“let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you.”
~ Nehemiah 1:6
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you have a life passion? Is there something that you really want to do with your lives? Is there something that you would really like to see happen through your lives? Is there something that you would like to do today for a kid and/or for kids? Is there something that you would like to do one day for guys and/or for gals? Would you rather that another kid do something for you today or would you rather do something today for another kid? Would you rather one day have a guy and/or gal do something for you or would you rather one day do something for a guy and/or gal? Nehemiah’s life passion was to see the walls rebuilt that had surrounded the city of Jerusalem. The walls that had surrounded the city of Jerusalem had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army when Nebuchadnezzar and his army 586 years before Jesus was born overran and razed the city of Jerusalem. A city without walls 2589 years ago would be defenseless against an enemy nation’s army from entering and leveling the city. Nehemiah did not live in the city of Jerusalem; Nehemiah lived in Susa, Babylonia. Babylonia is where Nebuchadnezzar – after he had captured the city of Jerusalem, took a good number of God’s specially chosen guys and gals to live. Nehemiah was very trustworthy in his career choice of being the wine taster for a Babylonian king. Wine tasting for a king over 2500 years ago would have been a risky occupation to have. The guy who had the duty of being a king’s wine taster had to taste the wine that the king was going to drink before the king drank the wine. A guy who wanted the king’s job might put poison in the wine that the king was planning to drink in order to kill the king so that he might be the king. Nehemiah was trusted by the Babylonian king to honorably do his job. Susa was located just above the Persian Gulf. Susa was located about a thousand miles from the city of Jerusalem. It would take weeks for guys and/or gals to make the tedious trek between Susa and the city of Jerusalem. Would you walk a thousand miles to another city just to repair the city’s walls?
Nehemiah 1 begins the journal that Nehemiah kept during the time that he rebuilt the walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem and when he visited the city of Jerusalem. Your grandpaa was told one day by a fellow missionary that he is hardwired similar to how God hardwired Nehemiah. Nehemiah had the administration motivational gift. Your grandpaa’s top motivational gift is administration. Nehemiah’s name means ‘the Lord comforts’. Nehemiah’s dad’s name was Hacaliah. Hacaliah’s name means ‘wait for the Lord’. Your grandpaa believes that Nehemiah grew up in a home where his dad taught him about his ancestors – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, and what took place in the land that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals, to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . Nehemiah had a bro – Hanani, who went with some guy to and back from the city of Jerusalem. When Hanani got back from his long journey to the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah questioned Hanani about what life was like for God’s specially chosen guys and gals who were living in the city of Jerusalem and what the condition of the city of Jerusalem was like. When Nehemiah was told by his bro that the walls of the city of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt, this really challenged Nehemiah to want to head for the city of Jerusalem to take on the task of rebuilding the walls. Nehemiah began his journal 2449 years ago.
If you were to decide to do something meaningful, how would you begin? Would you begin doing something meaningful without first talking to other kids or to guys and/or gals about what you want to do? Would you begin doing something meaningful without first talking to God about what you want to do? Nehemiah first talked to God about what he wanted to do. Do you know how to talk to God? Talking to God is called praying. When you talk to God, do you think of God being a long ways away or do you think of God as being right there next to you? When you talk to God, do you talk apologetically to Him or do you talk directly to Him as you would talk to your dad? Nehemiah talked to God as if God was right there next to him. Nehemiah knew that God was always there for him to talk to whenever he wanted to talk to Him. Verse 6 says, “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you.” When Nehemiah got the news via his bro Hanani about the condition of the walls that had surrounded the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah cried, fasted and talked with God for a number of days. Do you think that Nehemiah got God’s attention by what he said to God and how he said what he said to God? Your grandpaa thinks that the way that Nehemiah interacted with God – as he talked with God, is the way that your grandpaa is to talk with God. Your grandpaa thinks that God wants your grandpaa to tell Him to listen to him as your grandpaa really wants to revere and respect His name. Your grandpaa knows that he is to listen to what God is telling him. Your grandpaa identifies with Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a guy who worked a secular job who God used to do something very unique and special which was to rebuild the busted down walls that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah was a regular guy who had a passion to do something and who then did it. Your grandpaa’s passion is to have guys in every community in every underdeveloped country everywhere on planet Earth be enabled on how to use the Bible, how to teach what is in the Bible and how to apply Biblical truths in their own lives. Your grandpaa is hoping that God will have you one day pull being a Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 1 (352)