The Prayer of a Faithful Heart Stirred by God

The Exodus Pattern

Deliverance accomplished by God is central in the Exodus; he stands at the “heart of the document. Exodus is characterized by a triumphant shout: “The Lord has triumphed; to him belongs the victory!” The Horse and the rider have been thrown into the sea.

It was a deliverance that is marked by deliverance from bondage and oppression to the freedom and dignity of sonship. Israel became God’s “chosen people, his possession, his sons and daughters, in the Exodus from Egypt.

It was deliverance which created a lasting relationship between God and Israel, a relationship both of privilege and responsibility. So, Israel must not go her own way but obey the commands of God.

Judaism was preoccupied with the coming Messianic Salvation. This is evident in the Rabbinic and qumran community.

Because of Israel’s continued disobedience and looking past what God had called them to which is faithfulness to Him alone, He rose up Kings to keep them in exile in Babylon.

Main Idea: Those who love God and His kingdom will be stirred to study His word, pray, and do everything they can to advance the gospel message, all the while summoning others to do the same.

Ezra 1:1-11 The return to Jerusalem

The Lord stirred up the heart of Cyrus King of Persia. Cyrus acknowledged that God had given him all the kingdoms of the earth. He has now taken as His responsibility to help rebuild His house in Jerusalem.

Cyrus also acknowledges that the God of Israel resides in Jerusalem. He also offers for the survivors whose hearts are stirred by the Lord to return to Jerusalem.

Conflict: What if your heart is not stirred by God or possibly what if it never has really been stirred by God.

Nehemiah 1:1–3 ESV

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel, 2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. 3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

vs. 1 Month of Chislev - the events of this conversation that set everything in motion would have been between mid-November and mid-December of 446 BC and the approach of the king in chapter two is somewhere around March/April of 445 BC.

These events would have then taken place somewhere around 13 years after Ezra since Ezra had set our for Jerusalem.

Susa: was the capital city or known as the Citadel or winter resort of the Persian Kings.

vs. 2 Hanani may have been a brother of Nehemiah or merely a kinsmen. The word escaped or remnant is one of the favorite words used by Isaiah to describe the little portion of Israel with which its future rests.

vs. 3 The Broken Wall We should not assume that this is merely the destruction left by Nebuchadrezzar. That was ancient history (587 BC), but this was news and a shattering blow. Its most likely background is the sequence in Ezra 4:7–23, in which a bid to rebuild the walls had been reported to king Artaxerxes and promptly crushed ‘by force and power’. It was an ominous development, for the ring of hostile neighbours round Jerusalem could now claim royal backing.

THE NEED

Where do we find the strength when it looks like the kingdom of this world has the upper hand in overcome the kingdom of the Lord whom we all depend on for our very life and breath?

The one whom we call in our hour of need. How do we call others to join us in the fight when things seem to be falling apart around us. The situation is not only desperate it must have appeared to be doomed for failure.

Nehemiah’s strength in character has grown out of his hunger for and time spent in the word of God. We are going to see how he was confident that He could trust in the faithfulness of the one living God of the universe.

We are going to see Nehemiah’s great strength in how he falls face down in prayer before his Lord and King.

Nehemiah is in exile in Persia, but though he is in the world he is not of it. He does not mourn like who who has not hope. He mourns because the enemies of God’s kingdom have prevailed, and he mourns because he loves God’s kingdom more than his own life.

Nehemiah 1:4–7 ESV

4 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. 5 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, 6 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 and my father’s house have sinned. 7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

1. Prayer should be Unhurried and Transparent

Look at the immediate response of Nehemiah when hearing the news from Jerusalem. His immediate response was not only to pray but it say’s that he sat down for days to mourn and pray.

Have we ever sat down for day’s in morning and weeping in prayer before our Lord. Most of the time our prayers are rushed and lack any true feeling or emotion to them.

Note: Why is Nehemiah so emotionally affected in verse 4? Because he knows the Bible, as we see in verses 5-9.

Do you want to love God, God’s kingdom, and the advance of the good news of God’s triumph over sin and death?

Do you want to have strength and character to look a desperate situation in the face and have the faith and confidence to do something about it?

Then Fill Your Mind with the Bible!

Many of us go from Sunday to Sunday with little thought for this book, and spend no time meditating on the precepts and words of God. And then we wonder why we drag ourselves into church on Sunday so beaten down and with little energy for the task at hand.

Have you ever heard someone say, let’s prayer real quick! This indicates that prayer does not take much time or thought.

Here is what Happens when we take the time to invest in prayer that is unhurried and transparent.

*Prayer that Reflect the Character of God.

Notice that Nehemiah starts his prayer by deliberately postponing any immediate action what reflects on the character of who God is and what He is capable of doing.

If we love God and the advance of His glory, we will feel deep sorrow when the advance of the gospel is halted, and we will be disciplined and diligent to fast and pray.

If we are not feeling sorrow and cultivating diligence and discipline, we should seek to stir ourselves and one another up to love and good deeds. We can do this by considering what Nehemiah shows us about where he got this kind of passionate fervor for God and His kingdom.

This kind of heartfelt prayer only happens when we are so saturated with the word of God that we are painfully aware when God’s people are hurting and struggling.

How aware when the church today is not where it should be or is struggling and hurting.

When is the last time you prayed, wept, mourned, and fasted over the state of the church and its lack of obedience toward uplifting the kingdom of God. Do you have a similar reaction?

We should seek to understand the Scriptures and pray that God would cause us to long for their fulfillment.

The Bible works to shape your Character or (Identity)

If you find more concern or greater passion for how your favorite College or Pro team does on Saturday or Sunday rather than spending time in the word and looking deeply at how it advances the kingdom of God then you have an identity issue.

Your life becomes shaped more by what you spend your waking hours talking and thinking about. If it’s football then it is studying stats and payers for the game of the week. Perhaps your identity is in your kids, or you career, or your hobbies.

Think about it, how much time do you spend in prayer for your pastors, missionaries, co-laborers in Kingdom of God who are spreading the gospel message to the ends of the earth. How much time even this past week did you spend weeping and praying over those who are lost and dying in their sins.

He mounts his prayer towards heaven.

This is the place where the perspective will never ever change, it will always be the same. Our perspective changes constantly, however, His never does change. God’s perspective will always put man back in his place.

He recognizes the God who keeps His covenant.

He has raised the matter of the partner’s response (to ‘love him and keep his commandments.’ This is the very thing that got Israel into trouble that eventually landed them in captivity.

The fact that he is acknowledging the God who keeps his covenant meaning he is asking God to do what God has purposed to do. This will come into play.

Nehemiah’s prayer is based on what we read in Deuteronomy 4:25-31

Deuteronomy 4:25–31 ESV

25 “When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger, 26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed. 27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you. 28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.

He Prays that the eyes and ears of the Lord will be opened to his prayers.

Are there times when God’s ears are closed and He does not hear our prayers?

Even though God hears all and knows all there are certain circumstances in which He will not listen to our prayers:

1. When we choose to hold onto sin, rather than repent and change, God will not hear our prayers.

Isaiah 1:15 ESV

15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.

2. When you ask according to our own selfish motives and desires, God will not hear our prayers.

James 4:3 ESV

3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

3. When what we ask is not in accordance with God’s will for us. 1 John 5:14

1 John 5:14 ESV

14 And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.

4. When we do not ask in faith. Mark 11:24

Mark 11:24 ESV

24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Perhaps Nehemiah is painfully aware of the past sin of the nation of Israel and his own sin, therefore, he is pleading with God to not only hear his prayer but also to listen and respond.

2. Prayer should move us toward Godly Grief

He is moved to a heart of searching confession.

Difference Between Godly Grief and Worldly Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV

10 For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Perhaps like many in the Old Testament you have felt grief at times or remorse over your sins or lack of obedience, but, have you truly felt the kind of grief that stirred in your heart to the point of action.

CONFESSING FOR THE FAILINGS OF OTHERS

Note: Nehemiah starts with praying day and night confessing the sins of the nation of Israel. Have you ever spend time confessing the sins of someone else.

Apparently part of Nehemiah’s prayer time was spend mourning and confessing the sins of others not just his own sins. How do we own the failings of others and those who have fallen on the battle field.

When I was going through boot camp we were taught that we are only as strong as the weakest man. It was our platoons responsibility to make sure that those who have fallen behind make it back up to the level of the other Marines in our platoon.

We have a motto among Marines of no man left behind.

I also had this idea instilled in me during my time on the grid iron playing football. Those who were captains of their area of play on the football field were responsible for everyone pulling their weight. If this did not happen they were called out to take responsibility for those who were not where they should be physically and mentally.

Paul tells us in Galatians 6:1 that if anyone is caught in sin, those who are more spiritually mature have a responsibility to restore them in a spirit of gentleness. We also read in Philippians 2:3 that we are to consider others more significant that ourselves. Even Jesus reminded his followers that the last should be first and the first should be last.

THE PROBLEM: We live in such an Individualistic society that many times the church spends its time taking care of themselves with little or no concern others around them that are falling on the battle field. The reality is that we leave our wounded on the battle field of this world every day.

We read in 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

2 Corinthians 5:17–19 ESV

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.

We are all called to be ministers of reconciliation. This is a accounting term means to be made right, to bring the account to be reconciled.

I would challenge you to start spending time everyday praying for the Church and it’s leadership. Praying that Satan would not gain a foothold in their lives.

The Church is plagued with spiritual leaders who are falling into affairs, pornography, embezzling money etc. Where is the outcry of the people of God?

Now, Nehemiah is painfully aware that the reason that the wall is broken into pieces and the temple leveled from its foundation is the willful disobedience of Gods people. When we pray for the sins of the Church we must also remember that their are many times difficult consequences for such willful sin and disobedience.

The Idea of Church Hurt

This is a newer term that has been used to reference the pain, sadness, emotional scarring, or abuse experienced in a church context. Church hurt can be inflicted intentionally or unintentionally by lay or religious leadership.

As a pastor I have heard stories over the years from people who have found church confusing, constraining, or even damaging. Not every church hurts people, however, but most churches have hurt someone at some point. Some people are hurt through their own mistakes, others because of sin committed against them and still others because of failed leadership.

This reality can leave them reluctant to engage in church life, afraid of being hurt again, wanting to protect themselves. Here is a reality that I believe Nehemiah would voice about the failings of Israel in regards to the church today.

There is no perfect church. I am not suggesting that you remain in a place that is being unbiblical and willfully inflicting pain on it’s members. However, in much of my experience instead of praying for those inside of the church and seeking healing we run for the hills when things get difficult. I do not know any other place in society where God puts the greatest number of people from various backgrounds, struggles, and differences expecting them to live in harmony with one another.

1. Stay in the manual for our time of Grief.

The more we are centered on God’s word and his teaching of the Bible. The more we will grow into maturity. I will not go into detail but Diana and I stayed, served, and grew in a church for 11 years that had lots of issues and church hurt. We prayed, cried, and mourned over the sin and failure of the Church. We also took responsibility for the part we played in sinful behavior. All of this comes from time invested int he word of God.

2. Pursue the Holiness you hope for in others.

When you have faced betrayal and struggle within the body of Christ it will take supernatural power to pursue holiness and learn to forgive and repent. Repent some more, and fight the good fight, urging each other on. Do not give up meeting together. Stay on the path of discipleship and remember that the Bride of Christ is still a work in progress.

GOD DISCIPLINES THOSE HE LOVES

Notice that now Nehemiah acknowledges that the state of Jerusalem and its people is a direct result of the sins of not only Israel but, he now own the part that he has played in the current situation. In fact Jeremy the “weeping prophet,” continued to prophecy that the Lord would raise up Babylon to be the hand of God’s discipline for the sinfulness of His people.

When are you aware that God is disciplining you? Have you ever been in a place where you knew God was disciplining you?

Perhaps it was a time that you were failing to use your gifts and resources for the kingdom of God. You became selfish and kept it for yourself. Or perhaps you withheld tithing from God considering it your money and failed to acknowledge that anything your have been given is from the Lord. You wonder why you are struggling in your prayer life, or in your personal life? Perhaps God is disciplining you to remind you of your willful disobedience.

Perhaps you have failed to love people the way the Lord has shown His grace and love for you. You have become prideful, arrogant, and self-indulgent. You wonder why you are struggling to hold onto relationships, or finances, or jobs.

Now, I do want to insert here that we should not assume that every time we struggle with something in life that it is because we are living in disobedience and God is disciplining us. However, if we know we are not where we should be and have some sin in our lives that we assume is beyond the reach of God we had better wake up and be like Nehemiah. We had better come before God in weeping and mourning over our sin.

Hebrews 12:7–8 ESV

7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

Notice that James reminds us that God treats us as His children. God disciplines those whom He loves. If you are not being disciplined he says that you are illegitimate children and are not truly His.

So, I become more concerned when God does not discipline me in my life.

Nehemiah 1:8–11 ESV

8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, 9 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.’ 10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 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, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cupbearer to the king.

3. Prayer should Remind us that God Stands by His Own

Nehemiah knows God’s word’s and promises well enough to make a strong plea to the Lord.

*When Things get hard we forget that God has our Back.

When it comes to fighting for you, other humans will fall short against the Almighty power of God. If you rely on Him you will always win. During difficult times it is a natural response to turn to family and friends for support and encouragement.

Even though these relationships are important. God should always be the first person that you should turn to and count on to be there no matter what is going on around you.

Jeremiah 32:17 ESV

17 ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

*The Lord knows those who are His own.

2 Timothy 2:19 ESV

19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”

Nehemiah goes straight to the word of God.

“you remember the word that you commanded Moses, ‘if you are unfaithful, I will scatter my people.” Which is exactly what has happened during the exile. “But if you return to me and keep my commandments, though you have been an outcast from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name great and dwell there.”

Nehemiah is referencing the city of the Lord Jerusalem. Which will also be the place that Jesus will return with his people that we just read about in Revelation.

He also, brings to memory that they are God’s chosen people, whom he has redeemed by his great power and strong hand.

The Israelites knew insecurity. Each year, they traveled from their homes to faraway Jerusalem many of them on foot, for one of the three major feasts. Jesus himself made the treacherous trip from his home town in Nazareth many times. This would have been more than 90 mile walk one way. God had told them to come to where his presence was - but the road was dangerous and uncertain.

We are going to learn as we go through this study that this is the same call that Nehemiah and Ezra heard from God.

Along the road many people faced threats above and below, most of which they could not see coming. They were fully exposed to scorching heat and volatile weather. Robbers hid along the roadside in caves and hills, knowing exactly when their victims would pass their way. People knew that they had to go but did not know if they would make it back or not.

Our road to heaven and the New Jerusalem is much longer than the dozens of miles they walked, and no less treacherous. We carry God’s promises with us, but life still often feels desperate and uncertain. Temptation hides and strikes. Trials ambush us at every turn. Sin lingers and disaster and crisis come unannounced. We feel our need for keeping.

When God’s people felt the impending danger of the road to Jerusalem they did not cover their mouths in fear but cried out to God in a joyous anthem.

Psalm 121 was a song for the rough road like these.

Psalm 121 ESV

A Song of Ascents. 1 I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. 3 He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 4 Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. 5 The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. 6 The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 7 The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 8 The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

The message over and over again in these 8 verses was that the Lord can and will keep them.

The world that is described in these verses is very different from the world we live in today, the world in which Satan prowls and sin tempts and death lurks. We still feel our need to be kept by God.

If the hills around you suddenly look terrifying, remember who made the hills. Your God built each hill to this precise height, down to the tiniest fraction of an inch. He carved and shaped every curve and cliff, planting each bush and flower and putting each rock in its place. He counted and scattered the very blades of grass. Your God knows this hill, watches this hill, governs this hill and every hill. And yet how quickly we are tempted to fear the hills.

CLOSING

The Lord can keep you because there is nothing this God cannot do.

There is no crisis or circumstance that is too big for our God. Nothing overwhelms our God or catches him unaware. He made all things. He sustains all things, and He keeps all things. Including every tiny seemingly insignificant part of our lives. No hill is too high or night too dark for our Lord.

When what you can see, the things that keep you awake at night, and tie your stomach in knots screams out in anxiety. He is more than able to keep you from falling off of the cliff.

Jude 24 ESV

24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy,

For Nehemiah when all seems lost he trusts in the never-failing arms of our God and king.

When the religious leaders threaten the apostles and warned them not to preach the gospel, they prayed a similar prayer: “Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them...” (Acts 4:24).

Where did the early church find their strength and courage to continue to spread the gospel? They began by remembering just how powerful their God was - the power they could see everywhere they looked. Look around, and know that the Lord can keep you.

Remember at the beginning of the Exile when Daniel and his friends were tested in the kings court, they prevailed because they remembered the word of God and knew that He had their back. Even in the face of the fiery furnace they trusted in the promises of God to the very end.

Eventually Daniel who rose to position in King Darius’s court in Babylon. The other officials in the kings court conspired against Daniel by playing on the kings ego by having him institute a law that could not be broken. The law was that all of the kingdom could only worship and pray to him and no other guards. If anyone broke this law they were to be throne to the starving and hungry lions den.

Daniel understood the law but had decided in his heart that he would trust in God’s faithfulness and remain steadfast in prayer to the Lord. The story ends with Daniel surviving a night in the den with the Lions.

Remember the Children’s Song: “My God is so big, so strong, and o mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do, for you.

Big Idea: When the Hills around you Look Terrifying, Remember who made the Hills

When we pray like Nehemiah we regularly feel our need for keeping.

If you feel your need for keeping - if you feel your weakness, and wonder how you will make it home - then take heart. Jesus prayed, and continued to pray, for your keeping.

“The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this day forward and forevermore (Psalm 121:8)