Nehemiah 1:5-6 NASB1995 I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.
I am reading a book called Tally Ho The Fox. In the book, it compares the Church of today with the Church of Acts. It says we have the same God, the same Savior, the same Holy Spirit, and more of God's word, yet we are growing the Kingdom of God less. He gives a reason, but I want to give us another reason. Maybe it is because the Church of Acts spent more time in serious prayer, as Nehemiah did in our text. Let's look at Nehemiah's example. Nehemiah beseeched the Lord. This is almost like presenting a contract to someone and saying you have contracted to do this. He does this while praising Him for who He is and the fact that He preserves (keeps) His covenant. He also praises God for keeping His promise of Love.
Do we start off our prayers by recognizing who God is and that He is a God of His covenant? Then Nehemiah recognizes the responsibility of God's people in the covenant. We are to love Him and keep His commandments. Do we, the church of today, seek to do this, or do we think 1 to 3 hours a week is enough? We must remember, that the Church of Acts met pretty much daily. Corporate worship of God was their life. God was their life as they sought to tell others about him consistently. Then Nehemiah begged God to hear his prayers which it says he prayed day and night. Are we praying without ceasing? Nehemiah was fasting and praying, praying and fasting. Do you pray when you are alone? Do you pray when you are in a crowd? Do you pray? Nehemiah was serious about his prayer. So was the church of Acts. It says in Acts 2:42 NASB1995 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
You might say "well you are just being a Jesus freak, no one does that today."
That is my point: we aren't doing it today, and therefore, the church is not seeing Kingdom growth as it did in Acts.
Next, we see that as Nehemiah was praying day and night, he was praying on BEHALF of the sons of Israel.
We and the church of Acts understand that Jesus died on our behalf (in our place). We see that Nehemiah was praying on behalf (in the place) of the sons of Israel. He was not just praying for but he put himself in their place. Because of this he was broken and prayed night and day.
Do we feel so strongly for those who are not children of God that we can't help but to pray not just for them but with the passion we would be praying for ourselves if we were dying and going to hell? Do we pray for the church this same way when we see they are missing out on the blessings of God because they/we have strayed away and let the world become our lives? We see that He even confessed their sins on their behalf and took the blame upon himself as he understood James 2:10 NASB1995 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.
Are we praying in this way for our brothers and sisters in Christ? In Acts 12:12 we see the church praying fervently for Peter and he was set free from prison. In our text today, we see Nehemiah's prayer, and God used Him to rebuild Jerusalem.
How would He answer our prayers, if we only prayed in this way?
The answer is He would grow the Kingdom of God with the church of today as He did with the church of Acts.
Let's get serious about God, Prayer, and corporate worship (the church). Then be ready to see Kingdom population explosion.
Love Bro. Scott