Intro:

We are coming up on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks… Back then, at my young age of 12, I didn’t really understand what was going on. All I knew was that every channel on the tv that morning was showing the same thing... and it wasn’t my regular morning cartoons.

As I got older and was able to better understand what had happened that day, it became apparent to me that, it didn’t matter if you were a 12 year old kid or a 75 year old adult… nobody really knew what was going on… Nobody really knew the extent of it… and that was a morning that most people woke up to a nation that was in the state of chaos.

But in the midst of the chaos, people began responding… Fully armed F-15s were scrambled over the capital for the first time ever.... The military was put on high alert… Many federal buildings were in a state of lock down and sweeping for bombs.

And then within a day, others were responding in different ways… On the one hand some churches were calling impromptu prayer meetings… while on the other hand (and I remember seeing these videos on the news), there were many people in the middle east that were celebrating the attacks and calling for the death of America.

The point is, The events of 9/11 demanded a response from everyone. The sheer audacity and violence of the attacks made it inevitable. However, people reacted in various ways: some with courage, some with fear, and others with humility and repentance.

All events in life are that way. Especially tragic events. They don’t have to be on the scale of 9/11, but every event we experience in life prompts a response.

- Sometimes we respond the right way.

- Sometimes we respond the wrong way.

- Sometimes we respond by lashing out in anger.

- Sometimes we respond by crying out in pain.

- Sometimes we respond by turning to God.

As godly leaders (remember, we are all leading someone and our leadership should point them to Jesus Christ)… and so, as godly leaders, when the realities of life hit us like a ton of bricks, before we jump up to do something in response… we need to respond like Nehemiah did… … with Prayer…

And that is exactly what we are going to be looking at this morning…

A Leader’s Prayer

(Read Nehemiah 1)

Meat:

A bit of a recap from last week and the first 4 verses of this chapter…

Nehemiah is living and working in the winter Palace of the Persian King. He has just recieved news of the conditions of the people that left Babylon and went back to Jerusalem, which turns out they weren’t doing so well… … and he also found out that the city walls have yet to be built.

The news was devastating to him. So he responded. His response was immediate. It was decisive. It was bold. So what did he do? Did he start working on a rebuilding plan? Did he start recruiting a team to help him fix the problem? Did he start gathering materials and money? No—he didn’t actually DO anything. Instead, verse 4 says, he sat down and wept and mourned for days. And then he did something that was the best response he could have possibly had. He fasted. And he prayed.

During the introductory message of this book I gave you a side by side comparison of a worldly leader and a godly leader… And I have to say that the difference between a worldly leader and godly leader is clearly seen in how they respond to a seemingly impossible situation.

A worldly leader - Turns to worldly wisdom and strategies and relies on secular power…

Whereas a godly leader - Turns to prayer and God’s Word and Relies on the wisdom and power of God.

It has been well said that “The greatest work of a Christian Leader is the work of prayer”.... It has also been said that “A person will never be a godly leader if he or she is not a man or woman of great prayer”

As we study these 13 chapters of Nehemiah, we are going to see him seeking the Lord through prayer about a dozen times… because that is his first response when faced with seemingly impossible challenges…

That is what we will look at first, before we get into his prayer....

1. Nehemiah’s Challenges

It is important to remember that when God calls you into a position of spiritual leadership (which anyone who has placed their faith in Christ, is automatically called into a position of spiritual leadership... if you don’t believe me, then look up the great commission and tell me who that is for)… …

When God calls you into a position of spiritual leadership you are probably going to face at least one situation that, from a human perspective, seems to be impossible.

God does this for a number of reasons, but two of the main reasons would be:

To test your faith and dependence on Him - Because, Spiritual leadership often involves guiding others through challenges that require deep faith. God may present seemingly impossible situations to stretch our faith as a leader, teaching us and those we are leading to rely on His divine strength rather than human ability.

2. and God may allow you to go through such situations to help with your Spiritual Growth and Transformation - Leading through difficult and impossible circumstances often produces growth. These challenges can shape our character as leader’s, deepening our wisdom, humility, and resilience, which are essential for guiding others on their spiritual walk.

As we talked about last week, Nehemiah was burdened for his Nation, for his City and for his God… he had an overwhelming desire to see the Walls rebuilt in order to provide protection of God’s people and Temple.

With that burden came several challenges… and I will just mention a few of them today…

First of all…

1.1 He Was Not a Known Leader

If I say the names;

George W. Bush

Barrack Obama

Donald Trump

Joe Biden

Vladimir Putin

Adolph Hitler

Most everyone in this room knows who I am talking about… …

What if I say the name - Trey Cioccia (Choke - ah)??? ??? He is a small restaurant owner and chef out of Nashville Tennessee (I just chose a random restaurant from Nashville and found the name of their chef).

People knew Zerubbabel, they knew Ezra, as these were the men who led the captives back to the land of promise… … but Nehemiah…??? who’s he??!! … and what makes him think that he can get the walls built when nobody else has for the last 100 years?

He wasn’t a known leader and it would be difficult for him to rally the people, gain influence and authority and it would be very difficult to establish any sort of credibility.

As an unknown leader, Nehemiah had to prove himself to the people of Jerusalem, convincing them to follow his vision and trust his ability to lead the massive rebuilding effort.

He was also challenged with the fact that…

1.2 He Was Unqualified

He was not a builder, even though this was a major building project. He had no idea of the amount of resources that he would need to complete the job.

There are some who can look at the measurements of a building and know exactly how much concrete, how much lumber, how many square of shingles… and a very close estimation of how long it will take and what it will cost… Those people are professionals… Nehemiah was not like that… He has no idea…

He was not a soldier, even though rebuilding the walls would involve dealing with threats from other nations who did not want to see Israel succeed.

And, he was not an expert in the Law of Moses, yet he needed to lead by example in order to honor God with his efforts.

We could add many other challenges to this list, but one of the biggest ones that I believe Nehemiah faced, was the fact that…

1.3 He Needed Approval

He was the cupbearer to the King of Persia… He made sure that the King’s food was up to his standards, he made sure that it wasn’t poisoned and on top of being the cupbearer there are some who suggest the Nehemiah was one of the King’s main advisors… That’s usually not a position that you are able to take an extended leave from.

But here’s the real kicker… Nehemiah’s boss(as we will see in chapter 2) was King Artaxerxes… and Ezra records a decree that was made by King Artaxerxes…

Go back a few pages in your Bible to Ezra chapter 4… (Read vv.17-24)

The Israelites started to rebuild the walls, but King Artaxerxes shut the project down because he didn’t want the nation to regain its strength and stature in the land… so he made a decree…

If you remember from our study through Daniel, when the crooked men came to Darius to have him make the decree that led to Daniel being thrown into the Lion’s Den, this was their request…

Daniel 6:8 NASB95

8 “Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.”

Once a decree was made, it could not be revoked… … unless it is written with a clause that would allow it to be… hmmm… I wonder if these Medo-Persian Kings learned a lesson after Darius was unable to keep Daniel from being thrown into the Lion’s Den…???

Because what does Artaxerxes say in v.21 of Ezra 4???

Ezra 4:21 NASB95

21 “So, now issue a decree to make these men stop work, that this city may not be rebuilt until a decree is issued by me.

Left a little clause in there, that gives Artaxerxes the opportunity to revoke this decree if he so chooses.

But given the reasons that he made the decree, it would stand to reason that getting him to revoke it would be a bit difficult.

Nehemiah is aware of all of these challenges and the long list of other challenges that he will have to face before he can even move forward with the task that he has been burdened with… and his first response... is to pray…

This is what we will look at with the rest of our time today…

2. Nehemiah’s A.C.T.S of Prayer

If you’ve been coming to our evening services, you’ll recognize this acronym. I have also mentioned it a few times as we were making our way through Daniel.

The word Acts (A C T S) is an acronym that we can use as a model for our prayers… and as we will see, it is also the format that Nehemiah had used.

The “A” Stands for…

2.1 Adoration

Look at how Nehemiah starts his Prayer in v.5…

Nehemiah 1:5 “And I said: “I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments,”

When looking at the challenges that he faced, Nehemiah realized that the task at hand was pretty much impossible for any human being to make happen. So he turns to the One who makes the seemingly impossible, possible… and he does so, by acknowledging Who he is talking to.

Nehemiah shows his love and respect… his adoration for God by acknowledging His divine attributes and characteristics… … Instead of focusing on the problem, he focused on the God who holds the problem in His hands.

Nehemiah address’s Him as LORD (Yahweh), the Eternal God and supplier of all our needs. He didn’t know what or how many resources he was going to need, but he trusted that God would take care of them all.

Nehemiah calls Him “The God of Heaven”, which acknowledges God’s sovereignty over all creation, including worldly kings… one in-particular, Artaxerxes.

He says that God is “Great and Awesome”. Some versions may say “Great and Terrible”… which confuses some folks, because when we think of a terrible person, we have a tendency of seeing them as evil.... Obviously that is not the case with God. He is “terrible” (better translated as Awesome) means that God is frightening—even terrifying… It is the same sense in which the writer of Hebrews says in:

Hebrews 10:31 “31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

But at the same time Nehemiah recognizes God’s terrifying awesomeness, he recognizes God’s faithfulness and His mercy. He recognizes that God makes promises and keeps them. He recognizes that God is merciful and He shows mercy on people who don’t deserve it.

Nehemiah is Adoring God.

**Side note - Our worship of God is at its best when we focus on His attributes. The more we center our hearts and minds on Him, the less opportunity Satan will have to gain a foothold, as he tries to distract us by using different fears and anxieties.

… Gotta keep moving…

The “C” is for…

2.2 Confession

Just as Daniel, when he was praying, confessed his sins and the sins of the nation of Israel, Nehemiah does the same thing…

Nehemiah 1:6–7 “please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned.

7 We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.”

I cannot stress this enough… this is a very important part to any prayer… Notice what Nehemiah says before he gets into his confession of sin…

“please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now...”

I know that clock doesn’t stop going around, but don’t tune me out yet, because I don’t want you to miss this…

If you want to have an effective prayer life, it has to include repentant confession of sin… This is an admission of wrongdoing with a sincere heart, feeling genuine remorse for those actions, and turning away from the sin. It's a deep recognition of having strayed from God's will, accompanied by a commitment to change and seek His forgiveness.

Nehemiah knew that this is the attitude that he had to have regarding his own sin if God was going to be attentive to his prayer…

Psalm 66:18 says this about prayer “If I regard iniquity (un-confessed sin) in my heart, The Lord will not hear.”

From confession he moves on to…

2.3 Thanksgiving

Nehemiah express his thankfulness for the many promises that God made to Israel…

Nehemiah 1:8–10 “8 Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations;

9 but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’

10 Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.”

We don’t have time to turn there this morning, but the very promises that Nehemiah is referring to are found in Deuteronomy 28 … I encourage you to look those up later when you have some time…

So often (probably at least 90% of the time), we thank God for blessings and answers to prayer that we have already received...

Nehemiah is thanking God for promises He made that had yet to be fulfilled…

Nehemiah understood that God had provided the Jews with the opportunity to return to their land and fully return to Him. However, they were not fully embracing this chance, and the promise remained incomplete. Yet, Nehemiah had unwavering faith that God’s promise would be fulfilled. So, he prayed God’s promises back to Him and expressed his gratitude for them.

We should be doing the same thing… even when its hard to be thankful…

When you feel that nothing good can come from your current situation - Lord you have promised to work all things together for good to them that love you and are called according to your purpose.

When you feel like you are all alone - Lord, you have promised that you will never leave me nor forsake me.

When you feel unforgivable - Lord, you promised that you are faithful and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me from unrighteousness.

When you feel overwhelming temptation - Lord, you promised that you will never test me beyond what I can bear and you will always provide a way of escape.

The Bible is full of God’s promises. Some are for the Nation of Israel and others are for us as believers… We need to remember and thank God for His promises. Just like Nehemiah did… before God even answered his prayer, Nehemiah was already thanking Him...

And finally today… The “S” stands for…

2.4 Supplication

This is usually where we start our prayers… we don’t acknowledge who we are praying to, we don’t make sure our hearts are in the right place by confessing our sins, we don’t thank God for the promises He’s given… we just start right in with what we think we need or want at that given moment.

One Pastor makes this statement and I believe he is 100% correct…

“God delights in prayer that seeks His Heart not His Handouts” (Repeat)

Nehemiah was definitely not seeking a handout…

Nehemiah 1:11 “11 O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.”

Not one time up until now did Nehemiah ask God for anything. Here this man was fasting and praying and losing sleep. He was in anguished prayer before the Lord. And he didn’t ask for anything until he got to the last sentence of his prayer.

Here’s what I want you to notice before we pack this up…

When Nehemiah made his request known to God, he didn’t just ask God to do something about the problems in Jerusalem…

Nehemiah asked God to use him personally to be a part of the solution.

Godly leaders don't just ask God to solve the problems they see; they seek to be used by Him as part of the solution, stepping forward with faith and a willingness to act.

Closing:

As we close, let me ask you this…

What is your first response when you receive distressing news?

- When you get news of layoffs or tax increases or pension cuts?

- When you get news of family members in trouble, in pain or has passed away?

- When you get news of bad medical reports or sickness or disease?

What is your first response?… Do you pray in accordance to God’s heart, or are you looking for a quick handout?

May we all start respond the right way.

With Adoration

With Confession of Sin

With Thanksgiving

And then and only then—respond by lifting your requests to Him, through Supplication…

Prayer:

Adoration - You are gracious and merciful

Confession - Forgive us for not praying properly, as we have a tendency to go straight to the supplication and forget about the rest.

Thanksgiving - Thank you for the promise of forgiveness…

Supplication - and may we become faithful, effective, praying, godly leaders as we follow where you lead.