08/11/2026
A few days ago, I sent out a message titled, “Are You Battling Discouragement?” Yesterday, Holy Spirit spoke something else to me: “Assess the Gates.” Immediately, I thought about Nehemiah.
Nehemiah received word about Jerusalem, and what he heard was devastating. The wall of Jerusalem had been broken down, and its gates had been burned with fire. The Bible says that when Nehemiah heard these things, he sat down and wept. He mourned. He fasted. And he prayed before the God of heaven. (Nehemiah 1:3–4)
What stood out to me is that Nehemiah didn’t immediately start rebuilding. He prayed FIRST. He allowed what he heard to become a burden that drove him into the presence of God. He didn’t move ahead of God trying to fix everything in his own strength. He prayed. He fasted. He waited. And when the opportunity came, God gave him favor and a strategy. But then something else happened.
When Nehemiah finally arrived in Jerusalem, he didn’t announce everything God had placed in his heart. Before the rebuilding began, he assessed the damage.
Nehemiah 2 tells us that he got up during the night with only a few men and went out to inspect the walls and the gates. He needed to see what had been broken, what had been burned, and what needed to be rebuilt. I believe there is a word in that for us.
Sometimes discouragement is not simply telling you to quit. Sometimes it is revealing an area that needs your attention. Assess the gates!
▪️What have you allowed access to your mind?
▪️What has had access to your emotions?
▪️What voices have you been listening to?
▪️What have you been watching?
▪️What conversations have you been entertaining?
▪️What have you allowed into your spirit that has slowly affected your confidence, your focus, your faith, or your ability to hear God clearly?
And even beyond what has entered, assess what has been broken down.
▪️Has your prayer life been neglected?
▪️Has your time in the Word decreased?
▪️Have you stopped doing something God told you to do because disappointment made you weary?
▪️Have you become so consumed with what isn’t working that you stopped paying attention to what God is trying to rebuild?
Sometimes we are asking God, “Why am I so discouraged?” while Holy Spirit is saying, “Come assess the gates with Me.” This beckoning is not to condemn you, nor to make you feel like you have failed. It’s because you cannot rebuild what you refuse to inspect.
Nehemiah didn’t look at the broken walls and decide Jerusalem was finished. He looked at what was broken and eventually declared, “Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem.” (Nehemiah 2:17)
Whew!
Broken did not mean finished! Burned did not mean beyond restoration! Exposed did not mean abandoned by God! I want to encourage somebody today that just because you have experienced discouragement does not mean you have lost your assignment!
Maybe this season isn’t about throwing everything away. Maybe God is calling you to inspect some things.
Assess your gates, boundaries, relationships, environment! Assess what has been consuming your attention and what you have been allowing to speak louder than what God said! And most importantly, pray before you rebuild.
Nehemiah had a burden, but he also needed God’s strategy. Every burden does not give us permission to move ahead of God. Sometimes the first instruction is simply to get before Him and ask, “Lord, show me what happened here. Show me what needs to be repaired. Show me what needs to be removed. Show me what needs to be rebuilt. And show me how You want me to proceed.”
Rebuilding without assessment can cause us to rebuild the same vulnerabilities that allowed the breach in the first place. So if you have been battling discouragement lately, don’t automatically assume that it means you are supposed to stop. Assess the gates!
▪️There may be an area God wants to strengthen before you move into what is next.
▪️There may be a boundary that needs to be restored.
▪️There may be access that needs to be revoked.
▪️There may be something you stopped tending to that God is calling you to rebuild.
▪️There may even be something that looks completely destroyed right now, but God already has a strategy for its restoration.
Take the burden into prayer and wait for His instruction! Allow Him to show you the broken places, and when He gives you the strategy, BUILD AGAIN!
The condition of the gates may explain some of the warfare you’ve experienced, but it does not determine how your story ends.
Assess! Pray! Listen! Rebuild!
There is STILL work to do!
