Rick Warren - How to Earn the Respect of Others (12/26/2025)
Summary
In this message from the «Building a Better Future» series on Nehemiah (Part 8, focusing on Nehemiah 5), Rick Warren teaches how to earn respect through handling internal conflict wisely. Respect is a deep human need and is earned, not automatic. Nehemiah models five principles amid a crisis of famine and exploitation: empathize with others' feelings, pause and think before speaking, resolve conflicts privately first, appeal to the best in people, and live with humility and generosity. These actions build moral authority, influence, and a lasting legacy of blessing others.
The Deep Need for Respect
Now today we’re going to talk about respect, r-e-s-p-e-c-t. One of your deepest desires and one of your deepest needs is the need to feel respected. Everybody needs to feel appreciated. You need to feel valued; you need to feel esteem. It’s essential to your emotional and spiritual health. There’s nothing wrong with you having a desire to be respected. In fact, in Proverbs chapter 22, verse 1, God says this: being respected is more important than having great wealth. But being respected doesn’t come automatically; respect is something we earn.
We earn it by the way we talk and the way we act toward others. So today I want us to look at how to earn the respect of others. We are in part eight of our study through the book of Nehemiah called «Building a Better Future, ” and we will use Nehemiah’s life as a model for earning respect. This week, we will be in chapter five.
Recap and Shift to Internal Conflict
But before we do, I want to remind you that last week, when we were in chapter four, we discussed what to do when you feel like giving up. The first point I made is that you must make sure you’re physically strong and physically rested, because fatigue makes cowards of us all.
After the service, a woman gave me a t-shirt that says, „Based on Mark 4:38, Jesus took naps. Be like Jesus.“ So I’m just giving you the biblical command to take a nap this afternoon or whenever.
Up to this point in Nehemiah’s story, all the opposition to rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem was external and came from people outside. But now, in chapter five, Nehemiah has to deal with conflict on the inside among his own people. This is something you’re going to have to deal with in your life while building a better future. Conflict is inevitable because none of us are perfect.
One of the ways you earn the respect of others is by the way you handle conflict. Anytime there’s a disagreement about anything, be aware that people are watching to see how you react to conflict.
The Conflict in Nehemiah 5
In Nehemiah chapter five, we see four common causes of conflict, and then we see how Nehemiah handled it. We’ll learn five important principles—five ways to earn the respect of others. If you’re a parent, I hope you’ll take notes on this and teach these things to your kids.
In the first verse of Nehemiah chapter five, we learn about the conflict, and in the verses that follow, we learn the causes. Nehemiah 5:1, there on your outline, says this: „About this time some of the people, both men and their wives, began to complain loudly against their Jewish brothers.“ There’s a little conflict going on; they began to complain loudly, and they’re not complaining about the enemy outside; they’re complaining about the people inside Jerusalem.
You know anytime you’ve got two or more people together for any length of time, conflict is going to happen, but it’s even more likely to occur when people are under stress. In this case, there’s a lot of stress going on; the people are trying to quickly rebuild the wall around Jerusalem to protect themselves, and since enemies are attacking them, they’re in a hurry to get the project done. But since they’re spending all their time working on the wall, nobody has any time to cultivate their fields, farms, and vegetables. Then, on top of that, because of a severe drought, there were crop failures and a severe food shortage—a famine in the land.
Four Common Causes of Conflict
Now in verses two to five, it shows us four common causes of conflict that I want to mention. Why mention them? Because identifying the cause is always the first step to finding a solution, and in your life, you’re going to see each of these causes creating conflict. In our times, in our culture, here they are.
The first cause of conflict is when any basic need goes unmet. Anytime any basic need in your life or another’s goes unmet, there’s going to be conflict, whether it’s at school, work, church, or home. An unmet need is often the root of conflict in a marriage, friendship, classroom, or office. The need can be physical, emotional, relational, sexual, financial, or in any other area.
In Nehemiah’s case, it was physical; people were hungry. There were too many mouths to feed and not enough food during this famine. Verse two says, „Some said, ” talking about the other Jews, „we all have large families, and we need more grain just to eat to stay alive.“ Their needs weren’t being met, so they became upset; you get cranky when you don’t have enough to eat.
The second cause of conflict is not just when we don’t have our needs met, but when we feel we’re falling behind. Instead of feeling like you’re making progress, when you feel like you’re going in reverse, that causes you to get cranky. It causes conflict when we feel like we’re falling behind. In Nehemiah’s case, people were going deeper and deeper into debt during this famine because, with goods in short supply, prices were inflated. In verse three it says, „Others said, we have had to sell our fields and our vineyards and sell our houses just to keep from starving during this famine.“ Do you get this? They’re selling all their hard assets just for food; they’re going backwards, going deeper and deeper into debt.
The third cause of conflict is when leaders are insensitive to our pain. In other words, when people who have the power to help us with the problems we’re facing and they don’t do anything, or they’re apathetic, they make matters worse through indifference. We’ve seen this even in the last year; when COVID-19 put millions of people out of work, the government created a Payroll Protection Plan to assist people. That’s a good thing, but it’s very unusual; certainly it didn’t happen in Nehemiah’s day. In verse four it says, „Others have said, we’ve had to borrow money just to pay the king’s taxes.“ They’re thinking, you know, what gives? We’re not getting Payroll Protection; the government won’t even give us a tax break or a tax holiday, and we’re all in famine. We’re having to sell our assets just to eat.
Now the fourth cause of conflict is when we feel powerless to change our situation. When you see other people thriving around you while you’re just barely surviving, that’s frustrating. It is frustrating that, during bad times, it’s possible for others to thrive while you’re barely surviving. It’s possible for rich people to get richer while others are being laid off. Did you know this happened during COVID? I read just yesterday that Forbes magazine reported that during the pandemic, listen to this: during the pandemic, America’s 722 billionaires—722 billionaires became 1.2 trillion dollars richer during COVID.
Did you know that? 722 families became 1.2 trillion dollars richer. I understand why people who lost their jobs would be upset about that. In Nehemiah’s time, people were so devastated by a famine that they couldn’t control that parents were actually forced to place their kids in slave labor to sell them because they couldn’t feed them, just to keep the family from starving to death. These poor people resented the fact that wealthy landowners were exploiting the misfortunes of the poor to buy up slaves and all this cheap land because people had to have food. Verse 5 says, „Although we are the same flesh and blood as our wealthier countrymen, and though our children are just as good as theirs, we’re having to sell our children into slavery. Some of our daughters have already been enslaved, but we’re powerless to do anything about it because our fields and our vineyards belong to others. We’ve already had to sell them, now we’re having to sell off our family.“
Now, of these four causes I just mentioned, all four of these are still true today. Conflict happens when our needs are unmet. Conflict happens when we feel we’re falling behind instead of making progress. A lot of people felt that way during COVID. Conflict happens when others seem insensitive or unsympathetic to our pain—it causes unrest. And conflict happens when we feel powerless to change things. You know, a lot of people feel that way in our country and in other countries all around the world.
To get anything done in that kind of climate requires people like Nehemiah—people who can be trusted. Nehemiah could be trusted because he was respected by so many people.
Why Earn Respect?
So why do I want us to look at God’s word about this today? Because God wants you to work on earning the respect of others. Let me say it again: God wants you to work on earning the respect of others. Why? It makes life easier; people will listen to your ideas. People will trust you more when you’re respected; you’ll have better relationships, and you’ll be a better witness for Jesus if you’re respected.
This brings us to the important question: how can I earn the respect of others? In Nehemiah chapter five, his example as a leader shows us five ways in verses six to thirteen, and everybody listening to my voice right now can learn to do all five of these ways to earn the respect of others. You might want to write these down.
1. Empathize with the Feelings of Others
The first way to earn the respect of others is to empathize with the feelings of others. If you respect the feelings of other people, they’re going to respect you. What you sow, you will reap. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you want people to respect you, you must respect their feelings.
This is especially true when people are hurting, grieving, feeling injustice against them, fearful, or upset. People want to know that you understand their pain; you understand what they’re going through. You’ve heard me say this many times: people don’t care what you know until they first know that you care. They want to feel understood first before you come up with any solution; they want to know that you’re hearing them.
By the way, you don’t have to agree with somebody’s conclusion to sympathize with their emotion. When you see people out in the street protesting or rioting or anything like that, you might not agree with their conclusions, but you can still sympathize with their emotions and understand why they’re doing what they’re doing.
This is the first thing that Nehemiah did right when he was faced with conflict; he empathized with the feelings of the people who were complaining, criticizing, and having conflict. In verse six it says this: Nehemiah said, „When I heard their complaints, those four complaints that we just went over, and I heard their charges, I was very angry.“
Circle the word „very.“ Nehemiah didn’t say, „Well, I was angry.“ He said, „I was very angry.“ I was ticked off; I was furious; I was put out; I blew a gasket. What’s he doing here? He’s mirroring their mood; he’s validating their feelings by feeling them too. When somebody says, „I’m fearful, ” you shouldn’t say, „Well, don’t be afraid.“ Try to feel that with them. When somebody says, „I’m angry, ” try to feel it. Don’t say, „Well, don’t be angry.“ You’re minimizing their feelings.
Feelings are just feelings, and when Nehemiah heard these people say, „We’re angry about these four things, ” Nehemiah goes, „Well, I understand. It makes me angry too. I understand why you’re angry. It upsets me also.“ Now, I know some of you think, „What, Rick? Isn’t anger a sin?“ No, not always. Sometimes anger is an expression of love. If you hurt my wife, children, or grandchildren, and I didn’t get angry, if I was apathetic, it means I didn’t love.
In Scripture, God distinguishes between what’s called righteous anger and unrighteous anger—good anger and bad anger. If anger is a sin, why does the Bible say God gets angry, and God can’t sin? In fact, Ephesians 4:26 says, „Be angry and yet do not sin.“ There’s a way to be angry and not sin, and there’s a way to be angry, and it’s sinful.
What’s the difference? Sinful anger is when I retaliate against you, or I resent you, or I get bitter against you for hurting me. That’s sinful anger. It’s— you’ve hurt my pride, ego, or some other way, and I resent it, and I retaliate, and I try to get revenge. That’s sinful anger. Righteous anger is when I get upset over somebody else being hurt. When I see injustice to somebody else and I get angry about that, that’s righteous anger.
When I see injustice, prejudice, bias, sexism, racism, or abuse to children or to wives or to anybody, and I get angry, that’s righteous anger because God hates sin. This is what Nehemiah did; he first empathized with the feelings of the people and he got angry too.
You know whose response Nehemiah’s reminds me of? It reminds me of somebody else; his name was Jesus. Jesus got angry in the temple, turning over the tables because they were making a profit and turning the temple into a marketplace. In Mark chapter 3, verse 5, it says Jesus was angry. Look at this verse: „Jesus was angry as he looked at the people, for he was deeply disturbed by their indifference to human need.“
Are you indifferent to human need? When you see people who are refugees being mistreated without food or water, does that disturb you? Jesus was disturbed by the indifference to human need, and he’s disturbed by our indifference too, by our apathy.
So it starts—if you want to be respected, be like Nehemiah; be like Jesus, and empathize with people’s feelings. You don’t have to always agree with their conclusions, but empathize. Listen empathetically to their feelings, and you’ll be respected.
2. Pause and Think Before Speaking
The second way I can earn the respect of others is the second thing that Nehemiah did in this chapter: pause and think before I speak up. If you do that, you will be respected. If you speak before you think, you’re not going to be respected. This is a mark of wisdom in Nehemiah.
In verse 7, chapter 5, Nehemiah says, „Then after I thought it over.“ What he’s going to do next happens after he’s thought it over. In the NIV, it says, „I pondered the charges in my mind.“ I listened to the complaints and the charges that the people were saying about the wealthy people who were exploiting them, and I pondered the charges in my mind.
In the New Jerusalem Bible, it says, „After some deliberation.“ All these phrases mean he was considering; he was meditating. He was thinking about it; he didn’t just go off half-cocked and start speaking about the injustices in society. No, he said, „I thought about it.“ He thought before he spoke; he put his mind in gear before he put his mouth in gear.
Proverbs 15:28 says, „The godly think before speaking.“ But wicked people quickly spout evil words without ever thinking. You know what? That’s happening a million times a day on social media—quickly spouting without ever thinking.
Now at least once a month, we have to come back to this verse in James chapter 1 because it’s so relevant to everything we do. James 1:19 and 20 says this: „Remember this: you must always be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to become angry because human anger cannot accomplish the righteousness of God.“
Now we’ve talked about this so many times, but let’s just review it again. We’re to be quick to listen—empathetic listening; that’s the first way we get respected. Then we’re to be slow to speak, and that’s the second way we learn to earn respect. If you do those two things, the third is automatic: you will be slow to become angry.
Because human anger can’t accomplish the righteousness of God. If you look out into the world and you see things that are wrong, sinful, unjust, or unfair—things that you want to say, „That’s not right"—it’s okay to get angry at those things, but you need to pause and think before you speak. If you want people to respect you, you’ve got to watch your words. Nehemiah did that; he identified with the emotions that people were feeling, but then he thought about it before he spoke up. He didn’t go off half-cocked.
3. Resolve Conflicts Privately First
Here’s the third way to earn the respect of others: try to resolve conflicts privately first. Oh my! This is the third thing that Nehemiah did right. If we would just do this, you know what happens? When you have conflict with somebody, you don’t go and talk to them about it. You go and talk to somebody else about them. You don’t go directly to the person you’re having a problem with; you go to somebody else to talk to everybody but that person.
Nehemiah did the third thing right; he didn’t start with a public protest when he saw all the injustice going on. He didn’t start with a boycott. What he starts with first is trying personal reasoning. He tries to personally build a bridge with the offenders who were exploiting the poor and taking advantage of the poor’s misfortune during this famine to increase their own net worth.
In verse 7, here’s the third thing Nehemiah did, «After thinking about the problem, ” that’s the second step, „I confronted the leaders and officials, challenging their actions.“ I said, „You’re oppressing your own countrymen with interest!“
Okay, then notice, then—circle the word „then.“ „Then, ” it means after I have done the personal approach, „I called the public assembly to deal with the problem.“ He didn’t start with the public assembly; he didn’t start with a public protest. He didn’t start pulling out his biggest guns. He goes to the people who are offending others and he tries to reason with them one-on-one; he treats them even as his enemies with dignity, even though he’s mad and upset about the injustice they’re doing in society.
Now, you know this is the way Jesus commanded that we handle conflict in churches. Did you know that? Matthew chapter 18, verses 15 to 17, Jesus said, „If your brother sins against you, ” talking about a fellow Christian, „go to him privately.“ Notice: privately. „Go to him privately to point out his fault.“ He said, „Now if he doesn’t listen to you, then go back a second time with one or two witnesses, ” and he said, „If that didn’t work, if he still refuses to listen, then go public with the whole church.“ Going public should be the last resort.
If you want to be respected, do it God’s way. When you have conflict with somebody, don’t gossip about it; don’t talk to other people about it. Go to that person directly and deal with it one-on-one. See if you can deal with it before it has to become a public issue.
4. Appeal to the Best in People
All right, now, the fourth way to earn the respect of others is the fourth thing Nehemiah did in this chapter, and here it is: appeal to the best in people. If you want to be respected, bring out the best in others, not the worst. Don’t appeal to their worst instincts; don’t appeal to their fears; don’t appeal to their prejudices. That’s what politicians do; they appeal to fears, prejudices, and the worst instincts. But you never lift people up to a higher level by putting them down. You never change anyone by labeling them; labeling just reinforces bad behavior.
You say, „Well, you’re this or you’re that.“ No, no; labeling never changed anybody. People say, „Well, I’m just telling it like it is.“ You can do that, but there’s a better way. Yes, there’s a better way than just telling it like it is—tell it like it could be! That’s speaking in faith. Don’t say, „This is what you are, ” say, „This is what you could be.“ Paint a picture of what they could be for that child, for your wife, for your husband, for some employee at work who’s given you a hard time.
This is what Nehemiah did in his appeal; he appealed to bring out the best in those who were exploiting the poor and being unjust and using everybody else’s misfortune for their personal profit. Nehemiah, in verses 8 to 13, says this at the public meeting with the wealthy nobles and the officials—these are the guys who were exploiting everybody and buying people into slavery—he says, „Guys—we’ve been buying back our Jewish relatives sold into slavery to Gentiles.“ Gentiles means anyone who’s not a Jew—non-believers. „But now you’re re-enslaving them. Will we have to buy them back too?“
He says the wealthy nobles had nothing to say in their defense when I said that. „Then I pressed further, ” Nehemiah says, „What you’re doing is wrong. We must honor God by the way we live so that the Gentiles—that’s unbelievers—cannot find fault with us.“ Now he’s saying here—do you pick this up? —I’m appealing to the best; I myself have loaned money to people, Nehemiah says; I’ve loaned money to people to buy food, but it’s wrong to profit from that.
In other words, by charging them interest, you’re not going to charge people for interest; you’re loaning them money for food so they can stay alive. I challenge you now to give back their fields and their vineyards; give back the olive groves that you bought; give back the homes that they sold to you. You acquired them during this famine, and give back any interest you charged them!
Now he’s appealing to the good side in them—appealing to the best in them—and the nobles said, „We will do this. We will do as you say. We will give back everything and not demand repayment, ” and they did as they promised. Whoa! How in the world did that happen? Because they respected Nehemiah.
And why did they respect him? Because of those first four things that he did. Did you catch verse nine where he appeals to the best in people? He said, „We must honor God by the way we live so that others can’t find fault with us.“
Every good leader knows how to do this—how to bring out the best in others. In 1861, right before America’s Civil War began, President Abraham Lincoln was elected. At his inauguration, he spoke to a deeply divided nation. He was trying to reduce the fears of his opponents who had voted against him and were worried in his first inaugural address. He famously concluded by saying this: „We’re not enemies but friends, and we must not let passion break our bonds of affection, and we must be led by the better angels of our nature.“ That’s a famous line: we must be led by the better angels of our nature.
He’s saying to appeal to the best in people. Why? Proverbs 11:27 says, „If your goals are good, you will be respected.“
5. Live with Humility and Generosity
Finally, Nehemiah does one other thing in this chapter; it’s the fifth way to earn the respect of others, and here it is: do everything with humility and generosity. Everything you do in life, live a life of humility and generosity. Look at this verse up on the screen: „For 12 years, I was governor.“ Nehemiah ends this chapter with a personal testimony. Here’s his testimony: „For the 12 years that I was governor, neither I nor my team ate the food entitled to the governor.“ Circle the word „entitled.“
We’ll come back to that. „We didn’t eat the food that was entitled to me and my team.“ Now the previous governors before me had placed heavy burdens of taxation on the people to pay for this—what all the perks that Nehemiah turned down. He says, „Even their assistants took advantage of the people, but I never did that.“ This is a man of character. „I never did that, ” he says. „Out of reverence for God, I did not act like they did, the previous governors.“
He said instead, you know, of accepting all the perks, „I devoted myself to working on the wall, and so did all my men. None of us acquired any land.“ He said we weren’t making money off of our position in the government. He said, „I also paid the cost personally of 150 people who daily ate at my table along with many foreign guests.“ He sure had to show hospitality to the people who came as the governor. He said, „In spite of all this, the stuff I turned down and the stuff that I paid for personally, I never demanded what was due to me as governor. I never demanded what was due to me because the people were having a difficult time.“
Wow! Where are leaders like that today? He says, „So remember me with favor, oh my God, for all I’ve done for these people.“ Who were these people? They were God’s people.
Now this personal testimony of Nehemiah has a lot to teach us about humility and generosity as secrets of earning the respect of others. When you’re in the respect of others, it increases your influence. Notice he rejected a sense of entitlement as governor; he said, „I was entitled to this, ” but I made no demands. He rejected a sense of entitlement; he refused all the perks of his office that the previous governors had expected.
Now what is entitlement? Entitlement is a narcissistic personality trait; it is the sense that I deserve something when I really haven’t done anything to deserve it. I just feel entitled to it. I feel entitled to that parking spot; I feel entitled to the best seat, and you should let me have it; no, you take it.
Entitlement is expecting special treatment; it’s going through life with a „you owe it to me“ attitude because you think you’re better than others. The only cure for a sense of entitlement is humility.
Not only did he reject that sense of entitlement, the second thing is he didn’t use his position or power to enrich himself. He said, „None of us acquired any land for ourselves; we were just busy working on the wall that God told us to build.“ The third thing is he put the needs of the people ahead of his own—put the needs of the people ahead of his own. That’s humility in action; that’s real humility. „I never demanded what was due to me because the people were having a difficult time.“
It’s no wonder Nehemiah was so respected. It’s no wonder that even his opponents said, „Well, you ask us to do this, we’ll do it; we’ll give all the money back; we’ll release all the slaves; we’ll give all the land back.“ Why? Because he spoke with authority—the moral authority of somebody who was deeply respected.
I want you to be that kind of person now. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:23, „If you’re humble, you will be respected.“
But not only do we see humility in these verses of Nehemiah’s testimony, but we also see how he was respected because he was also generous. He wasn’t just humble; he had a generous spirit. He talks about how he personally paid for many of the costs of his leadership position; he didn’t tax people for that; he paid for it himself—including feeding all of his team every day. All those 12 years he said, „150 people I fed meals to for 12 years.“ And in several other passages in this book, we learn of Nehemiah’s other generosity.
The Bible has many promises about generosity, but Psalm 112:9 says this: „Whoever gives generously to the needy and shows kindness will be powerful and respected.“ You want to be respected? Humility and generosity—humility and generosity—humility and generosity. Don’t have a sense of entitlement; don’t have a sense of making demands. „Well, I have my rights.“ No, no, in Christ we give up our rights to serve Jesus Christ, and we defend the rights of others.
Your Legacy: What Will People Remember?
Now to sum up this message and these five things that Nehemiah did that made him such a respected leader, giving him such moral clarity; giving him such influence—to sum up this message, what we’re really talking about is the issue of your legacy.
Here’s the question I want to end with: what will people remember about your life after you’re gone? We know what they remembered about Nehemiah’s life. What are they going to remember about your life after you’re gone? That you did any of these five things? More importantly, let me ask you this: what do you want to be remembered for? That’s your choice; that’s your choice.
Let me close with a couple of promises. Proverbs 10:7 says this: „Good people will be remembered as a blessing.“ I want you to be remembered as a blessing, and I want people to think, „Those members of Saddleback Church—those are blessed people, and they were a blessing to everybody else.“
That’s a legacy. Proverbs 14:22 says this: „You’ll earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good.“ The world is filled with a lot of bad things; there are a lot of things that are wrong, that are sinful, that are unjust, that are evil. But you will earn the trust and respect of others if you work for good.
What are you going to use the rest of your life for? Are you going to work for good? Are you going to let God give you a passion for some area of justice, some area of change, some area of helping those who have little or no help? See, the world is looking for people that they can trust; the world is looking for people that have credibility, that are worthy of respect, and I want you to be one of those people—someone with credibility, somebody worth listening to because you do these same five things that Nehemiah did.
You see, respect and influence go hand in hand. So I want to challenge you. Here’s your homework for this week: I want you to start working on these five principles that cause you to earn the respect of others.
First, ask God to help you be a more empathetic listener; people respect that. God, help me to not be quick to give a solution, but help me to just listen and hear their feelings, and then identify with those feelings and try to feel those feelings. Ask God to help you empathize with the feelings of others.
Second, ask God to help you pause and think every time before you speak. Quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to get angry. Ask God to help you pause and think before you speak.
Then, ask God to help you resolve conflicts when you know about them one-on-one—to not talk to other people but to talk to the person personally and deal with that. Have the courage to do that.
Number four: ask God to help you appeal to the best in people instead of bringing out the worst. Instead of being critical, judgmental, and labeling them and telling everybody what they’re doing wrong, paint a picture of what they could be. Help them see in faith what they could be. Bring out the best in people, not the worst.
Would you ask God to help you start doing that? And number five: ask God to help you do everything with humility and generosity. If you live your life with humility and generosity, there’s almost nothing God won’t do for that woman or that man.
Closing Prayer
Now, I’d like to pray for you right now, so let’s bow our heads. Father, we desperately need people in this world who do these five things. We live on a broken planet with broken people—so much hurt, so much pain, so much shame, so much sorrow, grief, and injustice—so many things that are wrong in our society.
We’re not supposed to look to other people for solutions. We’re not supposed to look to government for solutions; you want us to be the solution—your people, your body, the bride of Christ. Help us to do these things that Nehemiah did, that we may live with integrity, humility, and generosity—that we would be quick to listen and slow to speak—that we would be gentle, not judgmental, Lord—that we would bring out the best in others, not the worst.
Help us to work on these five things this week. We can’t do it on our own; we need your Holy Spirit to help us change, but help us to change in ways that people take notice. I pray, Father, that you will raise up a generation of people who have credibility and respect even among unbelievers, because they live the way Nehemiah lived, the way Jesus lived. Help us to get angry about the stuff that’s wrong in the world but not depend on human anger to solve it; depend on you.
With heads bowed, if you’ve never opened your life to Christ, say, „Jesus Christ, come into my life and save me. I want to follow you. I need your Spirit in my life; I need your love, forgiveness, and mercy. And as much as I know how, I open my life to you, and I humbly ask you to accept me into your family. I’m putting my trust in you. In Jesus' name, amen.“