Update...And The Saints Cheered (not a football post!)

(Update...this post, or the one from last night, is not about my friend Leslie who had also gone private on her blog. But Leslie is back open too! Please keep praying for her family... http://www.roomforatleastonemore.blogspot.com/)

There is a wonderful woman named Barbara Barker, her husband is Frank Barker, retired Pastor. I heard her speak at a retreat once and she gave me an image that I have never forgotten...

She referenced the verse, Hebrews 12:1, "Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses..." And she said that in life, she carries an image with her of a football stadium. On one side are the saints that have gone before us (believers who have died and gone to heaven) and on the other side are the enemies...all of the devil's little minions... And we are the players on the field.

She said that as she lives her life, her goal is to make the saints cheer and the demons boo and hiss! Well, my blogging buddy is making the saints cheer... this is an update on my post from last night...

I received this e-mail from her this morning... "My bible study today was on our anointing and not letting the enemy win and to not go into hiding." She will open up her blog again today. I will add her back to the blogs I regularly follow! I admire her courage!

I love the story of Nehemiah... Nehemiah has a passion to re-build the wall around Jerusalem. The wall was very important to the Israelites, without it they were very vulnerable to the enemy. So, he goes to rebuild the wall, and there are a group of men who don't like it because they understand that it will strengthen the Israelites, give them more security. So they set out to destroy Nehemiah's work.

They come at him and the Israelites from every direction without success. Finally they go after Nehemiah himself...they try to lure him away so they can kill him. But he is too wise for that... He knows his calling and he is going to complete the work that God has given him, in Nehemiah 6:3 he sends word to the enemy, "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down." 4 times he responds to them that way... And Nehemiah did the impossible, he built that wall in 52 days!!

So, way to go blog buddy...way to go! You are carrying on a great project, you didn't let the enemy pull you away... You even followed Nehemiah's example when you stopped and prayed for a while... I hope you can hear the saints cheering!