THE NEHEMIAH PRAYER
The last two weeks I've been spending a considerable amount of time in prayer. Even while on my race trip to the East Coast I was pulling away morning, noon and night to pray with our church during the Daniel prayer times going on.
How many of you know prayer opens us up for new revelation and ideas? It did me.
Last week, I was reading Nehemiah. God had called Nehemiah to go back and restore the city. The whole book of Nehemiah is powerful. At the same time I had been reading Habakkuk 3:17-19.
I want to challenge you to pray the Nehemiah prayer. In Nehemiah's day things were pretty rough, Jerusalem was destroyed, the people scattered. Nehemiah's report from his brother, "Things are not going well in Jerusalem."
The times, when things are not going well, are the exact times to act, pray. Nehemiah prayed,
Nehemiah 1:5-11, "O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! 7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses. 8 "Please remember what you told your servant Moses: 'If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. 9 But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.' 10 "The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. 11 O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me."
Here are the components of a Nehemiah prayer:
- Honor: Nehemiah honored God for who God had been, who He was, and who He is to come. We must begin our prayers with honoring God regardless of the trouble.
- Petition: Nehemiah asks God to hear his night and day prayers for Israel. We must petition God specifically for what we are praying. It is as simple as communicating what is on our heart.
- Confession: Nehemiah repented for the sins of his nation, his family and himself. We must take responsibility for the sins of our nation, family and self, confess.
- Restoration: Nehemiah quoted the Word of God, reminding God. When we recite the Word of God while in prayer it emboldens our belief and action.
- Recognize: Nehemiah prayed for those who were also praying what He was praying. We must recognize there are many more praying along the same lines as us, pray for them.
- Favor: Nehemiah prayed for favor with the king. We must pray for favor as we go about our life when things are not going well. We may not have a king like Nehemiah, but we need favor with people from all angles to have good success.
