I love the story of Nehemiah the eunuch who served the king as a cup bearer. The love and passion he had for his country Israel just makes me think of Jesus and His love and passion for us. Nehemiah was so distraught about the condition of the walls and gates of Israel that he wanted to approach the king, but knew if he went before the king without an invitation the chances of surviving were slim. So he wept and mourned for days fasting and praying to our God. Here is his prayer....
Nehemiah 1:5-11
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5I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,6let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned.7"We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.8"Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; 9but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.' 10"They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand 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.
I love this full hearted prayer and it seems so does God. Nehemiah was chosen to seve King Artaxerxes some wine and while he was serving the king, the king noticed that Nehemiah's face was sad and asked him what his trouble was. Now this made Nehemiah scared because the king could have him killed on the spot if he so choose, but God was with Nehemiah so he told the king his problem of how he was worried for the Israelites living without walls and gates. The king seemed pretty concerned of this, maybe it had something to do with his queen sitting beside him and he was showing off to her, (isn't it neat how God orchestrates things), so he asked Nehemiah how much time he would need and what he needed to complete this job. The king released Nehemiah from his job, giving him letters of passage, officers of the army and horsemen. The story goes on to tell us how Nehemiah went around coaxing the Israelites to build the wall and fix the gates.
This took really big faith on Nehemiah's part as he could have easily lost his life being in the king's presence with a sad demeanor and then going on to tell the king, why he was gloomy. We need to have this kind of faith that God is with us, especially after we have prayed to Him concerning a matter.
Just yesterday my husband, kids and I were having a dinner for my husband's secretaries and their families and I went on to tell them why we don't have a Christmas tree, because the cat's pull them down. Truth, but not the real reason. We don't have a Christmas tree because it follows the tradition of honouring false god's. A few years ago I decided to find out why we put up trees during the Christmas season only to find out, to my horror, that this tradition started way back during the reign of Nimrod to honour the sex god's which really is Satan in disguise. I never knew this, so after talking to the kids and the hubby we decided that our family would never again put up a tree, instead we put up a manger and a cross. Well, yesterday I had the perfect opportunity to explain to a family, that really doesn't know much about God, our reason why we don't put up a tree and I blew it! I was embarrassed and my daughter gave me a very disappointed look. Not only did I fail God, I failed my family.
Oh to have the faith that Nehemiah had, to risk life for the sake of God's heart! It is so easy to slip into how the world does things especially when we are around people who are not believers but this is not what our God wants. He wants us to stick out like sore thumbs. :) Take the step to be different than the world and He promises us that He will be right there with us supporting us. Our God is great and His work is easy if only we have faith.
Please pray for us this week as my family and I are heading out to the east cost to spend some time with my side of the family. This is a hard time for us as this time last year my father passed away and I really want to share my faith with my brother and sister but they are not very interested in my belief.
God Bless,
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