I have a recurring dream. It's been going on for almost 30 years, about as long as I've been in the ministry. The dream is that I've been invited to speak somewhere, the church is full, the service has already begun, and it occurs to me -- at that moment -- that I forgot to prepare a sermon. I decide to look at my Bible to see if I have any notes with me, and then I realize that I forgot my Bible. I'm supposed to be preaching, and I don't even have my Bible with me. I ask myself, "What in the world were you thinking? How could you just show up completely unprepared? How could you forget your Bible?" Has that ever happened to you? (By the way, I want to assure that this didn't happen today. My sermon is ready.)

But it does remind me of what I saw Randy Stonehill do once. He was playing before a packed house, and when he was introduced, the crowd went wild. As he walked onto the stage, they actually gave him a standing ovation -- before he had sung a note. When they finally quieted down, Stonehill said, "It's times like this that I wish I had prepared some songs for you."

You see it happen sometimes -- people come across a great opportunity that they're just not prepared for. Sometimes you see it at the Oscars: a person wins that clearly didn't expect to win. As they accept their award, it's obvious they didn't prepare a "Thank You" speech -- because they never dreamed in a million years they would actually get the chance to give it.

This happened to Sally Fields when she won her Oscar for Places In the Heart. She had won an Oscar years before, but all the critics said it was fluke. Sally Fields was the Flying Nun and Burt Reynold's co-star in Smokey and the Bandit -- she wasn't a serious actor. Then she won her second Oscar, which she didn't expect to win. When she made her acceptance speech, all she could think of to say was, "You like me....Right now you like me!" She has been teased relentlessly about this over the years, and now she sees the humor in it and goes along with the joke. But this just might be why William Matthews said, "Unless a man has trained himself for his chance, the chance will only make him look ridiculous."

If you want to be a leader, if you want to make great things happen in your life and make a difference in the world you live in, you must spend some time in preparation -- not just learning what you need to learn, but also preparing yourself emotionally for the challenges ahead. Leadership isn't easy. It's rewarding. It's ultimately satisfying. But it's not easy. It requires a lot of hard work -- work that no one ever sees. It's work done out of the spotlight. It's preparation.

Roger Staubach said, "Spectacular achievements come from unspectacular preparation." There's nothing glamorous about getting ready, but in order for you to move to the next level of leadership, you will have to spend some time in preparation. Bear Bryant said, "It's not the will to win that matters -- everyone has that. It's the will to prepare that matters."

And so today, as you think about where you lead, and all the possibilities that exist there, I want you to consider five ways in which you need to prepare. Five things you need to get ready for. These are part of the preparation process. First of all...

1. Get Ready To Wait.

Last week, we saw how Nehemiah became inspired with the idea of traveling to Jerusalem to help rebuild the broken down walls of Jerusalem. This happened, he says in chapter one, verse one: "In the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year." Kislev coincides with late November, early December. Chapter 2 begins...

(v. 1) In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes ...

Nisan coincides with late April, early May. So there was about a 5 or 6 month stretch in between the time that Nehemiah heard about the problem and the time that Nehemiah had the chance to do something about it. Six months he spent waiting. Now, as we'll see, he didn't spend that time doing nothing, but there was a period of several months when Nehemiah's heart was on fire to do something about this problem -- and he was able to do nothing but wait.

Do you know what I've noticed? There's a waiting room where our dreams go between inception and realization. God allows this period of waiting to see if we will stoke the fire of our dream, or if we'll let the spark die out. I can't count the number of people over the years who have told me in a fit of emotion that they will become a missionary, or a pastor, or they will start a ministry to street people, or young people, or old people, or single people, or poor people -- and they're completely enthusiastic about the idea ... for about three days. Then they forget about it.

When God gives you a dream, he will give that dream the opportunity to incubate in your heart for a while. He'll give it time to grow. You can expect to spend some time waiting. However, while you're waiting, you don't want to waste your time. You want to make the most of it, just like Nehemiah did. This brings us to the second thing I want you to see.

2. Get Ready for the Open Door.

In the 5-6 months that Nehemiah had been waiting, he had been getting ready for the opportunity to share his dream with the king. He knew eventually the day would come when the king would say...

(v. 4) "What is it that you want?"

When it happened, Nehemiah was ready. He said, "Send me to Jerusalem so that I can rebuild the city." The king asked how long it would take, and Nehemiah was ready with an answer. And then Nehemiah said, "Plus, I will need letters of safe passage for the governors of surrounding territories, and I'll need a line a credit to buy timber for the temple and the gates and the house that I will be staying in." Clearly, Nehemiah had thought this through. Clearly, he had done his homework. When the door opened, he was ready. And the king gave Nehemiah everything he asked for.

If God has given you a dream, you can be sure -- even though it may seem like things are on hold right now -- you can be sure that God will provide an open door when the time is right. The question is: Will you be ready? Start asking yourself now: What do I need to do in order to get this thing started? What information should I gather? What facts do I need to know? Which skills do I need to learn? Who are the people who can help me most and who will I be working with? Start asking these questions now, so that when the door is open, you're ready to go through it.

Many times we attribute success to a guy being lucky, to a guy being in the right place at the right time. Luck will not help you unless you're prepared for the opportunity. Being in the right place at the right time will not help you, unless you're prepared for the opportunity. Get ready for the open door. It won't be long before it swings wide; make sure you're in a position to go through.

The third part of the preparation process I want you to see is...

3. Get Ready To Spend Time in Prayer.

When the king asked Nehemiah, "What is it you want?" Nehemiah wrote...

(v. 4-5) Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king...

In other words, he prayed one of those "bullet" prayers -- the type of prayer you pray real fast before you do something important. This is a good habit to get into. As you go through your day, and situations and problems and opportunities pop up, practice saying a quick prayer before you proceed: "God, help me with this presentation. God, help me say the right thing. God, help me control my emotions. God, help me do what I'm supposed to do." I encourage you to do this until it becomes routine -- when your immediate response to every situation is to call on God. That's where you want to be.

But I want you to realize that this isn't the only time Nehemiah prayed. In fact, the 13 chapters of the book of Nehemiah records nine prayers. From day one -- as we see in chapter one -- this project was a matter of prayer for Nehemiah. He was constantly calling God for help, for comfort, for forgiveness, for direction, for resources, for protection, for thanksgiving, for praise, and on and on. Project Wall was bathed in prayer from start to finish. This is why, whenever something went Nehemiah's way, he was quick to give the credit to God. In verse 8 Nehemiah wrote, "And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests." It was second nature for Nehemiah to give credit to God, because it was Nehemiah's first nature to make everything a matter of prayer.

If God has given you a dream to lead in a certain area, to accomplish a certain task, begin praying about it now. Ask God to make you clean, to give you pure motives, to give you wisdom to make the right decisions, to give you courage to face opposition, to give you humility and patience and discernment, to keep your ego in check, to provide everything you need, and to guide you with his hand day after day after day. Make everything a matter of prayer.

If you're already in a position of leadership and you're not praying like you ought to be praying, start today. Start this moment. Start with a bullet prayer: "God, help me get my prayer life where it should be." And get in the habit of praying; it's an essential part of preparation.

The next part of the preparation process that I want you to see is ...

4. Get ready for some late and lonely nights.

Here's what happened. The king asked Nehemiah what he wanted, Nehemiah told him, the king delivered. Nehemiah then traveled 800 miles to Jerusalem and began sizing up the project.

(v. 11-12) I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days, I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem...

He then tells how he examined the gates late at night, when no one was around. He says...

(v. 16) The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work.

There will come a time when you're ready to talk about your dream, but during the preparation process, it's best to keep it to yourself. During the preparation process, you can expect to spend some late nights all alone -- thinking, planning, gathering information, evaluating, praying, thinking some more, developing a strategy, praying some more, until the time you are ready to move forward.

The fact is that no one will know about the late nights. No one will know about the extra hours. No one needs to know. Leaders understand that we're the ones to arrive early and leave late. Leaders do preparation that no one sees. Leaders carry a burden that no one else feels. Leaders spend more time with a project than the spectators -- or even the average participators -- will ever realize.

Do you ever watch the Olympics? According to USA Today, the average Olympian trains four hours a day, 310 days a year, for six years, before making it to the Olympics. In training, swimmers average 10 miles a day in laps; marathon runners average 160 miles a week. They pay the price for their success; every successful leader must do the same. Preparation for leadership requires long days and late nights. These times when no one is cheering you on; the only thing that is driving you is the will to accomplish something great for the glory of God.

The fifth part of the preparation process that I want you to see is ...

5. Get Ready for some opposition.

(v. 10) When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.

(v. 19) But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?"

One unfortunate side effect of leadership is that others -- usually non-leaders -- will criticize you. The same thing happened to David on the day of his battle with Goliath. His brother, Eliab -- who himself didn't have the courage to face Goliath -- ridiculed and insulted David, telling him to get back to tending sheep.

I'm sure it was the same for Nehemiah. His critics no doubt said, "Who does this man think he is? He is just a slave with visions of grandeur. Does he really think he can rebuild the walls of Jerusalem?" And notice their allegation: "Are you rebelling against the king?"

No leader is immune to criticism; no leader serves without opposition. We all face it. But it nearly always comes from the uninvolved. They will ridicule, they will mock, they will make allegations. Your job, as a leader, is to keep moving forward. Listen to Nehemiah's response.

(v. 20) I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any of historic right to it."

Nehemiah didn't argue with his critics. He didn't present them with his business plan or assure them the king was on his side or try to convince them that his strategy would work. He just said, "This is God's project and he will give us success. This doesn't involve you at all ... so keep your nose out of it." In a few weeks we'll look more closely at the subject of opposition, but for now, suffice it to say that if you have to respond your critics, Nehemiah shows us how to do it: with as few words as possible. The important thing is to keep focused on what God is calling you to do, not what your opponents are saying.

CONCLUSION

The preparation process leads to what we read in Nehemiah 2:18. After Nehemiah had challenged the people of Jerusalem to join him in this task...

(v. 18) They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work.

Next week we'll look at how Nehemiah got the project started. Today I want you to realize that Nehemiah wasn't an overnight success. He spent time preparing for the work God called him to do.

He did his homework, he was able to answer the right questions. When the door of opportunity opened, he was ready to go through. He spent time in prayer, he put in the late nights, he faced criticism and opposition. Why? Because he knew that the gracious hand of his God was upon him. Because he knew that the God of heaven would give him success.

Preparation can be difficult. It can be long and it can be lonely. But when you prepare God can use you. He will use you. He's given you a dream of making a difference -- at work, at home, in your community, in the ministry of this church. As you prepare your heart and life, he will take you to the place he has called you to be.