Praying a Warrior's Prayer - The Nehemiah Prayer

As I press forward on my own appointed path, I face the same doubts and concerns that all Warriors face in times of battle. Doubt is the principal weapon used by the enemy against each of us. Doubt takes our current circumstances and spins it forward to paint a less than desirable picture for us. It is used against all of our team members to push us off the path and to miss the mark that He has aimed us toward.

The proper response to these attacks is NOT to start swinging your sword back and forth. There are only a few weapons that are effective against doubt, and the greatest among them is, in fact, prayer.

The Prayer of Nehemiah (New Living Translation)

⁴ When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven. ⁵ Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, ⁶ listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I have sinned! ⁷ We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses. ⁸ “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. ⁹ But if you return to me and obey my commands and live by them, then even if you are exiled to the ends of the earth, I will bring you back to the place I have chosen for my name to be honored.’  ¹⁰ “The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. ¹¹ O Lord, please hear my prayer! Listen to the prayers of those of us who delight in honoring you. Please grant me success today by making the king favorable to me. Put it into his heart to be kind to me.”

In the passage, Nehemiah has shown us the structure and power of an effective prayer. I have broken this down into its four component parts, so that we can be a bit more effective in our prayer lives. A Nehemiah prayer has these 5 components

1 – Prepare.  Nehemiah fasted and prayed in preparation for his specially structured prayer to God. Since we are in this with God, He we need to prepare our hearts and our selves to go before Him. Preparation allows us to cleanse and to focus. Getting yourself ready is the cheapest insurance of success that is available to you, so don’t skip this step.

2 – Confess.  In Verse 6 & 7, Nehemiah acknowledges not only the sins of his people, but also of himself. I believe that it is important that we do this in this order as well. If you come to God and lift up the sin of others but not your own, you run the risk of believing that you are faultless and are doing this only to help others – Each of us NEEDS all the help we can get!

3 – Remind.  Remind God, and yourself, of His promises to you (v 8-9). If you cannot remind Him of His promises, then you are not into the Word at the level needed to release your Blessings. This type of prayer is deliberate, so knowledge is required of you. Reminding Him also demonstrates to Him that you do know His Word as well.

4 – Realign.  You must repent and align yourself with God’s Will (v10) and with His Plan for you.  Take this opportunity to put yourself back on track and be sure that you are moving in the right direction.

5 – Request.  Only after insuring that all is set up and ready do you bring your request(s) forward (v11).  This also insures that your request will come from the right place and be from your heart, not your ego. Prayers from your heart are born from God’s Plan for you. These are, by nature, correct and effective. When your prayer requests come from His Plan, you feel unburdened after speaking the words – as though they HAD to get out of you.        

Try following these steps and not only see how He answers you. See how you feel when you pray a Nehemiah prayer. The relief and unburdening will clear your vision and renew your strength.

Blessings,

Bryan