How to Recognize a Real ManSample

Day Four – God Uses Regular Joes

What amazes me about the story of Nehemiah, is it displays the incredible impact one ordinary man can have on his culture when he dares to believe God and take action. Because this regular joe had the guts to put feet to his faith, it triggered a chain reaction of men banding together with him.

Nehemiah was a guy with a secular job and a secular boss. He wasn’t in ministry. But he loved God and was a faithful employee. God delights in taking regular men with conviction and doing extraordinary things through them.

An Israelite by birth, Nehemiah had parents who had chosen to remain in Persia, which placed him there for the appointed time.

In Nehemiah 1:3, Nehemiah got news from Jerusalem. The report grieved his heart. He wept over the sons and daughters and what was happening to his home city. He was convicted of the national sins of Israel, but he was also personally convicted to do the right thing, which meant taking action. As he cried out and grieved, God put it in his heart what to do at Jerusalem (Neh. 2:12).

When an ordinary man grieves over how his culture has been reduced to rubble and how his own personal walls are broken down, and that man prays, don’t be surprised what God puts in his heart to do.

The good news is this: broken-down walls can be restored!

What has God put in your heart to do?