Learn from Nehemiah to Live in Resurrection, Love God, and Work with the Saints to Build

We need to learn from Nehemiah to live in resurrection, love God and His interests, be unselfish, apply ourselves to work with the saints to build up the church, and end this age in oneness with the Lord.

In reading the book of Nehemiah we are impressed with the pattern of Nehemiah as one who lived not in his natural man but in resurrection, being aggressive and having a pure heart for the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in carrying out God’s economy; he’s a pattern of what a leader among God’s people should be.

The Lord helps those who help themselves, that is, He helps those who are aggressive in a proper way.

If we give ourselves to the Lord for His purpose, we cannot be passive; we can’t just wait for God to do everything, but we will take the initiative and do certain things for the Lord and in the Lord.

If we want to be properly aggressive, we need to fear the Lord; we love Him, and we also fear Him, being in fear of losing His precious presence.

We don’t want to miss the Lord’s smile, and His sweet instant presence with us in this age, and we don’t want to miss His reward in the next age.

Rather, we want to be one with the Lord in doing all things, having His smile with us and upon us.

May we learn from Nehemiah to be properly aggressive in the things of the Lord and His people.

Though others may persecute us or speak evil things about us, we simply need to bring all things to the Lord in prayer, opening to Him concerning all things.

Nehemiah simply opened up all things that happened to him, the reactions that others had toward him, and even the situation of the people, to the Lord.

He brought it all to Him in prayer. As something was happening, even as he was dealing with a certain issue, he kept committing all things to the Lord, to the One who judges righteously.

He really had a constant fellowship with the Lord, and his heart was very pure. May we be such ones today.

May we not be cowardly, even in the face of criticism and opposition; may we simply open all things to the Lord and allow Him to take our burdens, our cares, and our anxieties.

And may we be one with the Lord for the building up of the church, in particular, for the building and bringing in of the kingdom of God for Him to have a realm to rule and reign on the earth.

The Lord did not give us the spirit of a “chicken”, someone who is a coward and runs away in fear; He gave us a spirit of power and of love and of sober-mindedness.

When we exercise our spirit, we contact the Lord, and we are full of power, love, and sober-mindedness.

We will see things as the Lord sees them, and we will be one with Him in all things.

May we remain in the contact with the Lord today.

May we contact Him every day, even throughout the day, so that we may be infused with Himself and partake of all that He is.

Live in Resurrection, being Properly Aggressive, Loving God, being Unselfish, and Loving God’s Interests

We need to be those who live in resurrection today.

Nehemiah was a person who did not live in his natural man but in resurrection; he was aggressive, but his aggressiveness was accompanied by many other characteristics.

What does it mean for us not to live in our natural man but live in resurrection? We need to deal with our natural man and with the self again and again.

This is typified in Lev. 14:8 by the shaving of the hair of a man; the hair of the head signifies the glory of man, the beard represents the honour of a man, the eyebrows speak of the beauty of a man, and the hair of the whole body denotes the natural strength of man.

Everyone has something to boast about; some boast of their ancestry, their lineage, or their character and background.

Others boast of their zeal for the Lord. Our natural man needs to be shaved off.

We need to have this experience of shaving off the natural man and the self daily; this is not done just once for all but every day, even as we need to shave every day (most of men who have their facial hair grow daily).

Sometimes someone may come to us and say, Brother, you need to turn to your spirit! And our response may be, I’ve been in the church life for many years, why would you say something like that to me?

This is our beauty, our naturally good and strong points that come out of our being. Oh, Lord.

We need to deal with the things that come from our natural strength, our natural methods and opinions, and our capability that is not in resurrection.

We need to come to the Lord again and again and deal with these things.

We need to let the Lord expose the natural man, and we need to repudiate and forsake the natural man and the self in all aspects.

We need to live not in the natural man but in resurrection. We need to live in resurrection.

We need to allow the razor of the cross to deal with the natural man and the self.

And the cross is in the spirit; once we turn to our spirit, the cross is simply applied to our natural man and the self, and we are in resurrection.

Nehemiah was one who loved God and also loved God’s interests on earth; he loved the Holy Land and the holy temple and the holy city (1 Kings 8:48).

We need to be those who, in our relationship with God, love God and also love His interests on the earth.

We need to love God and love Christ, the church, and the kingdom of God (2 Tim. 3:1-5).

As a person who loved God, Nehemiah was a dispensational instrument that God could use to turn the age.

He prayed to contact God in fellowship; for the rebuilding of the wall, Nehemiah stood on God’s word and prayed according to it (Neh. 1:1-11; 2:4; 4:4-5, 9).

He realized that it was God’s desire for the wall to be built so that He would have a kingdom on earth, so he stood on God’s word.

We need to realize that it is God’s desire to bring in the kingdom of God, and He wants the church to be built up to be the kingdom of God on earth, the stepping stone for His return.

Therefore, we need to stand on God’s word and pray according to it, and the Lord will do it.

Nehemiah trusted in God and even became one with God; as a result, he became the representative of God (Neh. 5:19; 2 Cor. 5:20).

We are ambassadors of Christ; on behalf of Christ, we are ambassadors, and we entreat others to be reconciled to God.

We should not misrepresent God before man, nor should we give others a wrong impression of what God is to those who are younger.

The Lord Jesus was a person full of kindness and love, and the kindness of God leads us to repentance; when we meet others, we are ambassadors of Christ, representing Him to them.

In his relationship with the people, Nehemiah was unselfish, without any self-seeking or self-interest (Neh. 5:10, 14-19).

He was always willing to sacrifice what he had for the people and for the nation. We need to be such ones in spirit.

We need to live in resurrection, love God, love God’s interests on earth, pray to contact God, stand on the word of God, trust in God, be one with God, and be unselfish, caring only for the interests of God.

Christ in us can be such a One.

He is the real Nehemiah, and He lives in us; we can lay our hands on Him and be one with Him to live such a life on earth for the building up of the church and the enlargement of the kingdom of God.

Lord Jesus, we love You! We love Your interest on the earth. We love Christ, the church, and the kingdom of God. We just love You, Lord, and we love to spend time with You in prayer to contact You and fellowship with You. We stand on Your word, and we pray according to Your word. It is Your desire to build up the church and gain the kingdom of God on earth; we say Amen, Lord to it in us and among us in the church life today! We trust in You. We want to be one with You. We want to live in resurrection. Make us Your ambassadors, Your representatives on earth. Be expressed through us. Have a way to live in us today. Save us from being selfish; save us from having any self-seeking or self-interest. May we be always willing to sacrifice what we are and have for the interests of God, for Christ and the church. Amen, Lord, live in us for the building up of the church as the kingdom of God!

Having a Pure heart, being Ready to Fight the Enemy, and Working with the Saints to Build the Church

Nehemiah was a governor, having the position of a king; however, he was a man with a pure heart for the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in carrying out God’s economy.

He was a pattern of what a leader among God’s people should be (1 Tim. 3:2-7; 1 Pet. 5:1-3).

He was not like the other kings of Israel and Judah; he was not selfish, neither did he seek his own interests, nor was he indulgent in sexual lusts.

So many of the kings of Judah and Israel failed God by seeking their own interests and being indulgent in sexual lusts; Nehemiah, however, did not do this. Even King David indulged in sexual lust, but Nehemiah did not.

Therefore, he was qualified to enjoy the top portion of the land – the kingship of the good land promised by God to His elect.

Instead of being self-seeking, instead of amassing land and riches for himself and his family, Nehemiah fed others for the purpose of building up the wall.

He was allotted a certain amount from the king to take care of his needs and the needs of his family, but he spent it all to feed those who helped with the building of the wall.

If we look at human history, we may say that Nehemiah was the only leader of a nation who behaved in such a way, so God used him very much.

As the commander in chief, Nehemiah was among those who were ready to fight against the enemy, and he took part in the night watch (Neh. 4:9-23).

He was the leader, the governor, but he didn’t leave these matters to others to do – he participated in them himself.

He was such a pattern to us. If you read these verses in Nehemiah 4 you will see that he was there with the people, building the wall.

He was not afraid of the enemies but rather, prayed and brought all things to God in prayer, and he encouraged the people to do the work of the building.

Nehemiah received help from God to carry out great success in the work of rebuilding the wall of the city of Jerusalem.

May we consider his example today in the church life, and may we learn from the pattern of his living and work.

May we be those who love God and His interest on earth, and may we take care of Christ and the church with all that we are and have.

When the enemy attacks and there are problems, we should simply come to the Lord, be one with Him in prayer, and fight for the brothers.

We need to fight for one another in the work of building up the church as the Body of Christ and as the kingdom of God.

Nehemiah and his brothers didn’t eat the food appointed for the governor for twelve years because of the fear of God (Neh. 5:14-15).

Rather, he applied himself to work on the city wall without any kind of payment. He was not self-seeking; rather, he fed others for the purpose of building up the wall (vv. 16-18).

Although Nehemiah was the ruler, he was altogether not ambitious.

When he saw the need for the nation to be reconstituted, he realized he doesn’t have this portion, so he recognized the need of Ezra for the reconstitution of the people of God with the word of God (8:1-10; Phil. 2:3-4).

We could say that Nehemiah was the perfect leader, the best leader in human history; he was the best example of what an elder should be.

It is worthwhile for us, especially the leading ones in the churches, to consider his example so that we may be a pattern of gaining God and flowing out God to others in order to turn the age (Neh. 5:19; 13:14).

All the saints in the church life need to consider the pattern of Nehemiah and bring these matters to the Lord.

We should not try to get everyone to like us in the church life, nor should we be rough and blunt in our dealings with them; we need to live in spirit and express Christ to others as we live the church life.

Lord Jesus, grant us to have a pure heart for the building up of the church as the kingdom of God. We want to live in the mingled spirit and have a pure heart in carrying out God’s economy. Save us from being selfish. Save us from seeking our own interests or indulging in lust. May we be one with You all the time, being ready to fight the enemy and labour with the saints for God’s building. Amen, Lord, we want to apply ourselves to the work of building the church. Save us from any ambition for position or recognition. Show us our need for others. Build and blend us together. Oh Lord, make us those who gain God and flow out God to others in order to turn the age. Have a way in our being. Keep us open to you. Keep us in constant fellowship with You. Make us part of the dispensational instrument that You need to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by Ed Marks in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Nehemiah, msgs. 1-5 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther (2022 winter training), week 7, entitled, Nehemiah – a Pattern of One who has Dispensational Value to God.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – In the stream! in the stream! let us work for the Lord, / By His mind, in His way, as revealed in His Word; / In the flow of His life let us work with His pow’r / For His Kingdom and Church in the time of His hour. (Hymns #909 stanza 1)
  – Who then will choose God’s best, / And take the narrow track, / Though passing thru the wildest storms, / Yet never turning back? / Who now will dare press on, / Enduring pain and fear? / All such will then rejoice to see / Jesus, the Lord, is near! / Though deep the darkness be / We still would onward go, / Till we the day of rapture greet / And glory ‘round shall glow. / ’Tis there we’ll see the Lord, / And Satan overcome; / The overcomers will rejoice, / Jesus, the Lord. has come! (Hymns #893 stanzas 5-6)
  – We’re in the local church, / God’s chosen ground; / Here we have Christ as life / And blessings all abound. / “In spirit, on the ground” / Our battle cry; / And we will overcome the enemy / To bring the kingdom nigh. (Hymns #1260)