Michael Youssef - Discerning God's Will
Lorna Dueck: Okay. Dr. Youssef, you have given us this amazing challenge in the book of Nehemiah, "God, Help Me Rebuild My Broken World". Are there some occasions when we should not rebuild something? Like, how do you know that this is a wall you should rebuild?
Dr. Michael Youssef: That is a very good question, by the way, because sometimes people... and I often give as a counsel, as an advice, I said, "If God shuts a door, don't beat it down". You know?
Lorna Dueck: But Nehemiah was very persistent.
Dr. Michael Youssef: He was persistent 'cause God laid it on his heart and he knew this is consistent with the will of God and it's consistent with the Word of God. If I try to rebuild something that is broken because of my sin and I need to repent from, I need to go back and rebuild that. I need to rebuild the broken wall, first of all, with my relationship with Jesus, 'cause that's really... you know, when the prodigal son returned, he said, "I have sinned against heaven and you". Because when we sin, we sin against heaven first, and then against each other. And so, you got to begin by saying, "I have broken my relationship with you," and that's really what matters. And then, you say, "Is this thing that I wanna rebuild", whether it's a marriage, or it's a friendship, or godly relationships, whether it is a ministry that God has called you to. Whatever it may be, is the rebuilding consistent with the Word of God and consistent with the will of God? It is something not consistent with God, you don't wanna rebuild it. But only rebuild those walls that are broken because of sin and therefore caused the enemy to come into my life and create havoc. Because every time we depart from the truth, and depart from intimacy with Christ, and live to self, and do our own thing, the enemy is watching. He is always watching. The Bible said he is running around like a roaring lion. He is just prowling. He's prowling. He's prowling, looking for a door, looking for an opportunity. And the moment I start living for self, he said, "Good, stay away from fellowship, and from church, from believers". And good, because he likes to take us alone and then, as I have learnt, the lions reserve their biggest roar when they catch their prey, and that's when the lion roars.
Lorna Dueck: As you take us through the book of Nehemiah, you point out that it is gonna be inevitable that we are going to face the devil's attack. Any time you're trying to do something good, build something positive into your family, into your workplace, even into your health, we should expect an attack.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Yes.
Lorna Dueck: Nehemiah certainly did.
Dr. Michael Youssef: He did! I mean, he anticipated it, and of course the devil had his soldiers there. And I often say his soldiers are everywhere, and some of them are even in the churches, unfortunately and sadly. And so, the foot soldiers are working in order to discourage us, in order to stop us from serving God. But the enemy loves... what he loves to do is to discourage us. I'll give you an example. I used to tell people, if you make a decision that you're gonna begin with God's power and God's strength to spend time with God every morning, and you're gonna be spending an hour in prayer every day, or whatever it is that you decide to do that is for your spiritual growth and for your maturity in Christ, watch out. The phone will ring, the doorbell will ring, everything's gonna happen. You doze off, even at 10 o'clock in the morning because the devil doesn't want us to pray. And so, he will do whatever it takes to stop us from praying. That's just one example. I can give you many examples. And so, when I felt deeply, and after 2 years of struggling in prayer, I was involved in a global ministry, I was traveling the world, and then God began to lay on my heart, "Start a church in Atlanta, Georgia," where we'd been living. We've been here now nearly 40 years. And I kind of doubted it in my mind. I wanna be sure it's God and it's not me and my own selfish ambitions or whatever. But then I sat down and said, "What kind of a selfish ambition that gonna leave a global ministry, where I was speaking on campuses, speaking large crowd of pastors and church leaders to start a little mission church or a small church in Atlanta, Georgia"?
Lorna Dueck: I think you had 40 people.
Dr. Michael Youssef: Yeah, that's right.
Lorna Dueck: Didn't you have 40 people when you started?
Dr. Michael Youssef: Yeah, yeah. Including kids. Twenty-eight adults. And I often say most of 'em were mine. But you know, but finally when I obeyed, and it took me a little while, not because of lack of faith, in this case, though sometimes there are. But it was because I wanna be sure it's God's will. But once I started, I mean, as they say in the vernacular, all hell broke loose. I mean, the opposition, and the enmities, and all these things started coming our way. And so, I said... but I always smiled. I said, "This is God's idea. It's not mine, so he's gonna take care of it". So, here we are 30 years later. As I look what God has done, I said, "Praise God. This is your deal and you took care of it all these years".
Lorna Dueck: Well, we're gonna talk about tomorrow about ambition, when God puts a big, big task and big ambition in front of Nehemiah in some of the lessons. Dr. Michael Youssef, "God, Help Me Rebuild My Broken World". Here's how you can get your copy of this great book.