Rebuilding Our Broken WorldSample

Called to Lead

By Michael Youssef, Ph.D.

As we look around us, it is painfully obvious that the walls of our culture have crumbled. The walls of the church are in ruins. And the walls of many families are broken down.

God is calling us to be the Nehemiahs of our time -- people who will step up and lead in a time that is bereft of leadership.

All of us are called to be leaders in some arena of life – whether in the home, on your campus, in your church, in your office, in your ministry, in your military unit, or in your civic organization. God has equipped you with gifts for leadership and serving. As a leader, you must be prepared to spend time alone with God, listening to Him and allowing yourself to be prepared, trained, and commissioned by Him to step out and lead.

Much as Nehemiah surveyed the wreckage of Jerusalem, as we survey the wreckage of our culture, from the shattered gates of our education system to the rubble of moral relativism, it would be easy for us to feel overwhelmed and discouraged by the enormity of the task to rebuild. But like Nehemiah, we serve a God who is greater than all the powers of this world. Let that fact encourage and inform you as you seek to rebuild in the arena God has placed you.

Nehemiah began to rebuild by exhorting and encouraging the people of Jerusalem, but not only that, he also identified with the people he would lead. He included himself in the work with the people, saying, “Let us build the wall” (Nehemiah 2:17). Using Nehemiah as a role model, be ready to serve and to work alongside the people you lead so that you might all lift one another out of the rubble and onto solid walls by the power of God.

Prayer: God, help me to see the ways You would have me lead in the different arenas in which You have placed me. May I lead with humility and rest in You, laying down self to obey Your will. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“‘Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.’ . . . They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So they began this good work” (Nehemiah 2:17-18).