Kristi Burchfiel

Prayer in Action, Day 19 Make it right. As the people were confronted with their sin and challenged to make it right, now they have to make a decision, how will they respond. Read Nehemiah 5:12-13. The people have been confronted by the reality of their sin. And they chose to accept that they were wrong and that they must change. Repentance is about seeing our sin the way God sees our sin and choosing to renounce it and never do it again. We want to see if we can make it right. The people did the same thing here. They promised Nehemiah that they would do what they could…

Prayer in Action, Day 18 Accusations. As Nehemiah has learned about an evil going on, he confronts it. Read Nehemiah 5:7-11. Nehemiah heard about the injustices that were happening, but he didn’t stop there. He went and addressed the people that had been doing wrong. He confronted them with their sin. The Bible indicates that they had nothing to say about it because there was nothing they could say about it. They were in the wrong, and they knew it. God’s word and God’s truth are constantly confronting all of us about our sin. We have to be able to accept that when we are doing wrong, God’s word will…

Prayer in Action, Day 17 Righteous anger. Nehemiah has been busy building the wall. Now, another problem has surfaced. Read Nehemiah 5:1-6. As the people have been coming to trust Nehemiah, now they are telling him about another issue that he was unaware of. The people have been unfair to each other. Those in power have been lording it over those who didn’t have power. Nehemiah is outraged with what he learns in this situation. Anger is not a sin. In fact, God himself becomes angry about sin. We can recognize that God’s anger about sinful situations is also a reminder that these tyoes of situations should make us angry…

Prayer in Action, Day 16 Acting for each other. As we’ve seen Nehemiah passing and acting, today we see that the actions are also often for each other. Read Nehemiah 4:19-23. The people were still in danger and as a result they were needing to protect themselves, but they were very spread out. So they had to be able to signal each other and let them know they were in trouble. For us, do we call for help when we need it? Do we come to the aid of others when they need it? We must continue to pray, act, and act for others as well.

Prayer in Action, Day 15 Back to action. Read Nehemiah 4:10-18. Nehemiah has been praying and God has heard his prayer, and now it’s time for action again. The threats continue and the enemies are surrounding them. So God shares with Nehemiah a plan to keep the work moving and the people safe. Again the people were focused on getting the work done, but they didn’t neglect the precautions that they needed to take for themselves and their families. They armed themselves and and did the work that needed to get done. They were ready for an attack at any moment. As we go through our day, do we recognize…

Prayer in Action, Day 14 Pray and act. Again, Nehemiah combines the prayer needed with the action required. Read Nehemiah 4:6-9. The work continued, but so did the threats. As the people made progress and God blessed the work they were doing, those who were in opposition to them became more aggressive. They upped the ante. The opposition increased and turned into not just ridicule, but actual threats of action. Nehemiah did what he had to do to protect the people and the work that God was doing. He prayed to God. And he posted a guard. It’s important to make sure that we are asking God for help and…

Prayer in Action, Day 13 Back to prayer. We have seen Nehemiah in action for the last little bit and now he is back to prayer. Read Nehemiah 4:1-5. So much work was done in chapter 3. We saw gates hung and walls rebuilt and the people coming together to truly accomplish all of God’s purposes and plans. However, that’s usually when the enemy starts to strike hardest. As we see coming forward, now the people are being ridiculed. How do we respond when we are being ridiculed by others? We pray. It is not our job to defend God’s plan and purpose in our lives. That’s God’s job. We…

Prayer in Action, Day 12 Are we agile? As we continue reading through the list of those who built the wall, we see some other characteristics. Read Nehemiah 3:22-32. As we continue through the list of people who built on the wall, we continue moving around the city of Jerusalem. We see so many different types of people working on building this wall. Interestingly, we realize that for many of them, building a wall was not their primary profession. In this last verse, verse 32, we see goldsmiths and other fine metal artisans involved in a simple construction project of building a wall. The question that came to me, are…

Prayer in Action, Day 11 Everyone plays a role. As Nehemiah’s plan moves forward, everyone participated, even if it was just a small part. They were all mentioned and listed. Read Nehemiah 3:13-21. We all have a part to play. As you read through through this chapter and the list of names and places that were rebuilt because of Nehemiah’s boldness and follow through on God’s plan, we quickly realize that some sections are larger than others. Some people did more than others. Some people didn’t do as much. Yet, all were listed here. It’s important to understand that our obedience to God is enough. The quantity of the impact…

Prayer in Action, Day 10 Do the work. The people heard the vision that Nehemiah had and they accepted it and got busy. Read Nehemiah 3:1-12. Everyone had a role to play. They people were focused on doing there work that God had set before them. Even the daughters of one family got involved were building the wall. It doesn’t matter who we are or what we are doing, God has a place for us and work for us to be doing. Are we getting done the work that God has for us?