Prepare to be Unleashed

Preparation. We've all heard the slogans, the cliches.. here are a couple:





You get the point - Preparation is important!

The session for today from WordLive is about a man who was unleashed AND was prepared for the moment it happened.

Of course, I'm talking about Nehemiah (Nehemiah 2). Nehemiah was a cupbearer for the king, but had a deep sadness that the wall of Jerusalem lay in ruins. At the right time (the God prompted moment) Nehemiah shared his heart with the King, and the King unleashed Nehemiah to rebuild the wall.

However, this unleashing happened AFTER the King first asked a range of questions including how long, what's involved and why. Nehemiah was able to answer all the King's questions.

When Nehemiah's time came to be unleashed into the next big thing of his life, he had already thought through the project that God had laid on his heart. He had already thought about what resources were required for the task, how long the task would take, how to go about completing the task etc.

There are few points that we can take from Nehemiah for our year of being unleashed.

1. Nehemiah served faithfully where he was until his 'God moment' arrived to be unleashed - in spite of his intense sadness and frustration, he remained a faithful employee (and servant);

2. There is no substitute for good planning so that when your opportunity arises to be unleashed, you are ready to go. I can remember years ago joining toastmasters so that when the opportunity came to fulfil the longing of my heart to preach, I would be ready - not starting from scratch.

3. When his God moment arrived to be unleashed, Nehemiah took a risk.. but God was with him. Nehemiah could have lost his life for sharing his heart's burden - but when God directs his people to take that step, then we can trust God's grace to protect us through any situation.


But.. (to refer to a previous blog) how do we know if we're preparing for a good intention, or a God intention? How do we discern whether our preparations to be unleashed are a God thing, or merely our own good intentions?

Sarah Bingham poses these questions which I think are brilliant:

• Does the desire match or clash with scripture and what we know about God’s purpose and promises (Nehemiah 1:8,9)?

• Is there an inner pressure or passion in you to do it (Nehemiah 1:4)?

• What has prayer revealed to you about it (Nehemiah 1:5–11)?

• Do you have peace in your head and heart, having surrendered the matter to God (see Philippians 4:6,7)?

• Are there practical ‘green lights’ that enable you to do it (Nehemiah 2:2–6)?

All of these questions above require you to have thought in advance about the promptings of the heart, the desires that don't go away, and a call of God on your life that scares and excites you all at the same time!

In this year of being unleashed - spend some time in the thinking chair - spend some time in the prayer closet.

Spend some time with pad and pen in hand seeking God about His "next right steps" for your life, and how you can prepare for that.