like for you to do is we're going to look in the book of Nehemiah tonight. So if you've got your Bibles, I want you to open up your books to Nehemiah. And as you're turning there, Israel's history is quite fascinating. When you think about all that God has done for the nation of Israel is really quite remarkable. How God called Abraham out of the Ur of the Chaldees many, many years ago and He led him to a land which he knew not where he was going. Over time children were born and eventually along came Jacob. Jacob had 12 sons. There was a famine in the land and they had to go to Egypt. You remember when they migrated to Egypt and they multiplied, multiplied, multiplied, got up in the millions. And then eventually there rose a Pharaoh who knew not, Joseph. What God did, because they were serving as slaves, He delivered them with mighty signs and mighty wonders. At the Red Sea, God parted that Red Sea, but He brought it back together to swallow up the whole Egyptian army. I think you can even probably look online and actually see some chariot wheels in certain areas where that's happened at. It's quite fascinating. But what God did, He led His people into the promised land. Eventually there were judges that came up. Everybody started doing what was right in their own eyes. Everybody became a law unto themselves, which is what some people would like to happen in the United States of America. Eventually God raised up a mighty king named David. David ruled, he reigned, and he had a heart for God. He loved the Lord God. His son Solomon, with the reputation of being the wisest man in all the world, but yet making a foolish mistake, I think, by marrying multiple wives, which led him into all kinds of sin, After he passed away, his son split the kingdom. The kingdom was divided into the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. The Northern Kingdom had ten tribes. The Southern had two tribes. And eventually what happened, the Northern Kingdom went off into idolatry really bad. Worshipping the bulls that were crafted by Jeroboam Eventually, it was so bad, God sold them into slavery as far as into Assyria. Assyrians came and conquered them and led them out of Israel, the northern part of that kingdom. That was roughly around 604, 606, 604 BC. Wasn't but about 20 years later, not even that long, that Judah, the southern kingdom, followed the steps of the northern kingdom and they also went into idolatry and eventually Babylon came and destroyed the southern kingdom and Jerusalem. They tore down the walls, they tore down the temple, they basically raised it to the ground. Eventually what happened to the Babylonians, the Medes and the Persians conquered Babylon. And eventually what happened, the Persians, they had a stronger military, I guess you'd say, and they conquered the Medes. You read about this in Daniel and we read portions of that within the past month or a little bit over a month ago. And what happened with the children of Israel when they had been taken into captivity in Babylon, there were some that were left behind and not taken captive. there were some that escaped captivity, and then there were some that started coming back in three different stages over a hundred-year period to resettle Jerusalem. What we find in God's Word is in the book of Ezra, which was written first as far as those returning, and we've gone through that book of Ezra. Then what you have after that is the book of Nehemiah and Esther. Very interesting because they're right around the same time period. Esther's husband is actually mentioned in verse 1 in chapter 2. He is the king Artaxerxes. Nehemiah is called to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and there would be a re-instruction in the law of Moses, which was the law of God. So what we read in God's Word in Nehemiah, if you've turned there in chapter 1, in the first six chapters you read about the rebuilding of those walls. Nehemiah gets a report, which we're going to look at, and he hears of the distress there. After the walls are rebuilt in chapters 7 through 10, we see that worship is actually restored. In chapters 11 through 13, we see the Israelites and the Jews coming back in and repopulating the land and there's actually a revival that breaks out. Within the 12, I think it's 13 chapters of Nehemiah, let me make sure I'm right. misinform you and the pastor be wrong and somebody comes to say, you just said that in 13 chapters. In 13 chapters there are 12 different prayers by Nehemiah. In chapter 1 is what we want to look at and it contains one of those prayers. Here is Nehemiah's secret to power. Where he got the ability to rebuild walls It came from the power of God. To do the work of God, it takes the power of God. If we want to see healing in our land, it's gonna take the power of God. If we wanna see those that are sick with COVID, it's gonna take the power of God. If we wanna see hearts and lives changed, it's gonna take the power of God. If we wanna see peace in Afghanistan, it'll take definitely God's power. We want to see Christians spared their lives. It's going to take the power of God. We want to see politicians stop being politicians and seeking God's face. It's going to take God's power to change their hearts. We've got a connection to that power. That connection which we have is prayer. We can call upon God anytime we like. He never sleeps, He never slumbers. You realize the source of power that you're connected to is to the Creator of the whole universe. He hears our prayers and He hears our cries. He knows our needs in our darkest times. What happens with Nehemiah's prayer It sharpens his vision and it broadens his vision. It puts things in the right perspective and it shrinks his anxieties. Let me tell you, if you pray and you have a relationship with God, what it can do with you is broaden your vision, sharpen your vision, And also your anxieties will lighten. We are living in a time where there is much anxiety amongst many people. God can give peace in the midst of a storm. He can put those anxieties to rest. Your prayer life, my prayer life, shapes your life. How you pray, how often you pray, shapes how you live your life. In Nehemiah chapter 1, I want you to notice in the Word of God how what is actually one of the key factors in this particular prayer, and it's also a key factor in our prayer life, what jump-starts our prayer life. I believe one of the number one things that jumpstarts a prayer life is having a big burden. When I texted Brother Steve the other day, I told him, you really know how to make me pray earnestly. He texted back and said he didn't really mean to, which I knew he didn't. But I want you to notice the burden, first off, with Nehemiah. Nehemiah's name means God comforts. And oh how we need God comforting today. I want you to notice in verse 1, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, and it came to pass in the month of Kislu in the 20th year as I was in Shushan the palace. that Hanani, one of my brethren, came he and certain men of Judah. And I asked him concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem." Now, Nehemiah, I want you to understand, he is a cupbearer. He's in the palace of the king. Look down in verse 11. Notice the very last line there, for I was the king's cupbearer. Nehemiah had a pretty good job. Whenever you get to live in the presence of royalty, that's a pretty good job. Whenever you live in a palace, I'd say that's a pretty good job. Nehemiah had that job, but it had its drawback. Nehemiah was the cupbearer. You know what that means? Everything the king drank, Nehemiah had to drink it first. In other words, if somebody's trying to knock off the king, they'll get the cupbearer first. So Nehemiah, his job had somewhat of a risk, humanly speaking, but God was looking after Nehemiah. But you gotta understand, he had a pretty good life living in a palace. He makes inquiry of Hanani, who had been to Jerusalem because Nehemiah's a Jew. And he wants to know how things are in Jerusalem. Hananiah has just come back, so he's asked concerning that. And so he gets a report concerning that. But I want you to notice something. Nehemiah had a concern for Jerusalem. He loved Jerusalem. He loved the land. Whether he'd been there or not, don't know. Don't think so. Don't think he'd ever been to Jerusalem because they'd been in captivity quite a while. Listen to what it says in the book of Jeremiah. In Jeremiah chapter 51 and verse 50, Jeremiah said this, you that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still, remember the Lord afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind. Nehemiah let Jerusalem come into his mind. He was mindful of his homeland and he was mindful of Jerusalem. Therefore, he's inquiring about it. So in verse 3, we get that response. They said unto me, as Nehemiah is saying, the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. Now to be in reproach means there is adversaries reproaching them. They are mocking them. They are making fun of them. They are hindering the work of God and therefore the walls have not been prepared. Notice it says, the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down and the gates thereof are burned with fire." They cannot do the work because people, their enemies, are reproaching them and they've got them in much affliction. In other words, they're kind of like living in a rubble. They're impoverished. They are put down. They're outnumbered. When Nehemiah hears this, I want you to notice Nehemiah's response in verse 4, and it came to pass when I had heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned certain days and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. Nehemiah is deeply affected from the report he gets from Hanani and those that went with him. What happens with Nehemiah here is kind of like what I mentioned this morning. He is compassion that is clothed. In other words, he has compassion for those that are left behind, the remnant that are living in rubble. And let me tell you, compassion desires to help. I want you to notice where this compassion started. It starts with the burden that he hears about his homeland. It has such a major effect upon him that he weeps. And the Word of God says he fasted and prayed, but notice what God's Word says there in verse 4. He fasted and prayed day and night. He didn't just have a short prayer, fasting for a few hours, and that was it. It deeply affected him that night, the next day, the next night. It affected him for probably a few months to the point that he is fasting and praying and weeping. Let's pause here for a moment and let's spiritualize this text just a little bit. As you think about Jerusalem being in shambles, and it caused such a major effect upon Nehemiah, could it be possible your life is in shambles? If your life is in shambles, would it cause such an effect, like even with Nehemiah, where you would weep and fast and pray and seek God's face? Nehemiah is deeply affected, there is no doubt. But he knows before he can rebuild those walls, God's got to work. Before the walls are rebuilt, you've got to have a burden. Before people's lives can turn from sin, whether it's drugs, whether it's alcohol, whether it's Sex outside of marriage, no matter what it might be, before a life can be changed, there's got to be a burden upon that person. There's got to be a desire for change. Because if there's not a desire for change and all you do is rebuild, let me tell you, you're going to end back in the rubble. I've shared with you all before with one of the rescue missions that's in Lexington, I asked the one who started that rescue mission over his many years of history, what was his number one success story? And unfortunately he got real quiet. Now he's a godly man. Last I heard he was a member of a Baptist church. He plays videos of preachers. He's got those men constantly in the word. And he told me the name of one who he thought would be his best success story. That man, I worked with him. When he left there, he ended up in jail, back into drugs. You see, you cannot rebuild unless there's a burden, there's a change in the heart. You can make the outside of your life look good. You can make a pig look good, at least smell good, for a while, but eventually that pig is going to smell like a pig again, you know, because the heart's not changed. There's got to be a burden because of the rubble in your life. In verses 4-11, which is the remainder of the chapter, it basically shares with us what Nehemiah prayed. Now notice here, Nehemiah is starting with the right foundation. He has got a heavy burden upon him, such a heavy burden that it's affecting his life that he desires change in the situation. And notice how he addresses God. In verse 4 he says, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keeps covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments. What Nehemiah does, he reflects upon the character of who God is. This is how he first addresses God. He calls him by the name LORD, which is the word Yahweh or Jehovah. It's all capital letters that makes that Jehovah. And then he says, Jehovah or Yahweh God. The word God is Elohim. Now Yahweh is the covenant keeping God. He's calling upon the covenant keeping God, the one who has a relationship with his people. Who is the God of all gods, Elohim. Something really ironic, if you want to get into a little bit of a deep study, is the word Elohim. It ends with im and that's the plural form in the Hebrew. Here is God that Nehemiah is calling upon and he's calling him by his name Yahweh. He is the God of heaven. That means he is over all. Now remember who the boss of Nehemiah is in the physical world. It's King Artaxerxes. Now Nehemiah wants to go to Artaxerxes, that's what we see at the end of this prayer, because he's going to ask permission to go. But I want you to notice here, he does not take his matter to King Artaxerxes first. He goes to the highest throne. When we, as God's children, have a need, have a problem, have a burden, our first place we need to go is to the throne of God. We need to seek God's face before we seek man's face. Now, Artaxerxes was a great man back in that day and time. He was the Persian king. But what's that compared to God, who is over all? Who is what the Word of God says is great and terrible. God is great, and the Word of God says He is terrible. What does that mean, terrible? You think of something terrible, you think of something yucky. It's not talking about something yucky. It's talking about the greatness of God. And another word for terrible is awesome, awe-inspiring. In other words, causing fear. Having a reverential fear. Don't use the word awesome flippantly because the word awesome means to cause fear. God is an awesome God. If you remember the fear of the Lord, that's the beginning of wisdom. It's the beginning of coming to God and knowing God is knowing and fearing Him. Here, Nehemiah describes him as the awe-inspiring God who keeps covenant and keeps mercy with his people. As Nehemiah says that, he's talking about those who love him, those are the ones who are in covenant with him, those who keep his commandments, those are the ones who are in covenant with him. Not all Israel is Israel that says they are Israel. It's only those who love the Lord God and who keep his commandments. Did you get that? All these that say they were Israel, they're not all Israel, that is Israel. but it's those who love Him and keep His commandments. That's who He's in covenant with. Here, I want you to notice, because God is a covenant-keeping God and continually shows mercy, it shows that God is faithful. If God's gonna keep covenant, God is faithful. That means if God promises something that He said that He will do. God is truthful. What God said, it is truth. He doesn't change. If God is truth, and God is faithful to truth, that means you can trust God. What He says, that He will do. Nehemiah approaches God in prayer. Now you think about it, Nehemiah's gone to the greatest authority. He could have gone to Artaxerxes, but Artaxerxes is just an earthly king. He's really nothing compared to God Almighty. He's in the palace at Susa, but he's going to the throne of God in heaven. There's no comparison here. He knew God is able, and he knew God was willing to answer his prayer. But as he approaches God, and there's a sense and a reality of being in the presence of God when you pray, And what happens when you realize you're in the presence of Almighty God? I want you to notice what happens in Nehemiah's prayer. In verse 6, he says, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open. that you may hear the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you now, day and night." Notice a continual prayer. He keeps praying and asking. And he says, for the children of Israel, your servants. Because he's in the presence of God, he's asking God to hear. And the closer he draws to God, the more he sees the sinfulness of self and the sinfulness of Israel. Let me tell you, the closer you draw to God, the more you see your own sinfulness. So what that makes Nehemiah do, it causes him to confess his sins. And I want you to notice how he confesses because of this acute awareness of his sinfulness. He says, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee, both I and my Father's house have sinned. realizes his unworthiness for God to even answer his prayer. He knows God's able. He knows God's willing. But then he senses his unworthiness for God to hear his prayer. Nehemiah identifies with his people. I want you to notice the intensity of this prayer. Nehemiah says, We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which you commanded your servant Moses. In other words, Nehemiah is saying, the children of Israel, and I am included with them, have broken your law. We've offended a holy and righteous God. He's praying day and night. Israel's sins were Nehemiah's sins. Let's bring this forward to 2021. The sins of our nation, they're our sins. The sins of the ungodly, Nehemiah identified with the sins of the ungodly. and he confesses them. You know what? It's easy to blame others. Well, they're sinners. They don't know the Lord. It's easy to point your finger and blame somebody else. But it's a whole different ballgame when you say, I'm part of the problem. You can point at somebody, you know that old saying, there's three pointing right back at me, to confess sin is entering into prayer at a whole different level. It means you're agreeing with a holy and righteous God that you've offended Him. Listen to what the Word of God says over in the book of Proverbs. In Proverbs 28, and down in verse 13, the Word of God says, he that covers his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesses and forsakes them shall find mercy or have mercy. To confess means to agree with God that you have sinned. If you confess your sin, the Word of God says, and forsake them, you will have mercy. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Isn't that good news? Nehemiah's praying here, and I want you to notice how he's praying. He addresses God according to his character of who he is, and he confesses his sins because he senses his unworthiness and his sinfulness, and he identifies with his people. But what he does, he prays God's Word back to him. In this prayer, he uses God's Word to pray the word back to God. And notice what he says in verse 8. Remember, what does he, like God forgets. God don't forget. This is Nehemiah's expression in prayer. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that you commanded, your servant Moses saying, if you transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. Isn't that what happened? They're in Babylon. They're scattered. Jerusalem's destroyed. It's demolished. It's rubble. Remember, you said you were going to do that, Lord. Matter of fact, you can look back in Deuteronomy 4, verse 25. God promised he'd do it. Leviticus 26, verse 33. God said he was going to do exactly that. Remember. That's the past is what he's pointing to. It's happened. Nehemiah is quoting God's Word. But here's a part of God's Word that God has not fulfilled. And so Nehemiah prays the next part. In verse 9 he says, But if you turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and I will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. I will bring them back, is what God said. It's not happened. So what is Nehemiah doing? He's claiming God's Word, what God has promised because he knows God is faithful, what God says that he will do. So he's praying the Word of God. He's claiming the promises of God. Nehemiah says, now these are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand." Lord, we are your people. Will you bring us back? Nehemiah is so consumed with this, so burdened with this, he's praying day and night, that he's willing to even sacrifice himself for God to accomplish this. Notice in verse 11, O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to my prayer, or the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who desire to fear thy name and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, grant him mercy in the sight of this man. What's Nehemiah praying? He's gonna go before Artaxerxes and he's going to request to go back to Jerusalem to build the walls. So he's asking God to show mercy through Artaxerxes. And he gives the reason why, for I was the king's cupbearer. I want you to notice here Nehemiah's prayer. He's so involved in it and he progresses with that prayer. He addresses God, then he ceases sinfulness, but then he claims God's promises. And then he's willing to do whatever God desires of him. Even if it means leaving a palace, that plush luxury living, to go to a rubble and work by the sweat of his hands and build that wall again. Now you know what? Nehemiah knows God's able. He knows God's willing. He knows God's Word. Therefore, he claimed God's Word. I want you to listen to a promise we have over in the book of 1 John. In 1 John, and I want to close with this, down in chapter 5, And over in verse 14, 1 John chapter 5 and verse 14, the Word of God says this is the confidence. The word confidence means boldness. This is the boldness that we have in Him. Here's the boldness we have in God that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. Now this is a not, not a name it, claim it verse like some people would try to teach you. Notice what God's Word says. We've got boldness in Christ that if we ask anything according to His will... Let's stop right there. How do we know the will of God? Is it because God, we know God wants us to be prosperous and healthy and this, that? No, no, no, no, no. How do we know the will of God? Because we know God wants us to be happy and feel, no, no, no, no, no. How do you know the will of God? It only comes from knowing the word of God. That was Nehemiah's key in his prayer getting answered. He knew God's word. He knew God's promises. Here is the importance of getting in the Word of God that you can pray the Word of God. And you know what? You pray in His will then. When you can pray God's Word, you can pray God's will. But let me tell you, if you get outside of the Word, it becomes subjective. There are things we do not know. that are not in God's Word, therefore it becomes very subjective. Let me give you an example. Whenever someone's sick, and it's not like it is in our day and time, but whenever somebody was sick and I'd visit them in the hospital, I would pray for God to raise them up and heal them. Now that I have assurance that God would raise them up and heal them, I can't say that. I must say God's will be done. We do not believe a name and claim it. If it is God's will, God will raise them up. And that's what we pray. We pray for healing, but we want to pray in the will of God. There are some things we don't know how to pray as we ought. but the Spirit of God Himself makes intercessions for us. His Spirit intercedes. The Lord knows our hearts and our desires. Is God able? Yes, God's able. Is it according to His will? We must line it up with His Word. Nehemiah's prayer is a good example of how we, as God's people, should be praying. And when you have a burden and you're a child of God and you're praying, and you desire God's will, let me tell you something, if you sincerely desire it, and you're praying night and day, you will offer yourself to God to do whatever it takes to bring glory to His name and accomplish His will. That's where Nehemiah is at. Are you there this evening? Are you willing to do whatever it takes to do God's will? We're going to offer a hymn of invitation. And if there are things you need to make right with God, we encourage you, you make right with God during this invitation. Let us stand and go to the Lord in prayer. Our Father in heaven, we approach your throne of grace, and it is a throne of grace, a place where we can obtain mercy and grace in time of need. And Lord, we are a needy people. We stand in need of you. We stand in need of your mercies. Lord, we stand in need of your healing and your power to work in our lives. So, Lord, we surrender ourselves to you. We must say, even like with Nehemiah, Lord, we have sinned as a people, as a nation, against a holy and righteous God. We've not spoken up when we should have spoken, We've been silent. Lord, we ask that you forgive us. We pray that righteousness would reign and your will would be done on earth, even as it's done in heaven. Even so come, Lord Jesus, for Christ's sake. Amen.