Book of the Bible: Nehemiah
Nehemiah’s story begins with him as a slave in a foreign land. He hears news that his home city of Jerusalem is in dire need of help, but he is stuck where he is. Nehemiah prays, and fasts, and an opportunity opens up for him to go to Jerusalem and serve as its governor. Nehemiah takes the opportunity and begins to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.
Back in the day of Nehemiah, having a strong wall around the city was important to guard it from attack. Jerusalem’s walls had fallen about 70 years before when the Babylonians attacked, captured, and destroyed the city. Nehemiah, along with Ezra, took the responsibility on themselves to rebuild the city.
Once Nehemiah arrived, he showed great leadership ability in rallying the people around his cause. While they were building the wall, the Israelites faced great opposition from the surrounding countries. They feared that if they were successful in rebuilding the walls, then God would make them a powerful nation once again.
Even though Nehemiah knew people were trying to stop them, he didn’t go out to fight them. He had faith and trusted that God would deliver them from their enemy as he had done so many times before. Nehemiah was a great leader and encourager. He encouraged the people while they were under persecution, and together they rebuilt the walls in 52 days after they had previously laid in ruin for 70 years.
The story of Nehemiah shows us how much strong leadership can influence a situation. But, beyond that, we are shown the power of prayer. It was Nehemiah’s prayers and his relationship with God that led to immense success.
We see this in Jesus’s life as well. Jesus would often go out on his own to pray and spend alone time with God. This strong relationship with God helped Jesus to follow his will every step of the way and gave him the ability to lead people with his vision and truth of the coming of the kingdom of God.
Prayer gives us the ability to be in a close relationship with God and discern what He wants from us. Jesus even taught us in Mark 11:24- “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Let me encourage you, prayer changes everything. Begin your day with prayer. Fill your day with prayer. End your day with prayer. And have faith, like Nehemiah, that God will answer your prayers!
Parents, 3treesKIDS will also be learning about the life of Nehemiah this Sunday!
Be sure to check out their lesson at all in-person services or at www.3trees.com/kids.
To find service times and locations, visit https://www.3trees.com/planyourvisit.