A Word With You
By Ron Hutchcraft
#5182 - Never Out of Touch
Nehemiah 2:4
One of our common send-offs to people is, "Hey, keep in touch!" Well, today
we can do that better than ever. Just take telephones, for example. We've
got them everywhere - for better or worse. Many of us have phones in
several rooms at home or wireless phones so we can take a call or make a
call anywhere from the backyard to the bathroom. When I get on the plane,
there's a phone in front of me. And, of course, with cell phones we can be
in contact with people, and they with us, virtually anywhere. Take a
businessperson or an investor, for example. He or she can be in contact
from home, in their car, at their office, or as they're walking into the
grocery store. Actually, one of the secrets of successful people is doing a
good job of keeping in touch.
One of God's great success stories in the Old Testament is a man named
Nehemiah, who conceived, organized and directed the rebuilding of
Jerusalem's walls and gates in 52 days! He never got a beeper message or an
email saying, "Call your office," but he was never out of touch. He's a
fantastic model of how our success depends on how good a job we do of
keeping in touch with heaven.
Nehemiah did it everywhere! For example, when he heard the bad news about
the need in Jerusalem, he was in his room. And Nehemiah 1:4 says, "When I
heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted
and prayed before the God of heaven." First response to bad news: go right
to God. So, he stays in touch when he's at home.
Then, in our word for today from the Word of God, he's at "work." He works
in the throne room of the King of Persia. In Nehemiah 2:4 it says, "The
king said to me, 'What is it you want?' Then I prayed to the God of heaven,
and I answered the king." He's about to ask the king's help in rebuilding
his city. It's a pressure moment in front of the most powerful man in the
land, but even there in a tense moment at work, Nehemiah stays in touch
with heaven so he can get the right answer.
Later, Nehemiah is in the middle of the project and their enemies threaten
to shut them down. But in the middle of a major project, Nehemiah says,
"Hear us, O our God. Turn their insults back on their own heads." (Nehemiah
4:4) Again, stay in touch with your God wherever you are. Then, when the
opposition is closing in, it says, "They all plotted together ... but we
prayed to our God." (4:8-9)
Here's the life principle: make prayer a lifestyle, not a compartment. It's
called "acknowledging the Lord in all your ways" (Proverbs 3:6) - noticing
the Lord's presence all through your day. Getting ready in the morning,
traveling to work or school, in the house, your car, at your workplace, at
a restaurant, a meeting, or as you exercise - getting in touch with your
Lord!
The tragedy is that we tend to put God in this prayer compartment. We
acknowledge His presence maybe a couple of times a day. We have our little
prayer time in the morning, have a little prayer time at night, or
occasionally say thanks before a meal. Then, we live the really important
parts of our day ignoring Him. But noticing Jesus throughout your day,
consciously getting in touch with Him, through all of it - even it's only
for a moment - well, that will make all the difference in how you handle
things.
We live in a world that's wired for constant communication because we
understand that success depends on staying in touch. But the "Office" that
you most need to stay in touch with is actually a Throne Room - the one
from which the entire universe is governed. Jesus said, "I am with you
always." Your success depends on you staying in touch.
© 2007 Ron Hutchcraft..
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"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been
forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it."
Matthew 11:12
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