Nehemiah 2: 5 Reina-Valera 1960 (RVR1960)
5 And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and thy servant hath found favor in thy sight, send me to Judah, to the city of the sepulchres of my fathers, and I will build it again.
When Nehemiah assumes the leadership to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he defines his task through a simple and concrete phrase: "I will rebuild it" (Nehemiah 2.5)
It amazes me how Nehemiah assumes the risk of the Work he undertakes.
He could say "I'm going to try", "I'll see what I can do", "I'll see what I can help".
However, he decides to put before him and those who hear him a "concrete fact".
This decision to define concretely what your work generates risks and advantages.
Risks of this decision:
Advantages of this decision:
In our task as leaders of our congregations we need the conviction of Nehemiah to establish in our group of people what is the concrete fact that we want to realize for God.
The four advantages of making these kinds of decisions are enough to encourage us to guide our people to make "concrete Facts" for God.
"UNTIL THE LEADER DOES NOT HAVE THE CONVICTION OF THE CONCRETE FACT THAT HAS TO BE CARRIED OUT AND IS TRANSMITTED TO OTHERS, NO SITUATION WILL CHANGE AROUND HIS"
In verse 12 of chapter 2 Nehemiah says that "There was no horse with me," which means that he did not have much to begin with.
Leaders who achieve concrete Facts do not need many resources to start.
What a leader needs to start is Faith, a vision of God in his heart and a "concrete Fact" to realize.
Nehemiah demonstrates his clarity as a leader by expressing in verse 20 of chapter 2 how he intends to change the current situation.
God will prosper us (If we do not define "Concrete facts", what do we hope to prosper?)
We will get up (If we do not change our actions and attitudes we will not achieve anything)
and we will build (That is, we will carry out "Concrete Facts" that were not previously carried out)
In chapter 6 and verse 9 Nehemiah brings us three reasons why leaders and working groups do not reach the "concrete Facts" they desire.
1) The weakness of our hands
Hands = Do.
We do not do what we should do and we dedicate our hands to other activities.
Over time we discovered that the "facts we wanted to achieve" did not materialize and that our hands are occupied in other things that are not important (Satan has it clear to make us fall into this type of distractions)
2) Do not finish what we started
Argentines are specialists in starting well, what costs us is to finish what we started.
That is why very few leaders dare to set long-term goals and prefer the fashions that come and go and keep the church entertained.
Carrying out "Concrete Facts" requires perseverance, patience and not letting one's arms down until they see the finished work without revealing phrases like "God changed my vision" or "God showed me that now ..." and we leave the works that we started in their name in the middle of the river.
This can be a feature of irresponsibility in the tasks we initiate for God.
Verse 15 of chapter 6 is an example for us as leaders:
Simply the Bible says "It was finished"
Are our works for God defined in such a way that we know if we have finished them?
After he says "it was finished, the wall", they were clear about what was the "concrete fact" to be reached as a town at that time.
Are our jobs defined in such a way that all members know what we want to do?
I suspect that with the excuse of not putting "concrete Facts" (clear goals) for our churches, many of us have (for years) wandered without achieving anything.
I believe that the reality that 80% of our churches are not growing is closely related to our lack of leadership in defining the "concrete facts" that our churches should be trying to achieve.
Can our members say clearly what our church wants to achieve this year?
If you can not define what you want to achieve, do not dream about getting them to work.
This is where leaders fail to put (as Nehemiah did) before them a "Concrete fact to achieve" that challenges and stimulates them to work.
The verse ends by saying that he did it "in fifty-two days"
Are our jobs for God defined in time in such a way that we can measure our performance?
This tells us a lot about Nehemiah.
He impressed on his task a certain rhythm.
In chapter 2 and verse 6 he says that he pointed out to the King how long it would take.
This means that he did not have all the time in the world, but established among his people a rhythm of work to achieve this "concrete fact" in a given time.
Here too (sometimes) we escape as leaders using the phrase that "times are of God" (and this is true).
It is so true that "the times are of God" as that the responsibility of the rhythm of work that is established in our churches is of us the leaders.
**Finally, verse 16 of chapter 6 tells us the Results that occur when we perform «Concrete Facts» for God:
«WHAT WE DO (CONCRETE FACTS) GIVES TO KNOW GOD»
What will be the concrete facts that God wants to accomplish?
through your life, your cell or your church this year?
Each one of us has the opportunity to take our cells and churches to reach what God has prepared for us.
Do not forget that when God wanted to keep the growth of his church written, he did not allow it to be kept in a book called "Feelings."
Neither in a book called «Thoughts».
He preferred that it be recorded in a book called "FACTS".
