“As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.” Nehemiah 1:4 ESV
The book of Nehemiah in the Bible is one of those books that really encourages me, but also massively challenges me. In the first chapter we read about how Nehemiah is told of the great trouble and shame in Jerusalem, how the walls are broken down and the gates destroyed by fire. Jerusalem, the city of peace, is out of sync with its true identity and instead finds itself as a city of devastation totally exposed to the enemy. When these words hit the ears of the cupbearer he sits down, weeps, mourns for days, fasts and prays before His God. Such was the devastating blow of this news that he was literally knocked off his feet! Nehemiah’s life was forever changed that day! In this short dialogue with his brothers, the direction of his days completely changed as he then began to strategically lay the foundations in prayer before a physical brick was ever lifted.
Foundations first = Prioritising prayer!
As you look at your own society today, what do you see? What are your brothers telling you about the devastation of the land? And more importantly, what is your response to what you see and hear? This is the challenge for us all today and if we take it seriously it has the power to totally change the direction of our own days!
Friends, in these days, we the church, the Body of Christ, must be laying the foundations in prayer for a better country than what we see and hear about today.
We must HONOUR the Lord for He is God.
We must HUMBLE ourselves and pray and fast.
We must HEAR from heaven and respond appropriately, making the most of the opportunities that He gives us so that we can see our families, communities, towns, cities, counties and country restored.
It is only then that we will HAVE a city of peace in our midst! This was Nehemiah’s experience and it can be ours too. With God all things are possible so let’s continue to believe that the foundations we are currently laying, or will start to lay, will result in supernatural transformation in our land.
Dear Lord, we thank You this day that You are God, sovereign over all. Open our eyes so that we might see. Open our ears so that we might hear. Open our hearts so that we might respond in humility and love and see Your Kingdom come. Help us Lord we pray for Your Name’s sake. Amen.