"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, 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! We have sinned terribly by not obeying the commands, decrees, and regulations that you gave us through your servant Moses.
 “Please remember what you told your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful to me, I will scatter you among the nations. 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.’
 “The people you rescued by your great power and strong hand are your servants. 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.”

Nehemiah 1:6-11 NLT

If you are down here you have already read through Nehemiah's prayer to God above. Read it again. I'm not kidding. Read it again and come back.......

This prayer/this calling out to God comes directly after Nehemiah learns that Jerusalem, the Jews, his people is/are in horrible shape. When he learns this he "...sat down and wept. In fact, for days (he) mourned, fasted and prayed to the God of heaven...." (NEH. 1:4-5) When have you felt this devastated by news about your family, your friends, an allegiance or a memory from your past? What did you do? Nehemiah went to his knees. He wept. He mourned. He fasted and he prayed. Truly I think that his prayer is more than a prayer. He most certainly prayed but he cried out to God. Tommy Harrison noticed on Sunday evening that Nehemiah prayed God's promises back to him and Tommy remarked that God loves it when we do that.....

Do we ever pray this confidently to God today? Nehemiah's prayer thanks his/our Heavenly Father in advance for what he will do. He goes deeper than "You take care of it God...I'm just going to hang out over here. I can watch you work while I laze here in this recliner...." No. Nehemiah knew that God would use him. He was asking to be used. He risked his position, his comfort, his power. He went to King Artaxerxes and asked for his help in returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding the wall that once surrounded the city. If you get right down to it he risked his life. The King had the power to snap his fingers and summon others to kill Nehemiah. (There's upsetting your boss and then there's UPSETTING YOUR BOSS.......

Do we ever pray like this today? When we are passionate about something/when we are compassionate how often do we act?