I Want to Pray like Nehemiah!

I want to pray like Nehemiah! He prayed always, in every decision and before he would even speak, Nehemiah would lift a prayer up to God. I recently did a bible study on the book of Nehemiah called Arise: a study on the book of Nehemiah by Kristin Schmucker with the Daily Grace Co.

In this study I was in awe of Nehemiah and his faithfulness to prayer. The whole first chapter of the book of Nehemiah is a prayer to God and then in Nehemiah 2:1-5, Nehemiah had a heavy burden laying on his heart to fix and rebuild the wall and gates in Judah, King Artaxerxes could see the turmoil in Nehemiah’s face and asked him what was wrong. Most people would have just quickly answered , “I’m fine”, without any thought. Nehemiah knew this burden was on his heart because it was what God was calling him to do. Instead of just blurting this out thought, Nehemiah took the time to lift a prayer up to God before speaking a single word. I wish I had that self-control! There are many times in life where I should have prayed to God before opening my mouth, then maybe I would have known what to say or to have said nothing at all. I know some of you know exactly what I mean

Nehemiah prayed and provided for the people who were helping him build the wall. Those people were getting taken advantage of by local authorities, and Nehemiah put an end to it through prayer and strength that God provided him. They built that wall with swords in one hand and tools in the other. But most importantly they succeeded because of Nehemiah’s prayers and faith in God, and God being a gracious and loving God. Could you imagine the things we could accomplish if we spent more time in Prayer and actually putting our faith in Christ? We are so quick to try to fix the problem ourselves, I think we forget we have a powerful father in heaven who is always there for us. Why can’t we just stop and talk to him. 1 Thessalonians 5:17-20 says “16 Rejoice evermore. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 19 Quench not the Spirit. 20 Despise not prophesyings”. Prayer should be a habit, speaking to Christ and about him should be what we naturally go to. This world has worked hard to quench the Spirit from us and the way Christians today act, its working! Don’t let the Spirit be quenched! Spend multiple times a day reading Gods word and putting it on your heart so you are equipped to speak about it. Lift your prayers to our Lord and Savior every day in everything, talk to him and show him your putting your faith and trust in him only. Let his Spirit engulf you and take over. Prayer is powerful, so lets pray like Nehemiah and let God show is faithfulness!