How to Turn Intention into Action

How to Turn Intention into Action 4.14.13

Recap: A Visionary Person… • … sees the need. • … feels the need. • …shares the need… • …with God. • …with other people. • …meets the need.

Recap: Nehemiah • 500 years before Christ • Judeans are exiled from Israel by Babylonians (God’s warning) • Judeans are nearing end of punishment

Nehemiah • Story of Nehemiah • Israelite who lives in Persia • Is Cupbearer to Persian King; is influential man • Is given the task by God and the Israelites to rebuild wall around Jerusalem

How to Turn Intention into Reality 1. Be patient. • Spend some time in God’s waiting room. • After finding out about the wall, Nehemiah waits for 4 months before anything happens.

1. Be patient. Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.Psalm 27:13Wait for the Lord and keep His way, and He will exalt you to inherit the land.Psalm 37:34I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in His word I do hope.Psalm 130:5 He who believes will not be in a hurry. Isaiah 28:16

While waiting… • Passionately Pray. (E.A.R.R.) “True determination and zeal are found in obeying God, not in the inclination to serve Him that arises from our own undisciplined nature.” Oswald Chambers

While waiting… B. Responsibly Serve. Don’t dodge your responsibilities. Be faithful in your current situation. Nehemiah doesn’t abandon his duties as a cupbearer!

Nehemiah • God maneuvers and engineers his life so that Nehemiah would become a palace servant, then influential Persian official, then cupbearer • The surface vs. Reality of God’s plan • God puts us in positions of influence; if we let him and if we are patient.

Where you are is where God has positioned you to be!

How to Turn Intention into Action 2. Be bold. Let your fears feed your faith. “So the king said to me, ‘Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart.’ Then I was very much afraid.” Nehemiah 2:2

2. Be Bold • Being cupbearer + appearing unhappy in King’s present = certain death • “I said to the king, ‘Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?’” • What are we afraid of?

How to Turn Intention into Action 3. Trust in God. What God originates, He orchestrates. “Success comes when a thousand hours of preparation meet one moment of opportunity.”

3. Trust in God. Then the king said to me, “What would you request?” Nehemiah 2:4

How to Turn Intention into Action: 4. Be prepared. Since God is in charge, make your plans big. • No substitute for a good reputation when it comes to asking for special favors. • Takes years to develop reputation and trust.

4. Be prepared I said to the king, ‘If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.’ Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, “How long will your journey be, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. Nehemiah 2:5-6

Nehemiah’s Preparation Step 1 – Convince the king to allow me to leave his service in order to rebuild the wall around a city that in years past posed a military threat to this area.Step 2 – Convince the king to lend financial support to the building project.Step 3 – Procure letters from the king to the governors in the surrounding areas asking them to provide me safe conduct along the way.Step 4 – Work out a deal with Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, to procure enough lumber to build the city gates as well as a home for me.Step 5 – Ask the king for the title of Governor of Judah.Step 6 – Organize and equip the inhabitants of Jerusalem.Step 7 – Begin construction

What is your plan? • Get specific. • Plan out all of the steps. • Be organized. “The presence of faith does not mean an absence of organization.” Chuck Swindoll

How to Turn Intention into Action: 5. Just do it. God makes the wind; we set sail.

5. Just Do it. • I’m so bored! • Ughh why does my life suck!? • I’m so unhappy… • Why does this keep happening to me? • Look at all of these problems! WHAT AM I GOING TO DO ABOUT IT?

5. Just do it. • Don’t procrastinate. • Don’t get distracted. • Don’t get lazy. • DON’T MAKE EXCUSES. • Turning vision into reality requires initiative and action. • Nehemiah = makes life happen; doesn’t wait for life to happen to him • “I am responsible for my own actions.”

5. Just do it. Proverbs 10:4(KJV) “He who has a slack hand becomes poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich”.Proverbs 12:27(KJV) “The lazy man does not roast what he took in hunting, but diligence is man's precious possession”.Proverbs 21:25 (KJV) “The desire of the lazy man kills him, for his hands refuse to labor”.

The Balance Between Patience and Initiative • “And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me.” Nehemiah 2:8 • God is ultimately behind any and all of our successes. • God’s blessing is a must. • After God’s hand moves, our hand must move.

Do what you need to do in the natural and God will do what He needs to do in the Supernatural.

How to Turn Intentions Into Actions • Be patient. • Passionately pray. • Responsibly serve. • Be bold. • Trust in God. • Be prepared. • Just do it.

Announcements • Leadership Camp - 4/19-4/21 • Forms and monies • Camp prep • Workshop and worship assignments • Community Service Logs • Blessed Love Story – 4/26/13 • Nammie leaving – end of April

How to Turn Intention into Action