{"id":14749,"date":"2017-04-22T10:07:32","date_gmt":"2017-04-22T14:07:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=14749"},"modified":"2017-06-05T12:28:34","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T16:28:34","slug":"say-a-nehmiah-24-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=14749","title":{"rendered":"Say a Nehemiah 2:4 Prayer!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bases are loaded.\u00a0 It’s in the bottom of the 9th inning and the visiting team is leading by one run.\u00a0 And (of course),\u00a0 the count is 3-2.\u00a0 As the crowd cheers the home team hoping for a hit that will win the game or a walk that will tie the game, the batter digs in and wiggles his bat. \u00a0 The visiting pitcher then strolls to the back of the mound.\u00a0 He takes a few deep breaths before returning to the rubber to make the decisive pitch.<\/span><\/p>\n

– – –<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You’re in the right hand land of a two-lane\u00a0 highway.\u00a0 In front of you is a dump truck forcing you to slow down to a crawl.\u00a0 You want to pass, but you look in your side mirror and a speedster is mindlessly barreling down in the left lane and won’t let you ease over.\u00a0 Meanwhile, a semi truck angrily comes to a screeching slow down at your bumper and immediately starts flashing his lights at you…<\/span><\/p>\n

– – – <\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

After braving the market, driving home through the rain, you finally make it home with the groceries.\u00a0 You try to open the house door but it is locked.\u00a0 So you put the bags down and fumble for the keys as your clothes get soaked.\u00a0 As you get in the house, your teenager is too busy with his phone to help you bring in the groceries.\u00a0 And then he voices his displeasure that dinner is going to be late…<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/h3>\n

The King’s Cupbearer Composes Himself…<\/span><\/h3>\n

Nehemiah was an Israelite caught up in the exile to Babylon.\u00a0 He eventually ended up serving the king as his cupbearer.\u00a0 But he was given an amazing opportunity one day when the king noticed his sad disposition and asked him, “What is it you want?”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Instead of making the pitch without composing himself…\u00a0 instead of cursing the truck driver…\u00a0\u00a0instead of lashing out at his teenager… Instead of wasting this opportunity with the king by uttering some gibberish about his current emotions, Nehemiah said a quick prayer.\u00a0\u00a0 A Nehemiah 2:4 Prayer.<\/p>\n

You can read about it in Nehemiah chapter 2 (click the following drop down box)…<\/p>\n

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Nehemiah 2:1-5<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t

2 In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before;<\/p>\n

2 so the king asked me, “Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart.” I was very much afraid,<\/p>\n

3 but I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”<\/p>\n

4 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven,<\/p>\n

5 and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.”<\/p>\n

6 Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?” It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time.<\/p>\n

7 I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah?<\/p>\n

8 And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king’s forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?” And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.<\/p>\n

9 So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king’s letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. \u00a0\n NIV<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

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Nehemiah 2:4 Prayer<\/span><\/h3>\n

Nehemiah didn’t say, “Excuse me great king.\u00a0 I need to go into my prayer closet and talk with God before I answer your question<\/span><\/em>.”\u00a0 No, he immediately, under his breath, said a quick prayer asking for courage and guidance.\u00a0 Nehemiah 2:4 simply says, “Then I prayed to the God of heaven.<\/span><\/em>“<\/p>\n

We are to “pray without ceasing.<\/span><\/em>” (1 Thessalonians 5:17<\/a><\/span>). \u00a0 God is with us always, and we always need Him.\u00a0 So doesn’t it make sense to make quick one line prayers in every situation in life?\u00a0<\/p>\n

The next time you’re in a\u00a0 difficult (or even happy) situation, don’t forget that God is standing right beside you.\u00a0 “Lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.<\/span><\/em>” (Proverbs 3:5-6<\/a><\/span>)<\/p>\n

Step back, take a breath, and say a “Nehemiah 2:4 Prayer!<\/span><\/strong><\/span>“<\/p>\n

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A recent devotional article in Our Daily Bread illustrated the meaning of this Nehemiah 2:4 Prayer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Check it out by clicking this button:<\/span>\u00a0 Our Daily Bread<\/span><\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Things are going along pretty well, then all of a sudden life throws you a curve and the steam of anger or fear starts to build. Or, all of a sudden you’re in a dire situation where you need to make a quick decision. What do you do?
\nFollow the example of Nehemiah and say a quick “Nehemiah 2:4 Prayer”! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[107],"class_list":["post-14749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-god-moments","tag-prayer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14749"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14749\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14764,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14749\/revisions\/14764"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}