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A Trowel and a Spear
Nehemiah 4:21
"So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared."
Anytime you attempt to do a great work for God, you can rest assured that attacks will come your way. Nehemiah experience this when he tried to build the walls around Jerusalem. The enemies threatened that they would come by force and tear down the wall. Apparently, the attacks became so fierce that Nehemiah felt it was needed for them to keep their weapons by them while they built the wall. Though they had to fight, they never lost their purpose of why they had to fight, and that purpose was so they could build the walls.
Whether you are trying to do God's will for your life, or you are attempting to build lives, you can be assured that opposition will come. If you don't have any opposition with what you are doing for the LORD, then I would advise you to be sure that what you are doing is actually what the LORD wants you to do. Throughout the Scriptures we read that those who set out to do the LORD's work faced opposition. Even Jesus Himself faced opposition in His ministry.
The reason you need both trowel and spear in the LORD's work is because you must fight and build at the same time. You will never be successful in the LORD's work without building. You must always remember that the LORD's work is mainly about building lives. When you attempt to build lives, the Devil will fight against you. If you are building lives through teaching a Sunday school class, then you will face opposition. When you try to build lives through a bus route, then you will face opposition. When a pastor tries to build lives through the church he pastors, he can be assured that he will face opposition. You must build, but you will have to fight against those things that try to keep you from building lives.
Let me make this clear, the spear is to be used in the ministry. There are many in Christianity today who avoid fighting because they just want to get along with everyone. If you are going to stay right in your stance with truth, then you will have battles that you must fight. You cannot be afraid of fighting if you are going to be successful in building lives.
Furthermore, the purpose of the spear is to keep the trowel moving. You must always stay focused on the purpose of why you must fight battles, that purpose is to build lives. You should not fight because of personality conflicts, but you should only fight to keep the faith that builds pure lives. If something doesn't affect the faith, then I should not get involved in that battle.
Let me make this clear, if the spear is not used, then you will lose the use of the trowel. Both spear and trowel are necessary to build lives. Likewise, if the trowel is not used, then the spear will destroy lives. The spear and the trowel balance each other. The spear used alone hurts and destroys. Likewise, the trowel used alone will lead to compromise. They both must be used together.
When both trowel and spear are used, then lives will be built to their greatest potential. Always remember that using the spear to fight battles is for the sole purpose of building lives. Whatever would hinder you from building lives must be fought against. Be sure that your Christian life is equipped with trowel and spear so that you can build the lives that God intends for you to build.