Nehemiah's Prayer by Phil Kinney
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7
1. Nehemiah knew the facts
"Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”" Nehemiah 1:2-3
Nehemiah took the time to find out what the situation was. He prayed according to the facts. He knew the situation that was before him, and what kind of praying was required. He then was able to pray with faith.
Too often we approach a situation requiring prayer and we don’t find out the information needed. We take the attitude that, “God Knows”, and we get lazy in our prayer. The problem is we are then unable to pray with faith expecting God to work on our behalf because we don’t know what we are praying for.
If you are going to pray, we need to be praying with faith, expecting God to work on our behalf.
"Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11:24
The key here in this passage is that “we believe we have received them, and then we will have them”. If we don’t know what we are believing for God to do, then we cannot add our faith. And if we take God at His word, believing is required to be receiving. If we don’t believe we don’t receive, and how can we believe if we don’t know what we are believing for.
Successful prayer depends on a specific result. If we are wanting God to answer your prayers, we need to learn to get the facts and then pray specifically what we want to happen
2. Nehemiah prayed the solution not the problem
Nehemiah, upon getting the facts is a little torn up and upset.
"So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven." Nehemiah 1:4
But when it came to praying he did not bring the problem to God, he brought the solution. He prayed a couple of different types of prayer.
• He prayed the prayer of repentance. He repented on behalf of his people. Even though he hadn’t personally sinned, he identified with those around them and rather than being upset with them for messing up, he repented on their behalf and sought things to be right between himself and God.
o "I pray before You now ... for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses." Nehemiah 1:6-7
• He prayed the prayer of supplication (or petition). Nehemiah had a specific request of God, and so prayed the request
o "Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’ .....O Lord, I pray.......... and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer." Nehemiah 1:8-11
Nehemiah was very specific in what he requested in his prayer. He prayed God’s word back to him with two specific requests
I. Return of the exiles
II. Favour with the king and the requests he was going to bring
Nehemiah was able to add faith to his prayers because he knew the will of God, because he had taken the time to read the Word of God and discover God’s will. Thus he was able to pray specifically and with faith.
He did not pray the problem, he prayed the solution. Too often we come to God in prayer and we tell Him all the details of the problem. As we do this we sap our faith as we are focussed on the problems before us. God doesn’t ask us to pray the problem, he always asks us to pray the solution. We can add faith to the solution, and faith is the key ingredient in prayer. Prayer without faith is simply words going nowhere. Prayer with faith is powerful and effective.
So we need to pray prayers we can add our faith to. We can’t add our faith to the problem, but we can add our faith to a prayer about the solution. And this is the prayer we bring to God.
It is a bit like when someone comes and complains about a situation, and keeps complaining and complaining – but don’t actually want a solution to the problem just to complain. Sometime you want to ask them, “What are you wanting to happen”. This is how God feels. We bring the problem over and over and we complain about the problem, but he is saying, “what are you wanting to happen?” He knows the problem, what He is looking for is us to add our faith to the solution.
So when we pray, we ask of God what we are wanting. Rather than complaining we don’t have enough to pay the bills, we pray God’s will by praying his word. We remind God of what He said in his Word (just like Nehemiah did). We pray to God and remind Him (and us)"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”" Luke 6:38 or maybe “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19
If we need God to touch us with healing we don’t pray how sick we are, we pray God’s Word back to Him - "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness— by whose stripes you were healed." 1 Peter 2:24. Or “He (Jesus) Himself took our infirmities And bore our sicknesses.” Matthew 8:17.
As we pray back God’s Word to Him we are able to pray with faith knowing we are praying the will of God because His Word is His will
3. Nehemiah acted on what he prayed
Nehemiah – when he had finished praying, acted upon his faith. You and I do what we actually believe – not just what we say. Nehemiah believed God would answer his prayer, and so he made his request to the king.
When he had the king’s support, he then went back to Jerusalem to build the wall. He acted upon what he had prayed. Was it all smooth sailing? – absolutely not. There was much opposition. But Nehemiah did two things to ensure he received his answer from God
I. He acted like God would answer
II. He spoke positive
Speaking positive is very important. Too often we pray one thing and then get up from praying and start to undo our prayers by the words we speak.
We might pray “God, I pray my husband or wife will be saved and in church with me”. And then we get up and say, “I don’t know if he or she will ever be saved. They are a hard man resistant to God”. What have we done? We have just undone our prayers and shown where our faith is.
Is anything too hard for God? Is he able to save our partners? Is he able to save our family and friends? Is he able to provide for us? Is he able to heal us?
"For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11:23-24
This verse says both what we pray and what we say. God can move mountains – He is mighty to save!!!! Yet we undo his authority in matters and hand them back to the devil through the confession of our mouths.
Charles Capps says “We are able to have what we say, but we are too busy saying what we have!”
If we pray in faith then we need to stay in faith. When it looks like it just isn’t going to happen and it’s all impossible – this is the time to BE QUIET!!! If we can’t speak faith, let’s just keep our mouths shut and go to God’s word and build out faith back up.
I have made a habit of at least twice daily speaking the Word of God to situations I face. I don’t pray them again because I’ve asked already – I praise God that His word is true, and I speak the verses that relate to the situation in faith and praise.
This has been a tried and true format in our lives for years. It doesn’t work for me because I am God’s favourite. God is no respecter of persons – He is a respecter of faith. Hebrews 11:6 says without faith it is impossible to please God – therefore with faith God is pleased. And a faith filled prayer brings the pleasure of God – so lets not undo it by speaking the opposite.
Nehemiah had a lot of opposition – some of it was very powerful. He even had threats on his life. Yet he knew God was faithful and he did not speak and complain to God, he continued to pray the solution, and work and speak and encourage those around him to achieve the vision before them.
You too can have breakthrough. You can build into your life strength and influence. You can overcome whatever problems and situations you face. The key is in prayer.
• Take the time daily to pray to God
• Build your faith and establish God’s will and purpose for your situation through reading the Bible – the Word of God
• Pray what you want to happen (not the problem) and allow God to do it His way
• Do all you can do under His leading to bring about a solution, and allow God to work through you
• Speak words of faith and encouragement into the situation. Yes we still recognise the problem is there, but we speak the solution rather than the problem.
Talk About
Are you specific in your requests to God?
Do you feel God hears your prayers? Are you confident He answers you?
Is there anything you feel you can't ask God for or about? Why or why not?
Remember - Holy Spirit Power with Russell Sage - This Friday and Saturday - not to be missed!!!!!
