?

C) When is your favorite time to get with God and fellowship in prayer with Him 1 on 1?

U) Have you ever “skipped over” God’s voice and made a decision that took some time to recover from?  (I know I have)! What did you learn?

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! And if you have not done so, please like BlenCouragesU on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram!  And PLEASE subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and iTunes. You’ve already done that? Then please tell someone you love AND your enemy–I’m trusting they will soon become your friend! 🙂

Until we are together again, may God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you—-and #StayOnTheWall!

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Singles Chalkboard: *SIGH* What do I do while I wait?!

Hi there BCU Family!

#TeamBCU is praying in the name of Jesus for all survivors, family and friends who were/will/may be effected by Hurricane Matthew. BCU Family, please pray and as you are led by God, DO what you can to assist those in need. Thanks and God bless you!

sisa-conference
This conference was the place to be, BCU Family! Please find these ladies on the SISA site and follow them STAT! 🙂

We’re back and continuing our lesson on the Singles Chalkboard! To catch you up, the Lord blessed me with the fantastic opportunity to be a speaker at the 2016 She is Set Apart Singles (SISA) Conference last month, and I thought I’d share the audio [it cut out on occasion, but not too badly] with you.

A common question from singles is “what do I do while I wait?” I used to ask questions like that and the answer I got was “just wait” or “pray”. [This is where the blank stare comes in]. While that is accurate, there is a little more to it than that. I’m glad the Lord blessed me to know better than that–and I’ll share it with you.

What you will hear are the remaining 2.5 of the 5 areas where we singles should do an inventory check on ourselves through the Word of God. This is NOT a “fix-and get-married-quick” list, rather, as we look at these areas through the eyes of God, we start to see where we can become more like Him and move to doing just that. In the process, if it is His will to send us that mate, we’ll be more discerning, choose wisely, and even better equipped to handle the responsibility of a relationship that God is entrusting you do give your best in.

 

We covered 2.5 of these areas in the last podcast:

Spiritual (I Corinthians 5:17, Acts 2:38).

Financial (2 Corinthians 9:7–and not JUST money)

*Emotional (Matthew 20:11)

And we’ll cover these areas this podcast:

Emotional (Matthew 20:11)–*We’ll finish this up

Physical (I Corinthians 6:20)

Mental (Matthew 12:34)

It’s a good idea to have your notebooks handy to jot down the Scriptures, so you can study them and take note of what God tells you. Also, if you’d like more detail in a .PDF format, please send an email to Blen@BlenCouragesU.com or pop me a note in the comments. Click on the icon to listen!

Thank you so much for stopping by! If this was a blessing to you, please comment below and share it with someone–you’ll never know how the Lord may use you to encourage someone else! And if you have not done so, please like BlenCouragesU on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram!  And PLEASE subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio , Google Play, and iTunes. You’ve already done that? Then tell someone you love AND your enemy–I’m trusting they will soon become your friend! 🙂

Until we are together again, may God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you and until we are together again— #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

 

BCU

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Series: Gated community living! Nehemiah chapter 3 (part 2)

Hey there BCU Family!

As usual, you have the option of listening to our podcast (click the BCU avatar below to listen), reading the notes or BOTH. In any case, we pray the podcast blesses you. If so, please thumbs up or leave a comment! Thank you and enjoy your study!

How have you been enjoying our Nehemiah study? I pray it’s been as much as a blessing to you as it is to me! In a recent podcast, we talked through 5 of the 10 gates in Nehemiah 3 and looked at how they apply to us today. You can check here for complete information and meanings for the first 5 gates but for now, here are the ones we covered:

  1. The Sheep gate
  2. The Fish gate
  3. The Old gate
  4. The Valley gate
  5. The Dung gate

As we look at the remainder of the gates, please have your Bible as we’re going to skip through the chapter noting talk the importance of the gates that we rebuilt. Let’s begin!

gates-marked-2
The 10 very amazing gates of Nehemiah chapter 3! (Pic from FreeBibleImages.org)

v15But the gate of the fountain repaired Shallun the son of Col–hozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah by the king’s garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David.

This was a near a pool is where you cleaned up after the rubbish burning. I do not like taking out the garbage, but I do like the sense of accomplishment and freshness once the trash goes out. I immediately wash my hands afterward, too and try and keep things clean. So in our lives once we’ve been purged, we clean ourselves off and with God’s help and live without reproach! “Who shall ascend unto the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His Holy place? He that has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully”(Psalm 24:3-4).

v26Moreover the Nethinims dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against the water gate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out.
Fountains and water go together! This was near a spring and it represents the Word of God and how it’s reflected in our lives. We continue to wash ourselves in the Word to stay clean! Psalm 119:9 asks “How do we cleanse our way? By taking heed to thy word.” James also reminds us to be doers of the word, and not hearers only, otherwise we deceive our own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: for he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was” (James‬ ‭1:22-24).

v28From above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his house.

This is where the horses were kept in case of war they were ready. We war DAILY so we have to be and stay ready. Ephesians 6:10-18 says:

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints..”

v29After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate. 

 The east gate was referenced in Zechariah 14:4.  It looks toward the Mount of Olives and speaks of the return of Jesus Christ. Another reminder to stay rapture ready.

V31After him repaired Malchiah the goldsmith’s son unto the place of the Nethinims, and of the merchants, over against the gate Miphkad  and to the going up of the corner.

The word Miphkad in Hebrew has a military connection and according to tradition it was at this gate that David would meet his troops to inspect them. God will “inspect” and reward us properly. “And behold I come quickly and my rewards with me to give every man according as his work shall be”(Revelation 22:12).

v32And between the going up of the corner unto the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.

This verse rounds out the gates. Notice how the gates/chapter started and ended with the sheep gate, just like things start and ends with Christ. ” I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end the first and the last”(Revelation 22:13).

Isn’t our God amazing? See how He spoke to our hearts using a gate as a tool? He knows just how to break things down so we can understand His Word!  So, with His help we can apply the Word to our lives daily as we strive for perfection in Him. Amen? Amen!

Thank you so much for stopping by! If this was a blessing to you, please comment below and share it with someone–you’ll never know how the Lord may use you to encourage someone else! And if you have not done so, please like BlenCouragesU on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram!  And PLEASE subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio and iTunes. You’ve already done that? Then tell someone you love AND your enemy–I’m trusting they will soon become your friend! 🙂

Until we are together again, may God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you–and #StayOnTheWall!

Love,

BCU

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Room A203: Part 2>> Interview with Lisa Öhberg from Personal-Planner.com!

Hey there BCU Family!

DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a sponsored post, nor is there any affiliation with this wonderful company. All purchases were made with my own money and opinions expressed are my very own! 

So this week was the BlenCouragesU unofficial planner celebration week! Our recent posts included a review podcast, on my planner from Personal-Planner.com, AND I posted a video review on YouTube as well.  Last podcast, I sat down with Lisa Öhberg, marketing manager of this amazing planner company based in Sweden. Now we have part 2 of our chat!

Lisa @ Personal-planner.com
Planner de BlenCouragesU
Front page
Monthly overview
Weekly view
Weekly overview
Back cover

Planner as pictured is $39.95. This includes your customization, a ruler, elastic enclosure, plastic pouch to keep things like receipts, 300 stickers, taxes and shipping to ANY destination in the WORLD! How nifty is that?! I know, right?!

As you peruse the pictures, pause to perhaps watch the review video and listen in on our interview,  (click on the BlenCouragesU icon below)  I am sure you’ll only want to use your telephone for making calls and posting pics on social media as you will REALLY want a planner! Should you decide to purchase a planner, notebook or wall calendar, you’ll get 15% off by using code 9-TEAM-BCU1 from September 14-23, 2016! Please let us know you got one in the comments below!

Thanks for tuning in! May God bless, keep and make His face to shine upon you! Until we are together again #StayOnTheWall!

 

Love,

 

BCU

P.S. We LOVE interacting with you–please comment! And if you have not done so, please like BlenCouragesU on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and Instagram!  And PLEASE subscribe to the podcast on Stitcher Radio and iTunes. You’ve already done that? Thanks! Then tell someone you love AND your enemy–I’m trusting they will soon become your friend! 🙂

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