Nehemiah and Prayer that Works
E.M. Bounds once wrote, “What the church needs today is not more machinery or better, now new organizations or more and novel methods, but men [and women] whom the Holy Spirit can use—men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Spirit does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men—men of prayer.”
Since those words were penned a century ago “machinery, methods, and organizations” have only multiplied exponentially. Still, God’s “method” remains the same: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts” (Zech 4:6). God’s ways outstrip man’s ways, and if God’s church is going to lay hold of God’s power, it must approach him with humble prayer and Spirit-filled work.
In truth, both prayer and work are needed for fruit to be born in your life and in the church. And nowhere in Scripture is this more evident than in Book of Nehemiah. In chapters 1-2, Nehemiah’s prayer life shines through as he leads the workers to rebuild the city walls around Jerusalem, and each reference to prayer teaches us something about how God works in our lives.
Nehemiah 1:4 recounts Nehemiah’s brokenness at the devastation of Zion. Jerusalem was not simply his home, the place where his father’s were buried (2:3); it was the footstool of God, the place where God sealed his name and dwelt with his people. So, when Nehemiah was told of its ruination, he was grieved beyond words. So too, we should be broken by the sin and spiritual poverty in and around us. Like Nehemiah before he heard of Jerusalem’s condition, we often stand unmoved by indwelling and encroaching sin. Instead we should pray for spiritual sensitivity.
Nehemiah’s grief did not lead to apathy. Rather it challenged him to return to the covenant promises of God (1:6, 11). He prayed to God for YHWH’s powerful assistance, and he did so by recalling God’s promise to restore his people when they fell into sin and called on him in repentance (cf Deut 30:1-4; 1 Ki 8:46ff). Through Nehemiah, God teaches us that God honors penitent prayers that trust his Word.
Then Nehemiah waited. For four months he anticipated God to answer his prayers and when the moment arrived, he acted but not without prayer. He prayed because recognized that the liberty to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city’s walls had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with God. So as King Artaxerxes asked Nehemiah what was the matter and what he was requesting (2:2, 4), Nehemiah prayed to his covenant keeping God, and YHWH heard and granted him favor (2:8).
Finally, Nehemiah’s prayers sustained him as he began the project of rebuilding the walls. Experiencing satanic opposition, Nehemiah prayed to God to protect God’s rebuilding project and to confirm the work of their hands. Simultaneously, Nehemiah “set a guard as a protection against [the enemies] day and night” (4:9). So, he teaches us that prayer and work are not opposites but the greatest partners.
Applying these lessons to our own church, we pray that God will make us a more needy people, a people who pray not because we should, but because we can do nothing but express our heart-felt need to God. May all our endeavors begin with confident prayer for God’s will to be done, continue with pleas for wisdom and power, and conclude with thanksgiving as God manifests his grace among us.
Wonderfully, God longs to answer prayer for his glory (John 14:13) and for our joy (16:24). He tells us we can do nothing apart from him, but in him, he grants all our prayers (John 15:7). Prayer is not peripheral; it is essential. Until we become a people of true prayer, our fruits will enjoy limited success and misguided origins.
May we ask God to grip our hearts with a need for him and to grant us grace and please for mercy. And may I be the first to feel that call.
For the Increase of Your Joy in His Glory,
Pastor David
