START TALKING

Persistence means "firm or obstinate continuance in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition." When have you had to keep going on a project or in a situation even though it was hard or there was opposition?

START THINKING

Read 1 Peter 5:8-9. How would you put this passage into your own words as if you were explaining it to someone else or even to one of your children?

How does knowing that the family of believers around the world is undergoing the same attack help us? Why does that make standing firm in our resistance so important?

Read Nehemiah 6:1-2. What is the connection between Nehemiah's enemies finding out that he was finishing the wall and the attack that was about to come?

What does this mean that we can expect to happen when we are moving toward doing what God has given us to do or accomplish?

Thinking about 1 Peter 5:8-9, what made Nehemiah able to "realize" what was really going on?

START SHARING

Read Nehemiah 6:3-4. Nehemiah is so focused on the work God has for him, that he does not get distracted by this scheme. His "eyes are on the prize." For him, it was building the wall. When we know with clarity what God wants us to accomplish, we can do the same thing. What is the "prize" for you in this season of your life? What do you sense the Holy Spirit has as a vision for you and a purpose for you to accomplish? How will you continue to define and discover what that is so that you can stay focused and not get distracted by the enemy's schemes?

Throughout Nehemiah 6, we see several schemes emerge that the enemy will use against us:

1. Distraction (vs. 3-4)
2. Lies (vs. 5-8)
3. Fear (v. 9)
4. Intimidation (vs. 10-13)

Which of these seem to have to biggest effect on you? Give an example of a time that one of these attacks came against you.

START DOING

The way to persistently resist each of those schemes above is:

1. Focus on and prioritize the calling.
2. Know the truth.
3. Pray through fear.
4. Ignore intimidation.
5. Finish the work.

What can you do this week to do one or more those? Give practical, real life examples of how you can use these tools to persist in your resistance against the enemy.

How has resisting the attack of the enemy become part of your faith story where you've seen Jesus get the victory? How can you use this to share with someone else who may be experiencing attack or struggling in their faith?

START PRAYING

Pray for each person in the micro church to accomplish what they shared is their "prize" in this season of life. Pray specifically for each person's thing that they shared is what God has called them to accomplish. Pray for protection over each person and pray for strength to persist and resist the adversary. Then pray the same thing for your micro church and for OneLife church. Pray that we would not get distracted. Pray that we would not believe the lies, the fear, or the intimidation. And pray that we will finish the work!