Nehemiah’s Leadership Skills

Nehemiah was the son of Hacaliah and he was also the cupbearer of the Persian king Artaxerxes. He was putting on a sad face and the king did not like that and asked him why he was sad, though afraid he answered that the city in which his fathers had been buried was a ruin so then he asked permission to go and rebuild the it. He played a decisive role in the rebuilding of Judah. In 444 B. C. the king appointed Nehemiah governor of Judah under the Persian Empire and permitted him to go to Jerusalem in order to help his fellow Jews. Upon his arrival Nehemiah secretly inspected the city walls which were still in ruins. This became known to his two arch-enemies, Sanballat and Tobiah, who repeatedly acted to foil his plans for rebuilding the walls (Neh 2:17-20); but despite their active opposition, Nehemiah succeeded in his building project, completing the work in 52 days (Neh chaps. 3-4), and stationed guards at the city gates and also enforced several of the laws, such as the payment due to the Levites, the observance of the Sabbath and the abolition of mixed marriages. He concluded his memoirs with a prayer to God to remember to his credit all of his efforts to strengthen divine law within Jerusalem . In order to repopulate Jerusalem, the number of whose inhabitants had dwindled greatly, he ordered that one out of every ten Jews should take up residence in the capital. He also instituted a series of religious and social reforms including the commitment to avoid intermarriage, the cancellation of debts owed by the poor, the support of the Temple cult, and the payment of tithes drawn up and sealed in a covenant (Neh chap. 10) and he then returned to Persia. After Nehemiah was given the permission to go and rebuild the city we see that he had some leadership qualities which helped him in the rebuilding process. Let us look at some few leadership skills which helped to navigate Nehemiah in the rebuilding of the city. Firstly and foremost, Nehemiah put God first and let Him lead him through prayer: The Book of Nehemiah starts and ends with prayer. And in between, Nehemiah often sends up quick prayers to heaven and asks for God’s help. â€Å"Do not pray for tasks equal to your powers,† said Phillips Brooks. â€Å"Pray for powers equal to your tasks. One mark of true spiritual leaders is their honest acknowledgment of their own inadequacy and their humble trust in the power of God He had courage: We can see that Nehemiah had courage firstly when he courageously told the king why he was sad and the king did not like to see sad faces and also he also took that opportunity to ask the king permission to go and rebuild the city and finally taking on the task of rebuilding the city shows that he had courage. Also . After the Israelites had begun rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, some opposition arose from other occupants within the Palestine area. Nehemiah remained steadfast and courageous and rallied his people to continue the work He was determined: Nehemiah was determined because the work he was doing was a great work and he was serving a great God. He was determined because the city was in great reproach, and he wanted it to bring great glory to God. He was determined because he was part of a great plan that God had for the world as He worked through the Jewish nation. So, the next time you feel like quitting, remember Nehemiah and stay on the job until the work is finished to the glory of God. He had vision and saw the greatness of the work: No matter what God has called you to do, it’s a great work because it’s part of the building of His church; and that’s the greatest work in the world. If you lose the greatness of a vision, you will begin to cut corners in your work, stop making sacrifices, and start looking for something else to challenge you. Nehemiah realized that what he was doing was far bigger than simply repairing gates and rebuilding walls. He was serving the Lord God of heaven and getting the holy city ready for the coming of the Messiah! He submitted to authority: The call of God is not an invitation to become independent and ignore authority. Nehemiah respected the king and submitted his plans to him for his approval before he went to Jerusalem. Even more, Nehemiah submitted to the authority of the Word of God. He invited Ezra to teach the Law to the people so that they too would obey the will of God. It is a basic rule of life that those who exercise authority must themselves be under authority. Nehemiah was a man who was dependable because he was accountable. He was organized in his work: He planned his work and worked his plan, and God blessed him. We can see this when the king asked him how he would do it, he asked the king if he could have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates so that he would be provided for protection. Also, he wanted the kings approval to go to Asaph (the keeper of the king’s forest) so that he would be given timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and the residence he would occupy, this shows that he had planned how he would start the building of the temple. He had passion: An important leadership principle displayed by Nehemiah was a deep passion for his God, his people, and his homeland. He heard of the destruction of the wall in Jerusalem and became overwhelmed with grief for the disgrace of God and his countrymen. This grief ignited a passion within Nehemiah to ask permission from his master to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall of the city. He was evaluative: Another important leadership principle shown by Nehemiah was that an effective leader evaluates a situation before acting. Nehemiah had received permission from his master to return to Jerusalem. When he arrived the first thing he did was to quietly take a private tour around the city wall to assess the damage and formulate a plan for rebuilding it. He enlisted others to work: An aspect of leadership principle displayed by Nehemiah was that effective leaders recruit and delegate responsibility to others. After Nehemiah had assessed the situation and formulated a plan of attack, he shared his plan with others and allowed them to help him with the work. Effective managers realize their need for others and that it takes many hands to accomplish a great task. He knew how to handle bad news: Life is full of bad news. It could be a small disappointment to a catastrophic occurrence, but when bad news comes your way, how do you respond? A strong leader is not only able to take the bad news, but wants to know it. Sticking your head in the sand is a sure sign of immaturity and lack of trust in God. He inspired camaraderie to people: One of the main leadership principles shown by Nehemiah was that effective leaders inspire camaraderie among his people. As mentioned above, Nehemiah led his people in the face of intense opposition; yet, by his leadership, the people did not run away, but continued the work until it was finished. They worked together with one person rebuilding his section of the wall, while his partner stood guard to protect him from attack. He shared what he had: Another leadership tenet displayed by Nehemiah was that top level managers share the rewards of success with their people. Effective leaders are kind and generous. Nehemiah demonstrated this trait by standing up for the poor against extortion and inviting large parties of people to eat at his table each meal. He stood fast on core values: We can see that Nehemiah stood fast in core values in that after the wall had been rebuilt, the Israelite people began to do things that were not pleasing to God. Nehemiah was deeply upset by this and called his people to account. References Henrietta C. Mears, What the bible is all about, Gospel Light Publications, U. S. A, 1998. Holy bible, New Revised Standard, U. S. A, 1989 The Holy Bible, New International Version, The Bible Society in Australia Inc Publishers, 1984. Richard H. Seume, Nehemiah, God’s Builder, Moody Press, Chicago, U. S. A, 1978 HOW I WOULD APPLY NEHEMIAH’S LEADRSHIP SKILLS IN MY OWN LIFE Firstly the most important leadership skill Nehemiah had according to me is that he put God first and let him lead him through prayer so I would use this skill by talking to God before facin g any situation and the reason I say this is an important leadership skill is because it is through this skill that we may get every other skill that follows. This way God will help you to do the task at hand. Also we see that also had something important and that was courage, so this helps me because I know courage is an important quality in a leader so I ask God for courage when tackling my tasks. Another thing is that I have to be determined to complete the task so that incase there as may occur any push back determination will lead you into completing the task and to do it well too. Something else that had was his vision we should also have vision in the work we are doing and we should like Nehemiah notice that the work we are doing has a higher purpose that what we look at directly, we can see that Nehemiah was not only rebuilding the walls but in depth was serving the lord and getting it ready for the messiah Jesus Christ. Another aspect in Nehemiah’s leadership qualities is his submitting to authority this shows we should respect and follow authority and not act like we are above it. We should also look at Nehemiah’s quality of self organization this shows me that in order for me to be a good leader or perform a task at my level best I should plan for my work as this will help you in accomplishing your goal. Another quality that Nehemiah displayed was passion, we should this to make us also have passion and this means we should have heart on what we do and do it with satisfaction. Again we see that Nehemiah was evaluative this means we should also follow this example by evaluating situation before jumping into conclusions and fully assessing them doing this will help you to perform the job effectively. Another thing is that like Nehemiah we should also entrust others with work this is done by delegating jobs to others tis shows that you trust them and this improves relation among workers. In many times there are always bad news so we need to know how to handle the bad news and we should talk to God to help us cope with them. As leaders we should inspire camaraderie among people this will strengthen our bonds and be able to look out for each other. To better ourselves using Nehemiah’s leadership quality of sharing what we have with others makes us better people and we should not look down upon people but treat them equally. In motivating others, we must always present the challenge and the benefit. I find that people really love to be challenged, to push the envelope and do what looks difficult or impossible. Presented in the right way, it will motivate people to join. And lastly as Nehemiah did, we should stand firm on core values and not be swayed to do the wrong things that would not please God but do God’s will.