Friday, September 6, 2013

A great leader starts with prayer: Nehemiah 1:5

It's one thing to mourn over a problem.  It's yet another thing to actually do something about it.

Nehemiah mourned over the broken walls of Jerusalem,  He prayed. He fasted.  He pleaded with God.  But he didn't pray that God would send just anyone he prayed that God would open the door so he could go.  He prayed that he would find favor in the eyes of the King so he would be allowed to go and lead the effort to rebuild the walls. 

In Nehemiah's prayer to God, he reminds God of his goodness and love.  He says, O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants the people of Israel." Nehemiah 1:5

I'm not sure that God needed the reminder of his great love but I'm sure that God loved to hear these words from a man of faith!  Surely the truth of these words reveal to us that Nehemiah's prayer was according to God's will. 

In the first Chapter of Nehemiah we learn that Nehemiah is the cup bearer to the King of Assyria.   As a cup bearer he bring the wine to the king and test the wine to make sure that it was not poisoned.  This was an important job and the life of the King depended upon Nehemiah.

Aside from the divine intervention of God it would have been very unlikely that the kings would allow Nehemiah to leave  but not only did the king allow him to go.  The king was willing to send him men, lumber, and a traveling visa giving Nehemiah his personal seal of approval.  You might say that God answered his prayer in a big way!

Yes, if you read the book of Nehemiah you will see the heart of a great leader with a huge vision and even tremendous faith and to complete the package we see that Nehemiah was a great man of great courage. 

But with all of these qualities in Nehemiah's favor his greatest asset was his prayer life.  Yes Nehemiah has obvious leadership qualities but no matter how great a leader you might be God is the one who ultimately brings about success.

Sadly we live in a day where leaders are a dime a dozen but prayer warriors are few to be found.

 To ponder:  What role does prayer play in your life as a leader?  If you're success is in direct proportion to your prayers what kind of results should you expect?

Let us all be thankful that God uses us and helps us to be successful by his grace even when we don't always pray as we should but better yet why don't we determine to make prayer a priority in our leadership in the church, in our home or in the work place.   These are the lessons we learn together as we walk through the Word together.

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