Prayer, Session 9: Prayer in the Life of Nehemiah

Read the passage: Nehemiah 1:1-2:5; Nehemiah 4:1-9 (ESV, Bible Gateway)

Read Nehemiah 1:1-2:5 and 4:1-9

What do these passages tell us about the variety and richness of Nehemiah’s prayer life?
Look at 1:1-4. Where is Nehemiah and why is that significant?
- Have you ever experienced a change in location negatively impacting your felt relationship with God? Why might this be the case?
- What prompts his initial prayer?
- What is the significance of Jerusalem’s wall and gates being destroyed?
  - How might such a condition manifest itself among God’s people today?
  - How much does the condition of God’s people both locally and at a distance feature in your prayer life? Should it?
Considering v4, is there a place for lamentation in the Christian life? Why/why not?
- What does fasting add to praying?
How is the opening of Nehemiah’s prayer in v5-6 similar to others we have looked at before?
- What does he remind himself/us about God?
- How does he describe Israel (see also v10)? Why does this matter?
- What does he tell us about what he’s been doing?
Considering v6-7, why does confession of sin in prayer matter?
- Why does it matter that Nehemiah includes himself in this confession? What does it demonstrate?
- Do you incorporate confession in your prayers? If yes, how do you do it?
Look at v8-9 and 11. What’s Nehemiah praying for? What’s he depending on in doing so? (See Deut 30:1-5)
- How do you use God’s promises?
Look at 2:4: what does this tell us about the variety of Nehemiah’s prayer life?
- What does the ability to use arrow prayers tell us? [What is the theology behind them?]
- How much do you use them?
- What’s the danger in this being the only form of prayer you use?
Read 4:4-5: This prayer, unlike the other ones, is a written prayer, rather than spoken in context of a speech. Do you write prayers out?
- What advantage might there be in doing so?
- What beliefs/knowledge about God is this prayer built on?
- Why is belief in a God of vengeance a necessity to break cycles of violence?
- Can we pray imprecatory prayers as Christians?
Re-read 4:7-9. What is v9 an example of?
John Wesley said, ‘Pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you.’ Discuss!

Recap & Reflect

In the first questions, we saw that Nehemiah prays for God’s people and their condition, although they are far away. How might one include this in personal prayers and group prayers?
You looked at the opening of Nehemiah’s prayer in v5-6. What could you praise God for as a means of starting your prayers?
What forms of prayer do we see in Nehemiah’s life?

Leader’s notes

The notes are here to help you lead a group and answer tough questions. The idea isn’t to read the “right” answer out after each question, but rather to give you support or the helpful nudge in guiding your discussion in the right direction. Feel free to use them as best suits your group.

Look at 1:1-4. Where is Nehemiah and why is that significant?
He is in Susa, the winter capital of the Medo-persian empire. He is far away from Jerusalem. Yet, he can call out to God in prayer there.
- Have you ever experienced a change in location negatively impacting your felt relationship with God? Why might this be the case?
  When we move home/church we can sometimes discover that much of our relationship with God was built around other people or circumstances. This is not necessarily wrong, but it can mean moving can be confusing – ‘has God abandoned me right when I needed him?!’ Such times are opportunities to delve deeper in our relationship to God, discovering Him in new ways.
- What is the significance of Jerusalem’s wall and gates being destroyed?
  This left the city unprotected and at risk.
  - How might such a condition manifest itself among God’s people today? What leaves a church unprotected or at risk nowadays?
    Unbiblical teaching? Self-serving or abusive leadership? Lack of prayerfulness? A failure of members to ground themselves in God’s word and see life, the world, and everything the way he does?
Considering v4, is there a place for lamentation in the Christian life? Why/why not?
- What does fasting add to praying?
  In the words of John Piper, fasting says, ‘this much do I need you, O God.’ It gives us more time to pray; it shows us how bound to physical things, like food, we are, and how much more we should hunger for God; it may reveal sinful habits of behaviour that otherwise we might not notice – such as irritability or greed. It adds earnestness to our praying.
How is the opening of Nehemiah’s prayer in v5-6 similar to others we have looked at before?
He begins -as many other prayers in the Bible do – by praising God for his greatness and his covenant promises
- How does he describe Israel (see also v10)? Why does this matter?
  They are the servants of God; this means God is their master, their Lord, their king – who is responsible for their welfare.
- What v6 tell us about how he’s responded to the situation?
  He has been praying day and night.
Considering v6-7, why does confession of sin in prayer matter?
It puts us in the right place and reminds us of our status (see 1 John 1:9), and serves to humble us (see James 4:6).
- Do you incorporate confession in your prayers? If yes, how do you do it?
  There are a number of ways of doing this: you can pray more general prayers of confession or be specific over those specific sins you are confessing. We commit sins one by one, so we do well to confess them one by one. We can also use set prayers of confession from liturgical traditions, or use God’s word and his law – for example the 10 commandments, or the commands to love God and neighbour to highlight where we have failed.
Look at v8-9 and 11. What’s Nehemiah praying for? What’s he depending on in doing so? (See Deut 30:1-5)
He’s praying for God to be merciful and gracious to him personally as he goes to the king – that God would give him success and favour with the king, and that he would be merciful to his people more generally. He’s also praying that God would remember his promise made to Moses in the Deuteronomy 30 passage. And that’s what he’s depending on – that if God’s people repent and call out to him, even though they be scattered abroad, God has said he will hear their prayer. And Nehemiah is saying, God please do that now, and keep your promise to hear and act.
Look at 2:4: what does this tell us about the variety of Nehemiah’s prayer life?
He fires up an arrow prayer. His prayer life invades his day in a good way!
- What does the ability to use arrow prayers tell us? [What is the theology behind them?]
  You have 24hr access to God and he is omnipresent – there is nowhere and no time you cannot pray.
Read 4:4-5: This prayer, unlike the other ones, is a written prayer, rather than spoken in context of a speech. Do you write prayers out?
- What beliefs/knowledge about God is this prayer built on? Why is belief in a God of vengeance a necessity to break cycles of violence? Can we pray imprecatory prayers as Christians?
  It’s built on the fact that God hears prayer – even when written out! It’s built on the fact that God is a God of justice, who punishes the wicked, that he is a defender of his people who may have no other defence – so a defender of the weak; and it’s built on the fact that God is a God of anger/wrath – who does indeed punish the guilty. see Romans 12:19 – we can leave God to judge and avenge, and trust that He will be Just. This means we needn’t take it into our own hand, and can pursue our call to love our enemies. We can pray anything! However, that does not mean God responds to every prayer in the way we want! We are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. At the cross Christ prayed for the forgiveness of those crucifying him. We should seek to grow in Christ-likeness and love
Read 4:7-9. What is v9 an example of?
John Wesley said, ‘pray as if everything depends on God and work as if everything depends on you.’ Discuss!
They pray but they also act; they do not pray and then sit back; but neither do they only work in their own strength.

Download the complete study: Bible study on Prayer (PDF)