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Rise Up and Build....

by Shannon Heiden  
3/16/2009 / Devotionals

So I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build.
(Nehemiah 2:20) NKJV

Recently, the Lord has placed the word Navigate on my heart. Everywhere I go whether it is driving on the road and a truck in front of me has the word Navigate on the back of it or opening a magazine at work and there is a whole page with a compass and the word Navigate in it, to even walking downstairs in the morning while the house is quiet to open my Bible and there it is again, in bold letters, Navigate.

So upon discerning the signs that the Lord has something to say, I further look into what Navigate means. Websters describes Navigate as; to sail over, on, or through - to make one's way over or through.

To make ones way over or through, that is a very interesting definition considering that in the Christian life many of the trials we endure are usually won by going through them to get over them.

I once heard a wise person say, "the only way out is through." Anything that we are not willing to walk through we cannot overcome. I have come to grasp that to truly know triumph one must first know trouble.

Why do we lose sight of the fact that Jesus had to die in order to be resurrected? Night always comes before the day dawns, and to be victorious one must first have something to victor over.

Nehemiah was a man who didn't allow his circumstance to defeat him. Nehemiah saw a problem; the city walls were broke down and instead of sitting around and being discouraged about it, agreeing with the problem by just talking about how terrible it was, he took action.

He used his position with the king as an influence to find favor and rally support to fulfill the burden God placed in his heart. Nehemiah didn't just want to do something, he actually did do something. He didn't just think about it, he did as he thought.

I wonder how much we could actually get done if we had this same attitude? I wonder how many lives we could touch if we would just lose our appetite for thinking and just did something? How many lives could we touch by just touching one life? It says in my Bible that "anyone can steer a ship, but it takes a leader to chart the course."

Didn't Jesus say to count the cost of following him that in order to find our life we must first lose it? How many times have we steered the ship and ended up drifting so far from our destination? How many times have we pushed the Lord, the Captain of our life, out of the way and taken that little rudder and charted our own course because we didn't want the boat to rock, the waves were scary and the water seeped into our ship?

How many times have we lost focus on the fact that he didn't place us in our jobs or in people's lives for money and comfort but for influence? How many of us have the ear of a king and we fail to speak in it?

I believe that the Lord wants to say that He has a charted course for each of us, He has our life mapped out from beginning to end, the Lord recently told me, " No man can thwart my plans, not even you" ouch that hurt. I didn't realize that somehow I was foolish enough to think that I am powerful enough to mess up Gods plan for me, oh I know I get in the way, but God is much bigger and stronger than I am and He knows exactly how to turn this ship around....

Sometimes it is easy to forget that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. (Psalm 37:23) KJV

After Nehemiah went to the king and found favor to go about the plans he had to rebuild, he then was joined by others who were inspired to follow him in his work; "so they said, let us rise up and build." then they set their hand to do this good work. " (Nehemiah 2:20) NKJV

I think it is time to follow the direction the Lord has placed in our hearts. It is time to rise up from these ashes of mediocrity and complacency, self doubt and unbelief and build up the Kingdom of God and set our hand to do this good work.

It is said that; "everything you need is in the house." I guess I could reword that and say everything we need is on the boat. God has already provided all the favor, strength, fortitude, creativity, blessing, and purpose we need.

He has set the course and mapped the way out for us. We will have to go through whatever storms He has allowed to come before us, knowing that when the storm wanes, He has a beautiful rainbow awaiting us. God desires for us to trust Him the whole ride, even if He is resting while we are not, trusting that the trials and hardships are meant to define our faith not destroy it.

Navigate- to make ones way through or over.

And Jesus said unto them; let us go over to the other side.
Mark 4:35

Shannon Heiden
[email protected]
changingonelifereachingmany.typepad.com

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