Prayer

Had a great time on Sunday starting our new series Time 2 Build as we look at the book of Nehemiah. The thing that hits me most as I started to study the life of Nehemiah was that he was a man of prayer.

I know its a bit of a cliche but he really was. At least 9 times through the book Nehemiah went to prayer. He prayed before he started the job, he prayed on the job, he prayed in difficult circumstances and he prayed in thankfulness.

He hears the bad news and he goes to prayer. Its so easy to complain and criticise. He could have blamed the leaders for the mess they made. He could have blamed people for not making right choices but he went to God in prayer.

Complaining is not the same as changing something. Sometimes by talking about some thing we think we are doing something about it. We are not. He doesn’t phone up his friends or log on to his blog and glory in reporting how bad it has become in Jerusalem. It’s a sad existence if you get your self worth about communication about someone else’s misfortune.

Talk to God about a situation first and get his perspective.

Nehemiah's prayer was a prayer of:

Adoration
Confession
Thanksgiving
Supplication

Its a good path to follow.