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Christian Devotional – September 11, 2022
Prayer in Action, Day 24 Mission complete. Read Nehemiah 6:15. Nehemiah has been praying for this since he first learned of the issues in Jerusalem. Now, the mission is complete. The project that he has been working on with his people has been completed. The wall has been built. Do we recognize God when we experience completion of goals? Do we praise God and thank him for the action that he’s taken during these times when we needed him to move? Nehemiah expected God to move and he expected God to fulfill his promises. God did both. No matter what we are going through, God will take care of everything…
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Christian Devotional – September 9, 2022
Prayer in Action, Day 23 Sneak attack. Since the other attacks were unsuccessful, the enemy decided to try a sneak attack. Read Nehemiah 6:10-14. With all the distractions and attacks Nehemiah had been facing, it’s no wonder that the enemy decided to throw in a sneak attack. What started out as seemingly understandable advice quickly unraveled to show it as the malicious plan that it was. We must always be on our guard against sneak attacks. Stay focused on Christ and everything else will work out.
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Christian Devotional – September 8, 2022
Prayer in Action, Day 22 React in prayer. As we see the continued challenges that Nehemiah faced, we realize that he made a conscious decision to react to these challenges in prayer. Read Nehemiah 6:5-9. Now, the people that are against Nehemiah are spreading rumors by carrying an open letter through the land accusing Nehemiah of betraying the king. Still, Nehemiah refuses to back down and refuses to play along with them and their wishes. He answers them, briefly, and then gets back to work. He prayed to God through this all that God would strengthen his hands and allow the workers to continue to do the work. We are…
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Christian Devotional – September 7, 2022
Prayer in Action, Day 21 More distractions. Read Nehemiah 6:1-4. The workers continued and the people are being successful. The wall is being rebuilt and there are lots of people excited about everything that God is doing. However, not everyone is excited. Those people who have been trying before to distract and disrupt the work of Nehemiah are back at it. It’s basically their last ditch effort to try to stop what God is doing. They start by trying to distract Nehemiah again. Nehemiah recognizes this for what it is, and he refuses to be distracted. How focused are we on the work God has for us? Everything is going…
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Christian Devotional – September 5, 2022
Prayer in Action, Day 20 Integrity. This is a word that seems very lacking in so many things we see people do these days. Read Nehemiah 5:14-19. Nehemiah wanted the people to understand that he was focused on being a man of integrity. No matter all the things that others have done, Nehemiah wanted to make sure he was separating himself from the others. He wanted to be above a reproach. Are we so focused on our integrity that we take the necessary steps to ensure that we are above reproach in every area of our lives? Christ is holy and so should we be holy as well.
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Christian Devotional – September 4, 2022
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…
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Christian Devotional – September 3, 2022
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…
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Christian Devotional – September 2, 2022
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…
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Christian Devotional – September 1, 2022
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.
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Christian Devotional – August 31, 2022
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…