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PRAY ON PURPOSE NEHEMIAH 1:1-11 SEPTEMBER 10, 2006 INTRODUCTION I want to start our thoughts this morning by affirming that there are many kinds of prayer: some are formal, some are spontaneous… some are personal and intimate, some are on behalf of others at a gathering or in a group… some are fleeting thoughts, while others are actually written and read. The number of forms, styles, and expressions are limitless. I say this because I don’t want anyone to be put off by the title of this meditation, ‘Pray on Purpose.’ I do not mean that we always have to have everything thought out and go through some mechanical, ritualistic form in order for our prayers to be authentic. Having said all of that, this morning, I want to specifically look at intercessory prayer- prayers where we are lifting others before the Lord- as well as prayers where we are seeking God in a more intentional way (i.e. in a regularly kept prayer time, or in a small group). When we come to God about something, rather than just to be with Him- which is a perfectly valid kind of prayer… one that we should practice more often!! In life we will all either face challenges or have others share their struggles with us, and we will know in our head that the right thing to do is to pray about them… but how? Many of you are involved in the prayer ministry of the church- a ministry that is absolutely essential if we are to carry out the mandate God has for us in our community! So how can you pray- and others be encouraged to pray- not just for ourselves, but for those around us and our community… even our world? There is a wonderful model of this kind of
prayer in the first chapter of the book of Nehemiah. Remember Nehemiah? When he
first heard about the downfall of Jerusalem, he prayed for four months. This
was not just a casual prayer- something was on his mind and heart, something
that affected him and his people. So how did it take this situation to God?
What kind of prayer did he pray… and why should we regard it as a prayer of
purpose? Nehemiah approaches God and says, "God, I want you to do something back over in Jerusalem.” Verse 5 says, "O Lord God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his command." Nehemiah said three things about God: 1. You're great – that's
God's position. The first thing Nehemiah did was to acknowledge who God is. That's what praise is. Acknowledge who God is and his greatness. He starts off by getting the right perspective. In starting to have answered prayer, say, "God, I want you to answer because of who you are. You've given us all of these things, these promises. You are a faithful God, a loving God, a merciful God" – all these things the Bible tells us he is. You base your request on God's character. Psalm 136:1- Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. The Psalm then goes on another 25 times with the refrain, ‘His faithful love endures forever.’ This is, in part, what it means when the Bible teaches us about praying with faith (elaborate) Hebrews 11:6- it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. 2. CONFESS THE SIN IN MY LIFE This is the most popular kind of prayer right!?! After Nehemiah based his prayer on who God is, he confessed his sins. He says, "We've sinned." Look at how many times he uses the word "I" and "we." He says "I confess ... myself ... my father's house ... we have acted wickedly ... we have not obeyed." It wasn't Nehemiah's fault they went into captivity. He wasn't even born when this happened 70 years earlier. He was most likely born in captivity. Yet he is including himself in the national sins. He says, "I've been a part of the problem." There is personal confession and there is national confession. This is something we don't know anything about. We don't have a corporate sense in Canada today. We are very individualistic. We're taught to confess my sins. When was the last time you confessed the sins of the nation? Or the sins of your family? Or your church? Or your friends? Our society has taught us we’re only responsible for ourselves. And that's just not true! You are your brother's keeper. We are all in this together. (Share story Leaders accept the blame but losers pass the buck. If you want to be a leader, you accept the blame, and share the credit. Losers are always accusers and excusers. They're always making excuses why things didn't or couldn't happen. It's always somebody else's fault. Leaders accept the blame. 1 John 1:8-10- If we say we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and refusing to accept the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. 3. CLAIM THE PROMISES OF GOD Nehemiah is praying to the Lord and saying, "I want you to remember what you told your servant Moses." Can you imagine saying, "remember" to God? He's reminding God what he had said in the past. God, you warned us through Moses that if we were unfaithful we would loose the land of Israel. But you also promised that if we repent, you'd give it back to us. All through the Bible you find God's people reminding God about what he said he wants to do. David did it. Abraham did it. Moses did it. All the prophets did it. "God, I want to remind you of one of Your promises ..." Then they'd share it. Does God have to be reminded? No. Does he forget what he's promised? No. Then why do we do this? Because it helps us remember what God has promised. Nothing pleases God more that when you remind God of one of his promises. 4. BE SPECIFIC If you want specific answers to prayer you need to make specific requests. If you make general prayers, how will you know if they are answered? The Bible is filled with purposeful prayers. Ephesians 1:17 says, “I keep asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, that he may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you can know him better.” That’s a purpose-based prayer. Or Colossians 1:10-12: “We pray this in order that you can live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way.” Why we are ‘vague’- we are afraid of ‘gossip… afraid of being too bold… afraid He might not answer
Nehemiah is not hesitant to pray for success. He's very bold in his praying. Have you ever prayed, "Lord, make me successful!" If you haven't, why haven't you? What is the alternative? A failure? There is nothing wrong with praying for success if what you're doing is ultimately for the glory of God. Pray boldly. Pray that God will make you successful in life for the glory of God. That's what Nehemiah did. This is a valid prayer. Give me success! The popular Prayer of Jabez materials seeks to bring this principle to light as well. If you can't ask God to make you a success at what you're doing, you should be doing something else. God doesn't want you to waste your life. James 4:2-3- You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous for what others have, and you can’t possess it, so you fight and quarrel to take it away from them. And yet the reason you don’t have what you want is that you don’t ask God for it. And even when you do ask, you don’t get it because your whole motive is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
WRAP UP… |