Prayer in Action, Day 34 Names. Read through Nehemiah 10:1-29. As we read these verses, we see a long list of names. These are the names of the men who were making a decision to commit themselves to the Lord. When I used to read the Bible, I would get frustrated by long list of names. They are typically names that are difficult or unusual to me, and I struggle to know how to pronounce the names. However, names have taken on a different meaning for me now. Names have tremendous importance to God. We seal our decisions by signing our name. That’s how we identify ourselves and that’s how…

Prayer in Action, Day 33 God is faithful. As we continue to read through the history of the people we see God’s faithfulness. Read Nehemiah 9:26-38. No matter how hard the people tried, they continued to fail God. They fell short of everything God asked of them, each and every time. Still, God was faithful to them. God made a commitment and a covenant that he would not break, even when the other people broke their side. God will always be faithful to himself and to his promises. We can always count and trust on him in every area of our life. No matter how we fail and how short…

Prayer in Action, Day 32 God’s compassion. Read Nehemiah 9:13-25. As the people are recounting all that God has done throughout their history, we see all the times that the children of Israel have failed God. We see all the missteps and misdeeds. And yet, we see all the ways in which God is faithful. God had great compassion on them and he moved in such a way that they are able to see his grace and mercy. Even when we don’t see it, God is moving with grace and mercy in our lives. God allows situations and circumstances to be part of us in order to shape us and…

Prayer in Action, Day 31 God’s covenant with his people. Read Nehemiah 9:1-12. The people of Israel have experienced the mighty working of God. Also, they have spent time in worship and repentance to him. These next verses explain what the people decide to commit back to God. They start by going through the entire history of God’s faithfulness to them. They explain that through all of the different things that God has done, he has done them because he has been keeping his covenant promise to them. The people may not have kept their promises to him, and that is why they are repenting, but God has never been…

Prayer in Action, Day 30 Joy. The people had great joy in worshipping God. Read Nehemiah 8:13-18. Now that the people had worshipped by reading and studying the word. And they had spent time in repentance, the people now have great joy. How do we experience joy? The people realized that they experience joy through the worship and repentance with God. When we are in a right relationship with God, we experience the true joy that God desires for all of us. Are we worshipping God? Are we spending time in confession and repentance? Only through these will we understand and experience true joy.

Prayer in Action, Day 29 The importance of teaching. Read Nehemiah 8:7-12. As we continue through this chapter, we see the people being taught the scriptures. The leaders and the Levites were taking this opportunity to remind the people of the law of the Lord and to teach and explain those teachings to the people. As teachers, we have a profound responsibility to share God’s word, and to do it in a way that other people understand and makes sense. True teachers who have been gifted by God have this ability. They can take the most complex scripture and the most difficult reading and they can not only understand it…

Prayer in Action, Day 28 Worship and repentance. Read Nehemiah 8:1-6. The wall is built, the sins are addressed, and now the opportunity has come to study the Word of God. The people stay and listen and seek to learn through the reading of God’s Word. Do we study God’s Word? Do we seek to make it our own and apply it to our life? The people were spending time in worship and repentance. How do we spend our time?

Prayer in Action, Day 27 Lineage. Read Nehemiah 7:4-73. As we finish out this chapter, this ends with a long list of names and numbers. It can be interesting to figure out why these might be important and what they mean. What we have found is that many people had not moved back exactly where they were supposed to based on their inheritance. He’s also trying to find those people who should be helping in the temple. Lineage is important. In this day and time it established relationship. For us, we need to understand the lineage that we have in Jesus Christ. Who shared with us the message of Jesus…

Prayer in Action, Day 26 A man of integrity. As Nehemiah is continuing to move forward, we see him choose leaders, men with integrity. Read Nehemiah 7:1-3. Who do we choose to be leaders? Do we automatically put ourselves in leadership positions thinking we are the best? I find it interesting that Nehemiah didn’t choose himself for a position of leadership. He chose another person and that person was someone that he deemed as having integrity. Do we have integrity? Do we understand what it takes to lead and do we recognize those qualities and other people around us? We must be willing to recognize that we may not always…

Prayer in Action, Day 25 The work was finished, but the intimidation continued. Read Nehemiah 6:16-19. Sometimes we think that just because we have finished the work that God has us to do, the problems will end. Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case. Satan loves nothing more than to discredit someone who has been successfully used by God in the past. Even our past successes can continue to make us targets for the evil one. Nehemiah was no different. He had been successful, but the attacks and the intimidation continued. We must continually remain on our guard. We must continue to look to God in every situation and to be faithful…