Nehemiah 1 (Part 2) Bible Study (Nehemiah's Prayer) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Series)

If you're joining us for the first time, we just started our

Bible study series in this brand new book, and it is a wonderful

sequel to the book of Ezra. And many of us have already seen

that in the first few verses of this new book.

But we have not completed chapter 1 yet.

And that's what we will seek to do tonight.

So plant your finger there at verse 4.

We will read in a moment here. But I would love for us to pray

once again, Heavenly Father, thank you.

Thank you for loving us. Thank you for showing your love

in so many ways. Thank you that according to the

words of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 17, you love us as you

love your Son. It's so hard for us to grasp

that you love us as you love your Son Jesus Christ.

And we know that this is difficult to fathom.

That's why Paul in Ephesians 3. Pray that we would know the

height and the depth and the breadth of your love for us.

So, Lord, use the means of this Bible study to help us

comprehend just how strong your love is and help us in response

to the revelation of your love. Love you with a greater

intensity and devotion, Lord. Some of us may be weary in the

flesh, and that can be a distraction.

Some of us may be distracted in our minds, though our bodies are

fine. Whatever may be an obstacle to

this Bible study, remove it and your power.

Remove it so that we can receive all that you have to say.

In Nehemiah chapter one, in Jesus name we pray, Amen.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but you can know a lot

about a person based on what makes them happy.

The objects that stir their passions, the things that make

them gleeful, even the things that make them laugh are

indicators to what they possess in terms of priorities,

convictions, and desires. Yet interestingly, Scripture

also teaches us that you can know a lot about a person based

on what makes them sorrowful, the burdens that they carry in

their hearts revealed just as clearly the priorities and

perspectives and passions of a person.

And today, you and I, by the grace of God, are going to know

more about this man, Nehemiah, because he is going to show us

how he responded to the tragic news of the condition of the

people of God in the city of Jerusalem.

Perhaps you've already read this chapter before, and so you're

already familiar with its content.

But in case you're not, the rest of this chapter is dedicated to

Nehemiah's heartfelt prayer in response to the news of the

devastation that the Jewish people were enduring after

returning from exile. But this is not the only time

Nehemiah prays. Depending on how you group his

prayers, it's safe to say that there are around 12 recorded

pleas that Nehemiah makes towards the Lord, and most of

them are shorter than what we have here.

And beyond this confirming that Nehemiah was a praying man and

that God uses praying men, there are wonderful and insightful

details waiting for us to uncover in the verses that we

will examine together. And so let's begin by reading it

all in one shot, without interruption, without

commentary. Let's just begin here in

Nehemiah chapter one, verse 4. Remember, we looked at the first

3 verses. And Nehemiah, while being in the

palace in Susa, was visited by his brother and friends, who

told them of the shame and trouble that the Jewish people

were experiencing because of the walls that were broken down.

And here is what he does in response to it.

As soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned

for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the

God of heaven. And I said, O Lord God of

heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and

steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His

commandments. Let your ear be attentive and

your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant, that I

now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel,

Your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel,

which we have sinned against You.

Even I in my Father's house have sinned.

We've acted very corruptly against you and have not kept

the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded

your servant Moses. 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 outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from

there I will gather them 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, lay 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 a cup bearer to the

king. What Nehemiah is demonstrating

here is the tenderness and compassion that should be alive

in those who belong to the Lord. Remember, he is reacting to the

news of the trouble that God's people are facing.

And what Nehemiah felt about the dishonor that they were trying

to manage is something that God expects of all of His people.

I'm not necessarily speaking about the need to weep.

Some have a stronger tendency to be tearful about certain things.

Nor am I even speaking about the need for extensive fasting,

though there is an appropriate time and place for fasting.

What I am primarily referring to is a sense of disturbance and

brokenness and burden when something is brought to our

attention relating to the humiliation, disgrace, and the

need of the Church. And the reason why I can say

that Nehemiah's attitude here applies to Christians is because

the Lord rebukes Israel for having the totally opposite

attitude that we find here when learning about the impending

Assyrian invasion. This is worth turning to in our

Bibles, the book of Amos chapter 6.

Amos 6 · chapter mention

God through His prophet, presents a few woes to the

generation of those who lived in the northern tribes of Israel

before they were removed from the land.

Remember, before the Babylonian exiled, there was an Assyrian 1

And I want you to see how he responds to the indifference of

some of the Israelites, even though they knew of the warning

of judgment to come. Amos 6.

I hope you're there. Look with me here at verse 4.

Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves

out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves

from the midst of the stall. Who sing idle songs to the sound

of the harp, and, like David, invent for themselves

instruments of music. Who drink wine and bowls, and

anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved

over the ruin of Joseph. You see that highlight the last

part. Listen, God is not against nice

furniture. He's not opposed to good food.

He doesn't reject wine, oil, or music.

But He is deeply opposed to the indulgence of these things while

having total indifference toward the state and the future of the

church. Notice how this crowd was

preoccupied with new forms of entertainment.

That's what it means here when it says that they are inventing

for themselves instruments of music, not to glorify God like

David, but to find new new shows, new forms of talent, new

inventions to stroke one's ego. And yet at the same time there

is not the slightest concern for the moral collapse and the

social decay of the spiritual community.

Notice also here that he does not say at the end, but are not

grieved over the ruin of Israel. Did you notice that the prophets

do not waste any words? God is speaking through them.

He says so clearly the ruin of Joseph.

Why? Because he wants to convey the

following message. In the same way.

Joseph's brothers were heartless towards him while he was in

anguish, while he was in that pit, while I was crying out for

mercy. These elite Israelites were

showing no sympathy, no thought for their fellow brothers in

time of need. How does this all relate to us?

Well, it would be unrealistic to say that we all have to feel a

sense of personal responsibility for the Universal Church, or

else we would constantly be burdened.

However, this is a call to reflect if there is any evidence

of concern in our hearts when something is made known to us,

especially that which is in our reach, in our community, in our

local church, in our nation. And one of the ways that we can

begin, or at least one of the signs that there is a softness

in our souls for the sanctification and the safety of

the church, of our fellow brothers and sisters, is that we

pray about it. We bring it before God.

We come to the prayer meeting and we say, Lord, pour out your

spirit. Your church is in trouble.

Churches are in trouble. This institution needs you.

Their walls are down. There's no discernment.

There are no Watchmen. Can you find that in you?

Or do you relate more to Amos chapter 6, where you're

Amos 6 · chapter mention

constantly consumed with leisure and comfort and one form or

pursuit of personal fleshly happiness?

May God help us. Nehemiah shows us one way that

we actually care and reflect God's heart.

We pray. We pray about it.

Now that may seem like an obvious response, but I had a

question. Why was this Nehemiah's

immediate response to fast and pray?

And I think there are two reasons.

The first one is that Nehemiah had insight.

He was discerning and he understood the real cause for

the ruin of Jerusalem. Sin, Sin.

That's what he plainly states here in verse seven.

Look at it again. We have acted very corruptly

against you and have not kept the commandments.

It wasn't because they didn't have resources.

It wasn't because they didn't have the favor of the

government. It wasn't because they were lazy

necessarily. It was because they sinned.

He understood their present condition is caused by their

past rebellion and because of this, he responds in a spiritual

manner. He goes to God and he repents on

behalf of the people. Now here's why this is crucial

to understand. Unfortunately, what you have,

some people do not pray because they fail to recognize the

spiritual realities behind their circumstances.

I am fully aware that there are some people who over

spiritualize nearly everything, but there are also those who

don't have any hint of the spiritual influence at all.

Both extremes are dangerous, and that's why so many never arrive

at real, lasting solutions in their ministries, in their

marriages, and many other of their miseries, because they

have never factored in the spiritual elements behind this

predicament or this ongoing struggle, and so they never

applied the spiritual remedies to address them.

There are people like that. They never think maybe, maybe

the reason why there's chaos, the reason why there's conflict,

the reason why there's frustration is because of a

spiritual thing like sin or disobedience or spiritual

warfare. And so they don't pray.

Nehemiah was not like that. He was a very balanced man.

He prays in this chapter, in the next chapter, he's going to get

to work and he's going to ask and he's going to do very

practical things. But here we see that he is doing

the right thing at the right time.

He understands the root cause of the problem, and so he addresses

it at the root. He prays.

The second reason why Nehemiah prays immediately in response to

this news is because he also understands the magnitude of the

work and the miraculous power that would be required in order

to resolve it. Now we have the habit of reading

so fast through some of these accounts that we never pause to

meditate on the real life implications of some of these

challenges to some of these ambitions and achievements.

Nehemiah understood that there are going to be some hurdles

here. Where do I even begin?

And I have a hunch here that Nehemiah has one thing in mind

in terms of a challenge, and that is how the king is going to

let him go. A king who prior to this was

already convinced that rebuilding the walls in

Jerusalem would not be for his interests.

Do you remember in our study of Ezra that there was one section

where he abandons the chronology of the events that he is

recording and piles together different examples of the

opposition's that the Exiles faced upon their return?

Do you remember that study? Well in one of the examples he

goes to the future and he mentions what King Artaxerxes

asked of the Exiles because of the adversaries of the Exiles

and what they told him. Let's see it again because it

plays into what we find here in Nehemiah 1.

Go to Ezra chapter 4. The art Exerxes here in Ezra

Ezra 4 · chapter mention Ezra 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4 is the same art Exerxes that Nehemiah is

serving. And notice what Ezra says in his

account of the persecution that the Exiles faced throughout

their time in Jerusalem. Ezra 4.

Look at verse 11. He writes this is a copy of the

letter that they sent. That is the adversaries of the

people of Judah, Tardig, Xerxes, the king, your servants, the men

of the province beyond the river, send greeting.

And now be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from

you to us have gone to Jerusalem.

They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city.

They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.

Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the

walls finish, they will pay no tribute, customer toll and the

royal revenue will be impaired. This letter that Ezra is making

known to the reader seems to indicate that there was before

Nehemiah, after Ezra, somewhere between that, though they are

contemporaries, they're going to work together.

Not explicitly clear, but somewhere before Nehemiah makes

this request to go back to Jerusalem.

There were earlier attempts to rebuild the walls.

And the enemies of the people of Judah saw saw this.

They didn't like it. And so they sent a letter to our

exertions and say, put a stop to this.

You're going to harm your Kingdom.

This is going to cause a rebellion.

And when you read later on in Ezra 4, he actually listens.

Now, there are others who do not consider to be this, to be proof

of previous attempts to rebuild the wall, but claim that these

adversaries are coming up with this.

They're exaggerating the efforts of the people of Judah, and they

are slandering them, and they are lying to the king.

But whichever view you hold, one thing is absolutely clear.

The last time Arctic Xerxes received any hint or news of the

people rebuilding the wall, he opposed it.

He was not in favor of it. So you can imagine how daunting

this would be for Nehemiah, who understood this.

How am I going to convince the king?

His last recorded declaration and statement was No way is

Jerusalem ever going to have walls.

This historical detail is not often taken into consideration

when considering Nehemiah's prayer life, at least in the

season of his prayer life. And so it makes sense.

Then look at Nehemiah one verse 11.

What was his final request? Oh Lord, let your ear be

attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of

Your servants, who delight to fear a name.

And give success to Your servant today, and grant him mercy in

the sight of this man. Who is this man?

The king? I need mercy, fresh mercy, and I

love that he prays this. His prayer for mercy is more

powerful when you connected with Ezra 4.

Why? Because Nehemiah understood that

there is a persuasive force with prayer not just toward those who

are neutral towards the things of God, right?

Sometimes in our human thinking, we evaluate where a person

stands with spiritual things or the gospel or the Bible or

Christianity, and we think that person has a better chance of

coming to Christ. I'm going to spend more energy

on them in my prayers, my evangelism.

And sometimes there's wisdom in that, right?

We don't cast our pearls before swine.

However, Nehemiah shows us that prayer even works for those who

are expressly opposed, like Artaxerxes was toward the

rebuilding of the wall. He still believed.

If I pray and if I seek and if I wait on God, he can change

anything and anyone, including the hearts of kings and rulers

and magistrates. Don't give up praying for your

loved ones. Not just those who seem to not

care, just do whatever you want, but those who attack you for

your faith, those who told you why do you come to this place on

Friday nights, hang out with us, you'd lose your mind or

something. Prayer is just as effective for

them. Nehemiah is going to show us

that in the very next chapter. Now I'm aware that we have many

other verses to look at, but there's one more thing that I

want us to look at here before we go on.

Notice how in verse 4, Nehemiah says that he sat down and wept

and mourned for days and I continued fasting and praying.

Does anybody have an idea how Nehemiah how long Nehemiah

prayed for? If you have an idea, you can

answer. Any clue?

Four days, 10 days, two weeks. This is where time stamps in

narratives and in different parts of the Bible should never

be ignored. Look back at verse 1 of this

book. The words of Nehemiah the son of

Hakalaya now happened in the month of Kislev in the 20th

year, as I was in Susa, the Citadel, the month of Kislev in

the 20th year, OK, this corresponds to November,

December. Go to Nehemiah chapter 2, verse

Nehemiah 2 · chapter mention

one, in the month of Nissan in the 20th year of King

Artaxerxes, when wine was before him.

I took up the wine and gave it to the king.

Now I had not been sad in his presence.

This is when Nehemiah is going to receive permission to go to

Jerusalem. Now the month of Nissan falls

approximately between the months of March and April.

So we can say based on this that Nehemiah was in this contrition,

the state of prayer, seeking God, raising up his voice to the

heavens for a solid four months. I'm not sure about you, but that

changes the way I understand this man's desperation.

And when we come to Nehemiah chapter 2, we will spend more

Nehemiah 2 · chapter mention

time looking at the whys and the hows of this duration of prayer.

But I want to just make note of one thing, and it's how this

reveals something about one way we can know that God may be

directing us toward a certain work.

One way you and I could discern a ministry, a service, a mission

that God is leading us to is by the persistent, steady burden.

We feel for it. Nehemiah's reaction to this news

was not short lived, was it? The timeline confirms that he

was not just emotional for a couple of days and then it all

fizzled out. He couldn't shake it off.

And sometimes an ongoing yearning to see a need met, to

see a work done in God's Kingdom, is a signal of a path

that we may need to pursue. Be cautious now, because

righteous desires, no matter how intense they are, are not always

signs that God is leading us somewhere.

As important as those feelings may be in those convictions

growing are, they need to be accompanied by wise counsel.

They need to be treated with persistent, serious prayer, And

they need to always, always, always be waited on, patiently

waiting on the Lord to confirm. What Nehemiah models for us,

though, is that when a burden is birthed, don't ignore it.

Tap into it, explore it. And with that, his testimony

shows that if it's from God, he will confirm it.

And the way it's confirmed for him is that the door will swing

open and what he felt and what he was wrestling with and what

he brought before God ended up being authorized by God because

Providence approved it. If you and I want to see genuine

fruit and longevity in ministry, it has to be birth and passion.

I'm not saying you have to feel giddy and excited for whatever

ministry you are connected to on an ongoing, unbroken basis.

However, if there is no passion, if there is no drive, if you

don't dream about it to some extent, if you don't talk to God

regularly about it, what are you doing?

And if you're just going through the motions, guess what the

fruit of it is going to show? But Nehemiah here is showing us

a very important sequence. There's something birthed in his

heart, something that will later be birthed in prayer, and it's

going to manifest in the remainder of this book in terms

of fruit and effectiveness. Let's actually get to the

content of the prayer, shall we? We're not going to look at all

the insights, but let's look at some.

You know, as I read this over and over again, something stood

out to me. Something began to glisten, and

it was how Nehemiah referred to himself and the other parties

involved who belong to the Lord and serve the Lord.

Let me show you what I mean. Look at verse 6.

He says, Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to

hear the prayer of your servant. Underline that you're saying

why? We'll keep reading that.

I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel,

Your servants. OK, look at verse 8.

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses.

Out of all the things that you could have said about Moses,

what did you choose to say? Your servant?

And he does it twice. Look at verse 11.

We already saw, but let's revisit it.

Oh 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. So throughout, throughout this

prayer, Nehemiah identifies himself.

He identifies those who are the people of Israel.

He identifies those who are praying with him.

He even identifies Moses as what God's servants.

And this is a humble reminder that no matter the nature of our

ministry, whether we are leading people like Moses or we are

behind the scenes and helping a guy like Nehemiah build some

walls, all of us are no greater than this.

We are simply servants. Whatever your gift looks like,

whoever knows your name or doesn't know your name in the

sight of God, we are all merely servants.

You know, this attitude that Nehemiah displays here reminds

me of what Christ didn't suggest but commanded.

Actually, when I was thinking about it today, I thought in

teachings about serving the Lord, sacrificing for the Lord,

pursuing some kind of ministry for the Lord.

This verse that I'm about to tell you to turn to is rarely

brought up, rarely brought up, Luke 17, verse 10.

Luke 17:10

And I wonder if you've ever heard this being used to exhort

us to properly view ourselves and ministry for Jesus Christ.

This is Jesus Christ telling His own and us how we should view

ourselves in light of serving him.

Luke 17 verse 10. I will wait for you because I

Luke 17:10

want you to see with your own eyes.

So you also, when you have done all that you recommended, say we

are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our

duty, and that's something. Did Jesus recommend this?

And he says, when you've done your ministry, say this.

Now, why would Jesus say this? I'll tell you why, because there

are many Christians who are tempted to think that we're

doing God a favor by serving him.

That's why. Or that or something special for

serving him. Look at me, what I do.

I serve God not just on Sundays, Fridays, and Wednesdays.

Who cares? Look what I do.

This church wouldn't survive without me.

Oh, they might be able to go on, but it'll be a struggle.

I think you know what Jesus says to you and I.

You're a servant and you're doing your duty.

God is not in our debt when we serve Him.

That is the least that you and I can do after what He has done

for us. It's the least that we can do if

we actually understand how our Christ served us.

If I have 10,000 lives to live, I'll give you all of them to

your service. So the Lord is really bringing

us back down to reality here because we have a tendency of

having this sense of superiority, maybe self worth,

self praise, and Nehemiah's prayer reminds us of a new

covenant attitude. As we continue here, I want us

to consider something else. We see again here in verse 8 and

verse 9 that one of the greatest recorded prayers in the Bible is

biblically informed. Look at verse 8:00 and 9:00 for

a second. Here he says, 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, keep my commandments and do them though

your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from

there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I

have chosen to make my name dwell there.

So what's what's Nehemiah doing here?

Showing us the importance of being saturated with the Bible

in order to be effective in our prayers and intercessions.

Right. This is something that we've

seen over and over and over again.

But there is an added layer of inspiration here with Nehemiah.

Was he born in Jerusalem? No, he's born in exile.

Was there a temple in Babylonia to draw inspiration from?

No. Yeah.

There was a community of Jews there, even God fearing Jews,

but just imagine the atmosphere, imagine the temptations.

And yet what I see in Nehemiah is what we saw in Ezra, that he

was committed to knowing God's word, to loving God through the

Word. And it shows up in his prayer

language. And not only does he say

something about Nehemiah's absolute commitment to the

truth, it shows him and it shows us the the secret to fuel in our

prayer lives rehearsing God's character, his abilities, his

works, his ways, and his faithfulness.

In fact, that's exactly what he brings up here in verse 10.

Look at it with me. He says they are your servants

and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and

by your strong hand. Notice this.

They are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by

your great power and by your strong hand.

There's something happening more than just Nehemiah reminding

himself that the people of Israel are in covenant with God,

therefore God will be faithful to his covenant people.

This is Nehemiah also reflecting on what God has done with this

people, giving him the hope that he can do it again with this

people. You have redeemed this people

from Egypt with all the impossible challenges, with a

tyrant like Pharaoh, with with, with a Red Sea.

You brought them out. Surely, Lord, you can bring them

out of this ruin. So you see already that Nehemiah

is energized and he has an anchor in this place of praying

for weeks and months because he knows God has done it before,

God can do it again. And the only way that you can

even have a a chance of tasting that kind of faith is if you

know what God has done. Can I ask you something?

What stories in the Scriptures do you visit in order to

strengthen your faith? Are you familiar enough with

them to apply them to virtually any situation that comes to you?

We should be able to get there and as primary and foundation as

that is, we should also be aware of what God has done in history,

what God has done in people's lives around us, what God has

done in our parents lives if they've served the Lord, our

pastors lives. Fellow brothers and sisters, we

should accumulate testimonies in order to know how to pray like

Nehemiah prays. You know, in the years that

we've been praying for a building, I found myself doing

something repeatedly. And my wife can testify to this

too, whenever she was in the car with me, that if I wasn't too

distracted thinking while driving safely, not too

distracted with my mind here, sometimes I would drive by

different buildings, especially buildings, church buildings with

nice parking lots. And I would say out loud, God,

if you did it for them, you can do it for us.

Just just simple, just simple words to the Lord and just

tangible observations that God, if you did it for that ministry,

do you love us any less? Surely not.

And he doesn't love us anymore. He's done it before.

He's helped different ministries, I'm sure, overcome

obstacles and and permits and persecution and neighbors that

might cause even more headache. All these things.

And the MI shows us that we need to know that if we're going to

be able to stay in the place of prayer long enough to see

answers. And we've seen answers, haven't

we? Now, as we continue, I want I

want us to just look at the final verse here.

And I can tell you this with a great confidence that we can, we

can spend an entire separate session on this one verse alone.

It is packed, packed, packed with incredible observations.

And I just want us to consider a couple of them here before we

close. We learn here that Nehemiah's

final words are mentioning not just his commitment to pray and

his desperate need for God to answer his prayers, but that

there are other people who are praying with him.

Did you pick up on that? Look at it again.

Oh Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your

servant. That's Nehemiah, and to the

prayer of your servants. Who else is praying with him?

Evidently he made this need known to them.

He got a prayer group to join him, to partner with him.

And the only thing that we know about them is what?

That they delight to fear God's name.

What a fascinating phrase. Delight to fear God's name?

That seems kind of absurd on the surface.

If there's any delight in relation to fear is to have less

of it, not more of it. Unless, of course, these

servants with Nehemiah comprehended the treasures that

come with fear in God, that made them fear God and want to grow

in reverence, in awe of him the way he deserves delighting to.

It's a delight for me to stand in awe of God.

I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

What a thing to be said of anybody who delight, one

translation says, who desire to fear your name.

If your heart fears God tonight, rejoice in that.

If it doesn't, if you can be honest with yourself and say, I

know preachers talk about the majesty of God and the awe of

God, but I believe in a theory, but I don't feel it in my soul.

Ask God for it. He can do something in you.

I'm sure He can open your eyes, certainly, and you don't need to

be a preacher to have it. These are unnamed fellows.

Which brings me to my next point.

There's something to learn here about leaders and non leaders.

So allow me to speak about this for a moment.

For those who are leaders now or aspiring leaders, I want you to

notice that Nehemiah acknowledged these servants in

prayer. Even though he would be

platformed by name, even though he would be the face of this

massive revival and a movement of great restoration of historic

proportions, he would be the main guy.

And yet I see something noble about Nehemiah.

He understood the value of those who serve alongside him in the

background. This is a hint that he

understood that he would not be able to do this on his own.

He's he's actually even relying on his prayer partners and he

mentions them in his prayer before God.

And we should go beyond that and even express our appreciation

from time to time to those who are serving behind the scenes.

So leaders, take note of this. Even though God has called you

to perhaps guide and and possess vision, understand that you were

never called to do it alone. You can't do it alone.

Neither can I. But secondly, we learned that

it's possible to effectively contribute to the cause of

Christ and not be a leader and not even be known.

Do you believe that the Holy Spirit could have mentioned

these servants who prayed with Nehemiah by name?

He could have. If you doubt that, we've studied

a lot of names, haven't we? God is not shy of including

names if He wants to include names.

But when He doesn't mention a name, sometimes there's insight

even in that. And what I find here is that

these individuals who served God and served Nehemiah were not

known, but they played a major part in what we're going to see

in the following chapters because they prayed.

Here's what that means. Unfortunately for some,

fortunately, I don't enjoy saying this, but for some, their

incentive to serve the Lord Jesus Christ in the context of

the local church or any kind of ministry is to have a sense of

recognition. It's to be respected.

Oh, and if they can get a title, like all I need is a title, if I

can have a title along those other guys who have titles, Oh

yeah, that's what I'm looking for.

Please listen, don't enter ministry if you are very aware

of your low self esteem. I'm not saying you can't be

tempted with self esteem. I can't.

I'm not sure you're saying that you can't be discouraged.

But if you are pursuing service to the Lord because you need

identity in that service, danger for you and danger for the

church that you're serving. I know it sounds innocent.

I know it's almost like it's kind of harmless.

Actually it's not. It can cause a lot of problems.

Instead, you and I have to come to a place and ask this

question. Am I willing to sacrifice my

time? Am I willing to serve and give

my energy towards whatever God asked me to if I never received

praise for it? If you and I fear His name like

these servants did, we will. We will, because when you stand

in awe of God, the appreciation of man has little value.

That's the problem. We get this thing all mixed up

and we, we, we crave the pat on the back and we crave the

accolades and we crave the attention and we crave people

say, oh, he's doing something effective, he's doing something

great. He's doing something popular.

As much as Nehemiah is so inspirational, I find equal

inspiration from these servants that we'll only know in heaven.

They feared God, they loved God. Think about it, the reason why

they were willing to pray with Nehemiah is because they

delighted to fear the Lord. No other ambition, no other

agenda. And I'm sure they celebrated the

fact that Nehemiah would be the leader of this whole movement.

Final thought for us tonight. What came to mind here and

meditating on these verses that prayer unlocks more rewards than

we often remember. The ultimate prize of what

Nehemiah does here in chapter 1 is that the king will indeed

give him the mercy that he asked God for and that he will have

the favor and more than just a favor to go because you have to

understand how difficult this is.

This is not just a normal job where you put in your two weeks

notice thinking I have another thing.

Thank you for all the benefits and the opportunities.

No, he was one of the most trusted individuals in the

Kingdom. It would not be so easy for him

to leave his post. So yes, we're anticipating that

God is going to answer this prayer, but I want you to see

that God gives him much more than that.

And one of those examples is how Nehemiah speaks about the king

in this verse. Look again at verse 11.

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.

I mean, he mentioned servant 3 times in this one verse, and

grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

Now don't make the mistake of taking Nehemiah's reference to

the king as this man as an expression of disrespect or

disdain. That's not what's happening here

because the very first recorded words of Nehemiah in chapter 2,

when the king calls upon him, is May the king live forever.

That is respect. He didn't look down upon his

employer. He didn't look down upon this

king. Instead, lean into this.

As Nehemiah continued to spend time in God's presence, as he

continued to deal with the truths that he's studying in

God's Word and put them into practice in terms of praying

about it and allowing his heart to believe it, his perspective

began to change. Especially when you compare what

he says here in the last verse of his prayer with the first

words of his prayer. Look back at verse 5, Nehemiah

1/5 And I said, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome

God, what a way to address the Lord.

He begins by exalting His absolute sovereignty, His glory,

His infinite beauty and power. And then as He comes here to the

end of his prayer and refers to the most feared and powerful man

in the Persian Empire, when compared to the truth of who God

is, He is just a man. Do you see this?

He's just a man. As he glued his eyes, and more

importantly, the eyes of his heart, and as he exercised the

words of faith, and as he meditated on who he was speaking

to, whatever pomp, whatever pride, whatever power art exerts

he's possessed, it began to fade.

So here's what you and I have to understand.

Nehemiah was praying for the Lord to do a work in the city of

Jerusalem, and all the while the Lord was doing a work in

Nehemiah. Can God change the problem that

you're praying about? Absolutely.

Believe it with all your heart, but also believe this.

He's going to change you in the process.

And in this case, what you have here is Nehemiah's understanding

of who God is. And even the greatest obstacle

that he had was not so much of an obstacle in light of who God

showed himself to be to this man.

So Nehemiah received an added reward, and that was a

revelation of the majesty and might of his God.

Prayer carries power not just for predicaments, but for our

own personalities and our own perspectives.

You will never lose if you pray. You will lose a lot more than

you think if you don't. Do you believe that there is

much more that we can get from these verses?

I think so. For for the sake of our time

tonight, let's pause and pray. Lord, we delight to fear your

name. You're worthy to be feared.

And if any of our hearts have lost that sense of awe, use the

truths, Lord, from these verses that have been pressed against

our hearts to mold us and to sharpen our understanding of who

You are, who we are studying about, who we are speaking to

even now. Lord, much has been said and

there was more that could be said, but we say thank You for

the portion that has been presented to us this evening.

And we pray that when we learn something of You and what You

ask of us, that it would move us genuinely, that it would do more

than just tickle our brains, but that it would stir our hearts.

Lord, thank You that You do not change.

And what You long for and expect and desire out of many men and

women that we find in the Scriptures is no different for

us. So, Lord, if you're looking for

people who have concern for your church in a very real and

personal way. If we don't have that, birth it

in US. Lord, if if we are overcome by

the size of our obstacles, help us understand that you've given

us this weapon, this grace, this gift called prayer that can do

so much more than we think. But we, we bless your name, we

honor your name. We Revere you, Lord, and we

believe that you've brought us to the book of Nehemiah for such

a time as this. You will equip us efficiently

for this next season as a church, and we will glean from

it. And Lord, by your help, we will

apply all that we hear that we may see the fruit of it in our

days. We honor you now in song.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Well, I think the precinct will

come now and tell us what song we will sing together.

If you feel like you need to stay seated and just continue to

pray and talk to the Lord before you make your way out of here,

you can do that. But if you feel like you need to

stand and glorify God and sing it, you can do that as well.

So whatever you are inclined to do, as long as you are focused

on the Lord, let's take these next few moments and worship

Him.