I built this diningroom table for our first house. We had hundreds of happy family meals around it.

Scripture
Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. 2 Corinthians 13:11

Observation
There are some homes that the front door opens into idyllic peace. There are other houses where it seems lightning is about to strike. My wife, who is the veteran of four church nurseries over the past 25 years, can detect the homes with unhappy marriages by the way children play. Every house has an atmosphere that is generated by the people living in it.

How can we create a good climate in our homes? Paul gives three operative words: encouragement, harmony and peace. If we need any evidence of how well these words work, just think of homes filled with the opposite: sarcasm, discord and strife. It’s obvious these words work.

Encouragement: that starts with a deliberate choice to say “good morning” with a smile and hug and tailgates through the day to back family up with constructive words. Yesterday my wife said one uplifting sentence about my work well that gave me 10 hours of enthusiasm. Every man needs a cheerleader, but he won’t have one unless he regularly dates the woman on the sidelines.

Harmony: that is the choice to fit into the relationships around me. If I’m angry I may want to play off key or sing another song all together. We call disharmony argument, strife, independence, etc. Harmony is my choice to blend into my family and bring the most out of the people around me. It starts by listening when I want to talk or get to work. It extends by helping those around me achieve their hopes for the day while on the way to my own. It is built on respect and service.

Peace: this word suggests an end of conflict but there is a positive side that is often overlooked. Peace is not just the absence of war but the presence of good relationships. The first is obviously with Christ. When he is in the home there is a deep contentment. But peace is the choice to be together in love. Peace starts with the simple act of eating at least one meal together each day. The microwave is endangering the home not with radiation but with a convenience that allows everyone to eat on their own schedule. Where is the family dinner table in contemporary homes? Peace comes when I chose to stop what I’m doing, adjust my schedule, sit down with those I love, show interest in their world and do what we all love best…eating and laughing. Peace is the result of presence.

The reward for doing these three things is that our heavenly Father shows up at the door with love and peace.
Prayer
Father, I want today more than every to have a home filled with encouragement, harmony and peace. My home is great but I want it even better. Show me how to be secretively deliberate about this today. Amen.

Along the line of scrimmage, before the ball is snapped players tackle their opponents with razor sharp words. It’s the game that boxers play when they throw verbal punches before they step into the ring. Dictators know before they can win a battle they must first win the propaganda game of psychological warfare. The Devil is no dummy either. He know that he need not stop anyone, all he needs to do is lob a few well chosen words into our minds. Listen in on this conversation Satan inspired to stop Nehemiah and crew from finishing the city wall.

Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage and mocked the Jews, saying in front of his friends and the Samarian army officers, “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they’re doing? Nehemiah 4:1-4

Words have remarkable power. God designed them that way. All that we see and touch he created by speaking words. Those same words can also destroy. The words of Sanballat on the scrimmage line did their job. Listen to what the team said next:

Then the people of Judah began to complain, “The workers are getting tired, and there is so much rubble to be moved. We will never be able to build the wall by ourselves.” Nehemiah 4:10

Tired is often a state of mind. This explains the miraculous healing my teenage son often experiences. Though he is threadbare with exhaustion when the magic wand of an Xbox controller is placed in the palm of his hand he experiences instant recovery. Nehemiah’s workers had the strength; someone needed to remind them.

What Quarterback Nehemiah pulled out of his playbook next is a classic maneuver that we must remember and use again and again. Study this astute gameplan:

Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the nobles and the rest of the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid of the enemy! Remember the Lord, who is great and glorious, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes!” Nehemiah 4:14

Two things will protect us from the mind games of Satan. First, remember who God is. The strength isn’t in us, it is in the Lord. Second, remember the “why factor” of the work you are doing. For these people the “why factor” was the protection of their loved ones. They weren’t building a city wall, they were building their back fence. Mom, pop, brother and sis were all at stake. When the why factor is held in the hand when we work we too will experience an amazing recovery of strength.

Remember God! There is nothing you can remind him of that he has forgotten. There is no panic in heaven, and your job in prayer is not to get God as worried as you are. Instead, remember God great and glorious. Then connect whatever it is that you are called to do with the names and faces of those you love most. Then the wall will be finished.

Father, thank you for the struggle of Nehemiah. His life is the greatest textbook on leadership. Help me to finish the work you have asked me to do. Amen.