Welcome!
Today: The seven “C”s of Nehemiah
Passage: Nehemiah 2 (NIV1984)
11 I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days 12 I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. (Neh 2, NIV)-emphasis added
Yesterday, we discussed about the five “C” s of Nehemiah: Concern, Confession, Compassion, Commitment and Courage
Today, we will look at two more: confidentiality and carefulness
These thoughts are received from God and I am humbled to say that
Confidentiality can easily be mixed up with crookedness; the two are opposites
This is the major difference between confidentiality and crookedness: Nehemiah kept confidentiality about what God had put in his heart; crookedness is when we plan something of our own/from the devil
Some people are too good that they will share evrything with everybody; that can create harm. We need to tell that which should be told
Confidentiality can easily be mixed up with not communicating, even when needed!
Lack of communication is one of the biggest problems we have; a lot of confusion will be the end result.
I read somewhere: “When we fail to communicate, we communicate to fail”!
Carefulness is another great character trait we see in Nehemiah
19 But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. “What is this you are doing?” they asked. “Are you rebelling against the king?”20 I answered them by saying, “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share inJerusalem or any claim or historic right to it.” (Neh 2, NIV 84)
I have seen many christians who are too good in some areas, but careless and unwise in many. Acting like one won’t do it,and being careful is not being crooked! Nehemiah was careful, how he dealt with the people who came to oppose and discourage him. He did not bother to focus on them; instead, he focussed on his task. With clean heart and hands, Nehemiah was confident of his success!
When our side is clean, we don’t worry about failure; however, prayer is a must!
Concern, Confession, Compassion, Commitment, Courage, Confidentiality and Carefulness; these were definitely part of Nehemiah’s Character
May God bless you, as you try to build these in to your life!
BG
Prayer: Father God, thank you for Nehemiah. Help me grow more of “Nehemiah” into my life/ my character so that I will be a very useful person for you and others. Highlight those areas I need to focus on. In Jesus’ name, Amen
Character without “leadership” (quality) is better than leadership without character!