Friend, what burdens your heart? In the Bible we read of a man named Nehemiah. He was burdened because the walls around Jerusalem had been torn down and burned by the enemy, the King of Babylon. The walls around ancient cities spoke to the glory of the city and to the glory of the God that city worshipped. So when the walls around Jerusalem were torn down it was a reproach on God’s people, God’s city and on God Himself. Nehemiah couldn’t sleep at night because the walls were torn down.
What walls do you see in your own life that need repair? What are the broken walls in the lives of those around you, your community, city, your country that leave you sleepless at night? It doesn’t take long for us to observe the work of the enemy, just watch the evening news broadcast. People are God’s most prized creation and His enemy is working hard to bring devastation. Instead of living as shining testimonies of God’s grace and power, the enemy desires us to be heaps of rubble and defeat.
Understand this important truth, revival never comes until there is a burden, but a burden alone is nothing more than discomfort. We need a burden that leads us to Action!
When reading the book of Nehemiah in the Bible you find him sitting down after he heard the walls of Jerusalem were torn down. He did what burdens are meant to force us to do, he wept, he mourned, he prayed, and he fasted. However, after he had spent his time on his knees, Nehemiah rose up with a determination to make a difference.
What Nehemiah did next is exactly what we must do once we have prayed and sought the favor of God concerning our burden. He seized the opportunity to make a difference!
“The king said to me, ‘What is it you want?’ Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, ‘If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.’”
(Nehemiah 2: 4-5 NIV)
After carrying his burden for four months, Nehemiah could hold back no longer. He knew that it was against Persian law to be sad in the presence of the King. Though he was a slave to the Persian King, Nehemiah knew he had live on the edge, step out of his comfort zone, put it all on the line and approach the King. His life would have been nothing more than meaningless duties had he not followed the burden God had placed in his heart.
In 1855, a young Sunday School teacher in Chicago was burdened for the spiritual condition of young men in the city. On a particular day in April, he walked into Horton’s shoe store to share his Christian testimony with a young salesman named Dwight l. Moody.
D.L. was converted to Christ that day and God ignited a burning passion in his soul to tell others about Jesus Christ. He soon became a preacher of the Gospel and during from one of his sermons J. Wilbur Chapman came to faith in Christ. J. Wilbur Chapman became a preacher of the Good News of Jesus and from one of his sermons, Billy Sunday was spiritually reborn. Billy became a great evangelist and from his ministry Mordecai Ham gave his life to Jesus. One night in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1934, a young farm boy surrendered his life to Christ at the end of a sermon preached by Mordecai Ham. This young man would become the most famous evangelist of the twentieth century, Billy Graham.
Think of the impact one trembling Sunday School teacher has made for Jesus simply because he let his burden lead into action.
Only God knows the impact your life will make if you are willing to live on the edge where faith and obedience are required. Only God knows the difference you can make if you will put legs on your burden.
You have but one life to live, live it for Jesus.
