“Remember the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though your dispersed be under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make My name dwell there.’ They are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who delight to fear Your name, and give success to Your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.’ Now I was cupbearer to the king.” (Nehemiah 1:8-11, ESV).Nehemiah knew how to pray boldly and in faith. You have just read a portion of his prayer made to Almighty God before he went in to have an audience with powerful King Artaxerxes who ruled from 465-424 BC during a time when many of the Jews were dispersed, as Nehemiah expresses in his prayer, “under the farthest skies.” Nehemiah had heard of how in shambles the great wall about Jerusalem was, and how the people were discouraged, had fallen away from God, and those that had remained in Israel or had returned were disorganized and down-hearted, even failing to worship God. If you want to be inspired, I suggest that you read all of Nehemiah’s 13 chapters. In them you will see a man of faith in action. He boldly asked King Artaxerxes for time to go to his nation to help rebuild the wall, got letters of travel (like a passport?) that would conduct him safely on his journey, received monies for the job, commandeered and organized the people to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, brought about moral and spiritual change, and led the people to worship the one true God again. What a marvelous account of the work of God in the life of a person who first sought God’s will through prayer and then acted on the revelation and work God gave him to do! Nehemiah stood in the gap. He was appointed governor of the province and went with authority from the king (and from God) to rebuild the wall. He was Gad’s man for his day. His task was not easy at all, but Nehemiah persevered. And God brought mighty victory through his efforts.
In writing about the work of Nehemiah, Max Lucado states: “He was the Abraham Lincoln of the Old Testament, a respected leader with a tender heart…he weeps for the people oppressed and vulnerable. He is the General George Patton…a rugged leader, intolerant of compromise…He was the Winston Churchill of the Old Testament, a statesman, tested and tried…rising above the squabbling factions who could distract him. The tenderness of Lincoln. The fire of Patton. The savvy of Churchill. All found in the same man.” (The Devotional Bible: Experiencing the Heart of Jesus, Thomas Nelson, 2003, p. 548). I subscribe to (free) and receive the “Presidential Prayer Team” call to prayer for our leaders and our nation. This gives us a daily call to prayer for concerns of our buffeted leaders and our faltering nation. Oh! How we need a Nehemiah for our day, one who will boldly pray, seek God’s face, and then act on what God reveals of His will and His way for our nation! Pray that God will find each of us faithful and bold in praying for this to come about! Do you know that “to pray” is the most commonly-mentioned command in the scriptures for followers? We should be people of great prayer, prayer warriors, for our leaders, our nation, our world! Let us not fail God or our fellow countrymen! We know to stand in the gap. Can we be found “filling the gap” and seeking God’s face? Read II Chronicles 7:14. It has the key to what God wants for us and for our nation. Like Nehemiah, may we be found bold and faithful!
c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, August 26, 2010
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