PRAYER PLUS ACTION

Nehemiah 2:1-6 (ESV)

1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when

wine was before him; I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I

had not been sad in his presence.

2 And the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, seeing you are not

sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart." Then I was very much

afraid.

31 said to the king, "Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" 4 Then the king said to me, "What are you requesting?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has

found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' graves, that I may rebuild it." 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), "How long will you be gone, and when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.

Nehemiah faced great challenges in arranging to get the walls of Jerusalem rebuilt. However, he was convinced that God wanted him to do so, so he persevered. Nehemiah was not content to pray and then wait for things to happen! Immediately after seeking God's guidance, he went to work to make it a reality. When we read the account of Nehemiah's projected responsibility, we might wonder what we would have done in his

situation. Would we have been content to stop after praying or would we have persevered?

Even though we might imagine that we too would be able to accomplish Nehemiah's pending responsibility, how do we deal with our present-day tasks confronting each of us? Instead of walls to be built is there a need to tear down walls existing in some of

our relationships?

The real task of each believer is to determine what God would have us do. Most of the time these are not dramatic ventures, but that does not mean that they are unimportant. They may be just prompts to spread cheer or encourage others or maybe letting your fellow workers know that you appreciate their efforts. Although these simple tasks are not earthshaking, we do His work when we bring love, justice and compassion to the work of daily living. These are the ways that believers express the mind of Christ, which dwells within them!