That last verse said or prayed really, so spirit come, put strength in every stride, give grace for every hurdle that we may run with faith to win the prize of a servant good and faithful. But I wonder if you experience the words of that song, of that last verse as a real reality in your life. I wonder, do you feel the Spirit putting strength in your every stride or do you wish that you felt more of God's power and his strength in your life? Do you wish that you had a more faithful and fruitful prayer life? wish that you experienced a more fruitful and real relationship with God in your day-to-day life. Well, this book, the book of Nehemiah, provides us with the story of a man who did, who did enjoy a fruitful relationship with God. who did know what it was to walk with God and to enjoy a fruitful prayer life. That man was Nehemiah, the son of Hakaliah. If you're not familiar with the history of the time in which Nehemiah was born, Nehemiah was a Jew in Babylon in roughly 400, 450 BC. He was probably not one of the Jews who had been physically taken captive from Jerusalem but he was one of the children of those who had been carried captive away from Jerusalem by the empire of Babylon. You'll remember how God kept warning his people that if they didn't turn back to him he would judge them and they would be scattered from the land which he had given them and that eventually happened when King Nebuchadnezzar came and invaded the land of Judah and he carried the people captive into Babylon. And they were there for the best part of 70 years. In fact, 70 years they were captive in Babylon. And eventually God worked in the heart of King Cyrus, who was the new Persian king who took over the Babylonian Empire. And he worked in Cyrus' heart to allow the Jews to return to their promised land. And some of them did. Not all of them, sadly, but a large number of them returned back to Jerusalem. But Nehemiah was working in Shushan, the citadel, the capital city of the new Persian Empire. And he was working as the king's cupbearer. And he had not returned back to Jerusalem. But one day, he is visited by his cousin, Hanani. Or at least one of his, it says one of his brethren. That could be his actual brother or from his extended family. And Hanani had returned back to Jerusalem. But he comes back to visit Nehemiah, and Nehemiah asks him of news of Judah, of Jerusalem, of the homeland. And Hakelai tells him in verse three of Nehemiah chapter one, the survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned with fire. Now the captives had returned, They had rebuilt the temple. You can read about that in the book of Ezra, in the book of Zechariah and Haggai. They'd rebuilt the temple, but the walls of Jerusalem remained broken down and its gates burned with fire. And the people were still in a poor way. They were nothing like the nation under Solomon or under David or any of the great kings of old. They were kind of ragtag, people in a city with its walls broken down. And did you notice Nehemiah's reaction when he hears this news? Look at verse four. It says, so it was when I heard these words that I sat down and wept and mourned for many days. I was fasting and praying before the gods of heaven. Nehemiah breaks down when he hears this devastating news that the city of Jerusalem is not even a shadow of the city it was in the past. Although the captives have returned, it has not truly been restored as it should have been. And he is devastated by this news. And he says, I fasted and prayed before God in heaven. And we get to listen in to his prayer in this chapter. We hear what he prayed to God. And what I'd like to do this morning is see what lessons we can learn from Nehemiah's prayer. What we can learn from what Nehemiah prayed, because one of the great advantages we have reading this story is that we don't only get the prayer itself, We also get to see the answer. to Nehemiah's prayer, and that really is going to be what this series is about as we go through week by week, God willing. We will see how God worked in response to the prayer and prayers of Nehemiah. We didn't read this, but if you were to read on to verse, the end of chapter two, And in this chapter, we see the beginnings of the answers of Nehemiah's prayer. But in verse 18 of Nehemiah chapter 2, Nehemiah says that he told them, that's the people of Jerusalem, of the hand of my God, which had been good upon me. And then at the end of the chapter, verse 20, Nehemiah says, the God of heaven himself will prosper us. We see all the way through this book how God heard the prayer of Nehemiah. That's what I mean by a fruitful relationship with God. Not one where we just speak to God in a kind of ritualistic way and say words to him. but God actually answers our prayers in a real and tangible way. So what I'd like to do is look at this prayer and see what we can learn from it for our own prayers and for our own prayer life. But before we look at the words of the prayer, I just want to draw your attention to what I've already just mentioned. You remember Nehemiah's reaction when he heard this news that the city of Jerusalem was broken down and its city gates burned with fire. And notice Nehemiah is grieved by this news. He's so grieved that he fasts and prays for many days. We've been told that he sat down and wept. He was moved by the plight of God's people. This teaches us something about Nehemiah right at the start, before he's even prayed. Nehemiah had a heart for God's and for God's desires. God's desires were Nehemiah's desires, at least in this area. That's a good question to ask ourselves sometimes whenever we're sad. Perhaps we've all, like Nehemiah, sat down and wept on occasion. And when those occasions happen, it's good to ask ourselves, perhaps afterwards when we are feeling better, to ask ourselves why. Why were we grieved? Were we grieved by something which makes God sad as well? Or were we sad merely because of something that makes us sad alone? The things which make us happy and the things which make us sad reveal a lot about our hearts. It reveals a lot about what our priorities are in life. And let's be honest, Our priorities in life aren't always good. They aren't always holy. They aren't always righteous. Very often they can be very selfish. We can grow frustrated when life doesn't go the way we wanted it to. When we get stuck in traffic or when someone insults us or whatever it might be. And the truth is often Our joys and our sorrows can be centered around our kingdom and our glory, not God's kingdom, not God's glory. But here we see Nehemiah, at least in this instance, probably not in every area of his life, but at least in this area, Nehemiah is moved by things which moved the heart of God as well. Nehemiah isn't just thinking of himself, He's thinking of the people of God and thinking of them in their terrible state, devastated state back in the land of Judah. And the reason I emphasize that is that it's important to understand this important principle in prayer. If we want our prayers to be heard, we need to get on the same page as God. I don't know if you ever read the story Five Children and It. It was written by E. Nesbitt I think in the 19th century perhaps. There's about five children who find a sand fairy in a quarry, I think. And this sand fairy can grant wishes. And these children are initially thrilled by this knowledge, and as you can imagine, being children, they ask for all sorts of things which backfire on them in the end. They ask for their heart's desire, and they realize too late that what they ask for isn't always wise. And the sand fairy, the Samiad as he's called in the book, grants them their requests to teach them to ask better, to ask more wisely. Now I hesitate to say God is anything like a sand fairy, but there is one similarity at least. The similarity is that we can so often be like those children. We can ask God for things, things which we want and things which we desire, but we've never entered the heart of God, which actually can harm us more than help us. And God in his wisdom sometimes says no, because he knows better than we do what is good for us. Sometimes, I believe he says yes to some foolish prayers we ask to teach us the foolishness of that prayer like a wise parent. So that's the first principle I just want to draw to your attention. Nehemiah, when he prays this prayer, he's praying with a heart full of God's desires and God's wishes and God's will. And isn't that what Christ himself taught us to pray? How did he start the Lord's Prayer? He said, pray this way. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Our prayers should be first and foremost concerned with the desires of God. And when it is, we can have great confidence in prayer. That's what the Apostle John taught in 1 John chapter 5 verses 14 and 15. He says, now this is the confidence that we have in him, that we have in Christ. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of him. John says this is where confidence in prayer comes from. This is where strong, bold, confident prayer comes from. When our desires match God desires. when we want what God wants as well. And that's the spirit in which Nehemiah prays his prayer now. So what I'd like to do in the rest of our time this morning is just look at this prayer and just see what lessons we can learn for our own prayer life as we listen in to what Nehemiah prays to God. I've just got four simple points and you can see them written in your service sheet as well just in case you lose track. But the first one, is Nehemiah is confident that God is both great and gracious. Look at verse 5. Nehemiah says, I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and mercy with those who love you and observe your commandments, please 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 for the children of Israel, your servants. First thing Nehemiah does is acknowledge the goodness and the greatness and the mercy of God. You know, one of the reasons we don't pray as we should is because we don't realize how good and great God is. We don't pray because we're not confident that God can answer or that God will answer. But the lesson here is that God is great, so he can answer. And God is good, so he will answer if we pray aright, if we pray with the right, humble spirit. God wants to hear our prayers. He wants to do us good. I don't know if you've ever pondered that thought. Just ponder it now, this morning. God wants to do you good. God wants to bless you. The Bible says that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth For those, he can show his grace too. God is looking for people to show his goodness too. Now, as I said earlier, sometimes what is good for us isn't always what we expect to be good for us. But that doesn't mean it's not good. And God loves us better than any parent has ever loved their child. And God is eager to do us good. He wants us to flourish. He wants us to grow. He wants to shower his love on us. Do you remember this parable of the prodigal son? Of course you do. It's probably the most famous parable there is. But what did the father do in that parable when his son had run away, his son had left, when it insulted him greatly by taking the inheritance early and going into a far country and behaving in a way that his father hated? But we're told that when the father saw his son returning, he ran down the street and embraced his son, who at this point was smelling of pig and whatever else he had been up to on his journey back. The father embraced him. We're even told that the father was there looking for him, looking for his return. That gives us a sense of the goodness and the love and the mercy of God. He is, as it were, looking for you to return to him. He is, if I can put this reverently, standing by the phone, waiting for your call. He wants to hear your voice and he wants to do you good. And that is the first thing that Nehemiah acknowledges in this prayer. He says, I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, you who keep your covenant and mercy with those who love you and observe your commandments, please let your ear be attentive and your ears open that you may hear the prayer of your servant. He clings to the grace and the mercy of God. and he's confident that God will hear him. So that's the first lesson from this prayer. Remind us, we should remind ourselves, remind yourself, I should remind myself of the goodness and grace of God. But the second thing that we learn from this prayer is that Nehemiah acknowledges that he is a sinner. He acknowledges that he is a sinner. Notice what he says in verses 6 and 7. I'll read again from the beginning of verse 6. Nehemiah says, the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against you, both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which you commanded your servant Moses. Nehemiah admits that he individually and the nation as a whole are not what they should be. It might be that he is in part referring back to the fact that the nation as a whole, and he as an individual, has not returned back to Jerusalem like they should. Their heart, as it were, is still in Babylon. and they have not gone back to the land of Judah, at least not in the numbers that they should have done. And it's partly that which Nehemiah is acknowledging in this prayer. He's also acknowledging what took them to Babylon in the first place, their rejection of God and their refusal to listen to what he had to say. And he admits it to God. Interestingly, that's the first thing the prodigal son did as well, when he returned back to his father in Jesus' parable. What was the first thing he said? He said, Father, I confess towards heaven, oh no, I confess to you before God that I have sinned in your sight. Worse to affect, I garbled that, but it's the worst that affects. He confesses his sin to the father. And we see that pattern here in Nehemiah as well. He admits his sin. He admits he is not what he should be. That's all that confession really is. Confession is simply admitting what God already knows anyway. It's saying the same thing as God. That's what the word confess means, to say the same thing as, in this case, saying the same thing as God. And we find that so difficult sometimes. We find it so difficult to come to terms with what we are. We want to hide what we are. We want to hide our deceit, hide our arrogance, hide our greed and pretend it's not there. And we don't really so often want to admit what we are. Sometimes people are very happy to admit that we are great sinners. We're terrible people in a broad general sense, but the moment you accuse them of being a liar, they'll be defensive. They will defend themselves vigorously. The moment you point out that they're being greedy or selfish, they get offended. Because confession isn't just kind of broad generality saying, yes, we're not perfect, nobody is. This confession is about acknowledging honestly before God our deepest failings, our deepest weakness. That's what confessing is. It's standing before God naked, as it were, and saying, I am what I am. Please forgive me. Please wash me. And of course the wonderful news in the Bible, the wonderful good news, is that although we aren't what we should be, we can be accepted through Christ. All God wants is us to have the honesty to come to him and admit that we need his help. and to turn from those sins and turn to him like a sick person turning to the doctor for a remedy. And that's what Nehemiah does here. He admits, he acknowledges that he is not what he should be. That's the second thing we learn from this prayer. As we come to God, we need to acknowledge who we are. God is great and good. But we, in many ways, are flawed. We are sinners. And we need to acknowledge that to God. That leads to the third thing we learn from this prayer. We've learned that God, Nehemiah acknowledges that God is good and gracious. He acknowledges that he is a sinner. But thirdly, he reminds God, if that's the right word, that God has made promises. Look at verse eight. Nehemiah says, remember, I pray, the word that you commanded your servant Moses saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest parts of the heaven, yet I will gather them from there and bring them to the place which I've chosen as a dwelling for my name. Nehemiah reminds God of his promises. This is the third key for good fruitful prayer. Root your prayers in the promises of God. Don't merely pray for what you want, although we are free to do that, but go to God's word and claim his promises. of an illustration which I think I've used before of a rich businessman who was walking in a street and he saw a poor beggar in the road, a homeless beggar and this businessman was very rich and he had compassion on this beggar and he wrote for him a cheque. He wrote for him a cheque. I don't know what bank account he did it to, but it's an illustration. Don't go into the details. But he wrote him a cheque for enough money to get this man back on his feet. And he gave the cheque to the beggar, and the beggar was overjoyed at the generosity and the gift of this businessman. But a few weeks later, that same businessman was walking down that same street and saw that same beggar. in exactly the same position, if not worse, than he was before. And he went to him and he said, I gave you enough money to get you back on your feet. You don't need to still be here. But all the beggar did was bring out the pristine cheque that he had kept safely in his pocket. It was spotless, without any crease or dirt at all. And with beaming pride, he showed it to the businessman to show him how well he had kept the cheque. And so often, that's what we can be like with gut. The Bible tells us that God has given us many great and precious promises in his word, and we can sort of pay lip service to that and talk about the wonders of God's word, but we don't claim the check. We don't claim the blessings of the promises that God has given to us. He's given us wonderful promises, such as, sin will not have dominion over you. What that means is, is that if we're battling a particular temptation, if there's a particular sin we keep falling into, God has promised to give us all the resources we need to battle that sin. Now, the battle will continue all through this life, but we have the weapons we need to combat any sin that we are faced with, no matter how deep-seated. That is a precious promise in God's words. We have that promise, which we've already read, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. we can have a great confidence in prayer when we claim the promises of God as Nehemiah does here. He reminds God that God did say that if the people rejected him and ignored him and ignored his instructions, he would cast them out into the nations away from the promised land. But Nehemiah reminds God that he also promised that if they returned to him, if they came back to him, he would bring them from the farthest corners. And so Nehemiah, he claims that promise and he says, I'm coming back to you now. I'm returning to you like that prodigal son. Please hear my prayer and keep your promise. That's a powerful prayer in our lips. That is a powerful prayer in the ears of God. Perhaps you yourself have wandered away from God. Perhaps your walk with God has grown stale. Perhaps you have allowed weeds to come into your life, sins to grow where they were not before. Perhaps you've never come in the first place. Well, remember the promise that we saw last week, last Sunday evening. Jesus said, he who comes to me, I will by no means cast out. You can come back to Christ. You can come back to him and he will not cast you out. Claim the promises of God. That's the third key to fruitful prayer. claiming the promises of God in his words. But the fourth and last lesson from this prayer of Nehemiah can be seen particularly in verse 11. But really it's throughout the whole prayer. So I don't know if you picked up on a word which Nehemiah repeats again and again in this prayer. He says it seven or eight times. That word is servant. Time and time again, Nehemiah acknowledges that he is God's servant. Look particularly at verse 10 and 11. Nehemiah says, now these are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. Oh Lord, I pray, please let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who desire to fear your name. And let your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man, meaning the king. I think it's four times. if not five times, four or five times, he says in that prayer, I am your servant. Nehemiah is acknowledging that he is a servant of God. God is not a servant of him. That's a huge mistake we often make in prayer. We treat prayer like we are talking to God as our servant, rather than coming to God in prayer as his servants. Reminds me of an illustration of different ways of viewing prayer. And I heard someone say once that many people view the Christian life as like life on a cruise ship. If you've been on a cruise ship, you know that the staff there are there to serve you, to some extent at least. They're there to give you a good time. You've paid your money, and you are enjoying the cruise as a holiday. And in that sense, those on the staff on that cruise ship, those of that cruise ship company, are your servants. But that's not the picture we should have of the Christian life. Christian life is not like a cruise ship. The Christian life is like a battleship. And those on a battleship aren't being served, they are serving. They have a mission to accomplish. And Christ has given a mission to us to go into all the world and share Christ with all nations. By our words and by our lives, we're to show what Christ is like, who he is and what he has done. And that is the mission he has given to us. And prayer is a tool to help us on that mission. Prayer is not for the means of just making our life easier. Prayer is not like someone on a cruise ship just asking for another cocktail or another drink or another whatever. That's not what prayer should be. Prayer is like a soldier on the field with a walkie talkie asking for more reinforcements, asking for more strength, asking for help when the battle is fierce. That is what prayer should be. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that we can't share our heart with God. Even soldiers on a battlefield need comfort at times and need encouragement at times. We can share our heart with God, but we mustn't forget that we are on a mission. And God is eager to help us as we seek to fulfil that mission. And that is exactly what Nehemiah is praying here. He's saying to God, I want to help restore your kingdom. I want to help build your kingdom. Literally, in his case, with bricks and mortar. That's the story of Nehemiah. He will go back to Jerusalem and he will rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But he does it because he understands that he is God's servant and God is not his. And those four reasons, amongst others, are the reasons why Nehemiah's prayer is heard, and Nehemiah's prayer is fruitful. So I hope those thoughts are helpful to us. Again, if you're walking or stumbling, shall I say, in your Christian life, and you don't feel like your prayer life is fruitful, you don't feel like your Christian walk is fruitful, Perhaps you need to go back to God as Nehemiah did. Remind yourself of his goodness and his grace. Acknowledge that you need God's grace because you are a sinner. Claim God's promises and acknowledge afresh that you are God's servant and you want to do what he requires. If we do that sincerely, we will see answers to prayer as Nehemiah did. And over the next few weeks, trust me, we'll see how God answered Nehemiah's prayer in lots of different ways. But let's close now by singing our final hymn, number 388. 388, and it's really a hymn which is for the whole of this series, but particularly based on what we've looked at this morning. Number 388, Lord, teach us how to pray aright with reverence and with fear, though dust and ashes in thy sight we may, we must draw near. So let's stand to sing in closing, 388. ♪ May arise with reverence and with fear ♪ ♪ For dust and ashes in Thy sight ♪ ♪ Remain with us for years ♪ ♪ We perish if we cease from prayer ♪ ♪ Who runs us far to pray ♪ ♪ And when, to me, thee we're led ♪ ♪ Who leads us by the way ♪ ♪ When, with guilt, we're led by the way ♪ In weakness, want, and woe, Fighting to help them feel it in, Lord, with us shall we go. Grace we bow to Thee, with open, long-tried hearts. Give of Thy life, dear and still still, to give Thee in world our thanks. The essence of a place or a way. I shall desire in confidence to hear thy voice that way. The only sacrifice, let the poor sinners know. To cast out, to fix our eyes on Christ, on Christ, on Christ. Patience to watch and wait and weep, loneliness beyond delay. Courage of fainting souls, still here and trusted of us. and then thy will be done, all strength and with thy might. Be by thy Spirit when thy Son shall break and break again.