Nehemiah Challenge - Day Ten

Hello My Dear Family,

We are nearing the end of this Nehemiah Challenge but we cannot fail or falter. Now, more than ever, we must remain strong, vigilant, and single-minded as a body of believers.

Today we read chapter 10 and it is an amazing chapter! The first several verses might seem unnecessary, but don’t just skip over them…realize what you are reading. You are reading the names of every family who covenanted together to live according to the law of the Lord. They wrote their names down on a signed and sealed document. There was no escaping this covenant!

We will not live like the nations around us. We will stand separate and apart, holy before our God. The names listed are those of the priests and leaders, but even below that, in verses 28-30, we read that “the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes; and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.”

In one voice, as one nation, they declared that with this new beginning they would follow God’s commands. At any cost they would obey His word.

This is where we stand now, my friends. It is time to start over. We have an incredible opportunity to set out strong, with a newly constructed firm foundation beneath our feet. Will we choose to follow the ways of the world around us or will we choose to honor the Lord our God with all that we have?

I follow the words of Joshua, “Choose for yourselves this day who you will serve, but as for me and my house, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD!”

If we will all agree, making that commitment in one voice, then we will be able to echo the covenant of the Jews in Nehemiah’s day, “we will not neglect the house of our God.” (verse 39)

That is my heart’s desire. Join with me now to surrender and follow Him with devotion and abandon. If you will do that, I guarantee that He will not disappoint!

The Nehemiah Challenge continues tomorrow with chapter 11.

Your friend and servant,
Elise