No pointing fingers!
Nehemiah 1:4”And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven.”
“The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'” Billy Graham
I have watched and participated in many meetings, where elaborate plans, innovative ideas and various other factors are thrashed out and discussed in ‘brain storming sessions’ with swanky presentations and great eloquent words; sadly, many have flopped badly, because of no prayer back up. This morning in our ‘5am Booster zoom prayer group’ my daughter Ps Shalina Ajesh shared Word on the intercessory prayer of Nehemiah. She said “ before Nehemiah built the broken walls of Jerusalem, He built his prayer life. No pointing fingers and blaming others but only bending knees is what God wants.” Very true, before you set out to do anything – pray first!
I want to share a something that I personally witnessed, a big theatre movie hall was given by the owner to a village pastor to conduct prayer meetings once a week, in the midst of severe opposition from her family, I have personally preached in the auditorium. During one of those meetings, as we were getting reading, I heard the pastor tell his church member, ‘before we start just do a 5 minutes prayer’. What? 5 minutes prayer? Sadly the theatre was taken away from the pastor.
But today, I want to talk about Nehemiah who stunningly takes off with the mega project of building the burnt walls of Jerusalem amidst severe oppositions, criticism and hurdles; he arises to do so FROM the presence of God. Did you read that? From the presence of God! Yes, read the above scripture again: Nehemiah sat down, wept, mourned certain days, fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Are you listening to me? Nehemiah was shattered when he heard the plight of the people of God; yet, he calmly pours out his feelings and emotions at the feet of the Lord and waits for Him! Way to go Nehemiah!
Today, we have people follow a friend to Canada because there is money there, we have people who take up Engineering course because someone said there is scope in it for job, we have people continuously "upgrading" degree certificates, many are opting for online, self-paced, or distance learning to upgrade skills without pausing their current employment; however, their passionate prayer life takes back seat. No more midnight prayers, crazy early morning prayers, nonstop prayers and so on. People rush and dash, apply here and there, try 1000 things and finally end up in a mess & chaos. Everything should be balanced and OTHER THINGS should be planned meticulously without affecting PRAYER LIFE which is key to success. Amen. I think I’m speaking to someone out there!
Fickle-minded people start something erratically and unwisely, but Nehemiah sat at the presence of the Lord and waited on Him with fasting, tears and prayer! Glory to Jesus! Young people! Learn this art! Look what happens! God unfolds His plans awesomely and Nehemiah goes about it meticulously, wisely and systematically.
Revival starts with conviction of sins, followed by confession, that should end with consecration!
