Starting With Prayer

With this lesson, Mike begins a series on the books of Nehemiah.

Moses was called by God, but Nehemiah volunteered. When he learned of the state of city of God, his heart was overwhelmed with sadness. He purposed to return to Jerusalem to take on the task of rebuilding its walls.

But before he did anything whatsoever, he fell to his knees in prayer.

Isn’t that where rebuilding your walls should begin?

“When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

Nehemiah 4:1-3, 7-9 (NIV)