Scripture: Nehemiah 1:1-11; Mark 11:22-25
Today, we begin a new series of messages for our
time of worship, which will be based on the Book of Nehemiah. Ezra and Nehemiah tell of the people’s return
from exile, and their rebuilding of both the city of Jerusalem and their lives
as people freed from slavery in Babylon.
The Lord God Jehovah can be seen at work in their lives right from the
start, but as we all know, that, in no way, guarantees that a new and renewed
life will be free from struggle, or conflict, or opposition, or any other means
of attempting to halt and reverse the current course of events.
And now that our church has been approved to leave
the United Methodist church. and to join the Global Methodist Church, I believe
that the lies and other misinformation that have been so prevalent recently
will continue to barrage us from the progressive side, trying to discourage and
challenge us as we move toward new and true opportunities in faith. The lessons that we read about in Nehemiah
and Ezra will, I believe, be well worth our time, as their approach to
rebuilding the city, the temple, and their personal lives should give us
encouragement in our efforts to also begin anew.
Today, we discover that Nehemiah had begun to hear
stories about some new struggles that the people back home were
experiencing. He has the feeling that he is to help them in
some way, but he is in Babylon as an exiled slave. How can he possibly do anything for those who
are in a home so far away?
But when we have faith in the Lord, there is always
a way, whether we understand it at first or not!
Read Nehemiah 1:1-11
Nehemiah knew that his only
hope of getting assistance back to his family who were hundreds of miles away,
was to turn control over to his God.
Jerusalem had no walls, no gates, no temple, no homes, no security, no
protection, and no hope whatsoever! What’s
left? Only the Lord God Almighty!
So what does Nehemiah
do? We read that he mourned for the
plight of the people, that he fasted as a way to deny his own strengths and
abilities, and he prayed – not just during 1 morning or even 1 day, but for
several days. And in the prayer that we
just read, we see several aspects of his prayer that should become integral within
our own prayer times.
1. He gave honor and glory to his great Jehovah
by proclaiming Him to be great, awesome, honest and loving. A prayer that begins with adoration for our true
and mighty God will always set the tone for the conversation that follows.
2. The man then asks that the Lord be aware and
understanding of what is about to be asked of Him. In John 14:13-15, Jesus tells us that
whatever we ask in His name will be granted.
Nehemiah didn’t know Jesus back in his day, but the truth is that when a
prayer was lifted up in the precious name of Jehovah, Jesus was already being
included.
3. The servant then identifies the One who he is
praying to, in order to proclaim the One who he looks to, who he trusts in, who
he knows intimately, and who is the only hope for the people, and no other. This is how we can reassure ourselves as to
who we are truly depending upon!
4. He then confesses the sins that have come
from him, his family, and the nation.
The confession is fairly general in nature, but be reassured that God
knows the honesty that holds our confession, and never doubts its sincerity, if
indeed, it is.
5. He remembers God’s command in Leviticus26:27-35, that if we are unfaithful and turn away from His grace and glory,
that the Lord will return evil to them many times over. I’m sure that the man was thinking about the
years that they had been living in exile, so much so that his repentance was
surely honest and heart-felt!
6. But to Nehemiah’s credit, he also remembers
God’s promise that when we return to His ways, that even the exiled will be
gathered up, and returned to the life that the Lord has prepared for them (Deuteronomy30:1-10).
7. From Deuteronomy 9:27-29, he remembers
the Lord’s promise that they had become God’s people through the redemption
that saved them while they were captives in Egypt, and presumably, even while
they had been sent into exile to suffer Persian oppression in Babylon.
8. And finally, Nehemiah asks once again, that
Jehovah God would listen to all that he had said, and to be responsive to the
faithful who had turned back to Godly ways.
Nehemiah remembered just who
it was that could bring about the help that the people of Jerusalem were in
such dire need of. And in his
remembering, he recalled just how it was the unfaithful lives they had
been living that had gotten them in this mess to begin with, and that if they
would simply return to faithful and obedient living, God would keep His
promises to restore and reaffirm them in His ways.
And just in case you are
wondering why I spent so much time in discussing Nehemiah’s prayer today, it’s
because it is the perfect model that all of us should be following whenever we,
or those who are closest to us, are struggling through in times of great trial,
and we come to the realization that it is God and His merciful grace who is the
only one who can get us out of the mess that we have created.
The key to the Lord’s
redemption, will always be our repentance, and our return to accepting and
obeying the commands that our God has sent down - not as punishment, but as a blessing for our benefit.
Read Mark 11:22-25
The point that Jesus is
making in this passage is the same understanding that Nehemiah had come to
hundreds of years before, and that is, that the prayer of a solidly and
truthfully faithful person will always be answered, even the impossible and
improbable prayer that a mountain could actually throw itself into the ocean, when
we truly believe that it would happen just as we prayed that it would.
Jesus then goes on to say
that when we pray, whatever we may be asking for, if we truly believe that it
not only can happen, but has already begun to happen, it will be
done just as we asked. But the Lord
offers two caveats for our consideration – first, in the passage we just read, that
we must be clean of our own sin before we begin to pray or worship, and second, from Matthew18:19-20, that when we pray as a body, we must believe and pray in unity.
These verses that we have
lifted up today are their own proof that divine power will answer our requests through
prayer that we offer in the name of our Lord and Savior. And in Nehemiah’s case, during the next
several weeks, we will begin to see just how powerfully faithful prayer can
work to our good, if we just trust and obey the word that God has handed down
to us.
Remember our time of prayer
during Sunday worship. As we lift up
praises, we all should be rejoicing in what God has already begun, as well as
what He will continue to do through our faithful walk with Him. And when we pray for comfort in the lives of
those who have lost loved ones, and for healing in those who are suffering
illnesses and injuries, and for the general prayers that we lift up for
situations that impact our lives and those of others, prayers in unity will
always go much further than prayers that are divided and uncertain in the lives
that are involved.
Nehemiah knew this. Shouldn’t we?
