A Return to Prayer

Intro

Last week we began a series on Revival, and by revival I am referring to a sovereign act of God that brings about spiritual renewal and awakening first among the Church that then spreads to those who do not yet know Jesus as their Lord and savior.

And if you remember, I said that revival is not something that we can schedule, plan for, or conger. It is an act of God.

However, I also said that when we look at God’s word we can see these moments of great revival that broke out and some of the preceding events that led to them.

It is my belief that while we can’t create revival, we can implement certain principles that set the stage for God to move in profound ways.

Last week we looked at what can happen when God’s people get back to the Word. When we have a passion to read and study and apply the truth contained in scripture, God often brings about revival.

Today I want to look at another principle that we see in scripture that often precedes revival.

Many of you have heard of Jonathan Edwards. He is one of the most important American preachers and theologians to have ever lived.

Jonathan wrote numerous sermons, books, and pamphlets that many attribute to having started what we have coined today as the Great Awakening.

The Great Awakening was the first of a series of revivals that took place during the 18th and 19th centuries that began around 40 years prior to the American Revolution.

At a time when secularism was being emphasized and passion for religion had diminished greatly, Jonathan Edwards helped lead the call for revival in the American British Colonies.

Interestingly enough it was this revival that unified the colonies who at this point were quite disjointed.

Many attribute the Great Awakening to having had a significant influence on the American ideals of democracy that led to the Revolutionary War itself.

And it was during this great revival or Great Awakening that Johnathan Edwards had wrote these words to pastors directly:

“Be much in prayer and fasting, both in secret and with one another. It seems to me, it would become the circumstances of the present day, if ministers in a neighborhood would often meet together, and spend days in fasting and fervent prayer among themselves. … So it is God’s will that the prayers of His saints shall be great and the principal means of carrying on the designs of Christ’s Kingdom in the world. When God has something to accomplish for His church, it is with His will that there should precede it the extraordinary prayer of His people.”

You see, many attribute the catalyst for the Great Awakening to a sermon that Johnathan preached to his Massachusetts congregation titled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”.

But even if that were so, according to Edwards it was actually the prayer that preceded that sermon that made it effective.

Prayer was the precursor for the Great Awakening as well as the 2nd and 3rd Great Awakenings throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

And as we are going to see in our text this morning, it was prayer yet again that made a way for God to bring revival to his people.

Power in the Text

If you are following along in your Bible this morning we are going to be reading out of the Book or Nehemiah.

Now to set the stage for what is happening at this point in scripture you need to know what is going on with Israel.

Last week we read about King Josiah, he was the King of Israel, or more specifically the southern kingdom of Judah.

And while great revival happened under his leadership, it did not last.

In fact just one generation later, Babylon besieged Jerusalem and Josiah’s son, Zedekiah became Judah’s last King.

Eventually he was killed, the the city, including its outer wall and the temple built by King Solomon had been destroyed and the people of Judah were exiled from Jerusalem and taken captive as prisoners to Babylon.

This of course was all prophesied by Jeremiah about 20 years earlier. He also predicted that the captivity would last for 70 years.

And that is exactly how it happened. After 70 years of captivity by the Babylonians, Persia overthrew Babylon and took over its territory, including Jerusalem.

It was the King of Persia who would give permission for the Jews to return to their homeland, and they did so in 3 waves.

Nehemiah takes place during the 3rd wave or returnees. We also know that Nehemiah was the cup-bearer for the King of Persia at the time.

Nehemiah 1:1-3 NLT In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. 2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.

3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”

So we see here Nehemiah is inquiring about the Jewish people and how their return to their homeland was going.

Two waves of people had already returned. The last one, about twenty years earlier under the leadership of Ezra.

And what Nehemiah learns here is very troubling to him. It is troubling to him that his people had been there for decades now and yet the city was still in shambles from the Babylonian exile. Specifically it was the wall around the city that had him most troubled.

Now understand, this wall was important because even though they had been permitted to return to Jerusalem, many of their neighboring nations did not approved or like that the King of Persia had given them permission to do so.

With that said, they petitioned the King of Persia to issue a decree that prevented them from rebuilding their walls out of fear that they might grow strong again and rebel.

Well, even though they could return, they had no way of protecting themselves. The broken walls were also symbolic of something greater.

The rubble and shambles that remained were really indicative of their spiritual states. Here you had the chosen people of God without a temple, without the great city walls, and without an effective leader to show them how to live as God’s people once more.

Well, this moved Nehemiah to prayer.

Nehemiah 1:4-11 NLT 4 When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said,

“O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! 7 We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.

8 “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. 9 But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’

10 “The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. 11 O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”

This was the first of many prayers that we read Nehemiah making on behalf of his people.

Here we see him recognizing God’s authority and his justification for exiling the Jews in the first place.

We also see however, Nehemiah clinging to God’s promise that if his people would return to him and obey his commands he will bring them back and honor them as his people once more.

We read later that Nehemiah was serving the King of Persia his wine and the King could tell he was sad. Mind you it was a crime to appear sad before the King at this time. Never-the-less, the King asks him what is wrong and we read again that he prayed and then told the king why he was upset.

He goes as far as to ask for permission to go to Jerusalem, take supplies with him, letters from the king signifying his support, and rebuild the city wall.

The King agrees and Nehemiah is sent on his way.

Now we read this and we think alright, happy ending, everything worked out. Not so fast.

We read that Nehemiah, even with the King’s letters runs into opposition.

We read that Nehemiah finally arrives, inspects the wall, and convinces those living in the city to re-build the walls.

Again with opposition. So much so that the builders had to build with one hand and keep a sword in the other because they were being attacked as others attempted to stop them.

Yet in spite of all of it the wall was rebuilt in only 52 days.

We see in the book of Nehemiah that prayer was prominent. In fact Nehemiah is recorded over 5 times praying specifically that God would remember his promises.

Big Idea/Why it Matters

It was about much more than a wall. Yes the wall was rebuilt, but we also see the reinstitution of worship, a great national move of repentance and confession of sin, and an agreement among all the people to keep God’s laws.

This was more than a wall they were dedicating. It was a celebration of the revived and purified community, bound to God’s Word, and fully outfitted with the spiritual leadership necessary for such a community.

Everything was now present that was necessary for the Jews to live in God’s blessing.

The repeated prayers of Nehemiah and the community were the first step in this transformation. And it will be the first step in our own if we have any hopes of seeing one.

Jim Cymbala’s ministry at the Brooklyn Tabernacle is widely known for its music and global outreach.

Before the growth of the ministry, though, Cymbala and his wife faced huge challenges. Finally, at a moment of despair, God spoke to him in prayer, promising phenomenal growth in ministry if he would simply begin by leading his congregation in prayer.

“He was telling me that my hunger for him and his transforming power would be satisfied as I led my tiny congregation to call out to him in prayer”

The Brooklyn Tabernacle ultimately became one of the largest and most influential churches of the last thirty years.

But prayer is no guarantee of such success. Nehemiah himself faced numerous challenges rebuilding the walls. Rather than ensuring worldly success, prayer entrusts the work and its outcome to God

Application/Closing

That is the heart of it. Prayer is often the catalyst for revival, but it doesn’t guarantee success the way we understand success.

Prayer is our way of handing the results, whatever they may be over to God and trusting him with the outcome.

As a Church we can plan the most amazing outreach. We can put money into a building and make it nicer and more attractive. We can offer all kinds of ministry programs.

And while all of those things are good. They will never garner the results we want without prayer.

You may see quick results that fizzle out just as quick without prayer.

If a Church only has the resources, people, and time to do one thing, let it be prayer because that will the difference maker.

That isn’t as popular, fun, or fast acting as other things appear to be, but it is the most effective for long term change.

If you aren’t regularly praying for this Church, I ask you to start. Make it a daily priority.

Because the level of attention you give to praying for this Church is indicative of how much this church really means to you.