Have you been hindered and delayed in your walk with God? If so, you need to learn one simple key that will blast you into motion and propel your life into orbit. There needs to be an expectancy in your heart which gives birth to a joy, even as you face the onslaught of the enemy. It is not enough to rejoice merely over victories that you have attained; your joy must be the joy of anticipation. Christ endured the cross, despising the shame, for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).
The promises concerning the Body of Christ are real and valid, and soon impasses will be broken totally and irrevocably. Spiritually, mountains have already moved. God can open your eyes to see the earth tremble. With spiritual eyes, you will be able to see the end-time events taking place. This is a time of taking significant steps toward the manifestation of the sons of God and of learning how to overcome futility. God is raising walls of protection and immunity around His people so they will not be vulnerable. Let God be your high tower and your shield. Let Him be a wall of fire around you and the glory in your midst. Why should you follow the pattern of taking one step forward and then fighting to keep from being pushed back a step? Move into the vision that God has been setting before His followers today.
Perhaps you can look back to visions and dreams which the Lord gave you a long time ago, and by now you are thoroughly disgusted and aggravated with the delays and hindrances that have come. You are looking for a Word from the Lord that will thrust you forward. You are looking for scriptural answers that will help you break into the abundance of God.
Are you intolerant of the trickle, when God said that there would be a tidal wave? Do you want the fulfillments of the Kingdom that God has promised? Does your heart burn with the intensity that cries, “How long, O Lord, how long?” Are you like one of those who waits underneath the altar (Revelation 6:9–10) for the day in which everything will change? Expect the tide to change, so that gravity no longer pulls you down, but victory pulls you upward into the heavenlies. Contend to move into the place of rule that belongs to the sons of God.
Ezra 3:4–5:2 tells how the children of Israel resolved a similar problem in the days of Nehemiah. The seventh month came, and the people of Israel gathered together to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. According to the old Jewish calendar, the first day of the month is the Feast of Trumpets, the tenth day is the Day of Atonement, and on the fifteenth day the Feast of Tabernacles begins. Joshua, the priest, and Zerubbabel, the governor, set the altar upon its foundations and offered burnt offerings to the Lord. And they celebrated the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), as it is written, and offered the fixed number of burnt offerings daily, according to the ordinance, as each day required; and afterward there was a continual burnt offering, also for the new moons and for all the fixed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated, and from every one who offered a freewill offering to the Lord. Ezra 3:4–5.
This occurred in the days of restoration, as the sons of Israel returned from Babylon where the judgments of God had sent them into exile. From the first day of the seventh month, the time of trumpets, they began to offer burnt offerings. It was at this time that they began to use the Feast of Trumpets to mark the first day of a new year. They also began to rebuild the Temple at that time.
Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord according to the directions of King David of Israel. Ezra 3:10. While they built the Temple, they worshiped. You cannot divorce work from worship; they go together. If you come to worship the Lord, but never do any work, you will find that your worship has a tinny sound to it. It is the worship of workers that has the depth which God desires.
They were praising the Lord, yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy; so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away. Ezra 3:12–13. The old men, who had seen Solomon’s Temple as children, cried when they saw the foundations of the new Temple being built. But the young men who had been born in captivity rejoiced.
There probably are some saints today who look back to what they call “the good old days,” as they remember the days when they would get down on their knees and pray all night to help a sinner reach through to the glory of God. Jesus said, “No man having drunk old wine straightway desires the new, for he says that the old is better” (Luke 5:39). However, the old ways often had too many limitations. Too often people went away from church without hearing a Word from God. Too many times they left the place of worship with no reality in their hearts. Many, however, who have not seen the former things, rejoice at the birth of the new day. Like the young men who had been exiled in Babylon, they are intent on reestablishing the house of God. As we read through the next passages, we see that the builders soon ran into difficulties.
Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. Ezra 4:4–5. During the reign of Artaxerxes, various officials of the people of the land wrote a letter to the king. These men convinced King Artaxerxes that it would damage the revenue of the kings if the Hebrews continued to build the Temple and the walls. One of them said, “It is not fitting for us to see the king’s dishonor, therefore we have sent and informed the king.” Ezra 4:14b. They were not actually concerned about the king’s welfare; they were trying to stop the people of the Lord from accomplishing His purpose. The king then answered, “Why should damage increase to the detriment of the kings?” Ezra 4:22b. And he ordered soldiers to be sent to stop the work of the Lord. Approximately one year after the first migration returned from Babylon, the entire project of rebuilding was stopped. For fifteen years no one did any construction on the house of God. It was not until the sixteenth year after that first group returned that the work of rebuilding the Temple was resumed. They continued building, and then the Temple was dedicated with great rejoicing (Ezra 5 and 6).
For fifteen years they were totally immobilized until the work of the Lord could be completed. That is extremely troubling. We know that God’s people will prevail in this generation, but it is disturbing to see that Satan has enough power to delay the fulfillment of the vision that God sets before them. Many of them have promises over their lives, yet they meet continual delay. Are the promises false? No, they are true. Then why are God’s people hindered? Why is it that they walk in only a token fulfillment of God’s Word, and then they are stopped and completely hindered? They cannot continue to live under restrictions when there is so much of God’s business to attend to. The vision that God is setting before them is pure, but the delays must be overcome, so that every major effort will not appear insignificant in relationship to the overall picture.
The first four chapters of Ezra describe the problem which we continually face: the delays of the enemy. For the solution, we look to chapter 5. When the prophets, Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them, then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God which is in Jerusalem; and the prophets of God were with them supporting them. Ezra 5:1–2. From the preceding chapter we understand that the king had ordered the construction to stop until he would give the word for it to continue. Consequently, the Hebrews were disobeying the edict of the king. They decided to obey God rather than man. They had been stopped. They had been hindered. Armed forces had gone against them. Their tools had been taken away. The building inspectors asked, “Who issued you a decree to rebuild this temple and to finish this structure?” Ezra 5:3b. As the prophets Haggai and Zechariah encouraged the people and prophesied the Word of the Lord, the work was resumed.
It is interesting to note that it was Sheshbazzar, a man about whom we hear very little, who laid the Temple foundations. Names like Joshua, Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah are familiar to us; we frequently hear their names. But who was Sheshbazzar? He was the first man who had the faith to drive a few stakes into the ground and start God’s work (Ezra 5:16). In this generation there are probably numerous Sheshbazzars in the Body of Christ, those who are getting the work started. God bless the ones who have that vision and that ability, whether or not they are ever recognized or lauded for their accomplishments.
Tattenai, the governor of the province, wrote a letter of inquiry to King Darius. He told the king that the Jews were rebuilding the Temple, and that he had asked them who had given them permission to do so. He also recounted all that the Jews had given in answer, as well as which people were involved. King Darius issued a decree, giving the Jews permission to continue building.
Darius ruled that the Jews should not be hindered in any way, but should have full support from the people of the land in rebuilding the Temple. Furthermore, he said that if any man violated the edict and tried to prevent the Temple from being rebuilt, a timber would be drawn from his house and he would be impaled upon it; then his house would be made a refuse heap (Ezra 6:11). The Persian custom of impaling was probably one of the most vicious forms of death ever known. The individual was impaled on a sharpened stake that had been driven into the ground; the point of it pierced upward to just below the heart. It was a long and excruciatingly painful way to die, probably far more vicious than death by crucifixion, which was the Roman custom.
At the time of the return from Babylon, worship was destroyed for fifteen years. Service to God was hindered and delayed for fifteen years. But at the end of that time, when the release finally came, the viciousness of Darius’ decree precluded any further hindrances, for the man who hindered them would be destroyed. Devastating and complete judgment was proclaimed against anyone who would dare to stop the rebuilding from then on.
The hindrances and delays of the enemy also have been great against God’s people today, but God’s visitation of judgment will remove them completely. These delays and hindrances are not directed against the believers personally; they are directed against the Lord God Himself, against the Word that He is giving and the restoration He is bringing, against the worship that is to come forth unto Him.
What is the key to breaking the hindrances? The prophets of God were with them supporting them. Ezra 5:2b. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah were prophesying. Even though Artaxerxes’ decree still stood, they began to prophesy because the hindrances remained. After you have walked around Jericho the prescribed number of times and the right number of days, there is a time to shout and blow the horns; it is time for the walls to fall. Now is the time for the hindrances against God’s remnant to fall. They will never be able to rebuild the walls of Zion until they prophesy down the walls of Babylon. The call issues forth to a fallen Babylon, “Come out of her, My people; be not a partaker of her sins” (Revelation 18:4).
The hindrances and delays that we have known in our lives can make us complacent. We can develop a tolerance toward them until our hearts no longer carry the necessary violent refusal of limitations. There must be a complete rejection of the hindrances in our lives. Modern-day living has been geared to open doors for Satan to create delays.
The bureaucracies that God’s people are subject to are composed of those who hinder and create mechanisms that defer the works of the Lord. This must change. But it will not change until we refuse to accept it any longer. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah, one old and one young, proclaimed the Word of the Lord. Haggai prophesied for about four months, while Zechariah prophesied over a period of approximately two years. That was all it took. Filled with the Spirit of the Lord, they broke the impasse. They began to prophesy God’s Word, and in only a very short time the Temple was completed. They were a team, typical of Joel’s end-time army which is coming forth in the earth today. The old men dream dreams, and the young men see visions (Joel 2:28).
Would you like to see God break impasses for you? You can do nothing more effective than to rebuke the devourer in the name of the Lord. Believe that you have the authority in Jesus Christ to accomplish the will of God in your life. You do not have to submit any longer to the delays and hindrances that Satan has brought. Stand and prophesy against them! Curse them! Bring them down! Enter through the door that God has opened before you, and obey the Word He has given you. Break the hindering spirit whereby Satan tries to hinder you and slow you down. Even though you will win eventually, you will always lose something in the delay. The Jews finally overcame the opposition and saw the Temple completed, but they lost fifteen years! How much time have you lost through satanic assault and delay? Now is the time to prevail against it.
The remnant in Ezra’s day built the Temple first, and then they built the walls. Those who carried burdens had a weapon of war in one hand and a building tool in the other. The builders who worked on the wall had their swords girded at their sides (Nehemiah 4:17–18). At the Temple they learned that they could not be worshipers without being workers, and at the wall they learned that they could not be builders without being fighters. You will never build Zion until you begin to resist with all of your heart the forces that Satan uses in Babylon to slow down the work of the Lord. Believe for breakthroughs. Do you want those impasses broken? Cry out for it with such intensity that your spirit will not allow you to eat any pleasant food (Daniel 10:3). How can you give yourself to the comforts of life when you are troubled in your spirit? How can you relax when you know that the house of God is lying waste? How can you withdraw to a comfortable position and take pleasure in the ground you have gained when you know that your objectives still remain in the hands of the enemy?
After the Israelites possessed Canaan, Jerusalem, which was right in the heart of Canaan, still remained in the control of the enemy. One day it became necessary to capture Jerusalem. David took it, and therefore it was called the city of David. How David’s enemies mocked him and made fun of him, putting all the maimed and crippled on the wall to remind him of all the people who had not yet been delivered (II Samuel 5:6–7). We must not allow the strongholds of Babylon to remain standing. Many people are held captive who need to be released. Much work is left to be completed. Many people have a call of God on their lives, and yet they are limping into the Kingdom. When does the deliverance come? When will prophets of God walk through all the lands, loosing creation from principalities and powers? Satan’s timetable is set to bring the end of all flesh; and Jesus said that unless these days be shortened, no flesh will be saved alive (Matthew 24:22). The hindrances are in Satan’s scheme. If he can hinder long enough, he will have fulfilled his objective.
There is much work to do. Be stirred up in your spirit to fight. Do not cease to prophesy prophetic prayers day and night. Do not cease to speak God’s judgment on futility until it is completely annihilated. By your intensity, blast open every dam that has dammed up the blessings that God intends for your life. It is time to be loosed from the hindrances that have been upon your life. Be free. Continually give thanks to God for all that He is to you and for every Word that proceeds forth from His mouth. Thank Him for every promise and directive. Thank Him for every vision and revelation He has brought to your heart. Be determined to break the impasses. Walk in the victory He has given you.
You will not walk in that victory, however, unless there is violence in your spirit. If you do not aggressively contend, you will merely become a victim of the passivity of this age, overshadowed by the cloud of futility that all creation is under. If you have labored hard to escape that destruction, do not allow yourself to be pulled into it again.
Do not accept delay any longer. Satan and the principalities and powers are trying to slow down God’s purposes. The time must be redeemed, and the only way you can do that is to rebuke the frustrations and the hindrances and break out with prophecy against them. If you use any other method, Satan will have you driving down the road with your brakes on.
God has purposed to provide for your victory as you prophesy, intercede, and cry out to Him. Do not position yourself for a long wait. You do not have to wait any longer. The season is now. It is not positioned intangibly in the future. It is right now! This is the day which the Lord has made. Move into it and embrace the victory now.