“When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.” – Nehemiah 1:4, (NIV)
God uses people….people just like you to do His Kingdom work. Friend, you have been chosen to be an instrument of God’s mighty work in this world. He has a plan for you personally, for your family, your career, your place in society, and for your work through the local church.
The secret to finding your God-ordained purpose is directly linked to your God-given burden! That’s right, your God-given burden. Now, I’ve never met a person who enjoys a burden. We live in a society that tries every way imaginable to do away with burdens. We buy our food prepackaged and precooked so all we have to do is warm it up in the microwave. We carry cell phones that are actually small computers voice activated and ready to give us driving directions, send a text, pull up our email accounts, and yes, even make phone calls. We even have cars that will parallel park themselves so we don’t have to strain our necks by looking over our shoulder.
Let’s be honest, we are a comfort seeking, comfort demanding society. Even in our churches, we want the music to be loud enough, but not too loud. We don’t want to be too cool or too warm. We want a Bible – based, theologically deep, practical, relevant sermon, as long as it doesn’t last more than 20 minutes. We want heaven to come down and glory to fill our soul in sixty minutes or less.
But societies don’t change, lives aren’t transformed, and revival never impacts a congregation until we are blessed with a God-given burden. When Nehemiah heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and that the people of God were living in reproach he sat down, mourned, prayed and fasted to the God of heaven.
Do you have a burden? Is there a heaviness in your soul when you see the broken lives in your city, your community, your nation? Does your heart yearn to be closer to God, to be more like Jesus? Nehemiah prayed and sought the favor of God. He was just a cupbearer for the King of Persia, yet God would lead him to bring revival to the City of Jerusalem. Friend, never underestimate what God can and will do through your life if you let Him give you a burden and then seek His favor.
