Neh 1:4, “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.

Neh 2:4, “The king said to me, "What is it you want?" Then I prayed to the God of heaven”

Neh 6:9, “They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." But I prayed, "Now strengthen my hands."

Dear Brother and sisters,

Loving greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.   Do you like to do some thing for the lord in this year?  God can really use you for the extension of His kingdom.   But your work for God must be done with the inner spiritual strength not with the mind and body.  To have our inner spiritual strength we must sit before the lord and pray and get the anointing of our Lord.  Our public work for the Lord is determined through our private walk with the Lord! Nehemiah is my example for this solid Biblical approach to serving Jesus. If we are to successfully serve the Lord we must have a well grounded intimate prayer life with the Lord.   

How you react when you hear some bad news?

The bible very clearly portraits about Nehemiah as a man who has developed his inner strength very well by fasting and prayer. When he asked some of his native people who visited him abut his own native place, they told him about the real desolate condition of that place as in Neh 1:3, “They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."  

But when Nehemiah heard the bad news about his native place immediately he humbled himself before the lord almighty that time and he fasted and prayed as in Neh 1:4, “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.  Because he has understood the truth that on his own strength he cannot do any thing.  If the condition of his native place has to change God has to move in a special way.  Without the hand of God on our own we can never bring any change in any ones life.

How we react when people offer their good support?   Do we trust them or still trust God who makes the people to support us in every way?

When Nehemiah appeared before the king with a sad face, the king knew and understand something was wrong from his a sad face. When the king dug deeper, asking Nehemiah what he wanted, it says written in the scripture that Nehemiah prayed first to God then answered to the king (Nehemiah 2:4). Before he responded publicly to an earthly king, he spoke privately to the King of Kings. If only we could get this principle down! Of course, being grounded in prayer, the king was moved to support Nehemiah, giving him letters of support to carry out the desires of his heart (God's Will)-to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.  You would think at this point all would be great! Prayers are answered, orders from the king for safe passage. But guess what?

What type of distractions are you experiencing in your life now?

Nehemiah was met with many distractions.  In moments of great advancements for the Kingdom, will come our greatest moments of distractions.  Maybe you want to raise your children in the Lord, having better family devotional times and family worship. Every time you try, the kids act bored, the doorbell or phone rings or you simply lose your emotional fervor.  These are natural distractions. But what really hurts are the deliberate and satanic distractions. They are the piranhas (Piranhas are freshwater fish that eat living animals) of ministry work that every sincere servant of God knows all too well. There are people in all of our lives that attempt to destroy what we do for the Lord.  Nehemiah started his work before the King of Kings in prayer. He's ready and able for the attacks of those who oppose his Godly work. 

How you can strengthen your hands to finish the work you have taken? 

Once again prayer is the answer for all the oppositions we face as we build the kingdom of God.  People will speak all types of lie to make us loose heart but never give up praying to the almighty God in all these difficult situations.  There were those who lied about him, making up things in their head that weren't true about him. Those who opposed him were hoping to "frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." But I prayed, "Now strengthen my hands" (Nehemiah 6:9). Plenty of people resist the work of the Lord not realizing they are doing so.  Unfortunately, many people know full well what they are doing and don't care one bit about opposing the work of God. Again, look what Nehemiah did...he prayed, "Now strengthen my hands." 

How you can manage the false prophets? 

First of all you must identify them in the light of the word of God.  For that we must know the word of God very well.  When the Prophets came to Nehemiah, insisting he take shelter in the temple of God, to run for his life from those seeking to kill him. He was not about to budge! When you are standing on the rock, you don't run and stand on the sand. When you are in the shelter of the most high, you don't run to hide in a man-made shack. These prophets approached him with false gifts, saying that the Lord had told them to tell Nehemiah to run. Many people today try to get their way by saying, "The Lord told me so. "Nehemiah, being grounded in prayer saw through this evil scheme and said, "I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me" (Nehemiah 6:12-14).  The scheme did not work! Rather than really hearing from the Lord the prophets were hired by man. Many people today are hired by others to intimidate those serving and leading God's people. They are hired by the devil to carry out an evil plot to halt the work of God.

Are you determined to finish the work completely and the spiritual race successfully before you finish your earthly life?

Nehemiah hit it head on! At first, the head on approach caused greater attacks.  He was determined to finish the work inspite of all oppositions he faced.  He prayed and trusted God for His strength to be revealed to tackle the enemies and their forces and did what he was to do without fail.  Because of all this determination and perseverance he had success in his life and eventually, in 52 days, the wall was complete in the midst of opposition.  Sometimes, oppositions moves the work of God along with greater passion and enthusiasm. Nehemiah dealt with the public confrontations because he was a man of private intercession.                  

If God has made us understand the value of prayer through this servant of God Nehemiah let us also pray a small prayer committing ourselves to the will of God right now.  “Dear Heavenly Father, what you are doing in our lifetime is awesome. I can't believe all that I am watching you accomplish in these later days. Lord, we pray in private so that we may serve effectively in public. In Jesus' Mighty Name, AMEN.”

With love and prayers,

Yours in the kingdom of God’s service,
Rev. Dr. T. Marcus Devasahayam.