Problem-Solving: Working Through Your Challenges

Leadership Matters, part 7 of 10
Another common phenomenon in the life of a leader is family issues. Sometimes those family issues relate to your immediate family, sometimes they relate to your extended family. And just about the time we feel we are making progress in other areas of our life, along come family problems. Nehemiah faced many problems among the people of Jerusalem at a time when he had just started to make progress overcoming the opposition of people outside Judaism. Nehemiah faced personal problems among the people of Jerusalem, financial problems, and oppression problems, where the people of Jerusalem were not treating each other respectfully and in accordance with God’s laws. We’ll observe another great skill of leadership, problem solving, in the life of Nehemiah on how he handles team trouble and corrects it and how he maintains team solutions to the problems that plague Jerusalem. And we will examine how these principles can help us be better problem solvers in our own lives.

Download the notes.

Working Through A Financial Challenge

I) PROBLEM: THREE FINANCIAL CHALLENGES

1) A tough ___ECONOMY___ around us.

“Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, ‘We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.’”
(Nehemiah 5:1-2, NIV)

2) A growing ___DEBT___ within us.

“Others said, ‘We have mortgaged our fields, vineyards, and homes to get food during the famine.”
(Nehemiah 5:3, NLT)

3) A soaring ___INTEREST RATE___ saddling us.

“And others said, ‘We have already borrowed to the limit on our fields and vineyards to pay our taxes. We belong to the same family, and our children are just like theirs. Yet we must sell our children into slavery just to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to do anything about it…’”
(Nehemiah 5:4-5, NLT)

II) SOLUTIONS FOR FINANCIAL CHALLENGES

6 Problem-Solving Financial Principles

1) ___ATTITUDE___: Develop a disdain for debt and injustice.

“When I heard their complaints, I was very angry.”
(Nehemiah 5:6, NLT)

“Just as the rich rule over the poor, the borrower is servant to the lender.”
(Prov. 22:7,NLT)

2) ___AUTHENTICITY___: Confront your finances with honesty.

“After thinking about the situation, I spoke out against these nobles and officials. I told them, ‘You are oppressing your own relatives by charging them interest when they are borrowing money!’ Then I called a public meeting… ‘The rest of us are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners, but you are selling them back into slavery again…’ And they had nothing to say in their defense.”
(Nehemiah 5:7-8, NLT)

“Be sure to know the condition of your flocks..and herds; for riches do not endure forever.”
(Proverbs 27:23-24a, NIV)

3) ___APPLICATION___: Turn God’s principles into a plan.

“Then I pressed further, ‘What you are doing is not right! Should you not walk in the fear of our God?… I [and] my brothers and my workers, have been lending the people money and grain, but now let us stop this business of loans. You must restore…[and] Repay the interest…’. Then they replied, ‘We will…’”
(Nehemiah 5:9-12a, NLT)

“Keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity.”
(Proverbs 3:1b-2, NIV)

4) ___ACTION___: Follow through consistently on your plan.

“Then I called the priests and made the nobles and officials formally vow to do what they had promised… the people did as they had promised.”
(Nehemiah 5:12b-13, NLT)

“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
(Prov.21:5,NIV)

5) ___ABSTENTION___: Be prepared to make sacrifices as you go.

“I would like to mention that for the entire twelve years that I was governor of Judah… neither I nor my officials drew on our food allowance… I asked for nothing, even though I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides all the visitors from other lands!… provisions required at my expense… because the people were already having a difficult time.”
(Nehemiah 5:14-18, NLT)

“A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor.”
(Proverbs 22:9, NIV)

6) ___ANTICIPATION___: Expect God to honor your efforts.

“Remember, O my God, all that I have done for these people, and bless me for it.”
(Nehemiah 5:19, NLT)

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.”
(Proverbs 16:3, NIV)