Many have experienced this deeply: the more one deliberately pursues a life goal, the harder it is to achieve—a house, a car, money, an ideal job, a desirable partner, promotion, wealth, and so on. People around you may advise you that your goals are too big and too difficult, and that you should be content with mediocrity and know when to be satisfied... Open the Book of Nehemiah, chapter 1, and Pastor Liu’s insightful explanation will tell you that your life goals are not too big or too difficult, but too small and too superficial. If you seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness, worldly abundance will become a byproduct; if you think about heavenly things, all that is on earth will be at your disposal; if you participate in rebuilding Jerusalem, you will naturally share in all the opportunities and wealth of this holy city.

Questions to Ponder:

• Nehemiah was a cupbearer in the Persian palace, enjoying wealth and glory. Why did he grieve and weep for Jerusalem, and fast and pray for Israel? What kind of person was Nehemiah?

• Why did Nehemiah ask God to grant him success and favor in the king's presence? In what matters did he need success? Was he a man of faith?

• Since you believed in the Lord, in which area of your life has there been a positive change, or even a great transformation?

Nehemiah's Understanding of God: God is a God Who Grants Success

Let's look at the most important verse:

Grant success to your servant today by giving him favor in the presence of this man. (Nehemiah 1:11)

What was Nehemiah praying for? He was asking God to grant him success and favor in the king's presence! Why? Because he was an official, and he belonged to the king twenty-four hours a day. If the king did not allow it, he could do nothing. But he knew that God could grant him success and favor in the king's presence! God is a God who grants success, and also a God who grants us favor in the eyes of people! This concept is very important! If we do not have this concept, it is difficult to be strong and courageous in life! Before Nehemiah’s time, when Ahasuerus was king, there was a queen named Esther, whose father was Mordecai. He said to Esther, And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” (See Esther 4:14). Nehemiah's time was not long after Esther's; Artaxerxes was king after Ahasuerus.

Prerequisites for God to Grant You Success

Believe that You Have Received, and You Will Receive

Some theological concepts are deadly: not daring to believe that God is a God who grants us success. I want to share an important concept with you: If one believes that they have received, they will receive. Nehemiah believed that God would grant him success and favor in the king's presence. In fact, he had been receiving favor all along as a cupbearer. But what favor was he asking for now? He was asking God to give him a special favor through the king, so that he could return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls, repair God's temple, restore the order of worship, and restore a God-centered life. This is what Nehemiah sought in his heart! Before Nehemiah asked for this, he heard the news, and you will find that his heart was not concerned about whether he could be a cupbearer for a long time. What he was concerned about was the desolation of his hometown and God's temple.

If you believe that God will grant you success, you will receive it. If you have lost it, if you seek God's kingdom and His righteousness, God will add these things to you. If you lose this foundation, even if you believe that God will grant you success, if your eyes are only fixed on the position of cupbearer, you will not be successful! I repeatedly remind everyone to take on the mission of this generation, why? Because the mission can make you successful! I share this concept: Believe that you have received, and you will receive, is built on another foundation; that is, your heart is filled with the kingdom of God, and your heart is closely connected with God's heart.

Don't Live a Small Life, Live a Big Life

There are many people living small lives now, and very few living big lives. Those who live small lives live them well, with loving and romantic relationships. But if you lose the kingdom of God inside you, you fix your eyes on your own life. You can have a good day or two, but disaster will surely come upon you. You say, Pastor, why do you say that? Because that is what the Bible says. The history of the Israelites is a portrayal of the personal history of Christians, how the Israelites walked, with national destruction and family ruin. If your heart is filled with your own little plot of land, even if you believe that God will grant you success, you will not be successful. Because in the whole generation, God wants to place you in a certain position, to be a cupbearer or some kind of official, because God wants to manifest His power in you, to serve this generation through you, so that you can take on the mission. If you have no mission, what is the point of making you successful? There is no glory at all.

Nehemiah's prayer is very important, he says:

But if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name. (Nehemiah 1:8-9)

If you sin, what is sin? Living a small life is sin! We can no longer live small lives. We need to start knowing that the sins we commit are often not murders. The sins we commit are merely that our vision is too narrow, our hearts are too small, and our sights are too short. If you always look at your own little things, you will forget to keep and obey the commands of your God. Because the foundation of keeping and obeying the commands of your God is that you care about the kingdom of God.

Value the Kingdom of God, the Righteousness of God

If you do not care about the kingdom of God, you do not come to worship God on Sundays because you have an exam tomorrow, so the kingdom of God can be put aside for now; the day after tomorrow you have to move, so the kingdom of God can be put aside again; the day after that you want to buy a car, so the kingdom of God can be put aside again; then you take a driving test, so the kingdom of God can be put aside again. If you want your life to be filled with these small things, you can always fill it up! But you will not be successful. If you care too much about failing the exam or not having time to move, you will be very tired. If you care about the kingdom of God, many things become small things. It doesn't matter if you have a full meal or not. It doesn't matter if you pass an exam or not. If your heart is filled with the kingdom of God, then you will find that wonderful things keep happening because God grants you success.

I thank God that when I valued other things, He made me unsuccessful, letting me know that I should not value these things. When you only value the kingdom of God, God will remove unnecessary troubles from your life. So I have concluded a very interesting phenomenon: among us, those who value the kingdom of God, if you observe carefully, God deliberately removes unnecessary troubles from their lives. If you value these things in your life, which are trivial matters to God, but if you value them, you will not be successful. Nehemiah had been working as a cupbearer since he was young, but he always had a burden for the kingdom of God in his heart, so God made him successful and promoted him to cupbearer. If Nehemiah had no mission in his heart, do you think he would have been promoted to cupbearer?

God Has a Mission for You in Your Life

So God has a mission for you in your life, but you are unwilling to take on such a mission, and you will not see God's glory. You start by saying: my work, my studies, my life, my family. All my something, and that's trouble! If a girl marries a husband, she should marry a husband with a mission. If you are a boy, you should find a girl who can help you fulfill this mission together, and later become your wife, united as one, to fulfill this mission. Such a family will surely have God's presence and will surely be successful. God makes you successful in your job today, not because of anything else, but because you have the kingdom of God in your heart. Because God has a mission for you, and a person with a mission cannot die, because God wants to accomplish an exceeding and eternal weight of glory in you. So the secret to success is here. The prerequisite for God to grant you success is whether you can shoulder the mission of God's kingdom. Whether in the New Testament or the Old Testament, this is what is emphasized. Although God is an almighty God, your heart is too small to contain the grace of God's success.

Confessing and Repenting for Ancestral Sins Before God

Nehemiah was acutely aware of the importance of confessing sins. We must confess and repent for the transgressions of our ancestors, beseeching God to blot out these offenses, so that the prayers we utter may be answered. Nehemiah and Ezra shared a similar perspective on sin: an uncompromising stance.

We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses. (Nehemiah 1:7)

Remember what? Remember God's promise. God's promise is that if we turn from our sins, He will surely lead us back to His side, back to His sanctuary, restoring the days when we found favour in His sight.

If the Promise is Unseen, the Problem Lies Within Us

then I will gather you from that place (Nehemiah 1:9).

Nehemiah used the word will, indicating certainty, illustrating that God's promises are concrete. Therefore, in the New Testament, Paul says that no matter how many promises God has made, they are Yes in Christ. Why? Because God is inherently a faithful God. The issue lies within you and me. So many promises could have been fulfilled in our lives, but were not. The problem lies within us. Confession can be done at any time, but do not endlessly confess a sin, accusing yourself repeatedly; that is unnecessary. If there are areas in our lives that still need the Holy Spirit's illumination, seek it. After illumination, confess the sin, and you will surely prosper.

Restore the breadth, depth, and intensity of God's promises among us. Continuously see God's promises, continuously restore God's miraculous deeds. You and I want to be prosperous people. In our days before believing in the Lord, there were many troubles, troubles that had no glory to speak of. Today, you and I can be strong and courageous, knowing that God is the God who makes me prosper, that God can cause us to find favour in the eyes of kings, can cause us to find favour in our work, in the eyes of bosses and superiors, because God will surely prepare for us to manifest His glory. He will not let you bear those troubles and disasters that have no glory. If you are to bear anything, bear those sufferings that manifest God's glory, so you can carry your cross and then accomplish God's miraculous deeds, Amen!