NEHEMIAH’S SHOWS US HOW TO DO “COURT-CASE PRAYER”
Nehemiah was one of the Israelites who was taken into captivity in
Persia. God gave him favor and made him the personal assistant to the King.
When Nehemiah found out that there was a big problem in Jerusalem (over 900
miles away), his heart went out for the people, much like our hearts go out to
the people we care about. The first thing Nehemiah did was pray. But it was a
different kind of prayer than many of us are used to. Nehemiah asked God for a
hearing. I call this kind of praying “court-case prayer.” It’s a little more
involved than regular praying, but well worth the effort, first in what we
learn about ourselves and second, what we learn about what God likes in a close
relationship with us.
There are several places in the Bible where God shows us how to
pray this “court-case prayer.” In at least one situation, He required it of
Isaiah. He says to Isaiah: “Meet me in court! State your case and prove that
you are right.” That’s the Contemporary English Version. The Amplified reads:
“Remind me [of your merits with a thorough report], let us plead and argue
our case together; State your position, that you may be proved right.” And
the KJV: “Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou
mayest be justified” (Isa. 43:26).
We can see the elements of court-case prayer by looking at the
record about Nehemiah.
1. RECOGNIZE THE FEAR OF GOD. Nehemiah addressed Him: “I
beseech thee, O Lord God of Heaven, the great and terrible God” (Neh. 1:5). The
word “terrible,” in the Hebrew means “to be feared, or morally to revere. It
means to cause astonishment, to be held in awe or godly fear.
Nehemiah was well aware of the wrath of God Almighty, the
vengeance of God that took place when He merely took His hand of blessing off
of people and let them reap the consequences of bad behavior. The results, as
Nehemiah had experienced personally, were perilous, destructive, miserable,
full of anguish, failure and deep depression—all the things the devil loves to
put on God’s people.
Nehemiah verbally recognized God’s right to be angry.
2. REMIND GOD THAT HE IS A GOD OF MERCY. Nehemiah
reminded God that He is the God “that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that
love him and observe his commandments” (v.5).
3. CONFESS AND REPENT FOR SINS. Nehemiah not only
confessed and repented of his own sins, but he also confessed and repented for
the sins of the people. “I pray before thee now, for the children of Israel thy
servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned
against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned. We have dealt very
corruptly against thee and have not kept the commandments” (vv.6-7).
Notice that Nehemiah mentioned the sins of his father’s house.
There are sins we commit on purpose; we know better but we do them anyway. Then
there are “sins of our fathers.” The Bible term for this is “iniquity.” These
are patterns of thinking and acting that we “naturally” fall into, sins in our
blood line. They are sins we may or may not even be aware of until we see the
painful consequences they bring to our lives. Nehemiah’s heart was broken when
he heard about the people in Jerusalem, and he knew that they had fallen back
into bloodline sins: apathy, moral compromises, rebellion, stubbornness, pride,
abuse, ungodly priorities.
Nehemiah understood and repented for the people.
4. PRESENT THE EVIDENCE. This is where Nehemiah
went back to the scriptures to present evidence of God’s mercy to His people
even after they sinned. He reminds God of how He worked in the time of Moses,
how He told Moses if they didn’t do right, they’d be scattered and how if the
people would turn back to Him, He’d gather them back and bless them. Then
Nehemiah put his plea forward and basically said: “Since you did it for Moses,
how about us?”
5. ASK FOR PARDON AND A WAY TO MOVE FORWARD. Nehemiah then asked God:
“O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer” (v.11).
In the same verse, Nehemiah also asked God: “Prosper [move forward and make
successful] thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man
[the King of Persia].”
Nehemiah’s court case with God was a huge success. As it turns
out, God blessed Nehemiah by working in the King to send Nehemiah to Jerusalem
to take care of the problems. The King also sent letters to those in authority
to make sure Nehemiah had all the physical supplies he would need to totally
rebuild the walls and gates of the city. Building the walls and gates turned
out to be much more of a blessing than just protection. It unified the people,
strengthened their hearts, turned them back to God’s ways and healed them.
Just to confirm the five elements of Nehemiah’s prayer:
1. RECOGNIZE THE FEAR OF GOD
2. REMIND GOD THAT HE IS A GOD
OF MERCY
3. CONFESS AND REPENT FOR SINS
4. PRESENT THE EVIDENCE
5. ASK FOR PARDON AND A WAY TO
MOVE FORWARD
I pray that God will help us to remember this type of prayer when
we need it.
Love, Carolyn
USER-FRIENDLY
BIBLE PRINCIPLES FOR EVERYDAY LIVING by Carolyn Molica
Get your copy today 😊 WINGS:
A JOURNEY IN FAITH VOL. 2
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