Where you are (Nehemiah 3:23, 28-30)

I’m burdened to see God move and work in my city, but I have to be honest, I walk through and pray for the people in my neighborhood more than any other neighborhood. The reason is simple, I live there! I have a personal interest in my neighbors and I have a personal interest in my neighborhood because I live there. I don’t mean to come across as less concerned for other neighborhoods, I care about them, but I don’t see them, or know the people inside them as well as my own. I have invested more in my neighborhood than the hundreds of others in my city. My prayer though is that there would be people like me in every neighborhood who would own their streets, meet their neighbors and be intentional with the gospel.

It was like that when it came to rebuilding the wall. The work assignments weren’t handed out alphabetically by last name, they were given according to where people lived. You rebuilt the section of the wall closest to your house. It was an ingenious plan. No one would care more about how well the wall was built than the folks it was designed to protect. No one wanted a weak wall by their house. If they needed something to make the wall sturdy, they were prone to go and ask for it and not settle for a good-enough patch work. If they lacked skill, they were more prone to ask about how to do something because they wanted their part of the wall to hold against enemy attack.

I think this lays out a great principle for us as we think about rebuilding the spiritual structures in our neighborhoods and schools. It makes sense for people to work where they have an investment in the outcome. It makes sense to begin in your neighborhood with your neighbors. It makes sense to begin with the basketball team if you play basketball, or the drama department, or the band, or whatever you do or whoever you hang out with, it makes sense to begin there. Use the hobbies, ambitions, classes, and locations that God has put you in and see how He might use you.