Author: TimMaynard

As I write this, we are awaiting the birth of our first grandchild, a little girl named McCail Violet Maynard. Logan is due any time now and McCail’s Mamaw (aka my wife) is concerned with packing a bag for us to take to the hospital in case she decides to arrive in the middle of the night! I’ve been thinking about what is necessary and not necessary to pack for that particular journey.

We are all on a journey in life and some of us are on a leadership journey. What do we pack for that kind of journey to be successful? Let’s look at Nehemiah’s essential items for the leadership journey that he had embarked on.

First we find that Nehemiah had a quality of character that Oswald Chambers called “unconquerableness.” Yes, it’s a made up word. It will not survive autocorrect or spell check.

But it tells us volumes about a leader.

Any leadership challenge is going to involve obstacles. As we read through Nehemiah’s journal, we find over and over that he encountered difficult people, power structures, discouragement, people who kept looking at the rubble and a nearly impossible task to accomplish on an impossible timeline. Pressure within and pressure without confronted Nehemiah. Sometimes it took the form of external opposition and enemies determined to stop him. Sometimes the warfare was internal, as every leader understands.

But Nehemiah had “unconquerableness.” He did not let these issues discourage, dissuade or distract him. He saw the finished product. He knew God had called him to this. He knew God would be his strength and it kept him on his knees.

The first “unconquerable” obstacle was in the form of his boss, the King of Babylon, named Artaxerxes. While he and the king had a familiar and respectful relationship, he had to have his boss’ permission to move forward with this project. Complicating this was the fact that the project that God had placed in his heart was going to be subversive to the kingdom of Babylon. Years before the Babylonian king had issued an edict that said, “The walls of this city will never be rebuilt.” Jerusalem was seen as a rebellious, even a dangerous city. It was best to keep it vulnerable and uninhabitable.

But Nehemiah was sent to rebuild its walls. And so he prayed to God for mercy as he waited carefully for his opportunity to bring the subject up and speak to the king. He prayed for four months. (From Kislev to Nisan, over 100 days). And when the time came at the KING’S initiative (you do not walk into a king’s chamber and say, “I’ve got this great idea’) Nehemiah made his request know. And in a moment that only God Himself could orchestrate, the king gave his permission for Nehemiah not only to leave his post but supplied the project out of the kingdom’s treasury.

Amazing! But a leader must have “unconquerableness” for that to come to pass. If we move ahead of God, it may cost us… a job, a relationship, our life! If we move too slowly we miss the momentum and the divine moment that God has put in place.

We must not leave “unconquerableness” out of our leadership backpack. It is perhaps one of the most essential items we can carry!

FOR MEMORIZATION: O Lord, give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.    Nehemiah 1:11b

FOR REFLECTION: Are you “unconquerable?” Do you have that quality of character that won’t give up until the task is accomplished? Perhaps today you are facing an obstacle that challenges you… a difficult person; a tough conversation; taking on a task that is overwhelming? An “unconquerableness” of spirit is essential for those moments. Remember that “we are more than conquerors through him who loves us.” (Romans 8:37) Pray for God’s favor and move forward!

G  od.  The Gospel begins with God.  Actually, everything does!  The world and all that is in it began with God.  It is God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.  It is God who chases after and searches for the lost sheep.  It is God who is trying to find you if you are lost.  It all begins with God.  “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son….”  (John 3:16)

O ur sin is the problem.  The greatest need of our world is not a better politician to lead us or more enforcement of stricter laws or even the elimination of terrorism or drug abuse.   We are sinners…not sick.  We are sinners… not “mistakers.”   We are sinners… not dysfunctional.  We have sinned and done what is evil in GOD’s sight.  We need salvation, not therapy.  All of us measure our problems on a sliding scale that sees other people’s flaws clearly and our own only vaguely.  There is not a person in America today who would look at the Orlando shooter and not think, on some level, we are better than him… more moral than him… more righteous than him.  But we have all sinned.  God doesn’t grade on the curve.  And we must admit that we have fallen short of his standard… some greatly, some less so…but our sin has rendered us spiritually dead.  Our problem is not the act or acts of sin… it is the nature that drives those actions that must be redeemed and rescued from the wrath of God to come.

S  alvation comes from Christ alone.  He is the sufficient one.  He is the only one who has lived and died in a perfectly sinless state, proving both that he was and is God and that he is the only perfect substitute and sacrifice for our sin.  He is the one seated in heavenly places in the place of honor.  He is the ever-living, ever-reigning one.  Christ alone is sufficient for our salvation.  There is no other way; no other name under heaven given by which we must be saved.  Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.  No man comes to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)

P  ersonal commitment.  This is an important point that we must not forget.  No one else can make the decision to trust Christ for us.  Our baptism as an infant or attendance at confirmation or good deeds cannot save us.  Our membership in a church does not save us.  Only a personal, one-on-one encounter with God as we are confronted with the reality of our sin and the claims of the Gospel can make that happen.  God makes Himself known to all people so that “all are without excuse.”  We must decide… for or against God.

E  veryone may come.  The invitation to salvation through Christ alone is open to all who will come.  It is not a matter of being deserving.  It is a matter of be willing to open your heart, recognize your need, and humbling yourself to receiving salvation that is “by grace alone through faith alone.”  (Ephesians 2:8)  “For it is by grace you are saved through faith….” The Word of God says.  Now faith as it is used here does not just mean having blind faith in something you don’t understand or believing in someone you don’t know.  Faith is placed IN the finished work of Christ and IN the truth of God’s Word which proclaims it.

L ife transformation.  “If any man (person, woman, boy or girl) is in Christ he is a NEW CREATION; old things have passed away and all things have become new.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17)   “For we are His workmanship (Ephesians 2:9), created in Christ Jesus unto good works.”    A transformed life will produce works that are pleasing to God.  In other words, change will occur.  The things we once enjoyed that may have been wrong will grieve us now, even though we may still do them.  We will want to do the things that please Christ now, even though at one time before we had no desire to do them.

If this GOSPEL presentation is something you want to make real in your life… personal in your life… then pray a prayer like this:

Dear Father, I know I have sinned against you and the things you love.  I have gone my own way, like a wandering sheep.  I know you are searching for me and today I stop, turn around, and come to You.  Thank You for forgiving me.  Thank You for loving me.  Thank You for searching for me.  I give myself totally to You, and surrender to You completely today.  Come in and take control of all that I am.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Leadership comes down to one thing: are we influencing other people? Is there someone following us? While there are occasions when the leader may be standing on the ledge by himself, it is usually determined to be successful leadership if people are moved to do something… if they are moved from Point A to Point B.

Nehemiah stood before a mountain that had to be moved. Not a physical obstacle but a mountain of a person in King Artaxerxes. He needed the King to grant him favor on two counts: (1) to release him to Jerusalem to lead in the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem and (2) to do so over the former objections of the King to this very thing ever happening again.

Complicating the second item, we still have in our culture today a statement that says “this is the law of the Medes and Persians.” This is understood to mean one thing: it isn’t going to change. When the king made a statement in that context, it was literally written in stone. No delete button. No modifications. No exemptions. It was going to stand because it was now “the law of the Medes and Persians.”

Jerusalem was a conquered entity. It had a history of rebellious behavior against kingdoms that sought to rule it. The military power and threat of such a city was based on the strength of its wall. Tear down the wall… remove the threat. The law of the Medes and Persians said, “This wall shall not be rebuilt.” It was thoroughly destroyed and to make sure it would never be rebuilt the intelligentsia and leaders of the city were taken away, leaving only the laborers behind who would not have the capacity or tendency to organize and rebuild.

Now, Nehemiah had received an assignment from God. “Rebuild the wall.” So Nehemiah in prayer assented to the job. But two obstacles remained: 1) how will he get out of his job for the period necessary to rebuild and 2) will the king be willing to overturn “the law of the Medes and Persians?” Nehemiah saw both of these tasks as “out of his pay grade.” And so he prayed. And prayed. For four months, with “mourning and prayer and fasting.” And specifically, his prayer request was this: “Lord, give me favor with this man… grant your servant success.”

What we sometimes miss is that what Nehemiah was about to do was not just secure vacation time or a leave of absence from a petulant boss. He was proposing something subversive… even traitorous to the Babylonian empire. Rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem could be seen as insurrection, resulting in not only loss of his job… but of his head! No wonder he added, “and grant (your servant) mercy in the sight of this man!”

Hudson Taylor wrote, “It is possible to move the hearts of men only through God in prayer.” While Nehemiah had never read Taylor’s book, he agreed with the premise. We can move men’s hearts… a difficult boss, an estranged spouse, even a rebellious child… in prayer. How often do we resort to our knees when those kinds of things need to happen?

Ultimately, the king assented. (Nehemiah 2:1-5) And going forward, Nehemiah’s success was linked to one thing: he believed God would move hearts through prayer and prayer alone.

And he was right!

FOR MEMORIZATION: …let your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.      Nehemiah 1:11b

FOR REFLECTION: Who’s heart is there in your life that needs to be moved and influenced today? Are your manipulating… threatening… or praying?

Leadership at its best comes from a heart place and not a position. Nehemiah was effective as a leader because he empathized with the pain of the people living without the safety of the wall around Jerusalem. He read himself into the shoes of the hurting. He allowed their pain to be his.

Even to the point of identifying with their sin. He confessed the sins that had led to the predicament they faced. He interceded for their sins and took them upon himself. He confessed his sins and the sins of his own family.

In this instance, I believe Nehemiah reflects Christ for us most clearly. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and allowed punishment to fall on Him. He was not a High Priest who could not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. (Hebrews 4:15).

Certainly we can see Christ elsewhere in Nehemiah. As Christ is seated in heavenly places so Nehemiah sat in the throne room of Artaxerxes.

But he did not consider his position something he clung to but came to a sin-ravaged city crumbling in despair even as Christ entered our flesh and our despair.

And as Christ prayed so Nehemiah did and was heard. And God sent Christ from Heaven and Nehemiah from Susa to once again re-establish His glory in the nations.

Difficulty and opposition, disappointment and despair would meet him as he went.

But in the end…

…so would victory.

FOR MEMORIZATION:   We have sinned and acted very corruptly…              Nehemiah 1:7

FOR REFLECTION:  If you lead people, do you truly identify with and understand them?

Leaders are pray-ers. But their prayers are not self-focused. A spiritual leader adopts the agenda of the Kingdom over their own. Sometimes (often, in fact) the two will come into conflict. At that point, a leader will kill his or her own self-defined agenda or sacrifice a Kingdom agenda to get what they want.

Nehemiah died to his own agenda. His agenda could have been something to hang on to… promotion, influence and face time with the King of the Babylonian empire. But God was whispering something else into his spirit… something only he could hear as God spoke. And when God speaks, He presses His message home with persistence. He would not give Nehemiah rest. He would not let Nehemiah easily off the hook.

So Nehemiah prayed. Four months of mourning, fasting and praying transpired between chapter 1 and chapter 2. Often we think God is leading us to a task that will require a cost. And then we forget about it. If we can forget, it was a good intention that motivated the impulse but not God. God doesn’t give up. God doesn’t accept our excuses. (Ask Moses!)

But Nehemiah’s understanding and high view of God (see 1:5-6) led him to an honest assessment of himself. When Nehemiah saw God for who He is, he saw himself for who he was. A sinner. Broken. Responsible. Guilty. Culpable. And when he accepted the responsibility for the state of his people, he confessed his sins… and his fathers… and his people. He admitted “we have acted very corruptly” (1:7); we have been unfaithful to the covenant (1:8); we are experiencing the promised results of our sin (1:8).

Confession is a necessary step in coming to grips with the extent of our sin and the cost of our fallenness. We pay a high price for our sins. And there are consequences that will be experienced as a result. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked… for whatever a man sows that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

Our confession must be made to the right person. Judas confessed his sins to a priest after he had betrayed Jesus in the garden and then he went out and hung himself. Peter also denied and betrayed Jesus but brought his sin to the only one who could fix it. And he was restored. Nehemiah knew that his sin was against God. God first. God most. And only the One sinned against could forgive and restore.

When Nehemiah arose from his prayer he did so as a new person. He was forgiven. He had a new role in life… a new plan… a new direction. Nehemiah was going to be used of God to build a wall that would protect God’s people from their enemies. He died to an earthly agenda and God gave him an eternal one… a kingdom plan… a lasting legacy.

A leader must first pray. Through that process of praying to know the heart and mind of the Father, we will receive a new agenda… God’s agenda… that will drive us forward.

What is God’s agenda for your life… your family… you business? What must die in you for that agenda to come to pass?

FOR MEMORIZATION: For though He was equal with God, (Jesus) did not consider equality with God something to be clung to, but made Himself nothing….      Philippians 2:5

FOR REFLECTION: How does your personal agenda conflict with what God is seeking to do through your life? Is there conflict between your ambition and God’s Kingdom?

A leader is, first of all, a pray-er. He or she knows the value, the essential value, of prayer. Prayer is not an add-on for the leader’s life. It is necessary, essential equipment for success in the spiritual realm. Wise leaders – CEO’s; business owners, managers, teachers, church staff, supervisors – will pray. The presidents of our nation have seen the necessity of prayer to accomplish the overwhelming leadership they must offer. A president who won’t pray won’t bring blessing to his people, and will make decisions that negatively impact people.

But God will not force us to pray. God wants to “take the wheel” (thanks Carrie Underwood!) but will ride quietly along and let us drive the car off the road or over the cliff… if we’d rather do it without Him. And it happens every day. We see leaders falling around us… in business, politics and churches… because prayer has not been practiced and relied upon.

Nehemiah was a pray-er. In fact more than anything else, Nehemiah is known not for his construction prowess but for his prayer life! The first chapter of Nehemiah begins with the longest prayer he offered… in the context of an intense four month prayer session! Nehemiah joins Daniel as the prophet in Daniel 9 prays a prayer in a foreign kingdom that literally changed his nation. Nehemiah prayed a nation-shaping prayer.

God is always looking for a man or woman who will pray… who will “stand in the gap…” and who would “rebuild a wall of righteousness” around the nation. (Ezekiel 22:30) When you pray you are putting another stone in the wall. And another. And another. America needs those prayers today.

Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest models of leadership America ever produced, was often, in his own words, “driven to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that there was no place else to go.” A prideful, prayer-less leader will tear down the wall. At the end of a president’s time in office, he is often concerned about the legacy he will leave. Every leader leaves such a legacy. They will either leave office with the wall of righteousness around the nation stronger… or weaker.

Nehemiah prayed to “the great and awesome God.” He took his concern to the only One who could help. The “God of the heavens.” The One who is great and awesome and faithful in covenant-keeping. Any other prayer is only beating the air vainly. It is a waste of breath. It is useless. Only One can answer prayer.

As we learn from Nehemiah’s prayer, we see he had a very high view of God. He saw God high and lifted up in glory… robed in righteousness and seated upon His throne. He is a God who keeps “covenants and mercy.” He is the God Nehemiah knew heard him as he prayed.

And as we pray, we must pray before the same God who heard Nehemiah’s prayer over 2,600 years ago. Because today…

He still hears us.

FOR MEMORIZATION: And I said, “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love you and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night… ”     Nehemiah 1:5-6

FOR REFLECTION:  A.W. Tozer said “What comes to our mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” If that is so, what is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about God?

When God builds a leader He begins working from the inside out. He does not immediately send him or her to management school or the executive training program. No, He starts with a heart that can be dislocated… removed from its present stasis and alignment. And interestingly, as painful as that is (think about a dislocated joint) it is the place where God begins to do a great work.

Nehemiah’s heart was broken. (Nehemiah 1:4-5) It had been dislocated by the news brought from the old city of Jerusalem that the people there lived in danger, reproach and vulnerability because there was no wall… and no one to build it. So many people get their hearts dislocated in this way… missionaries for an unreached people group… a successful professional who feels led to ministry… a student who meets poverty for the first time and decides to raise funds to make a difference.

But a dislocated heart is only one step toward the ultimate goal: change. Genuine, lasting change… both in the leader herself and in the circumstance that needs to be addressed. Prospective leaders will encounter (at least) three enemies along the way. These enemies are attacking that “dislocated heart” God has given.

The enemies are: disillusionment, distraction and discouragement. Any one or any combination of these dangerous “d’s” will threaten to “relocate” the leader’s heart and move them away from the accomplishment of God’s vision for them.

Before the Journal/Book of Nehemiah comes to a conclusion, each of these enemies will be confronted. But they come to serve God’s purpose in the second important aspect of building a leader; having a humbled spirit. None of these outside intruders are the most dangerous enemy for the leader. It is on the inside that the real war must be fought and won.

Pride is the enemy of leadership effectiveness. We see the preening and pride of leaders on display every day in every walk of life. Pride manifests as one of two things: an attitude that says, “I can handle this myself” or an attitude that says, “I can’t trust God to do this.” The first attitude moves us toward a self-reliance that leads to a fall. Even heavenly angels fell prey to the seduction of this sin.

The second attitude is one that says, “Even God couldn’t do this work through a vessel like me.” It sounds so self-effacing, so humble to say. In reality, this also is a denial of God’s ability to BE GOD. When Moses tried this on God because God called him out of his comfort zone to communicate His message to Pharaoh, Moses said, “I can’t speak.” God’s reply? “Who made your mouth??”

Of the two manifestations of pride, the second hides better. But it reveals an insidious problem: the problem of refusing to trust God to do what He needs to do. A leader is confident but not so much in him or herself but as in God’s ability to do “exceedingly, abundantly more” than we could ever think or ask.

The leader is first of all, a follower and a person who leans on God alone for strength. A dislocated heart leads to a contrite and broken spirit. And it is there that God can allow His presence to dwell.

FOR MEMORIZATION: The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit: A broken and contrite heart, these O God, You will not despise.    Psalm 51:17

FOR REFLECTION: Are you more prone to the pride of self-reliance or the pride of refusing to trust God? Do you possess the one place on earth that God promises to abide: in a broken and contrite heart?

I hate to end the first week of this series on a negative note, but I am wrestling with a problem. The problem is some articles I’ve read lately on this week before the Southern Baptist Convention convenes in St Louis regarding the decrease in baptisms, attendance, and overall involvement in the convention. The SBC is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, and has made its mark as the leader in that category. But for the past eight years, according to the ACP (Annual Church Profile), our attendance has shrunk, our baptisms have markedly declined, and even though we are adding more churches we are losing churches at an alarming rate.

These numbers presented at a board meeting for any business would be a cause of alarm, if not grief. It would necessitate a wholesale re-evaluation of strategy and maybe an elimination of positions or branches. It would mean these numbers would not be lightly painted over.
They would be addressed seriously.

But for our beloved convention, none of those things will happen. We believe that doing the things as we’ve always done… only doing them harder… will bring us out of the death spiral we have entered.

The convention’s story is a warning sign for churches that enter into a period where
(1) attendance is declining; (2) baptisms are decreasing and (3) signs of life are difficult, if not impossible to find. Are we going to continue doing the same things… only harder… expecting the outcome to radically alter? Or are we going to say, “It’s time for a change of approach and strategy?” This is, in real time, a leadership crisis.

Ancient Jerusalem found itself in a similar state. The walls of Jerusalem had fallen. Though a brief attempt had been made to rebuild, it was unsuccessful under governor Zerubbabel and the priest Ezra. But they had to be built again. Better. Stronger. Soon. They needed a leader.

And so God sent Nehemiah to do what had not been done… to rebuild the walls. To restore the glory of Jerusalem. To lead from reproach to respect. To lead a disorganized group, outmanned, out-supplied… to victory. To do something so God received the glory. A man for the hour was needed… and so God raised up the unlikely; the unknown; even the unprepared… to do what needed to be done.

Nehemiah heard the call. And so he trusted God with it all… and he said yes.

FOR MEMORIZATION: And so it was, when I heard these word, that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.      Nehemiah 1:4

FOR REFLECTION: Before action is taken to change a situation, God has to break a heart. We will do more, pray more, give more and sacrifice more if our hearts are sensitized to a situation. If we can read about a circumstance and it doesn’t move our heart in some way, we will seldom move toward addressing it. Let me ask you to assess again: What breaks your heart? Your calling is likely there.