Gospel Reading Plan: Luke 5-6
Prayer and Action
Read: Nehemiah 2, 4, 6:15-16
Some people pray regularly, others go around doing good activities
without much thought for prayer. The
problem is that these two activities, prayer and action, were never meant to be
isolated from each other. Prayer and
action go hand in hand. Nehemiah understood
this principle. We saw yesterday that
praying, fasting, weeping and mourning was his immediate reaction to the news
about Jerusalem. Today we see how God
placed a plan in his heart and when the right opportunity came, he was willing
to be part of the solution. Nehemiah was
prayerful in his interaction with the King (Neh. 2:4), but he was also willing
to speak and willing to make a move. The
king granted his request to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. But that wasn’t the end of prayer and action
working together. The entire process of
rebuilding the walls wasn’t easy, enemies ridiculed him and they were in so
much danger that they posted guards day and night. Nehemiah kept building and praying. The prayer was backed with action and the
action backed by prayer. The people grew
tired but Nehemiah did not get discouraged. He encouraged the people to
remember their great and awesome God.
Half the people worked while the other half stood guard. Each time enemies tried to intimidate them,
Nehemiah took it to God in prayer and they kept building. God strengthened the people and they
completed the work in 52 days, a work that could only have been done with the
help of the Lord. There was no
rebuilding of the walls without hard work and prayer. It’s the same with our lives; it takes hard
work and prayer to grow in God. Action
and prayer are both required.
PRAYER AND MEDITATION
- What is the balance of prayer and action in your life? Ask the Lord to show you how they relate to each other in your life.
- Ask the Lord about a particular situation in your life that you have been praying about. What action steps is He asking you to take?
- Ask the Lord to strengthen you, to fill you up and to encourage you to keep pressing on.
