Kristi Burchfiel

Nehemiah 9:1-15 starts out a chapter of the worship service of the people. They have all gathered together and they begin these first versus with a recounting of all the great and marvelous things that God has done for them through their history. They recognize and praise God for all that he has done. Are there points in our lives where we go through and think about all the blessings that God has bestowed upon us? Do we praise him and thank him for everything he has done in our lives? The people knew their history because they spoke about it so often and they knew how God’s hand had…

As long as we still have breath, it’s never too late to be obedient. As we see in Nehemiah 8:13-18, the people have not been obedient to celebrate the festival of booths for many, many generations. Yet, they make the decision, while reading through the Law that they need to do this. God will direct us to do things, but occasionally we get distracted by other things and we fail to follow through on obedience. God is still there and waiting for us to repent and be obedient to Him. He knows that through our obedience we get to experience God. Are we willing to go back to that thing…

How do we respond to hearing the Word of God? The people that Nehemiah and Ezra were speaking to had a response we don’t see a lot. Looking in Nehemiah 8:9-12, they had just had a great worship service and the people were so moved by the reading of God’s Word that they were in tears weeping. Nehemiah and Ezra had to remind them that this was supposed to be a happy celebration time. They then gave them practical steps to take for them to act upon their feelings. They were able to put into action all the concerns that they felt so that gave them an outlet for all…

It’s time for a worship service! Nehemiah has the prophet Ezra lead the people in a wordhip service to have the people focus on God and all that God has done for them. We see thus in Nehemiah 8:1-8. Not only did the people listen to God’s Word, they also listened to the explanation and application of God’s Word. When we study God’s Word do we look for ways to apply it to our lives? Just reading it does not ensure we will live it out. We must make a conscious choice to follow the teachings we learn there. What will we learn and choose to follow today?

A whole lot of numbers going on! Reading through the rest of Nehemiah chapter 7 can be a bit challenging. Lots of names and numbers as scripture records the listing of people and their gifts. It can be tempting to overlook this chapter. However, a couple of exciting truths can be found here. First, God is concerned about names. We may not know who these people are, but God does and He deemed them worthy to be included in scripture. Names matter to God. He knows our name and He records our names in the Lambs book of Life if we have believed in and followed Him. I can certainly…

The wall has been built! However, Nehemiah’s leadership is not over. In Nehemiah chapter 7, verses 1 through 4, we see Nehemiah continuing to take a strong leadership role. However, he delegates his position to others in order to establish more of a long-term leadership solution. He doesn’t keep the leadership role for himself, instead he seeks to find capable people who he can entrust that role. He delegates his brother and another Godly man who he trusts to be the ones in charge of the wall that they have now built. The people put this together, but now they need to man it and make it strong so that…

Nehemiah and his group finally complete the work that God has given them to do. In Nehemiah chapter 6, verses 15 through 19, we seen the amazing and miraculous completion of this group of people dedicated to doing what God had them to do. In only 52 days they were able to completely rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Now that’s cause for celebration! Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean the end of trouble for Nehemiah. Sometimes we think once we’ve actually completed the work that God gives us to do that means we’re free from persecution and strife. No. The enemy still is looking to discredit and to cause the downfall of…

In Nehemiah chapter 6 verses 10 through 14, we see yet another attempt by the enemy. They were threatening Nehemiah’s life. So one of their fake Prophets, comes to Nehemiah and tells him, “Look, go into the temple and hide. You’ll be safe there.” However, Nehemiah kew that what they were asking him to do was wrong. And doing the wrong thing even for a seemingly right reason, is still wrong. The same holds true for us today. We must understand that God’s holiness demands that we be obedient to him in all areas. There will be some things where being obedient to God is not the easy or the…

Distraction. Satan loves to use distraction to switch our focus off of what God has for us to do. In Nehemiah 6:1-9 we see the enemies trying to distract Nehemiah. The work is going well and nearing completion, but now the enemies are trying to get Nehemiah to leave the work and come to a meeting wth them. When he continues to refise, they spread lies about him. All things done to try to distract the Nehemiah from the purpose that God has given him. Nehemiah responded that he didn’t have time to be distracted and kept working. He turned their distractions over to God and got back to work.…

Do we model the Christian Life for others? In Nehemiah chapter 5, starting in verse 14 through 19, we see Nehemiah in a position of leadership setting the example for how a believer should act in a position of leadership. Nehemiah demonstrates and models that idea of servant leadership. He doesn’t use his power and authority to oppress the people or to demand more from them, he uses it as an opportunity to serve the people and to demonstrate what true servant leadership looks like. Today, we can read book after book about the importance and the effectiveness of servant leadership. Nehemiah obviously knew God would have him lead. How…