Sorry for this being a few hours late. I got hung up working some renovations at the church. We promise we will try our best to get this done by 3:00.
Chapter one sets up basically the memoirs of Nehemiah. For me as I read this and I think of leadership one thing stands out to me more than anything else; that is Nehemiah’s concern for people. The Jews had just returned from their captivity and were now back in Jerusalem. As they returned to Judah they found Judah in shambles and the wall to the city which would protect them from intruders had been torn down. I think we can take away from this that we should be broken for the people around us. Take a moment a reread versus 4-11. When was the last time you took the time to repent and cry out for the people who God puts in your path daily. We will read on tomorrow in chapter two, but we can see in chapter one that Nehemiah is about to use his influence at the King’s cup bearer in some way by asking God to grant him favor to the King. What influence do you have as a leader that you are asking God to grant you favor in to influence others for Him. I can’t wait to read on through this incredible book. What did you get out of this? Leave some comments.
What I got out of this chapter was that if you love God and obey his commands, he will listen and answer your prayers. I think Nehemiah was praying for the people to repent from they’re sins and love God.
Ernie Fabian
August 8th, 2007
5. In application in my life, this passage reminds me that many people including myself don’t do some of the traditional things out of fear of what would happen. Many now are afraid to fast because of pain or health issues and therefore we often forget about the past traditions that were thought of necessary spiritual things.This can also apply to other things that have been forgotten.
As for keeping the commandments it becomes hard sometimes to keep them. For many it becomes tedious and boring to do the same things all the time and not to join friends in those things that they hold important. At the time it seems that all the pleasure has been taken away from us, but not until afterwords do we see the benefit of keeping them.
Lastly Prayer is very important for everyone’s relationship with God. I know for me praying means getting out of my comfort zone and do something that brings glory to God. However the most difficult thing for me is to pray outloud. Something that helps me with that is the people who hold me accountable in doing so which includes Diane Myers and my parents. However I also have to be careful of a routine developing. If a routine develops my prayer often become stagnent. It reminds of other instances where the Bible shows some more examples of prayer such as many of David’s prayers but also the Lord’s Prayer. All of them provide different techniques in which to pray, but all of them are acceptable.
This particular prayer technique is different from some of the other ones. First it starts off in praise. Second Nehemiah asks God to have open ears and eyes so that God not only be attentive to his words, but also the manner in which he is praying. Thirdly he confesses his sins and the sins of the people he’s praying for which reminds me of the unsaved in my life that I often pray for, but don’t ask for forgiveness of their sins . Fouth he prays God’s words which for us would be scriptures from the Bible. Fifth he reminds God of his promises but in a respectful way. Sixth he asks for God to see and hear him, God’s servant, again. Last but not least he asks for what he wants, which tells us that not only does God come first but also to put that respect into talking with him too.
The final thing in this Chapter has to do with the end of the prayer. Nehemiah says this man instead of king which I think he meant to say. This reminds me that even though Nehemiah seems to remind God of certain things he also realizes that God is all-knowing. That eventhough we have to put two and two together to deduce that Nehemiah is talking about the king God already knows what Nehemiah is asking for.
Heather Listhartke
August 8th, 2007