Prayer and Action

Let us look at the last section of verses for Chapter 1 of Nehemiah and his prayer he prayed.  Nehemiah 1:8-11 -  “Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, `If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” “They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. “O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

We see a number of things here in these verses and one is that Nehemiah was a man who knew the Word. He not only knew the Word but He prayed it back to God. We need to be a people like we talked about a few weeks ago who go to God and claim His promises. There is much power in praying the Word of God and the promises of God back to Him.

We also see here that Nehemiah went boldly before the throne of God. He asked God to give him the plans and then to bless those plans – which God later does. You might wonder why was he so bold in doing this, it was because He knew he was praying back to God a promise that God made. God is someone who always fulfills his promises!

What we are seeing here is that Nehemiah’s full desire was not to make himself great or even known but it was to accomplish the will of God. Nehemiah wanted to see God take over the situation and do something great. Nehemiah knows that success only comes from God. He knew that going to God in prayer was the only way that there was going to be real and last change.

We see a prayer here of Nehemiah that is short but powerful. We see a prayer here that serves as an example for all because it is set us all on the right focuses. This prayer has the focus: on who God is, on needing God’s direction, on Confession, on God’s Word, and the moving to accomplish Gods will.

Remember this, those who talk to God the most usually hear God the best. Prayer shows our dependence on God, what are you depending on God to do? What are you depending on God to do in your life, in Church, in our County? Are you willing to pray and seek God and take whatever action he calls you to?

Nehemiah prayed and then later in the book we see that he took action. We need to pray but then take action.

Have you ever struggle with wanting yourself to be known over God being known?

****Next week is one of my two vacation weeks so I will be hit or miss on blogging and commenting.  Doing some family things in the area then headed to spend time with my brother and his family.

Is Confession Good For The Soul?

As we continue our look at the prayer of Nehemiah from Nehemiah 1 we will look today at verses 6 and 7 and the idea of confession. Nehemiah 1:6-7  6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. 7 "We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

Nehemiah was completely dependent on God and he is begging God to hear him. He knew that there was nothing that he could do in this situation unless it was God who did something in and through him. We should all understand that unless Goes does something it will fail. Our human will and power is no match for the Lord of Heaven and Earth. How often are we found trying to do things in our own power? How often do we fail to seek God and His ways? How often do we fail because of our failure to rely on God? I would say for me too often, how about for you?

Did you notice that Nehemiah prayed night and day. Have you ever been so bothered in your spirit that all you could do is pray continually? Nehemiah is a man who knows that prayer is the only possible thing that can make a difference in this situation or any situation in life. What we see here with Nehemiah is that he is constantly praying and keeping in contact with God. The Bible tells us that we are to pray without ceasing in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and in Rom. 12:12 we are told to be, rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer. What we are to be doing is to be constantly in communication with God. The idea for us all is to always be in a state of persistent prayer. Would you describe your prayer life as persistent?

The next thing we see is that Nehemiah confesses his sins but not only his but the sins of his people. Many people forget their own sinfulness and focus in on others. It is always easier to see other people’s sins and imperfections than to notice our own. We need to be aware of our own sinfulness as 1 John 1:8-10 makes that clear to us -If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. I confess before you now that I am not the perfect pastor, father, husband, blogger by far and I sin, but with the grace of God I find His mercies new every morning.  I know that I have sins that I need to confess, how about you?

Notice that He did not whine and complain about the sins of the people but he confessed them. He did not whine and complain or make excuses for his sin or the sins of his people; he humbled himself and accepted the judgment of God. We as a country have sinned against God and even more so we as Christians and the church of Jesus Christ here in America have sinned and not been what we are called to be by God. We have not stood up for what is right, we have allowed sinful attitudes to prevail in our churches and homes, and we have turned from God’s way of doing things. We need to confess it and we need change our sinful ways and attitudes and we need to move forward in Christ.  Please understand that confession should lead to change, has it in your life or do you confess and remain the same?

What was the hardest thing you ever had to confess to someone?

Focus of Nehemiah’s Prayer

We started yesterday with the prayer of Nehemiah and  let us continue with it today and see what we can learn. Nehemiah 1:5 – I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments

We see by the way Nehemiah begins praying that He understands who God is and he comes to Him humbly. First Thing to remember when praying for anything and that is there is a Holy and Awesome God and we are not Him! That is a proper perspective to begin praying with and the right place to start.

Many come before God just “grabbing and going” so to speak and they are the ones who do not understand that we serve an awesome and powerful God. What we need to understand is what Nehemiah did and how he approached God. He said, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness. Nehemiah recognizes who God is and approaches him with reverence and honor which is another one of the supremely important parts of praying. So let me ask you this, when you pray do you recognize who God is and do you approach Him with the right attitude? Nehemiah recognizes that God is the only place we are to be focused in life whether in a bad situation or a good one. It is always right to be focused on God and approach Him with the right attitude.

Look at the phrase, Lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, notice that in this Nehemiah recognizes that he is a servant of God. Problems come when leaders think of themselves as only leaders and not servants. If I were to say what the problem was in the government of the United States today, I would say that this it. People who think it is about them and not the people they represent. We in the church many times think is it about us and not the God we represent – so we better not be quick to point fingers because we are just as guilty as others.

What we see here in this opening verse of the prayer of Nehemiah that his focus was on God and His power and His honor. For each one of us our focus always needs to be on God and not on us or our wants but on God and what he wants. This is the only right and true focus in prayer!

What is one thing that those of us who read this blog can prayer for you?

Self-Control?

This week we will take look at Nehemiah chapter 1 and see what we can learn and today a major focus will be on self-control

Nehemiah 1: 1-4  1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” 4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven

The month of Chislev would be the end of Nov. and the beginning of Dec. for us and it was their ninth month. The 20th year refers to the 20th year of King Artaxerxes who reigned from 465 to 425 B.C., which would make the timing of Nehemiah about 445 B.C. Nehemiah was in the fortress of the capital of the Persians at the time of this event. We see by Nehemiah living here and that he is someone of importance in the country – actually he is the cupbearer which we see at the end of the chapter which means he was one with great responsibility.

We see by verse 2 that Nehemiah was in Persia but his heart was in Jerusalem. We see this by his asking his brother and others about those who have returned to Jerusalem but he also asked about his hometown itself. We see his definite concern because their report and the report is not good, because the walls are broken down and the gates have been burned.

Why is Jerusalem in such a terrible state? The city of Jerusalem had been completely conquered by the Babylonians, and once-glorious temple of Solomon had been destroyed. The bad state of the people and the bad state of the city walls were intimately connected. A city without walls, in the ancient world, was a city completely open and vulnerable to its enemies. They had no defense, no protection at all. At that time a city without walls was a mess and had nothing valuable in it. If there were anything of value, it would have been stolen away, because there was no defense to stop it.

Those living in a city without walls lived in constant stress and tension; they never knew when they might be attacked and brutalized. Every man lived in constant fear for his wife and children – what would happen to them while he was out working in the fields outside the city. The temple could be rebuilt at this time, but never made beautiful, because anything valuable would be easily taken. Things would be in a desperate state when you lived in a city without walls.

Considering a city without walls, think about Prov. 25:28 for a moment: Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit.

We can see the devastation that no wall can have on a city. Here we can see the Bible says that those without self-control will be devastated like the city with no walls. Self-control is something that our society has lost grips with over the years and you see people in and out of the church that struggle with controlling many areas of their lives. There is a delicate balance to be had here between our own self-control and being filled by the spirit because one of the fruits of the spirit.

Are there areas in your life that you have no self-control? Is it your mouth, does it get you into trouble? How about your temper, do you lose it sometimes and really make a mess of things? Are there other areas that you want to stop doing something that is getting you in trouble but you just can’t do it? What we need to yield ourselves more to the Spirit of God, find people to keep us accountable for our actions, and focus on the right and positive all while moving forward in Christ if we want to gain self-control.

What advice would you give someone who struggled with self-control?