What are your concerns?
Nehemiah shared a deep concern for his people and their future.
Nehemiah 1:2-4 AMP
Hanani, one of my kinsmen, came with certain men from Judah,
and I asked them about the surviving Jews who had escaped exile, and about
Jerusalem. And they said to me, The remnant there in the province who
escaped exile are in great trouble and reproach; the wall of Jerusalem is broken
down, and its [fortified] gates are destroyed by fire. When I heard this, I sat down and wept and mourned for days and
fasted and prayed [constantly] before the God of heaven,
He heard about the broken walls and destroyed gates and he was greatly impacted by this news. Although he was not physically present in Jerusalem, his love and concern for his people led him to a point of mourning,fasting and praying.
Have you been so deeply concerned about something like Nehemiah,and what did you do about it?
Are you concerned about the state of other nations even though you are not physically there?
Are you concerned about the recession,poverty,natural disasters,HIV epidemic...
The real question is...
Are you concerned enough to take action?
..to pray
..to fast
..to give
..to lend a hand
..to sacrifice
Be moved enough to MOVE!
This is really true, there are times when one feels passionate about something but that drive to actually take action is not there. May it be laziness, doubt or fear, there are things that hinder. My prayer is that i want to look past the 'concern' and 'passion' and be moved enough to MOVE.
ReplyDeleteQuite right Toyosi but to be empowered to do something you need to first of all pray about it. Nehemiah was commissioned by God to build that wall after he fasted and prayed. One of the reasons we miss it even when we try to take action is the action we take. From this study the right action is to spend time to pray for the situation, concern or problem. Then we may now be commissioned , qualified and allowed to take action or directed to who is meant to take action. God is the perfect producer, the writer of every script and the one who calls the shots. He has to pick who does the job. The man who can take out time to talk to God (pray) about someone, a situation, University , City, County, Nation and Continent does care enough and will definitely get God's attention when it comes to who and what action needs to be taken to solve a problem. If you can't pray about it why should God solve it? Pray about those concerns today.
DeleteThe important lessons are that:
ReplyDelete1. Nehemiah trusted God and that suggested that he was fully born-again. He knew the God that he is serving
2. He understood genuine repentance is all about
3. He understood why one should pray for mercy on behalf of people, family, nations etc
4. He understood the importance of fasting purposefully
5. He got the news on the 9th month (September) and he prayed and waited for God to speak to him on what to do and how to deal with situations and the answer came through in 1st month of another year (January) - almost 5 moths of waiting on God. Rem. Hab 2:2-3.
5. He acted wisely on the directions and actions that God gave him.
6. He had favour from above and
7. As he step forward in faith, He had Heavenly backed up resources and supplies
I am intrigued by Nehemiah's reaction to the situation.Being able to first of all pray about a concern shows how much of a concern it is.
ReplyDelete