Just two months before the video of Candace Payne laughing in a Chewbacca mask went viral in 2016, the ordinary mother from Texas sat in a service and heard the preacher say “Some of you are entering an Esther season; you were born for such a time like this.”

Today she is an author, a comedian, an entertainer, and a Bible teacher.

“Candace grabbed hold of that Word and agreed with the Word,” Reverend Faith Leong, executive minister of International City Church (Brisbane) told almost 600 attendees at The Women Arise Conference 2024 organised by the Network for Christian Women (NCW).

Rev Faith was encouraging the women in attendance to agree with God’s Word and speak His promises over themselves, instead of agreeing with the voices of the enemy.

“If we allow the voices of the enemy to be embedded into our lives, they can potentially paralyse our lives, our destiny, our ministry and our future,” she warned.

Rev Faith urged the women at the conference to learn to recognise the voices of limitations and let Jesus remove the attachments that stop them from going forward.

Below is an edited excerpt of her message.

From the book of Nehemiah

In the account of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in the book of Nehemiah, Tobiah represents the voices and forces that stop one from reaching God’s destiny and purposes.

1. The voice of limitation

Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” (Nehemiah 4:3)

That is a voice of ridicule and mocking by the enemy.

He says to us: “Do you really think you can build a strong marriage with your broken background? Do you think you can build a megachurch coming from a dysfunctional background? Do you really think you have what it takes to build this business and be successful?”

Olympic gold medalist Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely, and the 20th of 22 children in a large, low-income family. She battled a slew of illnesses including polio that left a leg paralysed and in a brace.

“My doctor told me that I would never walk again. But my mother was a devoted Christian and told me that I would, and I believed my mother,” Wilma was publicly quoted.

At 12, Wilma walked into the doctor’s office without a brace, joined the school’s basketball team, then was spotted for the track team.

She made history at the 1960 Olympic Games as the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field in a single Olympics, and broke the world record.

What limiting voices are you listening to?  

Don’t disqualify yourself.

2. The voice of opposition and confusion

They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it.  (Nehemiah 4:8)

Tobiah also represents opposition and confusion.

When we are called to new challenges, we may encounter opposition, resistance, obstacles and contentions. These may come in the form of complex relationships, financial distress or even illnesses.

This often means that you are on the right track. Every progress comes with opposition. If there’s no test, there’s no testimony. If there’s no mess, there will be no miracles.

When you meet opposition, if anyone tries to come and fight against you, stay on track.

Some of us are reluctant to step up because we are concerned it would be like drawing a bull’s eye around ourselves for the devil to target. But God’s protection and God’s grace will equal His assignment for you.

3. The voice of distraction

Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono. But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” (Nehemiah 6:1-3)

The enemies here try to distract Nehemiah by getting him to meet with them. 

If the devil cannot derail you with adversity, perhaps he can with prosperity, complacency and apathy.

Sometimes, the devil tries to distract us with busy lives.

We are occupied with the latest fashion trend, the latest reels on Facebook, the latest K-drama, such that the temporal eclipses the eternal, such that the cacophony of voices of the world drown out the voice of the Holy Spirit, who wants to remind us that we are on a mission every day when we step into our workplace, our campuses and our homes. 

4. The voice of accusation

The next thing Tobiah did was accuse. The enemies made up a story about Nehemiah:

… in which was written: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king. (Nehemiah 6:6)

They accused Nehemiah of planning a revolt against the king, but there was no truth in that.

The devil is the accuser of the brethren. He’s also the father of lies. But the devil tells lies that are often very close to the truth.

If somebody told me I looked like a giant, I would laugh because I know I do not. But if he says to me: “You’re so forgetful, how can you lead a church?” I might start to believe it.

That’s how the enemy derails us and limits us.

5. The voice of condemnation

Another voice that is very close to accusation is condemnation.

If you see a house labelled “condemned”, that means that the house was once valuable, but is no longer fit for function and no longer has any value.

When I became a single mother, I battled rejection. I struggled with the voices of condemnation and failure. I thought that if my husband chose somebody else, then I must be second best.

How could I be a leader?

At that time, I had to contend with those voices. Thankfully, God sent people to speak life into me and build me up.

3 ‘P’s to silence the enemy’s voice

We must take steps like Nehemiah did to prevent these negative voices and forces from becoming embedded in our lives and stopping us from reaching our God-given destiny.

The first thing Nehemiah did when he heard the mocking and ridicule from the enemies was pray, Rev Faith reminded the conference attendees.

1. Pray

Hear us, our God, for we are despised. (Nehemiah 4:4)

The first thing Nehemiah did when he heard the mocking and ridicule from Tobiah and Sanballat was pray.

Prayer is not an emergency line to God. It is intimacy and communion with God.

If you’re filled with the Holy Spirit, pray in the prayer language daily, because the Bible says to build “yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit” (Jude 1:20).  

When our lives are filled with the Holy Spirit, the rivers of Living Water (John 7:38), we will be able to withstand the fiery furnace and not be burnt up or destroyed.

2. Prophesy over ourselves

I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it. (Nehemiah 2:20)

The next thing Nehemiah did was to prophesy (to speak the Word of God) over the Israelites that God would grant success, that they – the servants of God – would arise and build.

Instead of echoing what the devil says – that you are no good, that you’re not enough, you’re not worthy of His blessing, you are beyond redemption – we have to agree with what the Word of God says.

In Greek, the word distomos means ‘two-edged sword’: di meaning ‘two’ and tomos meaning ‘mouth’.

What do these two mouths represent?

One is the Word of God, what He has declared over you: “I am for you. I am not against you. I have a plan to prosper you and not to harm you, but to give you a hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

The other is your own mouth. If you do not agree with God, confess and acknowledge what God is saying, then the sword becomes single-edged. 

But when you come into agreement with the Word of God, it’s a two-edged sword that is powerful enough to execute vengeance on the enemy (Psalm 149:6).  

Are you prophesying the Word of God over yourself, or are you echoing what the devil says?

3. Purge the lies and idols

I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense. (Nehemiah 13:8-9)

Nehemiah found out that Eliashib the priest had put Tobiah into one of the storehouses in the temple of God. The priest had cleared out the storeroom to make room for Tobiah. What was external became internal.

You cannot stop people from giving you blistering criticisms, but it is another thing when you begin to agree with those things and embed them into your mind. That is a stronghold.

Nehemiah was so furious he removed Tobiah and all his belongings from the temple.

Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. What have you made room for?

Do not give the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27). The word ‘foothold’ in Greek, topos, means a habitat, a place to stay, a place to occupy.

Where have we made room for the devil and his lies, the voices and the forces to occupy our lives today? God wants us to remove all of that.

God also wants us to remove every idol – anything that sets itself up above God in our life, that distracts us. 

For some of you, it may be just K-dramas, but one of the idols I struggled with was wounds.

One of the root words for ‘idol’ in Hebrew – atsab – is actually the same root as ‘wound’. If you are not careful, your wound can become your idol: You’d be disappointed by leaders, by people.

When that wound begins to become the lens and the voice that guides you, you become fearful. You do not want to open up your heart to trust again. That’s what an idol is: It gives you guidance, it speaks to you.

God wants us to remove that idol of wounds from our lives.

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