Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Nehemiah 1 - 4 Ways to Have Effective, Biblical, and Powerful Prayers

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Nehemiah 1 - 4 Ways to Have Effective, Biblical, and Powerful Prayers · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio, How doy there faith for listeners, Welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible Explained Podcast as usual. I am so happy
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  Speaker 1: that all of you guys are here on a Monday
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  Speaker 1: morning to share a delicious cup of coffee with me
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  Speaker 1: and also reading the Bible with me. It's a great
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  Speaker 1: way to start the week out nice and strong. And
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  Speaker 1: actually we're starting in a brand new book of the Bible. Today.
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  Speaker 1: We're going to be in Namiyah chapter one, reading this
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  Speaker 1: entire thing and getting to the bottom of who Niamaiyah was,
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  Speaker 1: why he's praying this beautiful prayer to God, and also
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  Speaker 1: what the Book of Namiyah is broadly about. So mostly
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  Speaker 1: today's topic is going to be about prayer and how
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  Speaker 1: to have more biblical and more powerful prayers, because I
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  Speaker 1: think a lot of times, you know, here in the West,
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  Speaker 1: we struggle with reverence, and we struggle with praying and
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  Speaker 1: not just asking for everything that we want. Because when
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  Speaker 1: you look at the prayers biblically, whether you're looking in
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  Speaker 1: the Psalms or you're looking in Namayah or the Judges
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  Speaker 1: or even be our Father prayer, there's so much reverence
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  Speaker 1: to bring forward. And there's a lot of things that
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  Speaker 1: I think we do not do in our day to
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  Speaker 1: day prayer life that I think we can implement to
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  Speaker 1: have more biblical and more powerful prayers. So that is
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  Speaker 1: what we're going to talk about today, right after this
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  Speaker 1: quick message from one of my sponsors. Okay, so let's
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  Speaker 1: turn to Niamiyah, the brand new book of the Bible.
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  Speaker 1: I'll be reading the entire chapter Niamiyah one as usual
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  Speaker 1: from the web version, but of course you guys feel
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  Speaker 1: free to read out of the version that you prefer.
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  Speaker 1: Grab your cup of joe to share with me as
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  Speaker 1: we read it. Niamiah one together the words of Namiyah,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Acalia. Now in the month Keysliff, in
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  Speaker 1: the twentieth year, as I was in the Susa palace, Hanani,
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  Speaker 1: one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out
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  Speaker 1: of Judah, and I asked them about the Jews who
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  Speaker 1: had escaped, who are left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: They said to me, the remnants who are left of
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  Speaker 1: the captivity there in the province are in great affliction
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  Speaker 1: and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down,
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  Speaker 1: and its gates are burned with fire. When I heard
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  Speaker 1: these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for
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  Speaker 1: several days. And I fasted and prayed before the God
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  Speaker 1: of Heaven, and I said, I beg you Yahweh, the
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  Speaker 1: God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps
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  Speaker 1: covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and
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  Speaker 1: keep his commandments. Let your ear now be attentive and
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  Speaker 1: your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer
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  Speaker 1: of your servant, which I have prayed before you at
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  Speaker 1: this time, day and night, for the children of Israel,
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  Speaker 1: your servants. While I confess the sins of the children
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  Speaker 1: of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Yes, I
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  Speaker 1: and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very
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  Speaker 1: corruptly against you, and have not kept the commandments, nor
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  Speaker 1: the statutes, nor the ordinances which you commanded your servant, Moses. Remember,
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  Speaker 1: I beg you the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying,
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  Speaker 1: if you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples.
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  Speaker 1: But if you return to me and keep my commandments
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  Speaker 1: and do them. Though your outcasts were in the uttermost
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  Speaker 1: part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from
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  Speaker 1: there and will bring them to the place that I
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  Speaker 1: have chosen to cause my name to dwell there. Now
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  Speaker 1: these are your servants and your people, whom you have
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  Speaker 1: redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. Lord,
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  Speaker 1: I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to
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  Speaker 1: the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of
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  Speaker 1: your servants who delight to fear your name. And please
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  Speaker 1: prosper your servant today, and grant him mercy in the
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  Speaker 1: sight of this man. Now I was cut bearer to
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  Speaker 1: the king. So this is the Book of Nehemiah. And
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  Speaker 1: chronologically speaking, this is the last book in the Old Testament.
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  Speaker 1: It is the last recorded events before we move into
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  Speaker 1: the New Testament. Even though Niemiah was written hundreds of
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  Speaker 1: years before Jesus was even born. Still these are the
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  Speaker 1: last recorded events in the Old Testament. And this is
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  Speaker 1: the story of the Israelites re building the walls of Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: The Book of Ezra, on the other hand, the one
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  Speaker 1: we just finished, was focusing on the spiritual aspects of
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  Speaker 1: Israel and the people coming back into the land and
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  Speaker 1: rebuilding the temple. Now Niamiyah is focusing on the political
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  Speaker 1: and physical aspects of rebuilding the Jerusalem Wall. And the
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  Speaker 1: wall was very necessary. This was something that protected all
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  Speaker 1: of the people in Jerusalem. This was something that showed
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem was becoming its own city once again, because if
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  Speaker 1: the wall was getting rebuilt, that meant that the city
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  Speaker 1: also was being rebuilt and growing and flourishing once again.
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  Speaker 1: So Niamiyah obviously has a heart for his people, and
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  Speaker 1: you can see that based upon this first chapter. But
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  Speaker 1: before we delve into it, a little backstory on Niamiyah.
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  Speaker 1: He was the cup bearer to the king, specifically King
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  Speaker 1: art Exerxes, the same king that allowed Ezra to go
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  Speaker 1: back into Jerusalem and gave Ezra a ton of power.
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  Speaker 1: This is the same guy that Niemiah is cup bear
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  Speaker 1: or for. So Niamayah being cup bear would have had
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  Speaker 1: to be very smart. He would have had to be
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  Speaker 1: knowledgeable in court etiquette. He would have had to always
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  Speaker 1: have a kind look on his face when he offered
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  Speaker 1: the delicious wines to the king. He would have had
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  Speaker 1: to be like a wine connoisseur. He was almost like
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  Speaker 1: the king's personal bartender, so he probably knew a lot
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  Speaker 1: of the king's secrets. He was probably a confidant of
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  Speaker 1: the king, and he could have been a eunuch as well.
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  Speaker 1: Because we do know that cup bears, if they were
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  Speaker 1: in the presence of the king's harem, which they very
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  Speaker 1: well could have been, oftentimes the kings would castrate their
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  Speaker 1: cup bearers and servants so that they weren't tempted by
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  Speaker 1: the harem or by the queen or anything along that line.
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  Speaker 1: So Niamiyah historically could have been a eunuch, since that
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  Speaker 1: is something that is not uncommon, especially for these days
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  Speaker 1: in Persian history. But because scripture never mentions him as
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  Speaker 1: being a eunuch, most people think that he actually wasn't
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  Speaker 1: that he was fully inact, because somebody at some point
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  Speaker 1: in time probably would have mentioned it to Nehemiah that
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  Speaker 1: he was a eunuch, because that was not something looked
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  Speaker 1: at very favorably, especially in Israel at the time, because
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  Speaker 1: you know Israel, they were very focused on a circumcision
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  Speaker 1: and being intact and you know, being healthy, being well,
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  Speaker 1: and so eunis did not have a very high standing,
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  Speaker 1: I guess in Israelite society at this point. So whether
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  Speaker 1: or not he was a eunuch, nobody really knows. Could
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  Speaker 1: be historically, but since it doesn't stay in scripture, we
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  Speaker 1: can't say for sure. But Niamiah was very concerned for
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  Speaker 1: the fate of the Israelite people. So it says right
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  Speaker 1: here in the month keys live in the twentieth year,
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  Speaker 1: I was in the Susa Palace. Okay, so that means
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  Speaker 1: the twentieth year of art Exerxes's reign. So this would
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  Speaker 1: have been about let me see here, I didn't do
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  Speaker 1: the math. Yeah, thirteen years after Ezra returned to Israel.
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  Speaker 1: Because if you go to Ezra chapter seven, he mentions
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  Speaker 1: what year of art Exerxes he went home. It says
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  Speaker 1: he went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of
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  Speaker 1: art Exerxes, the king that's mentioned in Ezra seven, verse seven.
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  Speaker 1: So now thirteen years later, Niamiyah receives some information about Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: It says that Hanani, one of his brothers, came and
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  Speaker 1: talked with him. He and certain men out of Judah,
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  Speaker 1: and I asked them about the Jews who had escaped,
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  Speaker 1: who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. So
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  Speaker 1: very likely this was actually one of Nehemiah's brothers. I
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  Speaker 1: am sure Neemiah was born and raised in Persia, and Hanani,
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  Speaker 1: which is mentioned as one of his brothers, probably truly
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  Speaker 1: was one of his in the flesh brothers. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: it could be a term of endearment for somebody that
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  Speaker 1: he's very close to, like a friend. But most people
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  Speaker 1: think that it actually is one of his brothers, because
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  Speaker 1: it makes a lot of sense if Niamiah's family was
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  Speaker 1: in higher standing with the court than probably most of
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  Speaker 1: the family members worked in some capacity in the palace,
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  Speaker 1: and it could be that Nehemiah's brother also worked in
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  Speaker 1: the palace. Now we don't know why Hanani went to Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: It could be that Hanani was an ambassador of some
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  Speaker 1: sort and was going there on a mission for the king.
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  Speaker 1: We don't know. But he went to Jerusalem, and he
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  Speaker 1: returned and visited with Nehemiah. So Niamiyah obviously asks about
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  Speaker 1: the state of Jerusalem, and Hanani gives some very bad news.
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  Speaker 1: It says in verse three, they said to me, the
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  Speaker 1: remnants who are left of the captivity there in the
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  Speaker 1: province are in great affliction and reproach. The Wall of
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  Speaker 1: Jerusalem is also broken down and its gates are burned
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  Speaker 1: with fire. So a lot of people wonder what were
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites doing for these like almost one hundred years,
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  Speaker 1: like eighty five years at this point, I think it
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  Speaker 1: was from their first return to the time Niamiyah is
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  Speaker 1: writing this letter. It's been like eighty five years. You'd
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  Speaker 1: think in eighty five years you could get a wall built,
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  Speaker 1: but apparently the Israelites just couldn't. So there's a couple
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  Speaker 1: ideas that people have as to why this wall was
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  Speaker 1: not getting built. The first idea is that it was
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  Speaker 1: built and some enemies came and tore it down again
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  Speaker 1: and burned it with fire. That actually does make a
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  Speaker 1: lot of sense to me, and I think that that
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  Speaker 1: is plausible, very well could have happened. Another idea is
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  Speaker 1: that a disaster struck the area they did have the
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  Speaker 1: wall built, some sort of natural disaster hit and tore
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  Speaker 1: the wall down once again. And the third thing is
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  Speaker 1: that the wall never did get built because the people
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  Speaker 1: were too scared or too complacent to actually build the wall.
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  Speaker 1: And to me, that makes the most sense because God
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  Speaker 1: had actually warned the Israelites about their complacency not too
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  Speaker 1: long before this. He told them, He's like, you guys
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  Speaker 1: are taking forever to build the temple. What are you doing?
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  Speaker 1: You are building your own houses, You're making every everything
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  Speaker 1: you have looked very beautiful. While the temple sits in ruins.
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  Speaker 1: What are you doing? And God was not happy with
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  Speaker 1: the complacency of his people, and he said, you're not
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  Speaker 1: going to have any success if you just sit there lazily.
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  Speaker 1: You have to get up and you have to do something.
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  Speaker 1: So it makes a lot of sense that the Israelites
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  Speaker 1: just did not have the courage or the will power
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  Speaker 1: or the motivation to rebuild these walls of Jerusalem. So Niamiah,
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  Speaker 1: obviously when he hears this, is distraught. He's like, seriously,
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  Speaker 1: after all this time, the people still haven't rebuilt the walls.
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  Speaker 1: They are still burned with fire, they are still broken down.
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  Speaker 1: After Nebeknezer did it, like one hundred and fifty years ago,
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  Speaker 1: it says in verse four, when I heard these words,
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  Speaker 1: I sat down and wept and mourned for several days,
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  Speaker 1: and I fasted and prayed before the God of Heaven,
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  Speaker 1: So as we saw Ezra do when he heard about
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  Speaker 1: the sin that the Israelites were committing. In the last chapter.
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  Speaker 1: Neamiah does something very similar, except this time when he
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  Speaker 1: is sitting down in his room for several days, mourning
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  Speaker 1: and weeping and fasting and praying in front of God,
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  Speaker 1: and he says God, the people that are back in Israel,
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  Speaker 1: my people, my fellow brothers and sisters that are there,
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  Speaker 1: are not doing what they are supposed to be doing.
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  Speaker 1: They are still in rebellion against you. They are still
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  Speaker 1: not rebuilding the walls. They are still going to allow
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  Speaker 1: these other nations to come in and take Jerusalem if
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  Speaker 1: they refuse to have personal security. So he begs Yahweh.
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  Speaker 1: In verse five, I said, I beg you, Yahweh, the
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  Speaker 1: God of Heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps
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  Speaker 1: covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and
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  Speaker 1: keep his commandments. Let your ear now be attentive and
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  Speaker 1: your eyes open, that you listen to the prayer of
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  Speaker 1: your servant, which I pray before you at this time. Now.
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  Speaker 1: One of the things you're going to notice about the
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  Speaker 1: book of Namiah, there are a lot of prayers in it,
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  Speaker 1: and it's not a very long book, but Niamiyah is
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  Speaker 1: constantly praying to God. In fact, Niamaha is a very
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  Speaker 1: very good example if you have difficulty with praying, reading
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  Speaker 1: through Neemiah's prayers I think will be a big benefit
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  Speaker 1: for you. I know for me, I struggle also in
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  Speaker 1: my prayer life. But reading through prayers in the Bible
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  Speaker 1: has been very eye opening. Specifically going through the book
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  Speaker 1: of the Psalms with the faithful members has been really
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  Speaker 1: eye opening the type of prayers that you're supposed to do,
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  Speaker 1: and Niami actually kind of follows that same pattern that
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  Speaker 1: many of the psalms do. The psalms often start out
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  Speaker 1: by giving praise to God, by acknowledging how great he is,
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  Speaker 1: and then by asking him to listen to you, to
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  Speaker 1: be attentive to your prayers, and to keep his eyes open.
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  Speaker 1: Then oftentimes you ask for forgiveness or you tell God
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  Speaker 1: your problem, what is going on, and then again you
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  Speaker 1: end with glory to God or with a request or
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  Speaker 1: just asking God to do his will. In fact, when
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  Speaker 1: you see the prayer that Jesus gave his disciples in Matthew,
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  Speaker 1: I think it's Matthew chapter is the Lord's prayer, our
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  Speaker 1: Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: how does that prayer start out? It starts by giving
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  Speaker 1: glory to God, hallowed be your name. In other words,
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  Speaker 1: how awesome is your name? And that is exactly what
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  Speaker 1: Neamiah does right here. He says Yahweh, the God of Heaven,
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  Speaker 1: the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and loving
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  Speaker 1: kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, do we ever, like in our prayer lives,
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  Speaker 1: do we ever start out our prayers by acknowledging God's
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  Speaker 1: greatness and goodness? I'm sure some of you do, some
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  Speaker 1: of you faithful listeners who are excellent prayers, I'm sure
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  Speaker 1: that many of you do. I struggle with that. Though
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  Speaker 1: I often forget to just give God glory and praise.
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  Speaker 1: I usually get right to the point. I'm usually like, Okay, God,
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  Speaker 1: here's what I need, and here's what I want. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: see ya. That's like the majority of my prayers. Whereas
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  Speaker 1: what if we took a second at the very beginning
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  Speaker 1: of the prayer to really acknowledge just the amazing attributes
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  Speaker 1: of God, because that is everything. Every prayer, pretty much
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  Speaker 1: in scripture, from the Psalms to this one and Namiyah
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  Speaker 1: to the one that Jesus tells us to do, start
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  Speaker 1: by giving God glory. So Niamiah gives God glory. He
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  Speaker 1: calls him awesome and great and a promise keeper and loving,
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  Speaker 1: and also says that he is kind to those who
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  Speaker 1: love him. And keep his commandments. And then he says
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  Speaker 1: in verse six, he gets to the point, now let
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  Speaker 1: your ear be attentive and your eyes open, that you
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  Speaker 1: may listen to the prayer of your servant, which I
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  Speaker 1: pray before you at this time, day and night, for
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  Speaker 1: the children of Israel, your servants, while I confess the
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  Speaker 1: sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned
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  Speaker 1: against you. So that's another aspect of prayer that we
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  Speaker 1: often don't do. God, you are great and I am not.
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  Speaker 1: You are so good and I am not. You are
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  Speaker 1: sinless and I am sinful. So humility has to come
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  Speaker 1: right after giving God all of this glory and praise.
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  Speaker 1: And that is exactly what Niamiah does. Right here. He says, God,
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  Speaker 1: I have sinned. In fact, all Israel has sinned. I've
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  Speaker 1: sinned right along with them. It says, Yes, even my
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  Speaker 1: father's house have sinned. We have dealt corruptly against you.
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  Speaker 1: We have not kept the commandments verse seven, nor the statutes,
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  Speaker 1: nor the ordinances which you commanded your servant Moses. So
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  Speaker 1: he's like, God, I haven't done the commandments of the
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  Speaker 1: Old Testament. I have been just as guilty of breaking
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  Speaker 1: the ten commandments. As my brothers and sisters in Israel
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  Speaker 1: have done. We are all sinful, we all fall short
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  Speaker 1: of the glory of God. And that's another thing I
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  Speaker 1: think we should start incorporating into our own prayer lives. Again.
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  Speaker 1: Like I said, I'm usually one of those people that's like, Hi, God,
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  Speaker 1: here's what I need, goodbye. I forget to bring myself lower.
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  Speaker 1: I forget a lot of times that God is not
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  Speaker 1: a genie, but he's a good father who loves me
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  Speaker 1: and who is willing to tell me no if he
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  Speaker 1: knows that it's not my best interest for what I'm asking.
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  Speaker 1: And we have to have the humility to say, God,
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  Speaker 1: we trust that whatever you say is right. We try
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  Speaker 1: so that if you don't give us this thing that
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  Speaker 1: we are asking for, that your will is the best
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  Speaker 1: way for our lives and for everybody else around us.
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  Speaker 1: So we have to approach God humbly as well in
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  Speaker 1: order to really have an effective prayer life. So now,
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  Speaker 1: in verse eight, Niamiah says, remember I beg you the
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  Speaker 1: word that you commanded your servant to Moses, saying, if
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  Speaker 1: you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples. But
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  Speaker 1: if you return to me, and keep my commandments and
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  Speaker 1: do them. Though your outcasts we're in the uttermost parts
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  Speaker 1: of the heavens, I will gather them from there, and
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  Speaker 1: I will bring them to the place that I have
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  Speaker 1: chosen to cause my name to dwell there. So now
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  Speaker 1: Neemiah is bringing in some scripture. He's saying, God, I
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  Speaker 1: know that my people have sinned. I know that I
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  Speaker 1: have sinned. My father's house has sinned, and we are
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  Speaker 1: punished for that. But your loving kindness is great, and
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  Speaker 1: you are good. And you promised us that if we
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  Speaker 1: turn our eyes to you again, that you will bring
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  Speaker 1: us back from the uttermost parts of the world. Even
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  Speaker 1: if our people somehow floated up into the sky and
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  Speaker 1: we can never reach them, you will bring them back
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  Speaker 1: down into Israel once again. And I trust in that promise.
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  Speaker 1: So he's reminding God of his promises, and this is
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  Speaker 1: something that we can do. Of course, God never forgets
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  Speaker 1: his promises. He's a promised keeper and he cannot forget.
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  Speaker 1: But when we remind God of our promises, we're not
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  Speaker 1: necessarily reminding him. We're reminding ourselves of how good of
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  Speaker 1: a promise keeper God actually is. And we can talk
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: to God about these things. You know, This feels very personal,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: doesn't it. Namiah knew how to talk to a king.
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  Speaker 1: He was in the king's court every single day. He
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: knew what reverence was. And you can see that this
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: prayer that Neamiah gives to God is as if he's
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: talking to a king, very reverently, but also very realistically,
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  Speaker 1: almost as if he's truly having a conversation with God.
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  Speaker 1: And that's something I appreciate about this prayer. We can
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  Speaker 1: converse with God sometimes if you don't know what to
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  Speaker 1: pray for. Sometimes it's good to just talk to God
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  Speaker 1: about your day. God, I did this and this and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: this today, and a lot of times, just sitting down
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: in the act of prayer and talking about anything with
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: God will usually spur some sort of more active prayer life,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: if that makes sense, and you'll begin to talk about
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: things that are not so innocuous and really true issues
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  Speaker 1: that you might be dealing with if you do struggle
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  Speaker 1: in your prayer life. So now, in verse ten, he says, now,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: these are your servants and your people, whom you have
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  Speaker 1: redeemed by your great power and your strong hand. Lord.
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  Speaker 1: I beg you let your ear be attentive. Now to
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: your servant who delights to fear your name, And please
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  Speaker 1: prosper your servant today, and grant him mercy in the
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: sight of this man. So Niamiah says, God, I need
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  Speaker 1: something from you today. Grant me mercy in the sight
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: of this man. And what man is he talking about here?
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: He's talking about the king because he's about to go
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to the king and act ask for something that he
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: never thought he could ask for before. He's gonna ask
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the king if he can go to Jerusalem and help
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  Speaker 1: rebuild these walls. The king could say no and completely
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  Speaker 1: reject Namiyah, potentially punished Neamiah for even asking, trying to
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  Speaker 1: dismiss himself from his job. I mean, the king could
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: get angry, and that's a scary thing to happen to you,
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  Speaker 1: especially from a king like a Persian king then had
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: so much power to basically do whatever he wanted to
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: do or actually gonna find out in the next chapter
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: that Neamiah always had to have a friendly face in
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: front of the king. He could never not be smiling.
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  Speaker 1: Can you imagine being in a job that took hours
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: and hours and not being allowed to have like a
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: neutral face or frown once. Can you imagine that, you know,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: gen Z would never be able to handle it. They
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: have that gen Z stare that they just can't not do.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I mean, you can imagine that if a job or
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: acquired you by law to smile all the time, how
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: difficult that would that would be. And that was Nehemiah's
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: life being in the king's court. So he is going
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: to ask the king for something very risky. He's going
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: to ask the king to go back home. So he
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: begs of God, God, I cannot have success unless you
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: grant me success in the eyes of this king. Okay,
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: faith for listeners, thank you for making it through to
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: the end of the episode. Now I'd like to close
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: out the episode by talking about the different tenets of prayer.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: So we will go over that right after a quick
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: message from a sponsor. So scripture gives us a lot
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: of pointers as to how we can respectfully pray to God.
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: And if almost every single prayer follows this same kind
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: of pattern, then you got to think that this is
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: something that God really appreciates. This is the type of
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: prayer that we should bring before our king. You know,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: here in America and in the West generally, we don't
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: really understand what respect is anymore, especially respect for authority.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: We don't have a lot of respect for authority. We
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: feel we can say anything we want to anybody. So
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: respect is something we've kind of forgotten how to do.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: And yet this prayer that Neamiah gives is so respectful. Again,
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: he interacted on a daily basis with the King, one
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  Speaker 1: of the most powerful people on the entire ancient globe
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  Speaker 1: at this point in time, he understood what it meant
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: to show respect, and so this prayer is very respectful,
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  Speaker 1: as well as many of the other prayers we find
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: in the Psalms, the prayer that Jesus gives all of
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: it very very respectful to God the Father. So again,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: if these biblical prayers all follow the same format, then
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: this is probably the best way to pray, right. So
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: this is how we can make our prayers more biblical
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  Speaker 1: and reverent. The first thing we do is before we
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: say anything else, before we ask God for anything that
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  Speaker 1: we need, we give him the respect and awe that
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: he is deserved. We can do this by naming some
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: of his attributes, by telling him that his name is holy,
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  Speaker 1: by telling him how powerful and wonderful and awesome he
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: really is, how he's a good father. All of these
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: things are great ways to start out your prayer. That's
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: the first thing you do. And then the second thing
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  Speaker 1: that we're supposed to do is to bring ourselves lower.
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Even our Father in Heaven prayer, the one that Jesus
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: told us to pray. The second part of that prayer
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: is humility. The first part is our Father, who are
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: in heaven, hall would be thy name right, giving glory
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: to God. The second part is Thy kingdom Come, Thy
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: So telling God, we don't want our will done, but
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: we want your will to be done. That's a very
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: humble statement. So even Jesus tells us to bring humility
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: into our prayers, and that is something that Nehemiah did
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: as well. Then the third thing that we can do
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: is and this is also an act of humility, but
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: tell God where you've fallen short and say God, I
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: apologize for this or this, I apologize for offending you.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: I have not done what I should have done. You know,
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: today was a bad day and I sinned in this way.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: I shouldn't have done any of that, we can bring
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: these things to God in humility and ask him to
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: forgive us. Even Jesus said that in the Our Father Prayer,
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: us from the evil one. So that's the third thing
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: we should be doing when we pray to God. And
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: then the fourth thing is obviously bringing our cares and
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: our problems and our needs to God. There's a verse
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: in the New Testament. I might be completely off base,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: but I think it's first Peter, where it says cast
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: all your cares upon Him, because He cares for you.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: We are supposed to bring our cares and our wants
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: and our needs to God, but we do it in
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: the right way. I think Paul always says. He's like,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: bring your requests to God with thanksgiving, always giving glory
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: to his name, and being thankful for the blessings that
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: He already gave you. So these are four ways that
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: your prayers can become more biblical and more powerful. So
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: my encouragement for you today is to actually try to
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: prayer one of those prayers. Once you're done with this
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: podcast episode, maybe sit down for a couple minutes and
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: just try to go through all these different aspects of
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: prayer and see if something flows a little bit better
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: than maybe your normal prayers that you usually give to God.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, I hope you have a fantastic
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: and wonderful rest of your Monday. Hopefully I'll see you
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: guys tomorrow, bright and early six am or whenever you
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: choose to wake up and listen for an episode from Hebrews.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Make sure to check out the description of the episode
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: for other relation episodes about prayer, and of course all
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: of the other things that I do here at P
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: forty Ministries and the Bible Explained, like the devotionals and
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the YouTube channel. Check all of these things out listed
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: in the description of this episode. Faithful listeners, I hope
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: you have a wonderful rest of your day, happy listening,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: and God bless I just want to take a second
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: to thank the team at Life Audio for their partnership
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've got
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: shows about prayer Bible study, parenting, and more.