Getting God’s Full Attention

Do you ever feel like your prayers are not “getting through” to God? Do you ever feel like you don’t have God’s full attention? When it comes to prayer, we often believe that God is at our beckon call to carry out our requests. Many Christians treat prayer like it is a cosmic vending machine, where we put in a prayer and out pops an answer/blessing. Prayer is actually something bigger and greater than a way to meet our needs. Let’s consider prayer as one of the chief ways God carries out His purpose and His plan in our lives. God uses prayer and fasting as a way to align us with His Kingdom agenda. In other words, if we want to get on the same page with God, we must find the P.A.T.H. of prayer that gets God’s Full Attention. I believe God gives us a P.A.T.H. way of prayer in Nehemiah chapter 1 that aligns us with His purpose and His plans.

Before Nehemiah acted, he prayed, he fasted, he waited on the Lord. We know that between the prayer of chapter one and first verse of chapter 2, there was a time period of around 4 months (Chislev to Nisan). Nehemiah teaches us a lesson of waiting upon the Lord for the right timing. God’s timing is always better than man’s timing. Can I get a witness? I can testify to regrets of jumping ahead of God on issues because I relied on MY timing instead of GOD’S timing. Nehemiah approached God with a certain P.A.T.H. in prayer (in Nehemiah chapter 1). Let’s take a brief look at this God-centered approach to prayer. “P” in P.A.T.H. stands for Prioritizing God’s Greatness. Nehemiah begins the prayer in verse 5, by rehearsing the greatness and Sovereignty of God. Sovereignty means that God is “large and in charge.” Do you begin your prayers by rehearsing God’s greatness or by emphasizing your need? When we celebrate God’s “bigness” it reduces the “bigness” of our problems. The “A” in P.A.T.H. stands for Admitting one’s own sin. Nehemiah uses verse 6 and 7 to express his sorrow over his sin and the sin of his people (the Jews). He could have blamed others for the brokenness of the people and the city of Jerusalem, but he quickly “owned” his sin and acknowledged his corrupt heart. If we are to be apart of the solution (and not just the problem), we must see God’s Greatness and then see our sin as an affront to our Awesome, Holy God. The “T” in P.A.T.H. is about Trusting Scripture. In verses 8-10, Nehemiah quoted from the Old Testament promises of God. Do you depend on the Word of God to hear from God? God has provided his Bible (his Word) to reveal His will and His ways. The more we know about His promises (in his Word), the more we grow in our faith relationship with God. God is not silent, He speaks to us through the Word and His Spirit. The “H” in P.A.T.H is Humility. Humility before our great and awesome God must be consistent and constant for believers. God takes care of the exaltation, we, however, must stay in a constant state of surrender to Him. We are prone to pride and selfishness. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple, must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” Daily, self-denial is a big part of being a humble follower of Jesus Christ. Nehemiah gives us a pattern to come into God’s presence in prayer. Will you take the P.A.T.H to get God’s full attention? May we all be quick to Prioritize the Greatness of God, Admit our own sin before a Holy God, Trust the Scriptures (as we hear from God), and keep ourselves Humble before our Creator, Redeemer, and Lord.

See you Sunday as we practice this together,

Pastor Todd