The book of Nehemiah was written by the prophet, Ezra. In fact, the two books of Ezra and Nehemiah are seen as one book by scholars.
Nehemiah 1
(v.5) Nehemiah's prayer reminds me of what I talk about with my own kids...how to pray. Most of us were told that we should say the "Lord's Prayer" before we go to bed. Also, some of us were taught to say the "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer. These are OK to get our kids to see what prayer is, but they aren't really personal prayers.
First, what we call the Lord's Prayer is not really the LORD's prayer...we see that in John 17, where He prays to the Father on our behalf. What we hear is the Lord's prayer, is really a template given by Jesus, to make sure we cover all the important things in our prayers. Matt 6
Another thing I teach my kids, is to pray TO the Father, IN the name of His Son. So the prayer goes like this:
Heavenly Father...in Jesus' name, Amen.
We were separated from the Father until His Son provided the way back to Him. The Son's blood is what washed us clean, and the Father gave His Son the power and authority to be our propitiation.
(v.11) Nehemiah calls upon God to bless him, and to listen to his cries. All people can't repent and obey God at the same time, so Nehemiah is asking God to focus on the ones who fear and love Him, and to bless their lives so they can influence others.
Nehemiah 2
(v.4) This is important to point out to our kids...before Nehemiah answered the king, he prayed. I personally have found this to be key to relationships in my life. At work, with your spouse, and teaching your kids, we should always say a quick prayer (even in silent thought) to God, and let Him guide our actions and speech.
(v.17) The Temple had already been rebuilt, but since the city walls were not up, enemies constantly harassed the Jews when they tried to worship at the Temple. Nehemiah knew that they needed to build the walls in order to be able to worship in peace.
My kids understand this when I explain to them that when building a house, it's no good to build a bedroom and put your bed in it, if you don't have the walls and roof on first. You could sleep in a bed, but the bugs and weather will still torment you. We need to first protect the bedroom with walls and a roof, then we can sleep in peace.
This is also true with our spirit...we need to protect it with the Word of God and prayer, then we can learn and live a life of joy and peace knowing God's promises to us!
Nehemiah 3
This chapter is a listing of all the tribes and peoples who took their own sections of the wall, and built it themselves. This was master planning at its best, and this way, the whole wall was built at one time, instead of just sections at a time.
Nehemiah 4
(v.6) By building the wall all at once, they were able to encircle the city with a wall of a few feet. This at least gave the people a chance to defend themselves until the rest of the wall was built.
(v.15) When believers trust in God, and work together, we can accomplish great things! But the key is faith...we have to have faith in God, and He will do the rest!
(v.20) It's a great comfort to know that God will fight our battles for us...it's also the hardest thing for us to do...let Him fight our battles for us!
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