Expect The Mess (pt2) by Daniel Williams

We all want to see God do amazing things, but we can forget about the hard work it takes to see the fruit. Hard work is just that: hard work! And it can be very easy to become uncomfortable and even overwhelmed by the mess of ministry to the lost. Remember this scripture from last time:

Prov 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox. 

Ministry gets messy when there are people involved! And the gospel is always the answer. Only Jesus has the power to save and to truly change a person. 

As we continue to do ministry and reach out to the lost in our community, I have seen a few things that have become invaluable as we learn to minister to those far from God. So, here are just three things that I have found to be helpful and some practical ways to disciple people through the mess of life. 

EXPLAIN WHAT YOU ARE PREACHING

1 They won’t know much — We have to understand that many people have never heard the gospel and have never been to church. This may seem hard to believe in certain cultures, but in our community we are dealing with people who didn’t grow up in Christian homes and haven’t been to church much—if at all. So they don’t understand many terms that are found in the Bible because they have never read it. They don’t know what a church service is supposed to look like because they have never been. They don’t know much about Jesus; and if they do, it is usually is skewed because they learned from culture, media and friends—not from God’s Word. 

So, how have we practically dealt with this? We explain what we are preaching. I take the time to explain a lot of what I preach and don’t assume that people have heard any of it before. You would be surprised to know how often we assume that people already know the things we know. But listen, many people have never heard that God loves them and that they can have a relationship with Him. Or that they can personally know Him and have their guilt and shame forgiven. So, we tell them! We explain the uncommon words like “justification, sanctification, propitiation, atonement” etc. We explain what we are doing in the service and WHY. Things like why we sing, why we study the Bible, why we give, why we take communion, etc. We have also given hundreds of Bibles away because most people we interact with don’t own one. So we explain the story of who Paul is when referencing Him. We also put the page number of the text on the screen so people know where to find it in the Bible we gave them. We try to EXPLAIN what we are preaching and WHY and what we are doing because most people don’t understand the things we do. We want to communicate clearly.

SHARE VISION

2 Their values won’t match yours — We must understand that non-believers won’t have all the same values as a follower of Jesus because Jesus isn’t their Lord. A few examples of this could be parenting or language. It is quite common for there to be people that use inappropriate language around us. The Bible tells us that what is in our hearts will come out, so if you are ministering to non-believers you should expect that their language with represent their heart. 

Proverbs 28:19 says, “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” We must preach that there is a better way in Jesus and let them know where we stand on issues. It is ok to call sin “sin” and to have requirements to serve. For example, we always have people that work with our kids go through background checks, and they must be walking with God. We understand that everyone in our church won’t fit those requirements, but to ensure safety and make sure the kids during service are being discipled, we have placed a standard there. We also take a large portion of our service to preach God’s prophetic vision from the Bible which is our primary authority and standard. We want to teach the heart of God and what He values as right and wrong. We understand that it is not about morals, but we must also understand that we can please God through obedience by the power of His Spirit. They must see that the law of God is perfect and good. And that our faith has works. We want people to observe the commandments of God; and when people become born again, they are able to be transformed and no longer slaves of sin. So, we preach though the Bible in order to help people understand the person of Jesus and His ways. 

SET AN EXAMPLE

3 They won’t be mature in the faith - It has been so amazing to see so many lives transformed by Jesus at Redemption Church. But just because you say a prayer doesn’t make you mature. People are immediately forgiven from their sin, but the consequences are still with some people. So we have seen saved people still fight addictions, still serve time in jail, still go through a divorce, still live with the sin that bought death in their lives. I have seen a heart change immediately, but understanding and maturity come more slowly. Some may not give finances immediately or sign up to serve or even be in fellowship. So, many of the people that call Redemption Church their home don’t come every week because they never grew up with that discipline. Most of them have never read through the Bible. So what are we to do about this? 

Preach to them with our lives. Set an example! We have to show them a better way. Many of us learn by example and are more visual. The Bible tells us we aren’t to merely love in word but also in action (1 John 3:16-18). It has also been said that vision is caught not taught…so we must show them what it means to walk with God with our lives. It is our responsibility to walk with others and to disciple them. This is one of the main reasons we are to have patience with others because this process takes time. So, give time to non-believers to ask questions, to pray with them, and to teach them. Include them in your life even if they aren’t “acting like Christians” yet. Include them even if they haven’t accepted Jesus into their lives yet either! 

The Bible tells us that the strong are to help the weak, and we have come to find out that many people need us to help them. They need to see what a godly marriage looks like or how a single person is to live in purity. They need to see the vision we so often preach to them so they can understand it better and follow our example. We know we are far from perfect, but this is also a good thing. People need to see imperfect people, leaning on the grace and mercy of Jesus, following after Him with their whole lives. So, we try to have people in our lives as much as possible during the week—not just on Sundays.

We are all in the business of making disciples, and we need to get messy with people right where they are in order to see the fruit of God working in them. This takes a lot of work and patience, BUT it is totally worth it. May the Lord bless our efforts in reaching people far from Him and may our church always be messy! 

Be blessed,

Pastor Daniel

Expect The Mess (pt1) by Daniel Williams

When you are a part of a church plant, having the right expectations is one of the most helpful things when it comes to overcoming discouragement and maintaining a right perspective. There is nothing so sad as seeing someone who starts out excited to go and preach the gospel give up because it was more difficult than they expected. I don’t think anyone thinks starting a church will be easy, but sometimes we can be caught off guard by exactly why it is so hard. Jesus tell us we are to count the costs and follow Him. I believe that as we have a heart to reach nonbelievers and unchurched people in our communities, we need to also consider the mess that will bring. What do I mean by that? Ministry is messy!

I want to share something with you that I have come to expect when ministering to those that aren’t following Jesus yet…they act that way! I have come to a place where this doesn’t surprise me and I am not offended by it. I have seen first hand in my own life that the only way to overcome this is to be changed from the inside out through a personal revelation of who Jesus is and then accepting His grace by faith. This is what Jesus means when He talks about being spiritually born again (John 3:3-8). I was spiritually dead before I accepted God’s grace and lost in sin (Eph 2:1-5) and so is everyone who has yet put their faith in Jesus. Paul would even tell people that if they think Jesus Christ didn’t rise from the dead, they should be sinning as much as possible because this is the only life they have! (1 Cor 15:13-19). So I have come to expect people to live what they truly believe. And for those that don’t believe in Jesus as Lord, I expect them to be living in sin. The Bible teaches us that sin brings death. And that death is messy. 

I have to remember that the mess of ministry is actually an answer to many of our prayers. We prayed for many people to get saved and find life in Jesus Christ. And God has sent us to preach the gospel to people so they would have hope. I have had to understand that we are called to love people right where they are, and they don’t need to clean up their lives before they come to Jesus. God sends us into the brokenness, hurt, pain, and mess of people’s lives to shine the light of Jesus into their darkness. The Bible warns us that if we are to make disciples, this will take work and things won’t always be neat and tidy like we tend to like. 

Prov 14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox.

The more you serve people that are far from God, the more you will start to see that if you want to see life change around you, you are going to have to work in the messiness of people’s lives. Remember we are to love people, and that love makes a real difference in people’s lives. It was the real love of God that changed our lives when we were still in our mess of sin. The Bible tells us that Jesus died for us while we were still enemies of God, and because of that great love we are now able to know Him. God wants us to be His ambassadors not only with our words but our deeds as well. We have been given a true love that the world doesn't offer. We have the great chance to love people right in their mess of sin just as Jesus loved us. 

This is the answer for true life change. PREACHING THE GOSPEL! Paul believed this was the very power to save, so he needed to be preaching all the time! I have taken this to heart and have seen God work in people’s lives in ways I never could dream of on my own. This is one of the main reasons we have communion every week at our church.  This allows me to explain the Gospel and the implications of it every week. I believe if we can’t point people to Jesus through His Word every time we meet, we have failed. Jesus said that all scripture points to Him, so it should be very easy for us to use Scripture to bring people to Jesus and His heart. It is the only hope that truly satisfies and we need to be preaching Jesus every week as we gather as His bride. Not only is this good for our hearts as children of God, but for those that are far from God because they see it is only God’s grace that can truly change their lives. This is why we highly prioritize preaching the gospel: because only Jesus has the power to save! 

So, over time, I have come expect and the messiness and the difficulty that comes from pouring our lives into the lost and broken. And also to see that the only answer is always going to be Jesus. I hope you can join me in learning to embrace this beautiful of this side of ministry. 

In part 2 of this article, I will address 3 very practical ways I have found to love people through the messiness of life and reaching those far from God.

Be blessed,

Pastor Daniel

Thoughts On Prayer (pt2) by Daniel Williams

As I have read and studied the topic of prayer, I have come across so many wonderful insights into the topic by many men and women of God. These have helped me better understand prayer itself, the importance of praying, and how to pray. I hope you find them to be helpful for you as well. I am also including a link to a very valuable book on prayer that I read recently called, “Prayer” by Pastor Bruce Zachary. You can download the book for free, and I highly recommend it. I pray that you are encouraged and inspired by some of these thoughts and insights on prayer.

PRAYER & POWER

"If you are strangers to prayer you are strangers to power." - Billy Sunday

“Most of the great movements of God can be traced to a small group of people He called together to begin praying.” - Donald Whitney

“Little prayer, little power. Much prayer, much power.” - Rick Warren

PRAYER & TIME

“I’m too busy not to pray.” - Martin Luther

“That four hours of work for which one hour of prayer prepares, is far better than five hours of work without prayer.” - George Mueller

“I feel it is far better to begin with God - to see His face first, to get my soul near Him before it is near another.” - Robert Murray Mc Cheyne

“Praying, true praying, costs an outlay of serious attention and of time, which flesh and blood do not relish.” - E.M. Bounds

“Mastering the art of prayer, like any other art, will take time, and the amount of time we allocate to it will be the true measure of our conception of its importance. We contrive to find time for that which we deem most important.” - J. Oswald Sanders

PRAYER & METHODS

“The church’s organization, methods, marketing, and machinery are powerless to deliver apart from prayer.” - Bruce Zachary

“We are constantly straining to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Gospel. What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Spirit can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer.” - E.M. Bounds

PRAYER & FASTING

“Prayer links us to heaven and fasting separates us from earth.” - C.H. Spurgeon

"Fasting is typically associated with abstaining from food. Nevertheless, we can appropriate God’s power by drawing close to Him by abstaining from certain material pleasures. For example, you can say “no” to television so that you can say “yes” to God. By spending time praying and reading the Bible rather than watching television, we are in effect fasting." - Bruce Zachary

PRAYER & SATAN

“God’s child can conquer everything by prayer. Is it any wonder that Satan does his utmost to snatch that weapon from the Christian or to hinder his use of it.” - Andrew Murray

“Satan the hinderer may build a barrier about us, but He can never roof us in so that we cannot look up.” - J. Hudson Taylor

PRAYER & SUBMISSION

“Our motive in prayer should be for us to desire to do things God’s way, not to get God to do things our way.” - Bruce Zachary

Thoughts On Prayer (pt1) by Daniel Williams

As I have read and studied the topic of prayer, I have come across so many wonderful insights into the topic by many men and women of God. These have helped me better understand prayer itself, the importance of praying, and how to pray. I hope you find them to be helpful for you as well. I am also including a link to a very valuable book on prayer that I read recently called, “Prayer” by Pastor Bruce Zachary. You can download the book for free, and I highly recommend it. I pray that you are encouraged and inspired by some of these thoughts and insights on prayer.

PRAYER & IMPORTANCE

“Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking to God for men is greater still.” - E.M. Bounds

“As it is the business of tailors to make clothes and of cobblers to mend shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray.” - Martin Luther

“Prayer is the vital breath of Christians. Not the thing that makes us alive, but the evidence we are alive.” - Oswald Chambers

PRAYER & PLANNING

“Unless I’m badly mistaken, one of the main reasons so many of God’s children don’t have a significant prayer life is not so much that we don’t want to, but we don’t plan to. If you want to take a four-week vacation, you don’t just get up one summer morning and say, “Hey, let’s go today!” You won’t have anything ready. You won’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. But that is how many of us treat prayer. We get up day after day and realize that significant times of prayer should be a part of our life, but nothing’s ever ready. We don’t know where to go. Nothing has been planned. No time. No place. No procedure, And we all know that the opposite of planning is not a wonderful flow of deep, spontaneous experiences of prayer. The opposite of planning is the rut. If you don’t plan a vacation you will probably stay home and watch tv. The natural, unplanned flow of spiritual life sinks to the lowest ebb of vitality. There is a race to be run and a fight to be fought. If you want renewal in your life of prayer you must plan to see it.” - John Piper

PRAYER & GODILNESS

“The neglect of prayer is a grand hindrance to holiness.” - John Wesley

"Prayer is a means for spiritual acorns to become mighty spiritual oak trees." -Bruce Zachary

“Through prayer, our hearts are aligned with God’s heart so that we gain spiritual insight.”  - Bruce Zachary

“Prayer - secret, fervent, believing prayer - lies at the root of all personal godliness.” - William Carey

“What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in 19 cases out of 20, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy prayer much?” - JC Ryle

“This much we do know---Jesus prayed. Luke tells us ‘But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed’ (Luke 5:16). If Jesus needed to pray, how much more do we need to pray? Prayer is expected because we need it. We will not be like Jesus without it.” - Donald Whitney

PRAYER & GOD’S WORD

“The more familiar we are with God’s Word, the clearer His will is to us. The clearer His will is to us, the more confident we become that He will respond to our prayers.” - Bruce Zachary

“The great lack of our faith is that we do not know God.” - Andrew Murray

PRAYER & ACTION

"We learn most about prayer by praying." - Bruce Zachary

“Reading a book about prayer, listening to lectures and talking about it is very good, but it won’t teach you to pray. You get nothing without exercise, without practice. I might listen for a year to a professor of music plating the most beautiful music, but that won’t teach me to play an instrument.” - Andrew Murray

“Reading about prayer instead of praying will simply not do. But reading about prayer in addition to praying can be a valuable way to learn.” - Donald Whitney

PRAYER & PERSEVERANCE

“If the ships of prayer do not come home speedily, it is because they are more heavily freighted with blessings. - C.H. Spurgeon

“It is comforting to know that God is never late. However, He is rarely early. As we ask, and while we wait, we learn to depend on God.” - Bruce Zachary

“The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere. If they desire anything for God’s glory, they should pray until they get it.” - George Muller

DOWNLOAD A FREE EBOOK ON PRAYER:

You Are His Mission by Daniel Williams

YOU ARE HIS MISSION

The work of church planting is a crazy, exhilarating, draining, rewarding and faith-filled ride. It’s a different life than you lived before in many ways. Many of us left our homes and communities and immersed ourselves in a new place with new people and new surroundings. We’ve seen God provide for our families and our churches in miraculous ways. We’ve been moved to tears when we see a person drawn to Jesus for the first time. It’s often hard, but we wouldn’t choose anything else because God has called us to it and He is leading us faithfully! And yet, in this extraordinary work that God is doing in and through us, it becomes easy for us to forget that God’s love for US is what has compelled us to serve in these unusual ways in the first place.

GOD LOVES YOU, THE WORKER, NOT JUST THE WORK.

It has been said that God calls some to pastor (or to marry a pastor) just to keep that person that much closer to Him. God’s calling on your life is not merely to accomplish a mission through you. You are His mission as well! Have you seen God change you through this journey you’re on? I know that through our church planting journey, my relationship with Jesus has become more real and more a part of who I am than at any other time in my life. God knew this when He called me and when He called you. Never forget that it was His love for YOU that changed you and led you to this place in your life. It is his kindness to YOU that caused you to listen when He called you to plant a church.

REMEMBER YOUR FIRST LOVE

Don’t lose sight of this. Church plant or not. Pastor or not. Leader or not. God loves you. Let this simple message wash you today and reassure you. He doesn’t love you for what you do or how you may or may not see yourself or your ministry. Even if nobody else comes to your Sunday service, God is there to teach YOU. His mercies for YOU are new every morning. So, whatever your day or week looks like, be refreshed in the truth that Jesus is with you and will accomplish what He began in you from the very beginning. Your Saviour, your God. Remember Him and His love for you today.

Be blessed,

Daniel Williams

Meals As Ministry (pt3) by Daniel Williams

Meals open doors for God to work in and through our relationships with others, and we have been looking at specific ways we can see this at work! Today, we will look at 2 areas we can see in the Bible where God uses meals as an opportunity to serve and teach one another.

Meals are an opportunity to CELEBRATE

Culturally, we celebrate things with meals and food. Not only big holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but most special occasions tend to incorporate food. Jesus celebrated with people because the gospel was good. Christians should be celebrating as well and should be throwing the best parties because we have the best reason to rejoice! Our salvation! Jesus never leaves us or forsakes us, He is for us…so we should continually be excited and thankful!

Luke 5:27-29 says, “After this He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax    booth. And He said to him, ‘Follow Me.’ And leaving everything, he rose and followed Him. And Levi made Him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them.”

Invite people over to a party and celebrate God’s goodness! 

Deuteronomy 14:26 says, “And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice, you and your household.”

When we have people in our homes, it allows people to see what our lives are like. The kids arguing or making a mess is part of real life! People can see that we don’t celebrate because we have everything together, but because God is so good and we rejoice in HIS goodness!

Meals are an opportunity to CARE FOR PEOPLE

Sometimes, we can forget that there are people in need of something as basic as food. We know it is a problem in the world, but we can forget how much providing a simple dinner for someone can make a difference for them. John wrote in 1 John 3:17-18, “But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” 

Opening your home to people not only meets a physical need, but can also meet the even more important emotional need to feel loved and accepted. There is nothing worse than feeling out of place or unwelcome. When we open up our homes and our lives to people and make them feel at home there, they feel it. People know when they are truly welcome in your home and loved.

Hospitality is a very big deal for Christians, because LOVING PEOPLE is a very big deal! 

Romans 12:13 says, “Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.”  Being hospitable is even a requirement for elders in the church. We should be looking for opportunities to show hospitality to people! And watch how the Lord uses these times to show His love and mercy to people through you. You may not see the impact in that moment, but you can be sure that God will use it!

So, let me challenge you to ask God what opportunities you have to use meals to show His love to someone. Look for ways that you can share COMMUNITY and CONVERSATION (see part 2 of this series) with someone, CELEBRATE the goodness of God by having a gathering, and genuinely CARE FOR SOMEONE in need through hospitality. God will use you!

-Pastor Daniel

Meals As Ministry (pt2) by Daniel Williams

In Part 1 of this series, we talked about how using mealtimes as an opportunity to encourage someone is something we can all do! In the following post, you can read about several important ways that the Bible helps us view even our meals as opportunities for the gospel and discipleship.

Meals are an opportunity for COMMUNITY

Community is a real need that we all have. Having been made in the image of our triune God, we can see that God designed us to need one another and to meet this need through His people. We were made for community!

Genuine community takes time. 

Relationships with people do not develop without time and effort. Welcoming a person into our day, listening and sharing experiences—each of these things build on each other to create a friendship. Jesus did not only teach his disciples from messages—he traveled with them, ate with them, and shared experiences with them. Jesus is our perfect example of how we can use every opportunity to demonstrate the love and truth of God. 

Building friendship and establishing a sense of community will happen one step at a time. Even if it feels awkward in the beginning, every relationship has this stage of establishing common interests, getting to know the other person better, and finally feeling a sense of community and comfort with one another.

Remember that when we give our time, we show people that we love them. When a person feels loved by you, they will be much more open to allowing you to speak into their lives, and this will open doors for ministry to take place where it may not have before. 

Meals are an opportunity for CONVERSATION

Meals force us to be people oriented rather than task oriented. Sitting and eating with one another is an opportunity that we have to be still and have conversation. When we can no longer hide behind a project or busyness, we expose who we are in our conversation. We know that out of the heart, the mouth speaks which allows us to really get to know people through conversation. 

Let God fill your conversations.

God can use our conversations to help demonstrate His heart for people and encourage them. Proverbs 16:24 says, “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.” So, consider meals as an opportunity to love people with your words. Speak about the goodness of God. Bring up the promises of the Bible. Mention how you are seeing God at work in your own life. We are bombarded constantly with the lies and half-truths the world offers; we need to be hearing the truth of God more! 

So, remember to pray beforehand, that God will prepare you to speak His words during your time together! Once you begin to view meals as a way to be used by Jesus, you will be much more intentional about doing it! Look for Part 3 of this series for a few more ways to view mealtimes as opportunities for ministry.

-Pastor Daniel

Meals as Ministry (pt1) by Daniel Williams

Once you have known the love and mercy of Jesus in your life, there is no greater joy than sharing His love with someone. Jesus commands us to go into all the world and make disciples, and nothing brings greater fulfillment than stepping out and helping a person grow in their relationship with Jesus. (Matthew 28:18-20, John 20:21) I want nothing more than to obey my Savior and tell someone else about how much He loves them and what God has already done for them! But have you ever found yourself feeling ill-equipped or maybe you just don’t know where to start when it comes to discipling someone or even sharing Jesus? 

When my family came to Florida to start a church, we did not know anyone. We had no team, no church to invite people to, and wanted a way to form relationships and share Jesus with people who so desperately need Him. We had always loved having people over to our house to eat, and we decided to continue using this approach to building relationships and see what God would do through it! 

Meals are a practical and powerful means of connecting with people. 

Jesus used meals as an opportunity for ministry throughout His life. Robert Karris said, "In Luke's Gospel Jesus is either going to a meal, at a meal, or coming from a meal.”

Luke 7:34-35 says, “The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by all her children.” 

God is constantly using the everyday world around us to show us things about who He is. So, it makes sense that Jesus used every opportunity to teach those around Him, including meal times. It is amazing to note the number of times we hear some of the greatest teachings of Jesus come from a time sitting around a dinner table. 

The act of inviting someone into our home is becoming more rare as people are busier and connecting more and more through social media and texting rather than face to face. We have had many people tell us that our home was the first “real home” they had been to in years! Tim Chester wrote a book on this subject called “A Meal with Jesus.” “Few acts are more expressive of companionship than the shared meal….someone with whom we share food is likely to be our friend, or well on the way to becoming one.”    

We eat an average of 21 meals per week. 

It is a reasonable and attainable goal to plan out 1-2 of these meal times each week to connect with someone for the sake of discipleship! In a natural setting, eating a meal is an intimate and comfortable environment for real conversation.

So be encouraged that this is something you can do! Sometimes we may feel like what we are doing is not enough, or we feel at a loss in how we can better pour into someone’s life. This is a great starting point. Just as Jesus used meal times to pour into those around Him, we can begin to look for ordinary opportunities to do the same!

Be blessed,

Pastor Daniel 

Recommended Resources:

Recommended Reading: “A Meal with Jesus” by Tim Chester

Listen to a message I taught at Redemption Church on this subject: “Be On Mission with Meals”

Ask for Help

Nehemiah 1:11 "O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

We all need help. Most great leaders don’t know how to do everything and aren’t great at everything. But great leaders tend to have people on their team that cover their weaknesses. They recognize the value of other people’s strengths and aren’t intimidated to say they are weak in certain areas and need help. This important principle of teamwork is found in the Bible where it says “there are many parts, but one body.” (1 Corinthians 12). The apostle Paul uses the illustration of a body and how we all have a different role to play by God’s grace to accomplish great things to bring God glory. So rather than trying to be great at everything and get everything done by yourself, God tells us to walk in humility and work as a team to accomplish great things together.   But He also says pride can come in the way. 

We must ask for help. This may surprise you but I can’t read your mind…I don’t know what goes on in your heart..I am unaware of your all of your needs. Ok, that may not surprise you but you may find it surprising when people act as if these things are true. Sometimes great people that want to help you aren’t doing so simply because they don’t know you want help. You never actually asked them for help, and they may just be waiting for you to ask. 

Communication is key to any relationship, and many relationships suffer because of communication. Sometimes we aren’t prideful but we never communicate our need for help. We don’t want to bother anyone, we want to try to do it all alone, or we just want to take on too much. We are to ask people on our team to help us and to use their strengths to benefit the team. A great leaders is not someone who does it all but rather a great leader knows the gifts and strengths of the people that are following him and uses their gifts and abilities to benefit the whole team. This must takes place though good communication where the leader has to communicate clearly the needs, give clear expectations, and ask people to get things done. 

We can ask for help from God. Have you ever thought about this? The Bible says that we can join God to accomplish great things and bring Him glory—that we become a part of God’s team. How awesome is this! This means we can ask God for help. In our weaknesses, we can have someone from our team cover us with their strength’s. It almost seems unfair because God is better at everything we are so if this principle is true we would keep on asking God to do everything. Exactly. It’s called a life of dependence, and 1 Thessalonians 5:17 actually exhorts us to live this way by saying, “Pray without ceasing.” We can actually communicate with God through prayer and ask Him for help.

We see Nehemiah praying and saying, “Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Nehemiah went to God in prayer for help and relied on God to come through. He recognized that he needed help and communicated to someone who could help him. We must not let our pride get in the way of asking God for help in our time of need ,and we must communicate with Him through prayer. The Bible tells us that in our weakness He is made strong and He gives grace to the humble.  Just as you would ask people on your team for help to accomplish great things, ask God for help today and allow His strengths to cover you. 

The same playing field

Nehemiah 1:6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. 

All leaders have followers. If you are out ahead and no one is following you, then you probably are not a leader. We must understand that we all play different roles and we need each other. The Bible tells us that leadership is a gift from God and is given to leaders by grace. What will make a person into a great leader is walking in humility. We need to recognize that we are all equal,  living our lives to glorify Jesus. God has given us different roles, gifts and abilities all by His grace and exhorts us to uses our position, gifts, and abilities for His glory. Just because we have different roles doesn’t mean we are ever more important than anyone else. We have the same goals in mind as we serve Jesus—we are all on the same playing field trying to win.

Nehemiah recognized this as he addressed the remnant of people that were living in despair. Why? Because he understood that both he and the people were sinners—imperfect people. He could have easily said that the remnant in Jerusalem deserved what they got because they had sinned against God, but he understood that he wasn’t perfect either. He says in this verse,  “We have sinned against You. Even I and my father's house have sinned.” Just because he was in a different position didn’t change the fact that he was imperfect as well. He understood that his position of cup bear was given by God’s grace.

It is hard sometimes as a leader not to elevate yourself and become prideful. You are doing so much, and it can be very easy to have pride slip in. You can actually think that you are better or even on a different level than the people you are trying to lead. But we aren’t better than our followers. We are all sinners, and we are all in desperate need of Jesus in our lives.

Those that understand they are just a piece in a larger puzzle are often more gracious. I want to be more gracious and non judgmental with those I lead because I know that I make mistakes as well. I know that I blow it. I know that I am a sinner. We see Nehemiah going to God with this truth rather than putting people down to elevate himself. I have come to find out that when I go to God with my sin and imperfections He is able to handle it all and lovingly forgive me. Jesus deals with my sin perfectly and has graciously loved me. So when I go to God with my sin as Nehemiah did,  I find love and hope in Him. This helps me lead people better because now I don’t have to put others down to deal with my imperfections. I can now help others by pointing them to Jesus to deal with their sins and imperfections. I can testify of His loving grace and encourage other to go to Him for strength. I can say WE are on the same playing field and we all need grace.