To Your Wealth

 DO LIKE NEHEMIAH DID

PART ONE

Nehemiah stood on the rubble of stones rallying the people to stand with him and rebuild the walls. The bible says, "For they strengthened their hands for this good work. (Nehemiah 2:19) With great anger Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, old-time enemies of the Jews, who were now in possession of the land, scoffed their plans questioning them who did they think they were beginning such a task rebelling against the king. Nehemiah bravely answered them, "The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:20). Wow. Have you ever had a vision or a great goal, and you share it with family and/or friends only to be mocked, criticized, questioned, chastised and laughed at? I have. What can you do? Do you cry, or scream back at those who seem to "bully" you and your dreams, or do you give up and give in? Well, there are six different things that you can do like Nehemiah did and achieve much success against onslaught of crafty deceits.

1. They did not listen to the accusing voices. I have once heard that courage is not the absence of fear but courage is in spite of fear. The Moabites, Ammonites, Ashdodites, Arabians, and the recently imported the Samaritans, cunningly and sardonically resisted the rebuilding of the Wall of Jerusalem. With every ridicule the people persisted in the work and overlooked the accusing voices.

2. They prayed. Well you may not be a praying person, and that is fine. Yet, for me, no situation existed that needed much success that could not be without much prayer. It keeps you positive instead of negative. It gives you clarity in the midst of adversity. And it gives you strength when you feel weak, misunderstood, discouraged, and alone.

3. They never took criticism personally. Most criticism spoken spill out of mouths not to build up but to tare you and your dreams into tiny little pieces that cannot be put back together. Criticism that hurts the worst is frequently undeserved and is unfair. In the case with Nehemiah and the Jews the criticism slithered out mouths like a snake to promote fear and distractions trying to get them to lose focus on what they should be doing. Instead the people kept working day and night letting those words of criticism fall unsuccessfully to the ground unscathed.

To recapitulate, Nehemiah did not listen to the accusing voices, prayed, and never took criticism personally. When we have a goal, dream, or a vision do not be moved and be dejected when someone scorns you and your vision. Just implement what Nehemiah and the Jews did in the face of much adversity.

Next blog we will look at the thee other keys that Nehemiah initiated.

To your wealth!

To be continued...