Nehemiah 4:14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

As a good leader, Nehemiah knew how to motivate those he led. He was honest about the difficulties, and he placed the focus first of all on the Lord. Next, he reminded the people of their families, who were worth fighting for. We can be impressed with how great our obstacles are and we can be impressed with how great God is, but we still need to know why the whole issue is worth our effort. Things are seldom handed to us without our effort, and we tend to fail to value them if they are, so we need to know that the goal is worth our effort. Nehemiah, with God’s wisdom and guidance, covered all those areas, and got excellent cooperation as a result. Once again he is a good example for us to emulate.

I am impressed yet again with how extremely topical and relevant the story of Nehemiah is to our current situation. The Lord has told me I’m to be the “faith engine” for the church, specifically in our current project, and reading about Nehemiah helps me understand how that is to work. We have another called business meeting this Sunday, and I think my greatest task is to help the believers grasp the benefits to what we are planning. Right now they are seeing the difficulties, and they don’t see how this will be a blessing to them. They could use a clearer, higher image of God, but the immediate issue is what’s in it for them. I’m afraid I haven’t thought very much about this to this point, and it shows. I am being given what I think will be a very encouraging message for the worship service, but I still need to follow through with helping all the people understand the potential benefits of this project, to them, to this church, and to the vision You have given us of this city again being the foremost Christian city in the nation. I touched on some of those points at the last called business meeting, but I didn’t express them clearly enough. Another point of Nehemiah’s example is that he participated fully in all he asked others to do. I am not to ask others to do things and then not lift a finger to help them. The flip side of that is that I’ve got to give them opportunity to participate, and not try to do it all myself. That has been my pattern far too much over the history of this church. I need to help people see what God is doing here, and give them full opportunity to participate.

Father, thank You for training me as I need it. I have been weak in leadership and administration, and You’ve given me someone to mentor who’s strong in administration but weak in some other areas. Help us work together as You intend to accomplish what You desire, so that Your Church may be built up by You through us, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!