Dear Ones:
Nehemiah 2:17 “Then I said to those who were with me,”You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire.Come, and let us build the walls… ”
In the bible, in the book of Nehemiah (named after the author) you will find a man whose heart is sorrowful because of a report he received about his people the Jews and how they were living after a time of siege and captivity. The report he heard brought him to tears and a time of mourning for his kinsmen.He had such a heavy burden for them that he sought the Lord about what he could and should do to help.Being a captive himself he was unable to leave anytime he wanted and he had no resources of his own to work with so he prayed and asked the Lord to direct him as to what he could do to help.
Here is his prayer: O Lord God! O great and awesome God who keeps his promises and is so loving and kind to those who love and obey him! Hear my prayer! Listen carefully to what I say! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you, yes, I and my people have committed the horrible sin of not obeying the commandments you gave us through your servant Moses.Oh please remember what you told Moses.You said “If you sin, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my laws, even though you are exiled to the farthest corners of the universe, I will bring you back to Jerusalem. For Jerusalem is the place in which I have chosen to live.” O Lord, we are your servants, the people you rescued by your great power. O Lord, please hear my prayer! Heed the prayers of those who delight to honor you. Please help me now as I go and ask the king for a great favor-put it in his heart to be kind to me.”
After some time in fasting, praying, weeping and planning, Nehemiah had a workable plan in mind. All he needed was the o.k. from the king to put the plan into action. The Lord answered Nehemiah’s prayer and he was able to go to Jerusalem and help his people rebuild the walls around the city of Jerusalem. You may be asking what does this have to do with anything I have going on in my world today? Who cares! Good for Nehemiah! Now help me here and now, Lord!
That is my point. The God of Nehemiah is as able and willing to help us today as He was in Nehemiah’s time. We have to be willing to do our part for Him to do His.We have to listen and obey the commands He has given to each of us as individuals and all of us together as His church.. He has to fulfill the promises He has made to those who do so otherwise He would be a liar and we know He does not,no cannot lie for there is no shadow of turning in Him. No deceit. No falseness. He will do as He says He will do concerning those who love Him.
That is why I am praying this prayer over my family before I leave for Oklahoma in June. I need and want His direction on what to say when I get there. I want and need His provision for the trip. I am asking my Lord to give to me a small bit of time alone with mt Daddy and to put into my Daddy’s heart a willingness to listen to the words the Lord places in my mouth.I am asking for the anger and hurt handed down from generation to generation to be neutralized so we can be in the here and now, dealing with the things of the here and now.I am afraid to some degree as I have attempted to talk, reason and hope for some semblance of a healthy relationship in the past to no good end. However, if I have learned anything this past year and a half it is we have no idea when and how our time on earth is over. We have no idea if we will get the second it will take to ask the Lord for forgiveness before we take our last breath and enter eternity. So, I am not letting fear have a part in this time I have with my Daddy. I know the Lord is sending me to him. I know I am responsible for the going and the telling.
My prayer is for restoration of my Daddy to the Lord and to our family.It is going to take an outright miracle. That is what I am praying for and expecting from the One I call Father. I want Him to have the honor He deserves as one more lost soul accepts the work He has done to rescue and rebuild the lives of us lost ones. He did it for Nehemiah , He can do it for Peggy, He can do it for you, dear ones. Just ask Him to restore the waste places in your life.Get ready for a miracle.
PeggyB
