The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 2:11-20 (day three)

“I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem.”

When you hear someone say to you that “God has laid it on my heart” to do some action, or that “the Lord is leading me” towards this or that, or that “I’ve prayed and I’m being directed” towards a certain decision, how do you feel about your freedom to disagree? “The Lord led me” is something that is often hard to counter. That’s why it can be used to gain power over someone’s reasoning or better judgement. If you disagree, it’s as if you’re fighting against God. Nehemiah eschewed such tactics. He displayed his integrity as a leader at every turn. He could well have said “follow me because the Lord is with me.” Instead, he let his actions do the talking.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 2:11-20 (day two)  

I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us arise and build.” So they put their hands to the good work. ¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, “What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”  v. 18-19

Same message, different responses. Jesus told his disciples that the message of hope and truth would be received by some and rejected by others. His parable of the Good Earth is a classic example of how different hearts accept or reject God’s offer of peace. It shouldn’t surprise you, then, when you hear a clear directive from the Lord and others don’t fall in step. It must be a bit disconcerting when you know you are walking in step with the Lord and others don’t want to follow. We can follow Nehemiah’s example. He eventually shared with others what the Lord had placed on his heart and moved in that direction regardless of how others reacted. Some will get it, and some will reject it. We are responsible for our own hearts.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 1:4–11 (day seven) 

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. vs 9

If you see a strawberry blonde male that looks out of place today, don’t be alarmed! It is me! This is not a fashion statement. Rather it was a challenge to our students to get their friends to come to Impact Camp. I promised them if they got 130 students to camp, then I would bleach my hair. That number would be more than I have taken to camp in my 9 years at FBCSA and would rival numbers of youth groups past. We took 133 students to Impact Camp! We also had 30 other staff and volunteers serving and leading in other capacities taking over 160 people to camp.

Hair, numbers, and records ultimately do not matter. The heart behind my challenge is to get people to camp who need to hear the Gospel, and God moved in a mighty way! We had many salvations and dozens of rededications. I am excited to tell their stories in the days ahead! But what I want to leave you with today is that God has chosen to dwell in the hearts of this generation. Many of you may be worried about the state of our country and society in their love for Jesus. I can assure you, God is working in a mighty way in this generation and in our youth group right now. What will we do to further their growth?

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater work; prayer is the greater work.” Oswald Chambers

Nehemiah reminds us that prayer is not an afterthought; it is the first and greater work.

God holds the whole world in His hands. Nations rise and fall under His sovereign will. And He is the God who keeps His promises.

Too often, I act first and pray later. But that wasn’t Nehemiah’s move, and it shouldn’t be ours. Before picking up tools or drafting a plan, Nehemiah dropped to his knees…for days. He still believed that God worked in the real world, not just as a divine therapist to help him process emotions, but as the sovereign Lord who answers prayer and moves history

When faced with a problem or challenge, what is your first instinct—to act or to pray? I still have lots to learn. How about you?

 

 

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 1:4–11 (day five) Good morning from Impact Youth Camp. I’ve had the privilege to be with our Students and Adult Leaders this week. My job at camp this year was to teach and encourage High School Students to consider and pursue “Intimacy with God”.   One of the ways we find intimacy (growing closer) with God is through prayer. Just a couple of notes from this teaching time-

The speaking God not only has spoken, but He also listens – He stops, He stoops, He wants to hear from you. He stands ready to hear your voice, Christian, you have the ear of God. We call it prayer

Prayer, for the Christian, is not merely talking to God, but responding to the one who has initiated toward us. He has spoken first. This is not a conversation we start, but a relationship into which we’ve been drawn… Our asking and pleading, and requesting originate, not from our emptiness, but from his fullness.

God is more ready to hear us, than we are ready to pray.

We also included a pattern for prayer. (The how to section). Very familiar outline. I recommend using it. It’s actually found in our Re:verse passage this week in Nehemiah’s prayer. Can you find it??  Will you use it?

A- Adoration

C-Confession

T- Thanksgiving

S- Supplication

Can you find it??  Will you use it to guide and shape your prayers?

“It shouldn’t surprise us, then, to find that prayer is not finally about getting things from God, but getting God.” – David Mathis

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 1:4–11 (day four)

Repentance is a humbling exercise. It’s challenging enough to reflect on our daily shortcomings and sin at a personal level, but knowing how to engage in repentance at the corporate level is especially difficult. We look around at the sin and destruction in the world and feel our spirits groaning to repent, but how do we repent for something we may or may not have had an active part in? How do we repent for something that seems bigger than us, or something that happened before our time?

Nehemiah repented for his own sins, the sins of his family, and the sins of the Israelites. He repented for his direct sin, but also sins with which he was indirectly related. Nehemiah knew that whether or not he played a leading role in a particular sin issue among the Israelites, that issue of sin impacted his own spiritual life and that of generations to come. He could have stood by and pointed out what awful shape the world was in, shaking his head at his neighbors. He could have turned to self-righteousness and held a holier-than-thou attitude. Instead, he repented. He repented for the sins of his people that were much bigger than him or his family. This takes humility and a genuine longing to see the movement of God in the world and the restoration that only He can bring.

Complaining about the state of the world is easy. Repentance is harder. Only one of those options leads to renewal. When you look around and see the results of sin and destruction in the world around you, what will you choose?

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 1:4–11 (day three)

“O Lord, I beseech you, may your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant…”

When you call out to God, do you experience him as someone who pays attention and responds in a way that feels like he cares? You might bristle and claim that feelings aren’t to be trusted – only facts. But emotions are the guidance and safety system of every sentient being. Trust, mistrust, anger, joy, surprise, sorrow, shame, grief – these and other emotions move one toward another or away from another. God of course knows this, which is why he deals with a person’s fear in the Bible before anything can get done: “Do not be afraid, it is I.” God will take as long as it takes to help you move from negative to positive feelings, just as he did with Nehemiah.

Re:Verse passage – Nehemiah 1:4–11 (day two)

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. v. 4

We will discover over the course of the next several weeks that Nehemiah was a man of action. He was true to his word, and he followed through on his task. That is not to say, however, that Nehemiah was hasty. He was deliberate and thoughtful about the incredible work that had to be done. He was humbled, and he was heart broken. Rather than spring in to action. He took time to grieve and wait. How often have we done the exact opposite? If you are anxious to get something done, your first instinct may be to get to work immediately. If you are emotionally distressed, you may make rash choices about your situation. We can learn from Nehemiah in these times of great decisions. Wait, process, and pray.