Be Like Nehemiah
As the world awaits the proverbial ‘changing of the guard’ in the United States of America, some are fearful, meanwhile many are jubilant. As I have said many times before, God is the one who promotes and demotes. He does whatever He pleases. We may not understand God’s will, but we must pray each day. If President-elect Donald Trump wants to be successful and legitimately ‘make America great again’, then he should take a cue from Nehemiah.
First, Nehemiah identified who the survivors were, and in the case of the USA, the forgotten, the poor, fatherless, widows, the distressed, dejected, discontented, those in despair, the abandoned communities and the veterans and their families or surviving families. Repair and strengthen the institution of family which is broken. The family is the first line of government in any nation.
Nobody listens to the poor (Ecclesiastes 9: 16). Don’t listen only to the wealthy, but also to the poor. There are many who are poor with excellent solutions, but because of poverty they are despised and ignored. There are many who are rich but speak utter nonsense, yet it is gobbled up by the media and those lacking ideas. Wealth is not the mark of success. There are many who have been through many losses and failures, but have gained wisdom and have become true champions. It is sometimes a lack of opportunity or of a second chance that keep people in poverty.
Second, before making any major change, there will need to be four months of prayer to build a foundation, and for God to give Him guidance, tactics and strategies. The next four months will be critical to his presidency. Prayer is essential to leadership; he has proven this through his campaign. Prayer brings great vision to fruition. One of his prayers should be Nehemiah 1: 5 – 11, and that God will cause America to return to Him. He also has to repent on behalf of the nation for all that they have done, and for how America has, in general, forsaken God. He has to pray that God will forgive the mistakes of past administrations, and that God will heal the division within the nation.
As a wise leader, Nehemiah refrained from sharing his ideas with people until he has actually assessed matters and prayerfully considered the cost. There are two major things Trump has to do: repair and rebuild.
In repairing, Trump has to identify what was good from the previous administrations, then enhance and strengthen those things. For example, regarding immigration, he has to tread carefully, because part of what made America great was immigration. People came to America for opportunity, religious and economic reasons. They were welcomed and given the opportunity to legally inhabit, and that allowed America to be blessed. He has to discern who has come to build and who has come to destroy. Immigrants have been some of the most successful persons to help build America.
For example, the Transcontinental Railroad was built by the Chinese, which caused the nation to get a quick passage from east to west. The journey that usually took 4-6 months then took six days.
All eight great-grandparents of President John F. Kennedy and his siblings came to the United States on the ‘coffin ships’ to Boston Harbour and passed through the city’s immigration hall.
IMPORTANT IMMIGRANTS
Immigrants do not steal jobs; they do the jobs that Americans don’t want. Immigrants always help the economy, whether they come here willingly or are forced to. It is going to be critical who advises him on this issue, as this has the potential to create another civil war, something I have also seen in a vision. Allow illegal immigrants the opportunity of a pathway to citizenship as this will also contribute towards reducing poverty, because they will be required to pay taxes, contribute to the school and economic systems and the real estate industry, while reducing the burden on the government to provide public assistance.
Furthermore, the armed forces must become modernized, the space programme needs to be revamped, greater attention must be given for developments in livestock/agriculture, water and energy.
Maintain the dream act and sanctuary cities. Avail funds to faith-based NGOs, without discrimination, to rebuild communities. Aggressively deal with drug lords, extortionists and their partners, as their actions interfere with foreign exchange and trade.
Pay greater attention to giving our children high-quality education and to training the teachers.
Give debt write-offs to, and ease regulations on, Caribbean and African nations.
Give grants for development and expansion of solar energy technology for poorer countries. Then the people will unite and rebuild.