Along the line of scrimmage, before the ball is snapped players tackle their opponents with razor sharp words. It’s the game that boxers play when they throw verbal punches before they step into the ring. Dictators know before they can win a battle they must first win the propaganda game of psychological warfare. The Devil is no dummy either. He know that he need not stop anyone, all he needs to do is lob a few well chosen words into our minds. Listen in on this conversation Satan inspired to stop Nehemiah and crew from finishing the city wall.

Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Nehemiah 4:1-4

Words have remarkable power. God designed them that way. All that we see and touch he created by speaking words. Those same words can also destroy. The words of Sanballat on the scrimmage line did their job. Listen to what the team said next:

Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.” Nehemiah 4:10

Tired is often a state of mind. This explains the miraculous healing my teenage son often experiences. Though he is threadbare with exhaustion when the magic wand of an Xbox controller is placed in the palm of his hand he experiences instant recovery. Nehemiah’s workers had the strength; someone needed to remind them.

What Quarterback Nehemiah pulled out of his playbook next is a classic maneuver that we must remember and use again and again. Study this astute gameplan:

Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” Nehemiah 4:14

Two things will protect us from the mind games of Satan. First, remember who God is. The strength isn’t in us, it is in the Lord. Second, remember the “why factor” of the work you are doing. For these people the “why factor” was the protection of their loved ones. They weren’t building a city wall, they were building their back fence. Mom, pop, brother and sis were all at stake. When the why factor is held in the hand when we work we too will experience an amazing recovery of strength.

Remember God! There is nothing you can remind him of that he has forgotten. There is no panic in heaven, and your job in prayer is not to get God as worried as you are. Instead, remember God great and glorious. Then connect whatever it is that you are called to do with the names and faces of those you love most. Then the wall will be finished.

Father, thank you for the struggle of Nehemiah. His life is the greatest textbook on leadership. Help me to finish the work you have asked me to do. Amen.