BUILDERS, THIS IS A NEHEMIAH 6:3 HOUR
Last week, as I was waking up, I heard these words in my spirit: “This is a Nehemiah 6:3 hour.”
And this is especially a word for the builders and for the Body of Christ, who want to know - “Where are we going? Where is God leading? Where is the Spirit of God taking us in this season?”
Now, if you are happy to stay stuck, if you are happy just wallowing in the memory of the last season, if you are happy just rehearsing the good times past, then this word is not for you.
But if you are a builder, if you are a problem solver, if God has given you a blueprint to walk out in this new season of the new wineskin, then this is a word for you.
And I believe this is a word of wisdom and warning for this season, because there is a lot of noise right now. It’s deafening at the best of times, but I can see the builders quietly gathering bricks and seeking the Lord with small beginnings.
THE INTENSITY INCREASES AS YOU BUILD
I began to read from Nehemiah 6, where there was further opposition to the rebuilding. We know that in Nehemiah 4, when he first started facing opposition, God gave him a strategy to hold the building tool in one hand and his sword in the other. That was where he had to defend while also building.
“Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked.” - Nehemiah 4:17-18
But in Nehemiah 6, further opposition came to him: Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and the rest of his enemies schemed to harm him.
And Nehemiah’s response was this:
“So I sent messengers to them with this reply, ‘I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” - Nehemiah 6:3
And it says they sent the same message four times, and he gave them the same answer.
On the fifth time, they came with a blatant lie against his character and heart, and so Nehemiah said:
“I sent him this reply: ‘Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.’ They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, ‘Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.’ But I prayed, ‘Now strengthen my hands.’” - Nehemiah 6:8-10
LORD STRENGTHEN ME!
I believe this is a moment right now where the Lord is saying to the builders - “DON’T COME DOWN, KEEP BUILDING!”
Easier said than done when there's so much noise and people throwing stones, right? When there is a lot of chaos. When there is a lot swirling.
This always happens in transition seasons. The enemy sends intimidation, slander, and circumstantial problems your way to get you off track and to rattle you.
Are you feeling rattled right now? Are there situations demanding your constant attention? Are there text messages, emails, and constant fires around you?
Are there constant irritations and situations demanding that you come down to address them?
I believe this is a season where you need to say, like Nehemiah said, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot come down.” And then he prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
What a strategy!
Let me also say, I believe we need to pray, “God, strengthen our hands. Strengthen our hearts and minds from the WORDS FLYING AT US so that we are not intimidated.”
I believe we need to pray this because this particular attack that came against Nehemiah had a specific assignment with it. It came to intimidate him. It came to discredit him.
It was the final assault that came against him to make it look like his good deeds were actually bad deeds.
And this is where you need to trust in the Lord as your vindicator.
YOUR STRATEGY - GO LOW
My encouragement to you in this next season, especially the next six months, is that you will have to block out and ignore the storm. GO LOW!
Practically speaking, that may mean:
Being on social media less.
Stop reading the comments or people sliming you.
Refusing to respond or give everyone your time.
Spiritually speaking, you should be:
Strengthening yourself in the Lord, as David did in 1 Samuel 30:6.
Praying like Nehemiah, “God, strengthen my hands.”
Praying, “Lord, help me finish this. Help me do what you have called me to. Strengthen my heart.”
Because what Nehemiah 6 does not talk about is the mental battle Nehemiah and his men would have gone through.
And I believe that is what many people are experiencing right now.
THE SWIRL SENT TO CRUSH YOU
This is where the witchcraft comes against you, and it comes so thick and strong that you wake up heavy, and you don’t even know how to move.
Am I speaking to anyone right now?
You wake up, and there is a heaviness sitting on you, and you wonder why there is a fog over you.
You even feel physically sick. Get headaches. Irritations arise on every side.
It is so easy to give up right now. But the word of the Lord to you is this: “Don’t come down.”
In fact, your protection is staying in your mission. Your protection is staying in the secret place. Your protection is staying in the presence of the Lord.
You do not need to defend yourself. You do not need to uphold your reputation. Your role is to stay in surrender and obedience to the LORD.
Builders, I know many of you have been through a lot of assault. You have been hunted. You have been pursued.
But now the Lord is building through you.
What we are seeing right now is the tearing away of fabrics, the old fabric from the new.
Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 9:16 - “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse.”
There is tension. There is chaos. There is constant aerial warfare.
But your safest place is simply being in Him.
I love the story of Jesus when He went to Nazareth. When they tried to kill Him, He walked right through the crowd and went on His way, continuing to do the Father’s business. There are seasons where you simply have to keep going and keep building.
So if you are facing slander, intimidation, attacks against your mind, your character, and your decisions, you are going to have to shake them off. Go into the secret place and say - “God, remind me who You say I am.”
Be fortified in the Word of God in this season. Block out the noise. And let God redefine you as you build and walk in obedience to what He has called you to do. Because UNLESS THE LORD BUILDS THE HOUSE… [Psalm 127:1]
Your surrender is what enables God to be the one who lays out the plans, so you BUILD RIGHT in this season. And we need what is fresh and pure in a time of so much dismantling.
THE ENEMY KNOWS WHAT'S COMING
Let me tell you something about why this fight is so fierce right now. The enemy has seen the blueprints. He knows what God is about to release to His builders and reformers in this hour, and he is terrified of what happens when it lands in your hands.
Fresh vision is coming. New strategies are coming. Kingdom architecture that this generation has not yet seen is being released to those who will ascend, get still, and receive. This is not just a season of endurance; this is a season of downloading.
Don't come down. The blueprints are waiting.
THIS IS A WINDOW OF TIME
I believe we're in a window of time right now where the Lord is saying to the Church, "Will you dedicate this next season to me above everything else? Will you lay down your greatest achievements in the dust and dirt for me? Will you lay down everything to seek me, to ascend the hill of the Lord, and to come up and allow me to wash you, allow me to refresh you, allow me to overhaul you?”
“Will you come up out of the noise, out of the mud pit of battles that you've been in? Will you untangle your hands from all the things you've been engaged in to seek me? Because this is a window of revelation where I am removing the veil and revealing to My Church what is next. I'm revealing to my builders and my waymakers what is to come. But if you do not ascend the hill of the Lord in this next season, you will be shipwrecked by the chaos of this hour. If you don't dedicate your life primarily to the secret place, to My presence, and to My Word, you will be shipwrecked by the noise and the chatter around you.”
“This is an ascend the hill of the Lord hour where I am actually primarily building you, more than what you're building. Yes, I'll give you the blueprints. Yes, I'll give you the next plans. Yes, I'll give you the insight. Yes, I'll give you the dreams, and I'll fill your heart with hope again after seasons of feeling like you don't know where you're going. But I'm going to be building YOU first.”
“This is a season where, in the midst of so much chaos, I don't want you to come down from the hill, because I want you to stay there with Me so I can pour out My Spirit on you afresh. I can brood over you, and I'm bringing you back to the raw cry. I'm bringing you back to where your heart came alive. I'm bringing you back to the fresh hope that you used to have when you were first called by Me.”
“I’m bringing you back to a place of overflow again. I'm bringing you back to your first love, Church. So get ready, because this is the invitation. This is the warning, and this is the call. Come up higher!”
It's a Nehemiah 6 and Psalm 24 moment. Ascend the hill of the Lord to get clean hands and a pure heart so that the King of Glory may come in. It's time to be the gates and the doors that God has called us to be, but it's not going to happen if we're engaged in the wrong battle. We fight this battle, we fight the tumult of this transition, in the secret place of the Most High!