How to Have Powerful Prayer That Hits The Mark, Nehemiah 2: 2- 4

God Loves You

This short post looks at the example of a man who had consistent victory through prayer.  Hopefully, we can get some insights from him.

If you want to have great confidence in prayer, consider the examples in Scripture of people who pray powerfully; the funny thing is that many of those prayers are not what you would think.

“So the king asked me, ‘Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill?  This can be nothing but sadness of heart.’  I was very much afraid, but I said to the king.”  May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?’  The king said to me, ‘What is it you want?’  Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king….” Nehemiah 2:2-4. NIV.

ARROW SHOT
During an interview with the king of the western world Nehemiah, prays to "the God of heaven."  It must have been a short prayer, not said out loud, and during a moment of stress because he says, "I was very much afraid."  (There were consequences for speaking to the king without observing the etiquette of court).  His prayer may have been something like, "Please help me, God."  His little "arrow prayer" shot to heaven and hit its mark because the king gave him the request and in a very generous way.

CONFIDENCE WITH GOD
Nehemiah's confidence with God enabled access to the Almighty at a moment's notice.  He just moved in and out of the Almighty's presence like we would walk through our living room.

LIFESTYLE
Nehemiah had a lifestyle of prayer.  His book is punctuated with quick short prayers.  This was not a casual thing but a discipline of prayer, seen by the preparation of days of prayer before he spoke to the king (Nehemiah 1:4).

PRACTICE
To be effective in the little prayers, we must be diligent in the trenches of prayer; having regular structured times of daily prayer makes you confident when the opportunity for spontaneous prayer arrives.

You can practice the same quickie arrow prayers as the outflow of a prayerful lifestyle.  What a difference it will make as we go through our day to continually pop open the treasure chest of prayer!

HUMILITY
When Nehemiah admits he prayed before the king, he brings glory to God.  He could have left out the little detail about the quickie prayer and look great and brave, but to acknowledge prayer is humility.  Let's always encourage others in their prayer practices, and to hear how God answered your prayer is a favor to them and is praise to God.

God is the last thing we consider these days, but not with Nehemiah; we should be like Nehemiah, who made prayer the first course of action and a constant discipline.

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© Adron 9/29/09