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Nehemiah: a heart that can break by Kelly Minter – Week Three


The first two weeks of this study have been life changing for me.  I pray that you’re having the same experience.  Week three promises more of the same.  The chapter opens with a challenge to the student by asking the question:  “Do you know the name of a poor person?”  People are valuable.  People are treasured by God and should be treasured by His people.  Our investment in people is the work that will survive God’s test of fire at the end of time.  How are you investing?

I may be getting ahead of myself, but this was an incredible week of study.  Kelly’s video teaching puts a significant emphasis on the term “disgrace” and what it means to live in disgrace.  Who do you know that lives in disgrace?  The point is that the poor matter.  How do I treat the poor?

The study for the week was almost like an in-depth interview with each day’s considerations bringing me to my knees.  Here are the questions I asked myself this week as a result of my study time.  Use them to interview yourself.  What distracts me from doing what God put in my heart to do?  Do I even have a really good grasp of what He put in my heart to do?  Am I properly (prayerfully) discerning what opportunities I should say “yes” to and which ones I should say “no” to?  What lies do I believe about God?  What lies do I believe about myself?  As I learn what they are, I need to confess these things because they are destructive.

In what areas am I close to completion and in danger of faltering under temptation?  May God fill me with faith, strength and courage to finish well.  Have I been dreaming too small?  Chasing too little?  Am I content to settle for what I can accomplish with my own two hands rather than letting God’s power do through me?  What would it look like for me to fear God more than “most people”?

How did you fare with my “interview”?  What questions would you add to the interview from this week’s study?

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