I'm glad to have a clothes dryer and not have to hang clothes out like I did as a teen. How about you? I didn't go barefoot and walk in the snow to get to school, but I did my share of many chores before and after school. Mama had us hang out laundry many times before catching the bus. To be honest, I liked to see a pretty clothes line filled with clothes from the smallest to the largest. Mama taught us HOW to hang the laundry. It was an art to her. If it didn't rain that day, we would have to take the laundry in after getting off the bus, fold the clothes and put them away before helping Mama with supper. In our family there was always a baby to change or keep quiet while she cooked. Everyone had a job and if it wasn't done to meet her standards, then we suffered later for it. I was a personal witness to Daddy's philosophy that if you "didn't work, you didn't eat!" It didn't take this ole' gal long to figure that one out! Our large family was a unit working together and it took all of us to get it done.
Nehemiah divided the wall into sections with each one running from one gate to the next. He then, assigned a different party to work that section.The men worked close to where they lived which saved time as you read the account of the building of the wall. Nehemiah used good common sense, folks. This true account is quite interesting and if you are in leadership of your church, please take the time to study this wonderful book of Nehemiah and his success as a leader.
I like what John Phillips had to say about success: Spirituality + organization + hard work = Success.
If you eliminate any one of those, then the work suffers especially if that work is for our Lord Jesus Christ. I like that!
I've worked with some very gifted Administration but the one who fits the bill is the one who is Spiritual, stays organized AND above all else, knows how to work, himself, personally.
Nehemiah finished the work in 52 days. That is seven and one-half weeks, folks! What an amazing story and example set before us. It just goes to prove to me that God will bless a people who have a mind to work. If you have that kind of leadership in your church, you are blessed. We all need to remember our Preachers who labor to get God's work done.
Our success in life is totally dependent upon God and His protection because Satan will come as he always has once he sees people trusting in the Great I Am instead of the "least I was." As a woman used of God, continue to read the first three chapters of Nehemiah with great expectation. Get excited, make your plans and be productive....but get prayed up as you will need it while reading the next three chapters. Take notice of what Nehemiah did and learn from his example. His future looked like a future of defeat. Do you ever feel like you are beating your brains against a stone wall? I'm sure he did too. Remember, hard work "ain't easy" when you look around and see your enemies living it up by doing a whole lot less, BUT don't be fooled!
The armour of God can be heavy when the work is the hardest, but we must be in full gear as the enemy strikes with a venom that could kill the best of the best. Nehemiah stayed on the wall. The enemy called UP to him, but Nehemiah spoke DOWN to where they were. The enemy always wants us to come DOWN, but DON'T! STAY WITH THE WORK!
Sometimes your children will absolutely throw you in a spin and you may even wonder if God went back to heaven and left you alone with the battle. Don't come down off the wall. Stay above the work. Keep on. Stay true to the principles of God's Word. Those little ones for whom you are responsible to God are of utmost importance to God. Keep their heart in the work of God. So it is in the classroom, if you are a teacher. The heart of the children must be cared for and you are the instrument who will point them back to the builder of their walls against an enemy who waits to devour. God will show you. It takes a lot of planning, hard planning and hard work but just like Nehemiah, you and I can do it!
Nehemiah had the Book opened and the mouth of God spoke....
Ne 8:4-6 And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up: And Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
As the Word of God is presented in the home, the classroom or in the church, God's creation has an opportunity to repent, to confess sin and get the heart back to where it is in full fellowship with Lord Jesus Christ. That is the main focus of this blog......"To know Him!"
Just keep on the wall, friend, just keep on the wall. Don't come down until it is finished!
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