Standing Tall and Strong Through Prayer, Pt. 2

Do you launch right into requests when you pray? Perhaps God is waiting on you to come to Him in praise & confession before He grants your petitions.

Standing Tall & Strong Through Prayer, Pt. 2

"And I said: 'I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned.'"

(Nehemiah 1:5-6)

Nehemiah heard the difficult news about his homeland. Jerusalem was in a desperate way. When a city or nation does not have protection, their enemies have open and easy access to attack and overcome them. For four months, he prayed and fasted. Have you ever been so burdened that you prayed and fasted for an extended amount of time? God hears our desperate pleas for help. He heard Nehemiah's prayers, but first, God worked in his life. He felt helpless even though he was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes, the king of the Medes and Persians. In many ways, he was still a slave, a foreigner far from home. But Nehemiah also had wealth, influence, and power because of the job he had and the access he had to the king.

The first thing Nehemiah did after hearing the news from home was he prayed. Part of his prayer included both praise and confession. Notice in verse 5 that he praised the Lord for being great and awesome, the God who keeps His covenant with His people. He then asked the Lord to hear him as he made his requests. Then notice what Nehemiah did: he confessed the sins of the nation of Israel, his family's sins, and his own sins.

Both in my personal prayer time with the Lord each morning and in our weekly prayer meetings at our church, we engage in a time of praise and confession. Nehemiah models this method of praying. It is very biblical and effective, and it simply makes sense. Before rushing into God's presence with our request, it is important to first recognize who God is and worship Him. Then, once we see God for who He is, we cannot help but see ourselves for who we are, and that is sinners in need of His forgiveness. God first worked in the life of His servant Nehemiah before He worked in the life of the nation of Israel. Perhaps God is waiting on you to come to Him in praise and confession of your sins before He responds to your petitions and supplications.

There will undoubtedly come times in your spiritual journey where prayer is difficult and you simply do not want to take the time to do it. But it is in those moments that you and I will need to pray most. God works in supernatural ways when we pray. The enemy of our souls, the devil, will do all he can to discourage you from praying. He will tempt you to get too busy (even with good things) to pray. He knows that the Christian's primary weapon of warfare, along with the Word of God, is prayer. One of my professors in seminary that greatly impacted me was Dr. Bruce Leafblad. He would tell our class to keep praying, and eventually, the duty will become delight. He was right!