Nehemiah - Part 3 Leader

NEHEMIAH – PART 3

THE PRAYER LIFE

YOUNG ADULT CELLS NOV 2005 WEEK 4

OF

NEHEMIAH

FOCUS (10 mins) Read or ask someone to read the introduction of member’s notes. Lead them into the discussion question. Spiritual truths or lessons learnt from the content of Neh’s prayer: Suggested answers: 1. God is all powerful (God of heaven). 2. God is one who keeps his words. (1:5) 3. Acknowledgement and identification of national sins. 4. Confidence in the power of God. 5. Confidence in the faithfulness of God.

Leader’s Notes Learning Outcomes: Understanding, Behaviour Objective: At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: • Recite three aspects of prayer in Nehemiah’s life. • Implement one practical action to enhance your prayer’s life. • Experience praying together as a cell group.

Below is an edited commentary by Warren Wierbse for your own reading and understanding. Please do not run through the commentary mechanically with the members. This prayer begins with ascription of praise to God (1:5). “God of heaven” is the title Cyrus used for the Lord when he announced that the Jews could return to their land (2 Chron. 36:22–23; Ezra 1:1–2). The heathen gods were but idols on the earth, but the God of the Jews was Lord in heaven. Nehemiah began his prayer as we should begin our prayers: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name” (Matt. 6:9). To what kind of a God do we pray when we lift our prayers to “the God of heaven”? We pray to a “great and awesome God” (Neh. 1:5, NKJV; and see 4:14, 8:6, and 9:32), who is worthy of our praise and worship. If you are experiencing great affliction (v. 3) and are about to undertake a great work (4:19; 6:3), then you need the great power (1:10), great goodness (9:25, 35), and great mercy (v. 31) of a great God. Is the God you worship big enough to handle the challenges that you face? He is also a God who keeps His Word (1:5). The Lord had made a covenant with His people Israel, promising to bless them richly if they obeyed His Word, but warning that He would chasten them if they disobeyed (Lev. 26; Deut. 27–30). The city of Jerusalem was in ruins, and the nation was feeble because the people had sinned against the Lord. The greater part of Nehemiah’s prayer was devoted to confession of sin (1:6–9). The God who promised blessing and chastening also promised forgiveness if His people would repent and turn back to Him (Deut. 30; 1 Kings 8:31–53). It was this promise that Nehemiah was claiming as he prayed for himself and the nation. God’s eyes are upon His people and His ears are open to their prayers (1 Kings 8:29; 2 Chron. 7:14). The word remember is a key word in this book (Neh. 1:8; 4:14; 5:19; 6:14; 13:14, 22, 29, 31). Note that Nehemiah used the pronoun “we” and not “they,” identifying himself with the sins of a generation he didn’t even know. It would have been easy to look back and blame his ancestors for the reproach of Jerusalem, but Nehemiah looked within and blamed himself! “We have sinned! We have dealt very corruptly!” This humble prayer closed with an expression of confidence (Neh. 1:10–11). To begin with, he had confidence in the power of God. When the Bible speaks of the eyes, ears, and hands of the Lord, it is using only human language to describe divine activity. God is spirit, and therefore does not have a body such as humans have; but He is able to see His people’s needs, hear their prayers, and work on their behalf with His mighty hand. Nehemiah knew that he was too weak to rebuild Jerusalem, but he had faith that God would work on his behalf. He also had confidence in God’s faithfulness. “Now these are Thy servants and Thy people” (v. 10). In bringing Babylon to destroy Jerusalem and take the people captive, God chastened the Jews sorely; but He did not forsake them! They were still His people and His servants. He had redeemed them from Egypt by His great power (Ex. 14:13–31) and had also set them free from bondage in Babylon. Would He not, in His faithfulness, help them rebuild the city? Too often, we plan our projects and then ask God to bless them; but Nehemiah didn’t make that mistake. He sat down and wept (Neh. 1:4), knelt down and prayed, and then stood up and worked because he knew he had the blessing of the Lord on what he was doing.

NOTE: I personally find this “focus” boring. However, I have run out of idea on what you do to open up this lesson. The above is just another discussion and bible study into a particular passage. If you find all the materials too heavy, you may skip this discussion altogether. You may ask them to go back to do it as a homework. Alternatively, you may do you own “focus” which is an opener to the topic of prayer.

This calls for some creative juices to make the lesson interesting.

Leader’s Notes page 1 of 3

NEHEMIAH – PART 3

YOUNG ADULT CELLS NOV 2005 WEEK 4

L In these parts, break up your cell into 3 groups. Give each group 5 minutes to go through the questions. Each part has 4 questions each. Invite the groups to present their thoughts.

Remember to keep time.

Open up to the whole cell only when you felt necessary. Else, if every question is open to everyone, you will not be able to complete within the allocated time. My suggested answers are given in the next page.

PART II – Priority of Prayer What do Neh 1:4 and 4:9 tell us about Nehemiah’s prayer life? Priority of prayer. He always prays first before action. It speaks about a vibrant prayer life, one of closeness and awareness of his standing with God. In 4:9, he pray then post guard, not the other ways round. For us, we usually rely on prayer as a last resort, after failing through all our human means. Why do you think many Christians tread a prayerless life? Because we don’t believe in the power of prayer. If everyone really believe that God is a prayer-answering God, that will drive many of us to our knees. Do you have a prayer partner or someone you pray with? Purpose of this question is for you to know who are the people in your group who usually pray together. You can open this question to the whole cell and try to encourage mutual accountability. Some ways of encouraging each others to grow in our prayer life? By praying together. By calling each other to pray on the phone. By reminding each other to pray at a specific time. If need be, assign prayer buddy for them.

PART III – Pleasure of Prayer In his prayers, how does Nehemiah address God? What does that tell us about his perspective of God. (compare with Neh 1:5) God of heaven. God is above all the idols of the pagan societies (Ancient Near East). God is a covenantal God. God is a loving God. Nehemiah has a relationship with God. Prayer can be enjoyable. Do you agree? Why and why not? Some may say that prayer is hardwork. Yes, it is true but can also be enjoyable. Eg. letting the peace of God reign in your hearts in times of turmoil, or praying fervently (in tongues) which leads to spiritual breakthrough and felt that have touch heaven. Also, sometimes, prayer don’t have to be very long… (see last question) Some practical ways to help us cultivate the presence of God? Making conscious efforts to remember God wherever we are. Praying silently in tongues or in words during traveling in bus/mrt. Ask WWJD etc. This quick petition illustrates at least 5 practical lessons for us. See my sermon notes on the right hand side. Don’t read them to member, summarizes the thoughts in your own words.

PART IV – Power of Prayer Do you think Nehemiah would be able to accomplish all he did if he had not prayed? Why and why not? This is a tension issue between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility. In general, God’s will will not fail. That is, God will still cause the exiles to return to rebuild Jerusalem etc. But likely, God may not work through Nehemiah but rather raised up others to accomplish his purposes. Question for the people: if they are not obedient to God’s will, God will bypass them. Why do you think God choose to work through prayers of his people? It is a divine mystery, but God created us for his pleasure. He desire communion and partnership with us. More than accomplishing the task, God is at work in refining us. See my quote. What do you think goes into the process of prayer? Yes, agreed with the statement. Prayer calls us to look at how feeble we are

It describes the immediacy of prayer. There is no need for us to get away to a particular place, or wait until we can set aside prolonged time for undisturbed reflection. At any moment we can talk to God. There and then, in the presence of a human king, Nehemiah is at the footstool of heaven. It illustrates the naturalness of prayer. Although Nehemiah had spent hours in prayers over the waiting weeks, to pray again at that crucial moment was the instinctive reaction of a dependent believer. He prayed because it was the most sensible and rational thing to do. He lacked the resources but he knew where they could be found. It portrays the intimacy of prayer. When in those seconds, he prayed to the God of heaven it was not a desperate cry to a distant God. He was communing in secret with a caring Father. There was hardly time for words, the sigh became a supplication. Between one breath and another he was in the audience chamber of God, assured that he would not lack anything necessary in his daring venture. It demonstrates the confidence of prayer. He was communing with the God of heaven, the God of unique sovereignty, comforting, omniscience and limitless resources. Jesus taught his disciples to address

Leader’s Notes page 2 of 3

NEHEMIAH – PART 3

YOUNG ADULT CELLS NOV 2005 WEEK 4

actually (contrary of who we think we are) and cause us to look at the greatness of God. There are many things that man cannot do, and prayer helps us to realize that. (humbling experience). Have you experience the power of prayer before? Let them share a testimony of how God answers their prayer. The purpose is to build up faith in the cell. Testimony has the effect of cementing our experiences of God together.

V. Conclusion (5 mins for reflection parts) Run through the items in the conclusion section.

their prayers to a Father in heaven, and exemplifying this when he looked to heaven in moments of needs. It proves the effectiveness of prayer. The quick petition was immediately answered. The unfailing Lord was at his side. Within seconds, the right and best words were on his lips and, in the same moment, the God of heaven caused generous thoughts to enter King Artaxerxes’s mind.

Note: For the conclusion, I want the cell to practise prayer instead of just learning about prayer. Do a quick summary and give them 5 minutes to write down their thoughts for question 1 and 2. For prayer together, I leave it up to you to organize the prayer time. If you cell is big, you may break them into smaller group so that there is more participation. Solicit prayer items from them. At the end of this lesson, if the people form some kind of prayer arrangement in the cell, it would be a good success in the lesson.

Leader’s Notes page 3 of 3