7 Steps to a Better Life Based on Nehemiah

What area in your life needs a better plan? It could be finances, health, relationships, or career. Got it? Keep it in mind as we search God's Word to discover the steps we can take to find a better plan for life.

Step 1: Pray.

Nehemiah 1:11 "O Lord, please hear my prayer! And listen to the prayers of all your servants who love to honor you. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the King's presence." 

Start by praying, "God, I don't have a plan. What's your plan for my life?" Once you ask God for wisdom and direction, he will put an idea in your mind or a burden in your heart. You will see something that needs changing. When Nehemiah started praying, God gave him a dream, a vision, and a responsibility to see his hometown rebuilt and restored. 

The New Testament tells us the same thing:

James 1:5 "If you want to know what God wants you to do, just ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a generous supply of wisdom to all who ask him." (LB)

Pray and ask for God's favor. Then pray for God's help as you make this plan.

Step 2: Get ready. 

We sometimes think, "God wants me to do something about this problem in society." Maybe the thought is, "God wants me to do something about this problem in my company, home, community, or church." So you start preparing for an opportunity to do something. And then you wait. You don't just sit around, waiting for God to do something. You start preparing for that opportunity. 

"Four months later" Nehemiah 10:1a.

There is a four-month time lapse between the first chapter of Nehemiah, where he begins to pray about his plan, and the second chapter of Nehemiah, when he gets to talk to the King about it. What does he do in between chapters one and two? He prays and thinks. He dreams and starts gathering information. The plan doesn't come instantly when you start praying for a goal or a dream. God is not a vending machine. He will wait to see if you are serious. 

Nehemiah said, "Four months later all of a sudden I get the opportunity." What was he doing during those four months? Preparing for the opportunity to ask the King if he could do what God had called him to do. Planning starts with prayer and then moves to preparation.

Proverbs 13:16 "A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn't and even brags abut it!" (LB) I love that verse! I pray for the future like it all depends on God. I prepare for the future like it all depends on me.

Step 3: Stand firm when fear attacks.

I believe the number one enemy of making a plan for a first-class life is fear. Fear keeps us from creating and pursuing the dream. Fear paralyzes us. We should expect fear when we make plans, but we should also refuse to let fear stop us. Check out what happens when Nehemiah goes to present his project to the King: Nehemiah 2:1b-2 "King Artaxerxes had never seen me look sad before, so he asked, 'Why are so sad? Your heart must be troubled.' That made me very afraid."

Fear paralyzes us. Fear shuts us down. You have heard that the two responses to fear are "fight or flight." I think that leaves out a significant response to fear - which is to "freeze." 

The seventy years the Hebrew people have spent in captivity was the second time they have experienced captivity. A thousand years earlier, they spent four hundred years in captivity as slaves to the Egyptians. Ten generations of Hebrews only knew slavery. When God led them out of a crisis, he used two leaders. Moses led them out of Egypt, and Joshua led them back to their homeland. Because Joshua is dealing with great fear of leading an entire nation, God tells him the same thing seven times in the book of Joshua:

Joshua 1:9 "This is my command – be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is persevering in the presence of fear. We all face fear when we plan and ask God to show us His plan for our lives. But, if you're going to be used by God, you will have to move ahead despite your fear.  How do we make a plan that will produce a first-class life?

Step 4: Determine your main objective.

Just wanting a better life in the future is not enough. You need a clear picture of what that better life will be. Notice what Nehemiah does next:

Nehemiah 2:5 "After praying I answered, 'If it pleases your majesty and if your servant has found favor in your sight, then send me to the city of Judah, where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it."

There is some behind-the-scenes intelligent thinking going on here. Nehemiah knew that honoring your ancestors was a big thing in Persian culture - and a big thing to this King. So he speaks the King's language and speaks to the King's values when he asks to go back to the city where his ancestors are buried and rebuild it. His target is clear. His target is bright. His target is specific.

How do you set a clear, intelligent, and specific target? First, ask yourself some simple questions. In the following year, what do I want to be? In the next year, what do I want to do or what do I want to have? For the rest of my life, who do I want to be? These are the questions you have to ask in establishing a clear goal.

Step 5: Choose a time frame.

A goal has to have a deadline. If your plan doesn't have a deadline, it's not a goal. Setting a goal is the scheduling part of life planning. First, you know what you want to do, and then you know when you want to do it. You schedule it. You put it in your calendar and ask, "How long is it going to take?"

Check out how Nehemiah does this.

Nehemiah 2:6 "Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked, 'How long will your work take, and when will you get back?' The King was willing to send me, so I set a time!" 

The King gets it. He wants a deadline, a timeline. He wants to know, "how long will this take?"

Remember this: A dream without a deadline is just an empty wish.

Step 6: Predict the problems that may arise.

All great planners look ahead and anticipate the obstacles they will face. Nehemiah is no exception.

Nehemiah 2:7-8a "Then I asked the King to give me letters for the governors of territories west of the Euphrates river, giving me safe travel to Judah. I also asked for a letter to the keeper of the King's royal forests, instructing him to supply me with the timber I needed to rebuild the gates of the city, the city walls, and for a house to live in."

Nehemiah is anticipating the obstacles:

• Permission to go
• Protection on the journey
• Provision for the rebuild 

The King has given his permission. But it is over 800 miles from Iraq to Israel. So Nehemiah needs protection, a letter from the King with the King's official seal, asking the governors of the territories he will go through for their safe passage. And then he turns his mind to the provision for rebuilding the city, including the timber for the city walls and the walls of his own home. 

Great leaders anticipate the obstacles they will encounter. What questions do you need to ask yourself in your planning when anticipating problems? What could hold me back? What are the problems or potential problems? What are the barriers? What could go wrong?

Proverbs 27:12a "A sensible man looks for the problems ahead and prepares to meet them." (LB) 

Step 7: Have faith in God. 

As 21st-century Christ-followers, we have an advantage Nehemiah did not have. We have the new Testament. Examine this verse:

Philippians 4:19 "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." (NKJV) 

Boom. Done. Period.

Here is a huge principle of planning for a first-class life. God's plan never lacks God's provision. On the contrary, God's plan always includes his provision. Nehemiah asked the King for the moon - and He got it.

Nehemia 2:8b "Because God's gracious favor was on me, the king gave me everything I asked for."

Wow. The King granted his request. Our King - King Jesus - wants to grant our requests as well. 

I share this story as we begin to wrap up. Our daughter Danna took the "off-road path" to rebellion during her teenage years. She was a challenge to us as parents, but today, she is the joy of our lives. Back then - not so much. Danna was always asking for permission for things that were way out of bounds. So I began teaching her this principle. Ask me something I can say "yes" to.

Good parents want to say yes and bless their kids. But, good parents also want to see their kids ask for, want, and seek the right things. When I make my plan to make my life better – God laughs. When I seek God's plan to improve my life, God says yes. And he partners with me.

Proverbs 16:1 "We may make our plans, but God has the last word." (TEV) 

Here are the seven steps to making a plan for a better life:

Step one: Pray.

Step two: Get ready.

Step three: Stand firm when fear attacks.

Step four: Determine your main objective.

Step five: Choose a time frame.

Step six: Predict the problems that may arise.

Step seven: Have faith in God.

Which of those needs your attention? Where are you stuck? What step have you left out? 

God uses the crisis in my life to help me build a first-class life. Why? Because God wants to give me a life of victory, not defeat, a post-crisis life, a post-exile life he has planned for us. God always uses crises in our lives. Here is the principle: God is more committed to my character than to my comfort. So he uses the crisis in my life to help me become more like Jesus.

Do you ever wonder why you keep going through the same crisis again and again? Here is one possible answer. God wants you to learn the lesson and grow in the crisis. And if you don't - he will let you do the 3rd grade again and again until you learn and grow. Don't settle for anything less than God's highest plan for your life. Don't be satisfied doing good things when you can be doing the best things God has planned for your life.

Mary Southerland is also the Co-founder of Girlfriends in God, a conference and devotion ministry for women. Mary’s books include, Hope in the Midst of Depression, Sandpaper People, Escaping the Stress Trap, Experiencing God’s Power in Your Ministry, 10-Day Trust Adventure, You Make Me So Angry, How to Study the Bible, Fit for Life, Joy for the Journey, and Life Is So Daily. Mary relishes her ministry as a wife, a mother to their two children, Jered and Danna, and Mimi to her six grandchildren – Jaydan, Lelia, Justus, Hudson, Mo, and Nori.