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Nehemiah 1:5-11
We invite you to join us for worship each Sunday morning at 9:30. You can also download our service at Baptist-Christian on iTunes. Nehemiah is as much a book of prayer as it is a record of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah shows us what it’s like to get out of our easy chairs and actually get involved in redemption living. As Christians today, we’ve become very good at being complacent! We say we know who God is, but don’t allow His attributes to impact our lives. We often come to Him in prayer with our hearts dressed in shorts, T-shirts, and flip-flops offering Him small talk about mundane issues. Even in crisis issues we toss God our prayers telling Him how to answer them. Nehemiah offers us a great outline for true, heartfelt prayer that will excite God’s heart.
- RECOGNIZING GOD AS GOD! To adore God is to recognize Him for Who He really is! In its simplest form adoration means “worship.” As we have learned in studying the three names of God in this prayer, God is Almighty, Ever-present and All loving! What do those names of God mean to you in your heart? Nehemiah actually begins his prayer with mourning, fasting and weeping over personal and national sin. Then he begins his prayer acknowledging Who God is. Notice in verse 5 Nehemiah recognizes God’s omnipotence. When a person recognizes God’s omnipotence they stop fearing man and start fearing God! So when you go to God to pray, does He know you adore Him as El-Shaddai, YWHW, Elohim?
- RECOGNIZING GOD’S CHARACTER! When we recognize God as God we also have a correct perspective of His character. Read Deut. 32:3, 4; then 2 Sam. 22:31, 32; Matt. 5:48; James 1:17; and 1 John 1:5. Because God is perfect in His character (nature or essence or His heart), He is perfect in everything – infinitely! We are in error when we come to God using names that have no deep meaning to us. One of the most serious problems with many Christians’ prayer life is they don’t come before God seeing Him as Who He is in His infinite perfection. Since God lives in us our character must be the same as His because we are to allow the Holy Spirit to be sovereign in our lives.
- RECOGNIZING GOD’S REDEEMING LOVE! God uses His Word to help us see the extent of His great redeeming love. In Rom. 5:8 then Eph. 2:10 He explains that nothing was too great a price. We need to view our redemption the same way God does so we can see that it completely killed our “self!” God’s redeeming love must reach clear to the deepest chambers of our hearts so we can see to total cleansing effect of the shed blood of Christ. Only when we see it that way, do we submit to the life-changing power of God’s salvation. Adoration is the first step in getting down to business in prayer! We must always remember who we are talking too and come before Him as God.
IF we can help you with this or any other spiritual matter, call us at (574) 643-9419.
