PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 6

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 6

Nehemiah 1:10-11

It may seem so obvious, but when you pray, pray specifically. Don’t beat around the bush. Tell the Lord all that is on your mind.

Acknowledge what God has already done for you. Nehemiah recalled God’s saving His children. He recalled God’s gracious hand on them and seeing them through the good and bad times of their life as a nation. He recalled God embracing them as His own.

When was the last time you took the time to acknowledge God’s hand on your life? Have you thanked the Lord lately for saving you from your past and giving you a new life? What would your life be like today if the Lord would not have stepped into it and pulled you out of the mess you had made of yourself? Have you thought much about how God has been with you and seen you through the roller coaster of life? Have you given much thought as to what it means to be a child of God?

When was the last time you took an inventory of your heart’s desire? Nehemiah expressed his, “We delight in revering your name.” Can you honestly say that you delight yourself in the Lord? Does the Lord thrill your soul? Do you take pleasure in humbling yourself before the Lord and worshiping Him? Does your soul pant for the Lord? If you want answers to your prayers, you must learn to love Him enough that your heart’s desire is to honor Him, please Him, and serve Him.

Nehemiah asked the Lord for success on his journey. He put His confidence and trust in the Lord and asked God to honor His trust by giving Him a successful trip. It’s not wrong to ask the Lord for success if being successful will honor and glorify God. It is not wrong to ask the Lord for success if you pray submissively to His will for you.

Successful praying is living in close fellowship with God and living in submission to Him. The closer we live in fellowship to the Lord, the more we will pray within the will of God for us, and the more answers to our prayers we will see.

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 5

 

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 5

Nehemiah 1:8-9

One of the things most people find it hard to do when they pray is being bold. Yet, I believe it is something that we need to be in order to pray successfully.

Be bold when you recall God’s promises and remind Him of them. God promises us many things, and we often fail to take Him at His word. We know God’s keeps His word, but we assume it will happen and don’t actually bring them up to Him and hold Him accountable for them. Speak God’s promises back to Him and ask Him to do what He has promised.

We need to be bold when expressing our needs. We need to be honest with ourselves and then tell God what we perceive our needs to be.

We need to be bold with our emotions. There are times in which we need to let our raw emotions show. Don’t be afraid to express yourself before God, He can handle it. We have no problem with expressing joy and gratitude before God, but struggle expressing our anger, bitterness, loneliness, etc. to Him.

We need to be bold in our requests. Jesus instructed us to ask for anything in His name and it will be granted to us. We often limit what God will do for us by our lack of faith in what He can and will do. Now, we must always ask in accordance to God’s will for us. We must always accept that God’s knowledge of what we need takes precedence over what we think we need. God’s supply is always right and good for us.

We need to be bold in our actions. When we pray, we must act on faith that our prayers are heard and answered. We sometimes have to step out boldly trusting the Lord is at work to work everything out for us. Sometimes we need to make changes. Sometimes we have to keep doing what we do and wait for God to answer our prayers. Whether our prayers are answered right away or even years later, we must boldly trust God to answer our prayers.

Every prayer we pray is heard in heaven and moves God to act on our behalf.

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 4

 

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 4

Nehemiah 1:6 “………..I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned!” NLT

One of the most essential parts of successful praying is to be repentant. II Chron. 7:14; I John 1:8-10 Notice how Nehemiah prayed.

He prayed for the sins of his nation. He understood the need to pray for his nation. He was well aware of what was going on around him and why things were the way they were. If there ever was a time in we must be in prayer for our country, it is now. No matter who you may think is to blame for the way things are now, the root cause is sin. We as a nation have wandered far away from God and are now living with the consequences of it. Nothing short of repentant hearts is going to change anything. We will continue to self-destruct. Our nation needs a people who are willing to stand in the gap before God on her behalf. Scriptures tells us to pray for our government leaders. We have no right to complain about how badly they may govern if we aren’t supporting their efforts in prayer. Pray for their souls. Pray that they may govern with wisdom and compassion. Pray that they may govern with integrity. Pray.

But, Nehemiah understood that it was not just the fault of others. He included himself and his family in his prayer. He took personal responsibility for the condition of the land. Romans 3:23 reminds us that all of us have sinned. We all are guilty of contributing to the accumulated sins of our nation. No sin is done in isolation. It affects us and those around us. When we ignore sin and compromise it, it causes great spiritual harm to us, the church, and to our nation.

We need to be praying for our families. We need to beseech God on their behalf. We need to pray for lost loved ones. We need to pray for struggling believers. We need to pray for mature believers to remain strong in faith. No one is beyond the reach of Satan’s attack on their soul. Pray.

We need to pray for our own sins. And yes, we are all guilty. No one can honestly claim spiritual perfection. We all are guilty before God and need to seek His forgiveness. As long as we are in the flesh, we will be in a spiritual war over our souls. We will always face temptations to sin and sometimes yield to them. We need Jesus. We need His forgiveness, righteousness, holiness, and grace. Pray.

“It’s me, it’s me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 3

 

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 3

Nehemiah 1:6 …..listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel.”

When you pray, be expectant. James 1:5-8 reminds us of this truth. Expect God to hear you when you pray. Expect Him to listen with a willing and loving heart. Expect Him to patient with you, especially if you are emotionally upset and spill your guts out to Him. Expect God to understand you when you pray.

In Romans 8:26-27, we find some very comforting words to help us as we pray. The Apostle Paul tells us the role of the Holy Spirit in our praying. He takes what we pray for and puts it into a heavenly language that God hears. If you don’t know how to put into words what is troubling you, don’t worry, the Spirit does and prays on your behalf. If you sense that you need to pray but don’t know what to pray for, the Spirit knows and will help you as you pray. Expect the Spirit of Christ to help you as you pray and He will.

In Matthew 6:5-18, Jesus gave us some guidance on how to pray. While the Lord’s Prayer offers us some basic guidance, it is not an ironclad model for prayer. Prayer is carrying on a conversation with God, our Father. It is a two-way communication. God listens to us and we listen to Him. Jesus emphasized our need to acknowledge God’s greatness, gracious provision for our needs, and goodness to us. We are to ask for what we need. We are to have humble and forgiving hearts as we pray. We are to ask for forgiveness for our sins. We are to pray to God, not to impress others. We pray for what is on our hearts. Our prayers can be long or they can be short. We can pray anywhere and anytime we sense the prompting of God to pray.

We are to pray for ourselves, and we are to pray for others. There is never a shortage of things to pray for. Pray is essential for a healthy soul and nation. We must be willing and able to pray all the time. People need us to pray for them. The church and her leaders need us to pray for them. Our nation needs us to pray for it. Those who are actively serving the Lord in ministries outside the church need our prayers. People who we know need prayer. People who surround us need our prayers. People who are suffering or destitute need someone to pray for them.

Pray day and night. God always listens to the prayers of His children. Tell it all to Jesus. Pray often, the more you do, the more comfortable you become with it, and the more you will want to pray.

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 2

 

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY 2

Nehemiah 1:5 Then I said, “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commandments, …. NLT

When you enter into God’s presence, pause to reflect on who God is. While God is far more than whatever we can imagine, there are some things about God that we tend to not think about as often as we should. Knowing the indescribable and glorious nature of God keeps us humble and reverent before Him.

God is the God of heaven. It is the place of holiness. It is a place where His glory replaces the sun, moon, and stars. It is the place of perfection. It is a place of eternal peace and praise. It is a place where we will be able to see God. It is a place of eternal security, a place where Satan can never reach us to harass us again.

God is great. Notice God’s position. He is God and there is none else. He sits on the throne of heaven. He is creator, sustainer, and ruler over all things. How great is our God? No one in the flesh can really know. We acknowledge how great He is, but until we get to heaven, we won’t even come close to knowing. We bow before Him and sing forth His praises.

God is awesome. His power is beyond our knowing. He is all-powerful. Not only is His power on display throughout creation, it is on display in the lives of all who know Him as their Savior and Lord. We exist because of His power, we are saved by His power, we are kept by His power, and we will make it to heaven by His power. Praise His holy name!

God is faithful. He is our promise keeper. He keeps His word to us always. He is faithful to keep His covenant of love to us. God loves us. We are kept safe from His holy wrath because He loves us. He supplies all we need for life because of His love. We are never left alone to fight against Satan on our own because God loves us.

There is so much more about God we need to reflect on, but Nehemiah gives us a start. Remember who God is as you enter into His presence. Think about these things and worship Him as you pray.

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY

 

PRAYING SUCCESSFULLY

Nehemiah 1:1-4

Do you struggle with praying? Do you have more “unanswered” prayers than you do answered ones? Do you get frustrated and wonder if God even hears your prayers? Do you not pray because you don’t believe it will do any good? Nehemiah 1 gives us some things to consider when we pray. It is my prayer that you will be encouraged to pray more and trust the Lord to answer your prayers as we ponder these truths.

In verses 1-4, we notice something very important if we our prayers are going to be effective, we must be broken in spirit. I suspect we aren’t as broken before God as we should be.

Is your heart broken over the things going on around you? If you follow the news, you are bombarded with all sorts of negativism. We hear all the time how bad things are. We see horror stories of rising crime. We hear of people abusing people. We hear of people doing others harm to other people and property. People everywhere are living in uncontrolled anger. Does it bother you? Are you bothered enough to pray about it? If not, you should be praying about your lack of concern over it.

Is your heart broken by the things going on in your life? Do you complain about how bad things are, or do you talk to the Lord about it? Is you life a mess? Are you seeking the Lord’s help? Do you lack vigor in your faith walk? Have you told the Lord about it? Are things going badly for you in your family or with your health? Are you sharing your problems with the Lord?

Let me ask you another question. Is your heart broken to the point where you mean business when you pray? On a personal basis, it means you are willing to change and be an instrument of change in your situation. Are you willing to let the Lord take charge of your life? Are there things 5you need to repent of?

Notice how Nehemiah responded. For days his heart was burdened. He fasted and prayed. When was the last time you were so burdened over anything that you were burdened over it for days and sought the Lord’s help? Until you are broken in spirit, not much is going to happen when you pray.

WHY AM I HERE? 3

 

WHY AM I HERE? 3

I Chron. 28:10 “So take this seriously, the LORD has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”

King David was about to die and he was passing the torch onto his son, Solomon. David had planned to build a Temple for the Lord, but the Lord told him he was not the one to do it since he was a man who had taken many lives in his wars. Solomon was the one who would build it. David was giving his son some encouragement and was passing on the responsibility for the Temple to him. There are some important lessons we can learn from David’s charge to Solomon.

One of the things we discover as we read the Scriptures is that we are created in Christ Jesus to do good works. There is no lack of work to be done. There is no lack of work for you to do. We are to serve the Lord, not sit in our comfortable pews and let others do the work. There is far more work to do than there is people to do it. God gives each of us particular gifts and abilities to use to bring Him honor and glory on earth. If we aren’t busy working for the Kingdom, whatever you profess to have in Christ is not real. Faith in order to work must be worked daily in our lives.

There is no one who can do the work God gives you to do better than you. Others may be able to do similar work, but they cannot do what you are capable of doing in quite the same way or with quite the same results. Only you can fill your shoes. Only you will answer to God for what you do or don’t do with what He has equipped you to do.

Learn how to best do the task God gives you to do. Be the best at what you do, and do it all for the glory and honor of Christ. Do your best, and God will reward you for it.

Don’t put off for another day what you are to do. Tomorrow may never get here. Not only is today the day of salvation, it is the day of serving. Your service to the Lord affects others. You can make life easier and better for others by living in obedience to Christ. Nothing you do for Christ is in vain. Not doing what you are given to do is noted in heaven, and you will answer to God for it.

May the Lord richly bless you as you live submissively and obediently to Him.