"Challenging" (Nehemiah 2:17-20)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/2/2011 6:20:54 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                                          Focus:” Challenging”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Nehemiah 2:17-20

 

            Message of the verses:  “17 Then I said to them, "You see the bad situation we are in, that Jerusalem is desolate and its gates burned by fire. Come; let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem so that we will no longer be a reproach." 18 I told them how the hand of my God had been favorable to me and also about the king’s words which he had spoken to me. Then they said, "Let us arise and build." So they put their hands to the good work. 19 But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard it, they mocked us and despised us and said, "What is this thing you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?" 20 So I answered them and said to them, "The God of heaven will give us success; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no portion, right or memorial in Jerusalem.’”

 

            I am really not sure why or how the commentary by Warren Wiersbe seems to have two names or perhaps it has only one name, but is longer than any of his other “Be” books.  At any rate when I looked it up online the first time I found the name of his book “Stand Firm in the Face of Opposition,” and now I find the book called “Be Determined,” and so I think when I make reference to it from now on in my SD I will refer to it as “Be Determined.”  Perhaps he changed the name of the book when he began his “Be Book” series.

 

            Today’s SD will finish the second chapter in both the book of Nehemiah, and also the commentary “Be Determined.”  I have been working on the last main point for three days now and today’s SD is the last sub-point under the main point “He had faith to challenge others.”  The challenging part is found in today’s SD, and this is an important part of being a good leader, no matter whether it is in business, the home or the Church.

           

            We left Nehemiah yesterday riding around Jerusalem at night with a few men surveying the ruins of Jerusalem’s walls and gates which he found in very bad shape.  In today’s SD Nehemiah makes a challenge to the men who rode with him, and that challenge is to build the walls and gates of Jerusalem and their answer to Nehemiah was “Let us arise and build.”  How did Nehemiah convince these men in such a short time to rebuild the walls and the gates of Jerusalem?  I think that the answer is found in verse eighteen where he speaks to them about the hand of his God and how it has been favorable to him by having the king give his permission and even supply the things needed to rebuild the walls and the gates as seen in chapter one. 

           

            The next part of this section shows how Nehemiah dealt with his enemies and also the enemies of the Lord.  After hearing of the plan that Nehemiah and these men had these enemies began to ridicule them, something that the enemy will do when there is nothing else to do thinking that by their ridicule they would be able to stop the work.  God had put the burden of rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem in the heart of Nehemiah, and God had burdened him to pray for four months about this burden, and then God had moved in the king’s heart to actually be an answer to Nehemiah’s prayer by asking him why he was sad.  God has also moved in the heart of the king to approve Nehemiah’s leaving his job as cupbearer and go to Jerusalem to do this project and to supply Nehemiah with the necessary supplies to do this work.  So when Nehemiah runs into some ridicule from the enemies he handles it with confidence because the hand of his God was upon him and tells his enemies that the God of heaven will give us success and also tells them that they have no business in trying to help in this project.  Dr. Wiersbe writes “The stage is now set and the drama is about to begin.”  The drama of rebuilding the walls and gates will begin in chapter three and end in chapter six, but there will still be many more challenges for Nehemiah as governor and leader of Jerusalem. 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There has been a struggle going on inside me and I believe that the struggle is from the enemy of my soul.  I truly believe that the Lord has sent Sandy and I to Kauai, and for a while I have had difficulty in figuring out why, for our job stopped after four months which was suppose to last for two years.  Late in the month of July a new job began on a different island, but it seems that this was not for us and so we have opted to return to Ohio and resume our lives there.  There is an obstacle in our path and that is the selling of our car, and this is where the struggle is going on inside me.  We purchased a new car when we got here because it was cheaper in renting one and we thought we would be here for two years and then an older car for me to drive to work so Sandy would have a car to get around in.  At this time we put our van in Ohio on the market for a number of sound reasons.  A couple of weeks ago our older car sold and we were praising the Lord and yesterday the van was sold and so we were praising the Lord for that too.  After all of these wonderful blessings from the Lord I am still having some trouble in trusting the Lord for the sale of our new car and this is what is bothering me.  As I look at the life of Nehemiah seeing that he was doing the will of the Lord and was being patient for four months in waiting for an answer from the Lord and then getting it and going on with the work, and then having a struggle with the enemies of the Lord I see something similar and this give me confidence in the situation that I find myself in at this time.  I have a desire to be a good steward of the things that the Lord has entrusted me with and therefore do not want to sell my car back to the dealer at such a loss and believing that this would also bring glory to the Lord if we could sell this car at a little better price than the dealer wants to give us for it, I have a great desire to trust the Lord to work this out as He did the other cars. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Trust the Lord to bring about the sale of our car as He did the others.

2.     Continue to learn contentment and I believe that this struggle that I am facing is part of that learning for me.

3.     Romans 12:1-2

4.     Proverbs 3:5-6

5.     Ephesians 6:10-18

6.     Pray that the answers to my prayers would bring glory to the Lord.

7.     Trust the Lord to give Sandy a good time on her boat trip and keep her safe from harm.

8.     Trust the Lord to give me the words to say to the prisoners as I speak to them on Thursday and what is said by me will bring glory to His name.

 

8/2/2011 7:31:08 AM  

PT-2 "He had Faith to Challenge Others" (Nehemiah 2:11-16)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 08/01/2011/754AM

 

My Worship Time                                               Focus: PT-2 “He had Faith to Challenge Others”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Nehemiah 2:11-16

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. I did not tell anyone what my God was putting into my mind to do for Jerusalem and there was no animal with me except the animal on which I was riding. 13 So I went out at night by the Valley Gate in the direction of the Dragon’s Well and on to the Refuse Gate, inspecting the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were consumed by fire. 14 Then I passed on to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but there was no place for my mount to pass. 15 So I went up at night by the ravine and inspected the wall. Then I entered the Valley Gate again and returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; nor had I as yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials or the rest who did the work.”

 

            Dr. Wiersbe entitles this second sub-point “Investigation” and it covers the verses above.

           

            “Proverbs 18:13 He who gives an answer before he hears, It is folly and shame to him.”  This verse in Proverbs helps to describe what Nehemiah was doing riding around the city of Jerusalem at night.  It describes the reason that he was doing what he was doing.

           

            I had mentioned in an earlier SD that I had read a book by Church Swindoll that he wrote as a commentary on the book of Nehemiah, and the main point of his book was looking at Nehemiah as a leader, showing exactly what a good leader is made of and not that I am studying this book as a part of my devotions I am pleased to see that Dr. Wiersbe is bringing up this aspect of leadership in his commentary on Nehemiah.  There is no better place to learn about leadership than in the pages of Scripture, for when the Lord has something that He wants to do He will call a great leader to accomplish the plans that He has. 

           

            Nehemiah first of all was doing something that the Lord his God was putting into his mind and that was to go out at night when his enemies were sleeping and survey the situation that his brother had earlier reported to him, and see if his findings would concur with what he saw.  Nehemiah took a few trusted men with him in order to aid him, and this is another product of a good leader, that is to have trusted people around him.  What Nehemiah saw was exactly what he had been told about some six months earlier, and what he saw was not good, for the walls and gates were in bad shape and this was good for their enemies, but not good for the Jews living in Jerusalem.

           

            I wish to quote some things that I find interesting and helpful from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Nehemiah:  “Leaders are often awake when others are asleep, and working when others are resting.  Nehemiah didn’t want the enemy to know what he was doing, so he investigated the ruins by night.  A wise leader knows when to plan, when to speak, and when to work.

            “Leaders must not live in a dream world.  They must face facts honestly and accept the bad news as well as the good news.  Nehemiah saw more at night than the residents saw in the daylight, for he saw the potential as well as the good news.  Nehemiah saw more at night than the residents saw in the daylight, for he saw the potential as well as the problems. That’s what makes a leader!”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that the things that is most on my heart after reading this passage was actually the passage in Proverbs.  My toes have been stepped on from this passage, and I guess that is a good thing.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Continue to learn more about prayer and to make my prayers glorify the Lord.

2.     Trust that the Lord will continue to teach me contentment.

3.      Trust the Lord to glorify Himself in the selling of our Mazda3.     

 

 8/1/2011 9:02:01 AM

PT-1 "He Had Faith to Challenge Others" (Nehemiah 2:9-10)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2011 7:38:56 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                             Focus:  PT-1 “He Had Faith to Challenge Others”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                Reference:  Nehemiah 2:9-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 Then I came to the governors of the provinces beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10  When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about it, it was very displeasing to them that someone had come to seek the welfare of the sons of Israel.”

           

            This is more like an introduction to this third main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary, and he calls this first small sub-section “Traveling.”  It covers the verses that are seen above.

           

            I remember the name Sanballat from the first time that I heard the preaching on this book back in the late 70’s or early 80’s.  A dear man of God, Pastor Ralph Burns, who was the very first Pastor that I had after becoming a believer in 1974 taught through this book in my early days at Grace Baptist Church, Westlake, Ohio.  Pastor Burns went to be with his Lord and Savior early this year and was 91 years old. 

           

            Now remembering from the book of Ezra when he came to Jerusalem he did not want an escort for he thought that would cause the king to ask him why he could not trust in the Lord for protection on the journey, but Nehemiah, being the new governor of Jerusalem had to take an envoy with him. 

           

            Throughout this book it will be seen that the enemy of the Jews at this time when Nehemiah was alive would be three that Nehemiah would face.  Sanballat who was from Beth Horan, which is about twelve miles from Jerusalem, would be the main enemy, and then there was Tobiah who was an Ammonite and Geshem who was an Arabian and also went by the name Gashmu as seen in Nehemiah 6:6.

           

            The Moabites and the Ammonite were great enemies of Israel and they go back to the 19^th chapter of Genesis.  In that chapter we find the destruction of Sodom and Gemariah and the only survivors were Lot and his two daughters.  Lot’s two daughters got him drunk twice and while he was drunk they each slept with their father and the result was the Ammonites and the Moabites.  Now the grace of God can also be seen here, for although they were not allowed to worship in the temple or tabernacle for ten generations as can be seen from Deuteronomy 23:3-4, there is one famous Moabite whose name is Ruth that not only has a book in the Bible called by her name, but was the great grandmother of King David and is found in the bloodline of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

           

            One can see the hand of God in bringing Nehemiah to Jerusalem, for if he had not had the letters from the King of Persia and not had the detachment of men from the king then there could have been a lot of trouble for Nehemiah.  God was protecting Nehemiah for this work that He would have done.

           

            In verse ten we see these enemies of the Jews, and I have to believe that Satan was behind the workings of these enemies, for it is made clear throughout the Bible that Satan is the enemy of the Jewish people, and when it comes to anti-Semitism it can be sure that Satan has been behind all of it.  Satan hates the Jewish race because it is the Jewish race that the Messiah was born into and He is the One who will seal the doom of Satan forever.

           

            John MacArthur writes these words to describe Sanballat and Tobiah:  “These men were probably also behind the opposition described in Ezra 4:7-33 which stopped the work in Jerusalem.  Sanballat served as governor of Samaria (Horonaim being a town in Moab, he was probably a Moabite) and Tobiah of the region East of the Jordan River.  These district magistrates were leaders of Samaritan factions (see chapter 6) to the North and East.  They had lost any recourse to prevent Judah from rebuilding since God’s people were authorized to fortify their settlement against attack from enemies such as these two officials.  To overtly attack or oppose the Jews would be to oppose the Persian king.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Just as Nehemiah faced three enemies so all believers today face three enemies today and they are the world, the flesh, and the Devil.  The Lord has defeated these enemies at the cross, but they can kind of be described as a chicken with its head cut off running around not knowing it is dead. 

           

            As a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ I am provided with protection from these enemies, but sometimes I don’t use this protection that is provided me.  There are countless numbers of believers who die for their faith, more now in this modern age than all of those who have died before this age.  I have read that the number is around 1000 people a day who die for the cause of Christ.  It would seem that Satan is winning a big battle because of this, but that is not the case, and it would not be the case in the book of Nehemiah.

           

The Apostle Paul writes in what has been called the resurrection chapter, that is 1Cor. 15 these words about the death of a believer:  “"DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory.  "O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’” (1Cor. 15:54b-55)

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Ephesians 6:10-18 (The spiritual armor)

2.     Philippians 4:11-13 (Learning Contentment)

3.     Romans 12:1-2 (Living Sacrifice)

4.     Proverbs 3:5-6 (Trusting the Lord to lead my life)

5.     Psalm 139:23-24 (Search me O God)

 

7/31/2011 9:19:21 AM

"He Had Faith to Ask" (Nehemiah 2:4-8)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/30/2011 7:13:46 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                           Focus:  “He Had Faith to Ask”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Nehemiah 2:4-8

 

            Message of the verses:  “4 Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 I said to the king, "If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it." 6 Then the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, "How long will your journey be, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me, and I gave him a definite time. 7 And I said to the king, "If it please the king, let letters be given me for the governors of the provinces beyond the River, that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress which is by the temple, for the wall of the city and for the house to which I will go." And the king granted them to me because the good hand of my God was on me. 

 

            The question that the king asks Nehemiah in verse two was something that Nehemiah had been praying and fasting about for four months and so before answering the king he prayed a short prayer to the Lord, probably something like Peter did when he thought he was going to drown in the Sea before Jesus reached out His hand to save him.  There are eight other examples of these short bullet prayers that Nehemiah prayed that are recorded in this book.  (Nehemiah 4:4; 5:9; 6:9, 14; 13:14, 22, 29, 31)  The last one is the very last verse in the book of Nehemiah.

           

            I believe that God put into the heart of Nehemiah a desire to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and so when Nehemiah heard of the situation that was there in Jerusalem from his brother the Lord gave him a burden to accomplish the work there.  Nehemiah had to be willing in his own heart to accomplish this task that the Lord was burdening him to do and so he spent four months praying, fasting and investigating how he could accomplish this task that he was burdened to do.  Nehemiah knew exactly what he would ask the king and it can be summed up in two requests “Send me!” (Nehemiah 2:4-6) and “Give me!” (vv. 7-10). 

           

            The last part of verse eight gives the reason why this was all made possible “because the good hand of my God was on me.”  This statement is found in the book of Ezra a number of times and this can be said today when the Lord answers prayers on our behalf, for that is why they are answered.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following statements that helps me to understand why and how I can serve the Lord, similar to what Nehemiah was doing.  “As we go forth to serve the Lord, we have behind us all authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18); so we don’t have to be afraid.  The important thing is that we go where He sends us and that we do the work He has called us to do.” 

            There are many examples of how God used unbelievers in the Scriptures.  Pharaoh is probably the first example, and then there was Cyrus as seen in the book of Ezra.  Caesar was the one who made it possible for Marry and Joseph to be in Bethlehem at the perfect time for the birth of Jesus.  In the life of Paul there were two Roman centurions that saved his life as seen in the book of Acts.  It is important for believers to remember that God uses all people to accomplish His will even though many of them do not realize that they are doing it.

           

            There is one more point that I wish to write about before ending this portion of this SD and that is how Nehemiah acted towards the king, who actually had authority over him for he was working for him.  Nehemiah realized that it was the good hand of God that would accomplish this task, but he also realized that God would use the king and that he had to be respectful to the king and also to the other officials that he would run into that would also be under the authority of the king.  Nehemiah was a very respectful man when it came to his actions towards those in authority over him, and this is something that is written about in the NT in Peter’s letter and also in Paul’s letter to the Romans.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the things that have been going on in my mind as I study the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and that is prayer.  There are quite a few prayers in these two books and in them many examples to follow on how to pray and what to pray for.  I seem to be struggling in this area of my life and am thankful to the Lord that His timing is perfect for me to be in these books at this time of my life, for I am being fed what I need at this time of my life and am thankful for that.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Trust the Lord that He will continue to work in my life to make my prayer life more powerful for the cause of Christ.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

3.     Trust that the Lord will help me to pray effectively when it comes to selling our Mazda before we leave Kauai.  I am struggling on how that I should pray about this that it would not seem selfish to me.

 

7/30/2011 8:17:18 AM     

 

"He Had Faith To Wait" (Nehemiah 2:1-3)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/29/2011 8:04:23 AM

 

 

My Worship Time                                                                              Focus:  He Had Faith to Wait

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Nehemiah 2:1-3

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 So the king said to me, "Why is your face sad though you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of heart." Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, "Let the king live forever. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?’”

 

            Today’s SD begins the second chapter of Nehemiah and also the second chapter of Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary on Nehemiah “Standing Firm in the Face of Opposition.”  The title of this second chapter is “The Mountain Starts to Move” and it covers the 2^nd chapter of Nehemiah.  As I mentioned in many earlier SD’s there is a key at the introduction of most of the chapters in Dr. Wiersbe’s books that help to unlock where he is going with the chapter, and in this chapter he writes, “This chapter describes three evidences of Nehemiah’s faith.  As we study these evidences of faith, we must examine our own hearts to see whether or not we are really walking and working by faith.”

           

            The scene now shifts from the month of Chislev to the month of Nisan which means that four months have passed since Nehemiah’s brother gave his report to Nehemiah.  Four months can either be a short time or a long time depending on what is going on in one’s situation.  I believe that it was a long time for Nehemiah, and it was a long time to be saddened over what was going on in Jerusalem.  Nehemiah was patiently waiting on the Lord in order to have his prayers answered. 

           

            I want to interject something here that is probably the reason that God waited this long to answer Nehemiah’s prayer.  When I was studying the book of Daniel last summer in our Sunday school I was reminded of something that I was taught very early in my Christian life, and that is what the prophecy in Daniel nine is all about.  I took the time to listen to six sermons from John MacArthur to aid me in teaching this one lesson on Daniel nine last summer.  When you try to put six hours of teaching into a one hour class it makes it difficult as to what to leave out.  I will try and be brief here, however I believe it is important to realize why it was this day that the king answered the prayer of Nehemiah.  The prophecy consists of 490 years and has a starting point and three more points in it.  The first one is after 49 years of the beginning of the prophecy and that speaks of the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the temple and the walls and gates.  The next stopping point comes 383 years after it starts and this is probably one of the most important parts of the prophecy for it was exactly 483 years after this very conversation between Nehemiah and the king, who will give a decree to Nehemiah, that the Lord Jesus Christ came into Jerusalem on a donkey offering Himself to be king, but was turned down.  This is what we call Palm Sunday, and so I believe that this was the main reason that Nehemiah had to wait.

           

            There are lessons that Nehemiah had to learn, and after reading this I know that there are lessons that God wants me to learn also.  There are some verses that help to understand this passage a bit better that I want to include in this section.  First of all Nehemiah was frightened and with good reason because he was the one who was to make sure that the kings wine was safe to drink and he looked sad, which was not good.  The king could have killed him no questions asked, but Proverbs 21:1 states “The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water He turneth it whithersoever He will.”   

           

            As far as patience Hebrew 6:12 states “so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”  As far as waiting, look what Isaiah 28:16b tells us:  “he that believeth shall not make haste (KJV). 

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes that he has three favorite verses he leans on that give him comfort whenever he gets nervous and tries to rush before the Lord.  Ex. 14:13, Ruth 3:18, and Psalm 46:10. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes the following that I need to remember in the situation that I find myself in at this time:  “True faith in God brings calmness to the heart that keeps us from rushing about and trying to do in our own strength what only God can do.  We must know only how to weep and pray, but also how to wait and pray.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I suppose that it should not shock me to find that this lesson was exactly what I needed for what is going on in my life at this time.  This has happened on many different occasions, and yet there are some days when I do this that it is not so meaningful to me, but I always learn from studying God’s word.  You may not know what you ate for dinner two months ago, but you do know that it sustained you through out that day.  I may not know what I studied two months ago, but I do know that it was worth studying because it was part of God Word.  Today’s was very special to me.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Not to rush before the Lord to get accomplished what I want get accomplished own my own, but to trust the Lord and wait patiently on Him to accomplish what He desires for me.

2.     Continue to learn contentment.

3.     Romans 12:1-2

4.     Psalm 139:23-2

5.     Proverbs 3:5-6

 

7/29/2011 9:30:31 AM

"He Cared Enough to Volunteer" (Nehemiah 1:11)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 07/28/2011 7:55 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  “He Cared Enough to Volunteer”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Nehemiah 1:11

 

            Message of the verse:  “11 “O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man." Now I was the cupbearer to the king.”

           

            In a number of earlier SD’s I wrote that the commentary written by Warren Wiersbe that covered the book of Nehemiah was “Be Heroic.”  I wrote this in error.  “Be Heroic” covers Ezra, Haggai, and Zechariah.  His commentary for the book of Nehemiah is not in the “Be” series and it is entitled “Standing Firm in the Face of Opposition.”  Now that this is cleared up I will procede with today’s SD.

           

            Verse eleven concludes this prayer that Nehemiah was praying to the Lord over the “mess” that was going on in Jerusalem.  It is good to read the many prayers that are recorded in the Bible for they give insight in how these godly saints prayed.  This will not be the only prayer that is recorded in the book of Nehemiah for if memory serves me correct the longest prayer found in the Bible is in this book of Nehemiah.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe writes “If God is going to answer prayer, He must start by working in the on doing the praying!  He works in us and through us to help us see our prayers answered.”

           

            I believe that in an earlier SD I mentioned that I was studying the fifteenth chapter of John, the part about the Vine and the branches.  Well in that section is verse seven which reads as follows, “"If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.”  I don’t want to go into all of the detail of the study, but I do think that the conditions that Jesus says in this verse were taken by Nehemiah in his prayer to the Lord.  John MacArthur’s message on this section of John fifteen can be found on the following website www.gty.org

 

            Once you are on this site you will have to click on “resources” and then in the search box write the following “Abiding in the Vine, Part 2.”  His message on this section will come up and you can look at it to read it, you can listen to it from the site, or you can download it and put it on an mp3 player to listen to it later on.  They have made it free to download any message that is on the site so download as many as you want to.  I have over 2000 messages on my Ipod and listen to them when I get the chance or when I have a question about a verse in the NT. (I think that they stopped free down loading of his sermons now.)

           

            John MacArthur writes the following from the MacArthur Study Bible about John 15:7-10 “True believers obey the Lord’s commands, submitting to His Word (14:21, 23).  Because of their commitment to God’s Word, they are devoted to His will, thus their prayers are faithful (14:13, 14), which puts God’s glory on display as He answers.”

           

            I believe that when you listen to the prayer of Nehemiah in the first chapter of Nehemiah that you can then understand why God was pleased to answer it.  You can also understand more about the kind of man he was, and Nehemiah as a man of the Word of God as seen in the prayer.

           

            Dr Wiersbe writes “Real prayer keeps your heart and your head in balance so your burden doesn’t make you impatient to run ahead of the Lord and ruin everything.”

           

            It was the desire of Nehemiah to ask the king to give him time off from his job as cupbearer in order to go to Jerusalem to finish the walls and gates of the city.  He knew that if he asked at the wrong time, or in the wrong way that he could even lose his life, but Nehemiah had prayed about this as seen in this prayer and trusted in the Lord to bring about this burden that he had to the right conclusion.  Nehemiah cared and this was the theme of this first chapter of Nehemiah.

           

            Dr. Wiersbe points out others from the pages of Scripture that also cared:  “Abraham cared and rescued Lot from Sodom (Gen. 18-19).  Moses cared and delivered the Israelites from Egypt.  David cared and brought the nation and the kingdom back to the Lord.  Ester cared and risked her life to save her nation from genocide.  Paul cared and took the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.  Jesus cared and died on the cross for a lost world.

           

            “God is still looking for people who care, people like Nehemiah, who cared enough to ask for the facts, weep over the needs, pray for God’s help, and then volunteer to get the job done.  ‘Here am I, Lord---send me.’”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  From looking at the prayer found in this first chapter of Nehemiah and by studying more about prayer from John 15 I truly have a desire to have a better and more effective prayer life.  I wish to pray about things that bring honor and glory to the Lord from the answers that He gives to me from the prayers that He burdens me to pray.  I wish to be patient to wait on Him and not to go before Him, something that will be difficult for me, but possible with the help of the Lord.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.     Continue to learn contentment.

2.     Seek the Lord’s will for my life in my prayers.

3.     Abide in the Vine.

 

7/28/2011 9:10:00 AM