That first step in implementation – even if it seems a little thing – is absolutely critical.

In church circles, people sometimes talk about God opening doors. That image comes from the Bible, from the apostle Paul, who wrote, “…a great door for effective work has opened for me” (1 Corinthians 16:9). When people talk about God opening a door for them, we usually think that everything just fell into place.

But when Paul talked about God opening a door for him, that’s not what he was thinking, and it’s not what he said. He was thinking of effective ministry, not smooth sailing, and they are not the same thing. We mistakenly assume that if God has opened a door for us, everything will be easy. If it’s not, if it gets hard, we think that we must have been wrong about God opening the door.

But the open door Paul was talking about was in Ephesus in Asia Minor. He went through that open door and found that it led both to effective work – many people chose to believe in Jesus and turn their lives to God – and also to much trouble. It was while he was doing effective work in Ephesus that anti-Christian feelings fostered a riot in which he came close to being killed, and some of his friends were arrested and mistreated. Yet Paul never doubted that God had opened this door. He didn’t interpret hardship as evidence that his course of action was outside God’s will.

This is the concluding article in a series on how spiritual growth takes place. We have seen a three-step process to spiritual growth. (1) A person has an insight. (2) He or she decides on a course of action based on that insight. (3) That person implements the decision he or she has made.

The Book of Nehemiah illustrates this process. Nehemiah, an important official in the Persian government, learns that the effort to repopulate Jerusalem has stalled. People do not want to move back. The situation there is too unstable. The city is still, after many decades, a pile of rubble. Nehemiah realizes (this is his insight) that something must be done—that God intends that something be done.

He begins to pray about this, not once or twice but for four or five months. During those months a thought comes to him: “Maybe I could do something about this.” Then, as he continues to pray, a further thought comes: “God wants me to do something about this!” And then he has a decision to make. Will he leave his home and his important job and go to Jerusalem based on what God seems to be saying? Should he risk everything for it?

He has gone through step one (insight) and step two (decision) of the process of spiritual formation. But there is a third step: Implementation. This third step is formidable. He is living nearly 800 miles from Jerusalem. He works a government job which he cannot simply quit. If the king does not give him leave, he will not be able to go. And even if the king gives him leave, what can he do? He needs resources: cash, workers, delegated authority, letters of reference, and supplies – tons of supplies.

Suddenly, making the decision to go to Jerusalem (something he may have struggled with for months) seems like the easy part. Implementing the decision seems overwhelming.

Nehemiah knew that his first step was to request a leave of absence from the king. When the opportunity arose – the king asked him point-blank, “What do you want?” – Nehemiah was ready to answer. And what an answer! It comes in three parts: (1) Let me go to Jerusalem to oversee reconstruction of the city wall; (2) Give me letters to the provincial governors, so that they’ll know you’re on board with this; and (3) Order your supply and support personnel to provide me the necessary materials.

It was clear that Nehemiah had thought this through.

Still, talking to the king was only the first step in implementing his decision to do something for Jerusalem. He did not know what he was going to find when he got there – what trouble he would encounter (he encountered plenty), what needs he was going to have, or what support was going to be available. If Nehemiah had waited until he had it all figured out, he never would have done anything. We can’t see around corners, and we cannot plan for every contingency. And why do we want to? So that we can be safe.

God wants us to change the world, and we want to be safe. God wants us to risk all on him, and we want a guarantee. God’s word is a light for our feet; we want a satellite photo of our future. When we’ve had an insight and made a decision, if we don’t act until we know what all the implementation steps are, we’ll never take the first one.

An impala can jump as far as thirty feet and clear a height of ten feet. But an impala will stop in front of a four-foot stone fence because it cannot see where its feet will land. The lion will have it for dinner because it will only jump if it can see where it will land. If Nehemiah had waited to see where he would land, he never would have jumped.

Many people make decisions for Christ and fully intend to carry them out but never get started. That first step in implementation – even if it seems a little thing – is absolutely critical. Once we have decided to do something for God, everything hinges on taking the first step.