“So I prayed …”

The book of Nehemiah is a powerful, historical book filled with examples of biblical leadership, standing firm in God against opposition, as well as personal and community revival found in God’s Word.

One of the more powerful themes that runs throughout the whole book though, is the priority and persistence of prayer in the life of Nehemiah. As we read the story of Nehemiah, we of read prayers for success, prayers for wisdom, and prayers for judgment. Sometimes his season of prayer goes on for months. Other times we see him pray in-the-moment prayers that are silent, but powerful, petitions to the God of heaven for that specific situation and need.

As believers there are things that we may be burndened to pray about for decades. At other times, there are those things that happen unexpectedly that require our immediate attention, but that would be well served by that in-the-moment prayer to our heavenly Father.

James 1:5 says “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Nehemiah, who found himself standing before the earthly king, took a moment to silently pray to the God of heaven. The prayer was not an afterthought, but an instinctive response that came from a lifetime of practice and a firm understanding of who God is. It also came from a deep-seated desire to see God’s will done in every moment and every decision of his life.

May we, like Nehemiah, develop that instinctive response to go to God in prayer in every moment of our days. Then, when that moment of crisis from something unexpected arrives, or that moment of need when we find ourselves in a state of desperation, or that precious moment where we get to share the Gospel truth of Jesus with someone else, we will respond as Nehemiah did… “So I prayed to the God of heaven.”

Blessings in Christ…