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…

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…

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…