Nehemiah 4:7-9 (NIV) But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

One of the tactics that is recommended when someone is under any kind of attack is to "fight fire with fire." What that means is that you would use the same tactic or method that the attacker is using to fight them back. It sounds like a good working strategy to repel an attack, but there’s a much better way...God’s way.

When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem to mobilize the people to begin to repair the wall around Jerusalem, it got the attention of their enemies and they began to scheme and plot to stop them. They planned to fight against the people and against the work because they were vehemently opposed to seeing the people of God prosper. The enemy always hates when anything good is happening to God’s children. As the Word of God says, “The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).” So how did Nehemiah lead the people to fight back? The passage of scripture above tells us how: they fought fire with prayer!

Prayer is the most powerful thing that you can do when you are under attack or when you are in trouble of any kind. The reason that it is so powerful is that in praying, you are enlisting the help of our Almighty God who has told us in His Word that He would help us when we are in need (Isaiah 41:10, Psalm 34:6 and many other verses). Think about that for a moment. If God is on your side, what can anyone do to you or what trouble can you not be delivered from? As we have learned not only through scripture but also through our own personal experiences with God, there is nothing that He can’t do. Nothing is impossible with Him (Luke 1:37). To bring that point home, the Word of God tells us that not only did God frustrate the plans of the enemy in Nehemiah’s case (Nehemiah 4:15), but He also empowered the people to complete the rebuilding of the entire wall around Jerusalem in a miraculous and eye-popping fifty-two days! What an awesome God we serve!

So the next time someone comes at you to fight you with the fire of their hatred or their opposition, fight that fire with prayer just like Nehemiah did. God will frustrate any weapon that may be formed against you and will give you the victory. All you need to do is call on Him in the day of trouble and He will answer you (Psalm 50:15)!

Pastor Joey Vazquez