God said a long time ago in Ezekiel 22:30 (Living Bible) "I (God) looked in vain for anyone who would build again the wall of righteousness that guards the land, who could stand in the gap but I found not one." God is looking for people to use. He is looking for leaders. Nothing happens until somebody provides leadership. Everything rises or falls on leadership. We're looking for better methods, machinery, motivations. God says, I'm looking for better people, people that I can use.
We're in a series on leadership, looking at the life of Nehemiah. In a presidential campaign, a number of the candidates were questioned about their private life. The typical response was "It's none of your business." One guy said, "My private life in no way affects my ability to govern this nation." Nothing could be further from the truth. God says the exact opposite.
The Leadership Law we're going to look at today from Nehemiah is The effectiveness of my public leadership is determined by my private life.
Today we're going to get our first inside look at the heart of Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a man of prayer, nine different times in this book he prays. In Nehemiah 1 we have one of the great prayers of the Bible. We learn a lot about people by listening to their prayers. We're going to get an inside look at this man, Nehemiah. We're going to see what his private life is like. We're also going to learn how to pray the kind of prayers that gets answered. God liked to answer Nehemiah 's prayers. If we can figure out what Nehemiah does then we can figure out what we can do to have our prayers answered.
Three questions:
1. When should I pray?
2. Why should I pray?
3. How should I pray?
Last week I said leadership can be learned. I believe the starting point is to learn how to pray.
Because that's what Nehemiah does first.
WHEN SHOULD I PRAY?
Before I do anything else.
The men had come back from Jerusalem and said Jerusalem is in ruins. The first thing Nehemiah did (v. 4) he wept, he mourned, he fasted, he prayed. Verse 4 also says he prayed for "some days". A leader does more than pray, but he doesn't do anything else until he prays. This is the starting point for what we want to look at. Leaders make prayer a first priority; others make prayer a last resort. That's the difference between leading in life and just living life. Leaders make prayer a first priority.
We are always on the go, want to get the job done, achievement oriented, goal oriented, busy people, prone to heart attacks. How many of us often find ourselves too busy to pray? Nehemiah says before we do anything else we must make time to pray. We'll see how Nehemiah used prayer.
Nehemiah was a man of action. Nehemiah is an organizer, motivator, manager. He likes to do things. He built the wall around the city in 52 days. Yet, instead of immediately going out and doing something, when he heard that something was wrong the first thing he did was get alone with God. He didn't form a committee. He got alone with God and prayed. This was the pattern of his life. (Cathleen and I moving?)There were nine different instances in his life.
He was a man of prayer.
WHY SHOULD I PRAY?
1. It shows I'm depending on God
The reason why we don't pray more is because we don't think we need to. We think we can handle it by ourselves. We think we can do it on our own. When you have a problem the human reaction, the natural reaction for us is to think, "Now what am I going to do about this?" instead of stopping and saying, "God, what do You want to do about
this?" Yet the Bible says in John 15 "Apart from Me you can do nothing." That's the only way we bear fruit.
We saw in Matthew 5:3 in the Beatitudes, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." There is nothing God won't do for the person who is depending on Him. My usefulness as a leader, and yours, begins when I recognize my total dependence upon God. The way I know I'm depending on God is that the first thing I do when a problem comes is I pray.
2. It lightens my load
The reason why Nehemiah prayed was because he was
distressed by the bad news. He was a very sensitive person, very compassionate. He felt things very deeply. It says he wept over the ruins. But rather than simply mourning or moaning, he prayed. He took the problem to the Lord. He didn't just complain and gripe and wallow in self pity. He took his broken heart to the Lord.
The name Nehemiah means "The Lord is my comfort". When Nehemiah's heart was broken over the things that were going wrong in Israel, he took his problem to the Lord. God honors prayer that comes from a genuinely concerned heart. He longs to hear us say, "Lord, I can't handle this. I don't know how to do it. Help me!" That's the prayer that He likes to answer.
The fact is that leaders take their burdens to the Lord. Isaiah 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint."
If you're going to be a leader, it produces stress. Great
leaders find their strength on their knees.
3. It releases God's power
Nothing else releases God's power like the prayer of faith. Jeremiah 33:3 God says, "Call to me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you know not." Prayer can do whatever God can do! Whatever God can do, prayer can do. Prayer taps in to the very resources of God.
Many of you came in here very fatigued. Prayer taps you in to the resources of God. When God is brought in on a
project, it turns the impossible into the possible.
The question I really want to look at today is:
HOW SHOULD I PRAY?
We have a sample of a leader's prayer in v. 5-11. You can learn a lot about a person by the kind of prayer that they pray.
A canned prayer indicates a dried up spirit. A selfish prayer indicates a selfish spirit.
Some prayers are like Christmas lists. Selfish prayers indicate a selfish heart.
Impressive prayers indicate an arrogant, prideful heart.
We learn a lot about Nehemiah by looking at the kind of prayer he prayed. Remember that Nehemiah, when he first heard about the downfall of Jerusalem, prayed for four months. This is not just a casual prayer. The prayer we're going to look at today is just a sample prayer he prayed. It gives us a pattern for successful praying. If you want to know how to pray, study the book of Nehemiah and
particularly this prayer.
Whenever people in the Bible ask God to do something they always presented a basis for it. They always said, "God I want you to do this because..." and they had a reason for Him to do it. There's many different reasons depending on the circumstance. Every time you find a prayer in the Bible, they gave a reason. A key question you want to ask yourself when you pray is this, "Why should God answer my prayer?" Why should I ask God to answer this prayer? The Bible teaches us that the right kind of praying is give God a reason to answer your prayer. Don't just say "I want this" or "This is my desire" -- Give Him a reason why you're praying this.
With that as a background let me give you the four secrets to answered prayer from the life of Nehemiah.
1. Base my request on God's character
This is the greatest reason to give to God. "I'm expecting You to answer this prayer because of Who You are. You are a faithful God. You are a great God. You are a loving God. You are a wonderful God. You can handle this problem, God!" Nehemiah comes to God and says, "God, I want you to do something back over in Jerusalem. Verse 5 "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.
2. You're awesome -- that shows His power.
3. You keep your promises -- God's covenant.
The first thing Nehemiah did was he acknowledges who God is. That's what praise is. Acknowledge who God is and His greatness. Nehemiah is saying "God, I know our situation is in a mess, but I'm just reminding myself you're in control. I know that the problems over there in Jerusalem may be great but You are greater, You're bigger, You're bigger than this mess." 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.
2. Confess the sin in my life
This is step number two if you want to have answers to your prayers. The Jews had disobeyed God. As a result, God said, "All right, if you don't obey me you're going to loose the land of Israel." And they lost it. Because they had not obeyed God they lost their city, Jerusalem, the Temple and were taken into foreign captivity -- all because they had disobeyed Him. Many of the books of the prophets are about this very thing.
v. 6,7 "Let your ear be attentive and your eyes be opened to the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands and the decrees and the laws you gave your servant Moses."
Part one of Nehemiah's prayer is to base his request on who God is. "God, you're a great God. You're awesome! You keep your promises!" Part two, I admit who I am. 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 seventy years earlier. He was 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 America 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? We don't think that way. We're very individualistic. Our society has taught us the concept of you're only responsible for you. And that's just not true! You are your brother's keeper. We are all in this together. If there's one phrase I never want to hear it's "I've got to do what's best for me!" All kinds of things get justified with that phrase. “It doesn't matter whether I'm leaving my wife/husband and kids or whatever else, I've got to do what's best for me!” Nehemiah says "Not only do I have personal sin to confess but I have corporate sin. I'll accept the blame for other things.
Another Law of Leadership: 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/couldn't happen, It's always somebody else's fault. Leaders accept the blame. "We have sinned against You." (Pres. - dropped ball - Katrina) The point is that all sin is ultimately against God. When you break a human law you are ultimately offending God. When you hurt somebody else, you're ultimately hurting God.
The older I get in the Lord, the more increasingly I'm aware of my own sinfulness and God's graciousness. What a gracious God that we have that He uses imperfect people in that way. I base my request on who God is and then I confess the sin.
3. Claim the promises of God
v. 8-9 Remember the instructions you gave to your servant Moses saying `If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and obey my commands then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen .. in my name." Notice it says "if ... I will" Circle "if". Then again He says "if ... I will". He has a warning and a promise.
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 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.
Question: 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. Do kids ever forget a promise? Never. (dad - 12y. - wanna 3-wheel now or new corvette @16?)
So you have to be very careful about making them. The Bible says we're imperfect fathers and if we imperfect fathers know that we need to fulfill our promises to our kids, how much more does a perfect Father, a Heavenly Father, intend to keep the promises He's made in His word.
Prayer transforms God's promises into performance. Prayer is taking God at His word. It's holding God to His promises. It's asking God to do what He's already promised He wants to do. Nehemiah says "God, first I'm basing my prayer on Who You are. Then I'm admitting who I am. Then I'm reminding You of what You've said."
There are over 7000 promises in the Bible waiting to be claimed.
Pray the scriptures - praying God’s Word is praying God’s will.
God never shuts His storehouse until you shut your mouth. God wants to bless you more than you want to be blessed. But you must claim the promises of God.
Nehemiah could claim these promises because he knew them. The promises he mentions in these verses are Leviticus 26:33 and Deuteronomy 30:4. When was the last time you memorized a promise or prayed out of Leviticus or
Deuteronomy?
The point is, the strength of my prayer life is determined by how well I know the promises of God. The secret of successful praying is pleading the promises of God. "God, you said it and because of what You said and who You are, I thank You that the answer is on its way. I'm expecting You to meet my needs." We need to learn the promises of God.
4. Be very specific in what I ask for
In order to get specific answers to prayer you've got to make specific requests.
If you make general prayers, how will you know if they are answered?
v. 10,11 "They are your servants, your people, whom you've
redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand.
O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this, your
servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in
revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man."
Nehemiah has the whole prayer just to have the little request at the end. "When I go before the king to ask to be released to go build the wall, give me success when I make that request to the king." Nehemiah is willing to go to Jerusalem. He was available. He was willing to rebuild the project. But he knew he'd have to get the king's permission first who was definitely not a believer. You don't just let your right hand guy walk away. The king has the power of death and life over anybody. Nehemiah was asking a leave of absence for three years, to go back to his home town and rebuild a wall the king had ordered not to be rebuilt. This was the reason he was asking for success when he went to talk with the king.
He's 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!
Remember this is just a sample prayer of four months of praying. What did Nehemiah do during these four months? Did he have this one prayer and he prayed it over several times a day? No, I doubt it. If Nehemiah was praying over a four month period his prayer probably evolved into this. Like our prayers do a lot of time. You start praying for something and then it gets clarified. That's one of the purposes God delays answering prayers many times; He wants us to clarify.
“Lord, give me success in this!
William Carey who founded the modern missionary movement used to say, "Expect great things from God; do great things for God." That's a good motto for every believer.
Summary: The type of prayer that God answers. Four marks of Nehemiah's prayer that are the same four marks we need to have in our praying if we're going to be a leader who has his/her prayers answered on a regular basis:
1. It's a prayer of conviction. It's a prayer of conviction of who God is. It's conviction that God is a just God, a great God, in control. He wants to hear me. He wants to answer my prayers. It is conviction acknowledging who God is. This is what praise is all about. Praise is bragging on God.
2. It's a prayer of confession of what I am and who I am. "God, I've blown it. I've made mistakes and I'm imperfect." Be very specific.
3. It's a prayer of confidence in what God has promised. "I know who You are, I know what I am, I know what You've said." God said it, I believe it -- that settles it! If God said it, that settles it, whether I believe it or not. Claim God's promises. The promises are the keys that unlock the answers to prayer. You've got to learn those 7000 promises.
4. It's a prayer of commitment. "I'm willing to be part of the answer. God, You can use me. I commit myself. I'll be part of the solution."
We're talking about leadership. Every one of you are leaders because leadership is influence. You are leaders in different parts of life. The issue is not whether you're a leader or not, it's whether you're a good leader or not. The first step in leadership is to develop a private life, time alone with God -- a personal, daily, devotional walk. If you want to be a leader, develop your prayer life. Learn to pray like Nehemiah prayed. Watch the doors of heaven open up.
Practical things: devotions
Next week we're going to look at the next chapter and answer the question, "What do you do after you've prayed?" I've prayed, I've been praying about the situation. What do I do next? A leader does more than pray but he doesn't do anything until he prays.
Prayer:
I'd like to walk you through these four steps. Think of one thing you've really had your heart set on. It's a real prayer request you'd like to pray. First, in your heart, base your request on who God is. Before you give the request to God, say, "God, I know You can answer this request because You are..." and tell Him what He is. A great God, a loving God, a merciful God. You listen to our prayers. You are a faithful God, You keep Your promises. On the basis of that make your request.
Number two, "God, I confess the sin in my life." Ask God if there is any sin He needs to reveal to you. We commit them specifically, we need to confess them specifically. Don't make a blanket approach, "God, forgive all my sins." Is there an attitude or action you need to change? Ask God to cleanse your life.
Then would you claim the promises of God. If you can't think of one right now, I suggest Philippians 4:19 "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Thank God that He gives us these promises.
Then be very specific in what you ask for. Lay your request out to God. Some of you need to pray that God would make you successful in a certain venture or project. If you're not sure that God wants you to do it, get something you're sure God wants you to do.
Then a prayer of commitment. "God, I'm willing to be part of the answer. I'm willing to be used by You in any way for the answer."
Thank You, Father, for these lessons we've learned from this great leader Nehemiah. May all of us develop our prayer life and grow closer to You. In Jesus' name. Amen.
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