Power Point - July 14, 2006

July 14, 2006

And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments….”

--Nehemiah 1:5

If you read many of the prayers in the Bible, you’ll notice a pattern emerging. Great prayers are long on praise and short on petition.

Just like Nehemiah’s prayer is above. It begins with deep and wholesome respect and fear of God and His almighty power. Even the model prayer that Christ Himself gave us starts by revering God’s holy name (Matthew 6:9). 

The point I’m making today is that what we believe about God will determine what we believe about prayer and how effective our prayers are! 

Nehemiah went before the Lord knowing that God would hear him. He came with awesome respect and reverence, understanding that he was on holy ground. The fact is that careless and casual speech isn’t appropriate when we enter onto holy ground to converse with the Lord.

Nehemiah understood what we need to understand today. He knew that prayer begins with praise and worship of God. Let your prayer life be filled with joyful words of praise to Him!

THE GREAT PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE ARE LONG ON PRAISE AND SHORT ON PETITION.