SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/16/2011 7:48:32 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“A
Great Example”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Neh. 5:14-19
Message of the verses: “14
Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of
Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes,
for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor’s food
allowance. 15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the
people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even
their servants domineered the people. But I did not do so because of the fear of God.
16 I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and
all my servants were gathered there for the work. 17 Moreover, there were at my
table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us
from the nations that were around us. 18 Now that which was prepared for each
day was one ox and six choice sheep, also birds were prepared for me; and once
in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance. Yet for all this I
did not demand the governor’s food allowance, because the servitude was heavy
on this people. 19 Remember me, O my God, for good, according to all that I
have done for this people.”
As
I read these verses I see something refreshing in the way that Nehemiah, the
governor handled his reign as compared to what is going on in our country and
even in some of the churches of our country.
Nehemiah’s leadership was a great example of what leaders in every walk
of life should be. He had compassion, he
did things in love, he feared the Lord, he worked with his people to complete
the task at hand, he did not accept bribes, but he furnished food for many of
his people every day, and did not take the money from the people to make up a
food allowance. The greatest thing
perhaps that Nehemiah did was do all of these things was to please the Lord,
and not to please men.
I
want now to move into a portion from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on how people in
spiritual leadership should perform in their leadership role. In this section of his commentary on this
section of Scripture Dr. Wiersbe gives three points that are important lessons
for those in Spiritual leadership.
The
first point is that spiritual leaders should expect problems to arise among
their people. If there are people there
are usually problems and if the work for the Lord is going well you can expect
attacks from the enemy causing people to have differences and not get along.
The
second point for spiritual leaders is that they should confront the problems
courageously. It has been written “There
is no problem so great that you can’t ignore it,” and this is fine for a comic
strip character but not a spiritual leader.
“Every problem that you ignore will only go underground, grow deeper
roots, and bear bitter fruits. Pray for
God’s help and tackle the problem as soon as possible.”
The
last and probably the most important point for spiritual leaders is “See in
every problem an opportunity for the Lord to work. Solving problems in ministry is not an
intellectual exercise but a spiritual experience. If we depend on the wisdom of the world, we
will get what the world can do; but if we depend on the wisdom of God, we will
get what God can do. All that we say and
do must be motivated by love, controlled by truth, and done to the glory of
God.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: First I do not consider myself as a spiritual
leader in the sense of what a Pastor or other Elder or Deacons are. With that said I believe that there are two
important things that I can learn from this section. Do not use the wisdom of the world to solve
problems. Trust the Lord to use the
problems that I face as opportunities to bring glory to the Lord as I serve
Him.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue to learn contentment.
8/16/2011 8:15:51 AM
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