52 Days to Rebuild the Wall of Faith

The response to the consecration call has been tremendous!  People from over 250 communities in Canada have already registered with more being added every day.  Many pastors have written us to say that they will be taking churches through the consecration. We are also excited to welcome our international friends who have felt to join us in this call: believers from the USA, France, Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Singapore, Thailand, Ireland, Australia, China, South Africa, Taiwan, Spain, the Netherlands, and Pakistan.  If you have not yet registered to join the call and receive the daily emails and you feel the Lord is asking you to be a part, please click here to register. 

And thank you to the many of you who have already responded by sharing the visions, dreams, words, and scriptures the Lord has been showing you. We are reading carefully through each of them as we really believe that the Lord wants to reveal to us His blueprints and strategy for the Kingdom through many parts of His body.  If you have something you would like to share, you can send an email to us at kingdom@watchmen.org or fill out the "sharing what you’re hearing" form on our website.

52 Days – Restoring Shattered Dreams

When we sent the first notice of the call out, a few friends of mine sent me email pointing out that the consecration call was 52 days and that it took 52 days for Nehemiah to complete the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem.  As soon as I read this, I felt such a witness in my spirit that this is a picture of what the Lord wants to do in this consecration time. 

Nehemiah lived nearly 100 years after the exiles had begun to return to Jerusalem. Though the temple had been rebuilt, the city was not and very few people lived there.  The ruins of Jerusalem represented the shattered dreams of Israel, the promises of God that lay, not only unfulfilled but seemingly hopelessly destroyed.  Although Nehemiah lived far away in Persia, when he heard a report of the state of the city, he fell on his face before the Lord. 

“Oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey His commands, let your ear be attention and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night...”  (Nehemiah 1:5)

Nehemiah reminded God of His covenant (promises) and asked the Lord to grant him favour with the King of Persia (in whose courts Nehemiah was serving) to go to Jerusalem to repair the walls.  God granted Him this favour and Nehemiah went and began to rally the people:

You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned with fire.  Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and we will no longer be in disgrace”. (Nehemiah 2:17)

I feel this is a cry that echoes in our hearts today when we look at the state of the church in our cities, provinces and nation.  And I feel that this call is part of a cry that is going out from the Lord to come and rebuild the walls of faith in every area of our lives.

Nehemiah 3 gives us an interesting account of the faithful ones who became the rebuilders of these walls.  They were from all segments of society, the high priest and priests, merchants, goldsmiths, rulers, and people of all walks of life from different cities.  Some restored the gates, others worked to rebuild the walls.

“Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs in front of their house; and next to them, Azariah, son of Maaseiah, the son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house.”  

I love this picture of people rebuilding the walls right where they lived because I feel it speaks to the importance in this season of the alignment to the kingdom the Lord is wanting to bring in every area of our lives.  As we commit to “rebuild the wall” of faith in our individual lives, our families, our churches, I really believe we are restoring the wall of the whole nation. 

The story of Nehemiah is also interesting because in it we see how the enemy tried to hinder and resist what God wanted to do.  The enemy came with mockery, ridicule and intimidation - the "who do you think you are?" lies even as He does to us today.  But undaunted, the Israelites persevered. In fact, Nehemiah came up with a unique strategy: build with one hand and hold a sword to fend off the enemy with the other.

I feel this is another picture that speaks to an important strategy the Lord is emphasizing for this consecration call.  Our enemy will come with accusations and discouragements – but this is not the time for us to leave the wall to face him head on in battle.  Instead we need to maintain our position but pick up our sword – the Word of God.  Just as when Jesus was tempted by the enemy in the wilderness to prove Himself, to prove His identity, He refused to engage the enemy.  All he did was go back to the Word “it is written, it is written”.   I believe immersing ourselves in the word of God and using it as our primary weapon is critical to us in this season. I believe God wants to lay a clear foundation of truth about the kingdom in us at this time and that starts first and foremost with a revelation of who He really is.  The truth, the Word has the power to expose and shatter the lies of the enemy that have been subtly implanted in us through the hurts, wounds and disappointments we have suffered in previous battles.  God wants to re-orient us towards victory in the Promised Land and he is going to do that by revealing to us Who He is and who we are in Him in a whole new dimension.  

Finally, I love what it says in Nehemiah 6:15-16:

So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Ellul, in fifty-two days. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.   

What an awesome victory!  Not only did God give them the favour and grace to complete the task miraculously but it was evident to even the unbelievers what He had done.  The Lord is issuing a trumpet call to us today, believers from all walks of life that it's time to rebuild the walls of faith and see the promises, the dreams God has put in our hearts, begin to live again!  As we persevere in this in these 52 days, I know the Lord will give us favour and grace to breakthrough to a new level of faith, a full assurance that we are about to see the hand of God in this nation like we have never seen it before! 

The Principles of the Kingdom

For all those who sign up to participate in this call, over the 52 days you will receive a short exhortation every day that will focus not only on the circumcision/healing process the Lord is leading us through now, but also sharing some simple teachings on the kingdom.  These emails will also include scriptures for further meditation and practical steps/actions you can take to walk in these truths.  For those who are hungry to go more in depth, we will also try to provide links to additional materials such as audio sermons/teachings, video clips and other articles. 

As I mentioned before, we feel very strongly the importance of hearing what the Lord is speaking to the whole body.  So if you have a testimony or are moved by something you read, please write us and let us know.  Or if you receive any revelation (words, visions, dreams, pictures, scriptures etc) please share it with us at kingdom@watchmen.org or by using the “sharing what you’re hearing” form on the consecration site.  We are hoping to have a way to post some of this sharing and revelation on our website so that it can be an edification and encouragement to the whole body.

As a leadership team in Watchmen we put a high value on walking corporately to discern and steward what the Lord speaks to us.  As I shared earlier this year, we felt the Lord has been encouraging us to demonstrate more visibly this corporate walk.  So over the course of this consecration period,  the daily exhortations and even some of the other materials will not come solely from me but from variety of different leaders who are part of the national leadership team. 

Walking Together with our Kids

One very important person on this communications team is Carolin Sadler.  Carolin and her husband, Doug, have worked with King’s Kids (YWAM) for many years.  Carolin has a deep heart to see children trained, mentored and released in intercession and the prophetic. During the consecration call, she will be providing special messages two or three times week, geared especially for children (if you are signed up for the main call, you will automatically receive these communications as well).  These communications will include practical activities you can do together with your children that will really help them to understand and learn the principles in a concrete way.  In this way families can walk together in what the Lord is calling us to in this season.  Carolin also has an amazing blog, called Kids of the King Arise (http://www.kidsofthekingarise.blog.com/) where the kids and parents can get even more in depth teaching on the principles of the kingdom.

If you feel the Lord is asking you to participate in the consecration call please sign up as soon as possible. Remember, if you are not signed up you will not be receiving the daily emails.  While you can sign up at any time during the call, we will not be able to answer individual requests to re-send previous emails (though each day will be posted on our website).

Thank you so much for your love and sacrifice and commitment to walk together to see the Lord's purposes fulfilled in the nation.

all my love

David

David Demian is a man of singular passion: to be a friend of God. This passion has led him on an amazing journey in life and ministry.  David is a spiritual son to the founder of Watchmen for the Nations, Pastor Bob Birch, who passed the mantle of leadership of the ministry to David in 1998.  David lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada with his wife Ruth and seven children. 

David can be reached by email at director@watchmen.org.