8/16/2011 7:48:32 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
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 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
No comments:
Post a Comment