Saturday, June 4, 2016

leadership qualities of Nehemiah 513 - 4 - 5

CM shared Donald K. Campbell concise list of the many characteristics of effective leadership evidenced by Nehemiah including:
7. He prayed at crucial times: The Book of Nehemiah opens and closes with prayer.
2. He had a sense of mission:
Psalm 137:1-4, "1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. 2 We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. 3 For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. 4 How shall we sing the LORD'S song in a strange land? 5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. 6 If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. "
3. He was willing to get involved as 5. He patiently waited for God’s timing.
Nehemiah waited for four months, from Kislev (Nov-Dec) to Nisan (March-April) for an opportunity to appeal to the King concerning Israel. Nehemiah 2:2, “Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart."
6. He showed respect to his superior:
"Then I was very sore afraid,” and with good reason, appearing before the King with sadness might be interpreted as dissatisfaction. However, Nehemiah respectfully answered a question with a question, "why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?"
9. He was well prepared and thought of his needs in advance:
That Nehemiah knew the name of the man in charge of the King’s forest near Jerusalem implies that he had researched both problems and the possible solutions.
These are just a few of the 21 characteristics of effective leadership listed by Donald K. Campbell. As Christians do we have an equivalence in the Psalm, “Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth” if I forget….
As God’s ambassadors are we willing to get involve and do our research while being in prayer and waiting upon the Lord? Do we respect others’ beliefs while witnessing? Nehemiah did not argue with opponents.
Do we, as did Nehemiah, “display God’s confidence in facing obstacles and not become discouraged by opposition?”
Perhaps most importantly Nehemiah courageously used the authority of his position provided by his earthly king, do we Christians use the authority given us by our heavenly King Lord Jesus?

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