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SCRIPTURE:
" Then I said, "O LORD, God of heaven, the great
and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who
love him and obey his commands, listen to my prayer! Look down and see
me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have
sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! We have
sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, laws, and regulations that
you gave us through your servant Moses. "Please remember what you told
your servant Moses: `If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations.
But if you return to me and obey my commands, even if you are exiled to
the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen
for my name to be honored.' "We are your servants, the people you
rescued by your great power and might. O Lord, please hear my prayer!
Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please
grant me success now as I go to ask the king for a great favor. Put it
into his heart to be kind to me. "In those days I was the king's
cup-bearer. " (Nehemiah 1:5-11)
Observations/Interpretation:
I asked myself what do I notice in this
passage regarding prayer?
This passage has shown me 5 types of prayer:
1. Prayer of Praise
(Nehemiah 1:5)
2. Prayer of Intercession
(Nehemiah 1:6a)
3. Prayer of Confession:
Corporate & Individual (Nehemiah 1:6b-7)
4. Prayer of Promise
(Nehemiah 1:8-9)
5. Prayer of Dependence
(Nehemiah 1:10-11)
Today, I focused on
Nehemiah's 'Prayer of Dependence' specifically. As I looked at all the
prayers, all of them are a prayer of dependence culminating in the
conclusion of Nehemiah's prayer.
"We
are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power and might.
O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who
delight in honoring you. Please grant me success now as I go to ask the
king for a great favor. Put it into his heart to be kind to me."
(Nehemiah 1:5-11a)
Observations:
I asked myself how do we know Nehemiah showed his
dependence on God?
Nehemiah did 3 things to
show His dependence on the Lord:
1. Nehemiah acknowledged
that they were the Lord's servants.
2. Nehemiah acknowledged
that they were the people rescued by God's great power and might.
3. Nehemiah acknowledged
that success comes if the Lord hears them and listens to them.
Nehemiah realizes that it
is hard to get prayers answered if he lives life his own way
independently of the Lord. This is evidenced by him telling the Lord
that there still are those who delight in honoring the Lord. He needs
success in going and asking the king for a great favor. He realizes
without the Lord's help the great favor will not be given. This was
evidenced to me by his request to the Lord to 'put
into the king's heart to be kind to him.'
TESTIMONIES ON BEING
DEPENDENT ON GOD:
Just last night, I was falling asleep and needed the Lord's help to stay
awake and get the things I wanted done, done. So that I would not have
to fall asleep again, I prayed to the Lord for
help and for strength. Jesus heard me and answered. I did not fall
asleep and after 9 hours of working on a project, I finally was
able to go home. But our Lord
also handles much more complicated things too such as when I had asthma
and Jesus healed me. Thank you Jesus so much! There is so much more I
can share if I had time.
IMPLICATIONS:
There have been times that I did not want to depend on anyone but myself
and I failed miserably. I saw important implications for my own life in
Nehemiah's prayers. We live in such an individualistic society that it
can be so tempting to just depend on ourselves in the degrees we have,
the money we have, the talents we have, etc. Sadly, the Lord does not
come into the picture.
When we do fail and mess
up, it becomes easy to dwell on that failure and not try anymore.
Why?
Because we feel we have
given our best and there is not anything else we can do. The dependence
is still on ourselves. I had to deal with that.
There have been many
times that I was dependent on myself to get things done. The mentality
was my way or no way. My Lord had to show me many times that I needed to
trust in the Lord completely and not on myself. I needed to acknowledge
him in all my ways and that He would then direct all my needs and crown
my efforts with success. That is such a powerful promise from Proverbs
3:5-6.
The more I was
self-sufficient, the more I found myself in trouble. I am talking about
self-sufficiency without the Lord in the picture. It is self-sufficiency
that led to the Fall of humanity and sin. Yet, how many times I go back
to that kind of self-sufficiency. I thought I had the answers to change
things but without the Lord's help, the answers will not come to fruit
properly. I am reminded of God's Word that states unless the Lord builds
the house, our toiling is in vain from Psalm 127.
Nehemiah knew that God
alone could rescue His people once again.
Nehemiah could have gone
and asked the king the great favor whatever that was going to be. Yet,
he subjected himself to a prayer life of dependence on the Lord. That is
so uplifting to see him turn to the Lord in his direst circumstances and
not depend on his abilities alone. He asks the Lord to put it upon the
king's heart to grant Nehemiah the great favor. I learned so much from
the character of Nehemiah.
I
ask you now dear friends where is your dependence on the National Day of
Prayer?
Dear friends, it can be so easy many times to just depend on
ourselves to get things done. We can focus on degrees, money, talent,
fame, etc to get things done. But as history shows and our current
generation shows, all the degrees, money, talent, fame etc will not
accomplish a lot of things without the Lord's intervention. The Lord
needs to intervene as we depend on Him. At the same time, we should not
stop attaining the education the Lord wants us to have. It will not make
sense for us to be silent and then ask the Lord to bring changes in our
lives or other people's lives. We need to depend on the Lord and do our
part. If we want to be a doctor, let us depend on the Lord to help us do
our best without just praying that we want to be a doctor, etc. When we
depend on Him, since He knows what is best for us at all times, He could
very well take us in another direction but it will be in His wonderful
plan.
I am reminded of
Proverbs 16:3 "Commit your work to the Lord and it will succeed"!
Amen!
"We
make the plans but the final outcome is in the Lord's hands" (Proverbs
16:1)
"We
should make the plans counting on the Lord to help and direct us"
(Proverbs 16:9)
Nehemiah understood those
concepts. May we understand those too. Jesus promises to intervene in
our lives.
Will we let Him?
Or
will we be bound by the circumstances we are in and our own
self-sufficiency?
What choice will we make?
Will we continue to be independent apart from the Lord or will we come
to surrender to Him completely?
The Lord desires our
surrender. He will take care of the rest. That is exciting to know!
He promises us:
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a
branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you
cannot be fruitful apart from me. "Yes, I am the vine; you are the
branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much
fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:4-5)
That is God's promise for
you and me. What is more exciting is when Nehemiah asks the Lord to put
it into the king's heart to grant him the great favor. This should
excite you and me when we are dependent on the Lord.
Friend what are you going through right now?
Do
you need to get into grad school?
Do
you need a job that pays your bills?
Do
you need financial assistance?
Do
you need a relationship that is broken to be mended?
Do
you need a family miracle?
Whatever you are faced
with, you can bring the situation into the Lord's Helping Hands.
He can put it into
people's hearts to grant you what you need. Yes, He can! More than that
He strengthens us and rescues us in our pain.
Wait upon Him and do not
give up. He is your Lord and loves you so much. He is your Inheritance,
Rock, Food and Drink. He will guide you in the path that you should go.
He is the One that can change hearts. Wait on Him and don't give up.
Turn God's Word into a prayer as you read it and meditate on it.
"Keep me safe, O God, for I have come to you for refuge. I said to the
LORD, "You are my Master! All the good things I have are from you." The
godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!
Those who chase after other gods will be filled with sorrow. I will not
take part in their sacrifices or even speak the names of their gods."
(Psalm 16:1-4)
"LORD, you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all
that is mine. The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a
wonderful inheritance! I will bless the LORD who guides me; even at
night my heart instructs me. I know the LORD is always with me. I will
not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is filled
with joy, and my mouth shouts his praises! My body rests in safety."
(Psalm 16:5-9)
"For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your godly one
to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the
joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever."
(Psalm 16:10-11)
God's promises are for
you and He can change hearts whatever you are going through. That is
exciting to know.
"We
may throw the dice, but the LORD determines how they fall." (Proverbs
16:33)
This just shows that the
Lord is in control. When we depend on Him it will be exciting knowing we
are in His care. May we also depend on Him whatever we are going through
for He looks after us and gives us the strength and endurance through
what we face. He can also give us our desires as He promises us.
"Delight yourself in the Lord and he shall give the desires of your
heart. Commit everything you do to the Lord and trust in Him to help you
do it and He will." (Psalms 37:4-5)
Jesus loves you not because you think you are a good person or bad
person according to your standards but because it is HIS nature to LOVE
HIS CREATION and shower them with HIS GRACE regardless of whether our
actions. Jesus can do that because when Jesus died on the cross to
save humanity, Jesus died for our past, present, and future sins to
cover us in His righteousness.
But to receive that righteousness in our lives we have to accept the
GIFT OF GRACE given us. It is by His GRACE we are saved not through
works so that none can boast.
"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
May
you experience the POWER OF CHRIST'S RESURRECTION this day, and give Him
the LOCKED areas of your life too so you can experience His PEACE as you
become an ACTOR in the film called LIFE being directed by your DIRECTOR,
JESUS CHRIST who comes to give JOY and PEACE.
You
don't have to be locked away anymore for Christ is here to free you and
give you peace to live out your actions.
How
do you look at GODISNOWHERE?
One
of my pastors, Pastor Hugo shared this example this past Sunday at the
RESURRECTION DAY SERVICE in the combined worship service of Pittsburgh
Chinese Church-Oakland & Oakland International Fellowship:
If
you look at it as GOD IS NO WHERE, you will still be lost in your sin
and be in bondage locked away in your sins and problems finding no
peace.
But
as my pastor spoke to the congregation and spoke to me, I am here to
tell you that GOD IS NOW HERE.
Yes,
friend God is alive and wants to bring a transformation in your life
through the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ for He paid the penalty on
the cross to rescue you and me and came back to life to save us and live
with us.
Yes,
friend that is exciting to know that we can experience HIS SAVING GRACE
& LIVING GRACE.
When
we mess up, we can go to Jesus with our shortcomings and He will forgive
us and restore us to Him and we will find peace in Him.
"Therefore, if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ
and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the
world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he
has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore
Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.
We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him
who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." (Colossians 5:17-21, NIV)
"For the wages
of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord." (Romans 6:23, NIV)
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his
Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive
ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all
unrighteousness." (1 John 1:7-9, NIV)
Friend, we need Jesus because we have been separated from God due to our
sin. Because of our sin, Jesus had to pay the price to become our bridge
so we can reach God now not of our own good works but because of the
finished work of Christ, the Lord on the cross.
"For it is by grace you have been saved,
through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9, NIV)
May
you come to know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Personal Savior becoming
His offspring so you can spend Eternity with Him. He is waiting for you.
Come as you are. Please do not reject the gift of God.
If
you would like to invite Jesus Christ into your heart and make Him a
daily part of your life, you can this very moment. You will never be
alone. You can claim God's promises for you in the Bible and see them
come true, before your eyes, in His wonderful timing. You don't have to
wait for a special time to come to the Lord. You can come right now as
you pray this prayer, meaning it in your heart and finding your new
identity in Christ Jesus.
Make this your prayer. Don’t let
the enemy deceive you into thinking you need all the answers before
coming to Christ. Let me just assure you though you may not have all the
answers right now before coming to Jesus, He will answer them slowly.
Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer will! Amen!
Make this your prayer. Don’t let the enemy deceive you into thinking
you need all the answers before coming to Christ. Let me just assure you
though you may not have all the answers right now before coming to
Jesus, He will answer them slowly. Yes, He will for I know our Redeemer
will! Amen!
Prayer:
Jesus, I thank you for being the Bread of Life. You are the Living Bread
of my life. Thank you for coming from Heaven and giving your life for
the life of the world. You sacrificed yourself for humanity. Thank you
Lord when we eat of you symbolically making you part of our life,
digesting what you teach us by following you, we can be living
Eternally, and the fruit that comes will reflect and resemble your life.
I want that Father God. I want that Lord Jesus! I want that Holy Spirit!
I know of a lot of people who partake of Holy Communion where the bread
represents your body broken for their sin and the juice represents your
blood shed for their sin. When we partake of Holy Communion, we are
reminded that we are remembering you. I want to remember you always Lord
Jesus. But for me to remember you always, I need to know you and
acknowledge everything you said you are. So right now I acknowledge that
you are my Lord and Personal Savior who died and rose again to give me
life from sin. So right now, I come to you and say how sorry I am for my
sin and living a life on my own. I repent of my sin and ask you to
forgive me of my sin with your cleansing blood which I accept. Wash me
and I will be clean from this infection of sin. Come Lord Jesus and
please become part of my life as you live in me and I will live for you.
I thank you Jesus for coming into my heart and making my heart your
home. Thank you for living in me Jesus and I will live for you and serve
you the rest of the days of my life. I do need your Spirit to reside in
me and work in me and through me so I surrender all that I am and will
be to you. Whatever your will is for me, please give me the strength and
willingness to bear it and rejoice in you. Thank you so much Jesus. I
thank you Jesus for becoming my Lord and Personal Savior. I thank you
Jesus you have heard my prayer and have answered me. I thank you that I
am your child Oh God. I thank you for becoming my only Way to Eternal
Life. In Your Name I Pray Jesus! Amen!
