Welcome to the In Touch Podcast with Charles Stanley for Tuesday, July sixteenth. If you are in a tough situation and don't know what to do, stick around. Today's podcast brings a life principle lesson that points to the strength that comes from standing tall and strong through prayer. Well, life presents all kind of problems and sometimes we don't know how to respond. Sometimes we think, Lord, where are you in the midst of all this?
Why don't you do something? And sometimes we think, well, Lord, if You really and truly love me, You wouldn't let this happen. Or, if You really and truly love me, You'd show me what to do at this point in my life. So sometimes we are perplexed.
We don't know exactly what to do. But there is always one thing that is the right thing to do. Every single solitary time. And that's what I want to talk about in this message. And I want you to turn to the Book of Nehemiah, because here's the passage of Scripture. In fact, the whole book is all about the right thing to do every single time. So, I want you to turn, if you will, to the Book of Nehemiah. And you think, well, that's the prophet.
How could that be the right thing to do every single time? Well, you'll see in a moment. And let me give you a little background. In Nehemiah, he's a king.
And he's the cupbearer for him, which means that he has a very responsible position and one that requires a great deal of him. Well, here he'd been there for some time and his brother and some others come to him from Jerusalem and say to him, Nehemiah, I want to tell you what's going on in Jerusalem. The gates have burned and the walls have broken down and there's chaos in every direction. Now, a hundred and forty years before this, the Babylonians came in and destroyed the walls and burned the gates, killed a lot of people, took a lot of people captive. A hundred and forty years had gone by and they still had not rebuilt the walls.
So, therefore, they were subject to all kind of enemies who continually harassed them. So, in the process of them telling him that, this is the way he responded beginning in verse four of this first chapter. It says, I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, I beseech you, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who preserves the covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments. Let your ear now be attentive and your eyes open to hear the Word of God.
I am praying for you now day and night on behalf of the sons of Israel. Your servants, confessing the sins of the sins of Israel, which we have sinned against you, I and my Father's house have sinned. We've acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which you have commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word which you commanded your servant Moses saying, If you're unfaithful, I will scatter you among the people. But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause my name to dwell. They're your servants and your people whom you redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech you, may your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and the prayer of your servants who delight to revere your name and make your servant successful today and grant him the compassion before this man.
Now, I was the cupbearer of the king. And we'll say, What's that got to do with knowing exactly what to do every single time? It has a great deal to do with it. It has a great deal to do with it. It has a great deal to do with it. It has a great deal to do with it.
It has a great deal to do with it. Because here's what you're going to find in this book. That throughout the book of Nehemiah, every time he comes to a situation or circumstance that is a problem or a threat, without fail, or if he's seeking guidance and direction, without fail, he is a man who lived on his knees. He lived on his knees. He lived on his knees. He lived on his knees. He lived on his knees. He lived on his knees.
He lived in him, through him, for him, and to him as a result of it. And so when we think about that, I think about the principle that is so evident here. And that is we stand tallest and strongest on our knees.
And I simply mean by that this. And I think it's because I think that we need to be able to have that strength and energy and strength to face whatever we have to face in life successfully. Because prayer is that choice tool that God has given us to reach Him, to speak to Him, to plead before Him, and to receive from Him. And I think one of these greatest blessings that God has So, what I'd like for us to do is to look at what He had to face and then to look to see how God worked in His life and brought it all to pass. The Scripture says He went before the king one morning and he was sad. The king said to Him, Why are You so sad? You're not sick. And He said, I'm not sick. And He said, I'm not sick. And He said, I'm not sick. And He said, I'm not sick. And He said, I'm not sick. And He said, I'm not sick.
And He said, I'm not sick. And so, the Bible says at that moment when the king asked Him that, he offered a prayer to God. He prayed before he responded to the king. So, now when he hears the situation that's so bad, he prays.
When he's standing before the king with this awesome opportunity and responsibility to answer the question, Why are You so sad if you're not sick? He said he prayed. And he told the king what the situation was. Not only did he tell him, but the king said to him, Well, what can I help you do? So, he told him, I've got to have so much lumber and so many materials and so many supplies.
And then, of course, we have to have protection to get all the way to Jerusalem without being attacked. And so, the king granted him everything he desired. Now, what a miraculous thing to happen because he was just a cupbearer. And when he prayed in response to his brother's comments about what was going on, prayed before the king, here's what you'll find all the way through. When he left and he got to Jerusalem, he prayed as he sought the Lord's mind and heart about how to go about this awesome task. And then when he began to talk to some of the people, and think about this, he just walked into a situation and he didn't know anybody, I don't think, at this particular point. And he walked into a situation where he was going to take charge of things. Well, that wasn't to be a very popular idea.
You mean you coming over here to tell us how to operate. So, he had to ask God's direction and guidance. And so, he surveyed the place very secretly. And then when he began to talk to them, they began to agree. And then he said, let's rise and build this. Spirit of God was upon him. So, everywhere you see Nehemiah, he's on his knees before God. And what's happening? He's becoming taller and taller in his influence among the people, stronger and stronger as he faces one obstacle after the other.
The same God who was Nehemiah's God is the same God we have. And so, when you look back now, here's what happened. As a result of this man, in fifty-two days, that's less than two months. In fifty-two days, the Bible says they completed the wall.
Well, how did they do that? Well, first of all, listen, he didn't grow up in a school that teaches engineering and construction and all the rest. You know what? He was a cup-bearer before the king. Now, he's explaining to them how to rebuild the wall and how to rebuild the gates. And not only that, at the same time, he's having to act like a general because he's got to have a little army. He's got to have some protection because they keep coming after him. They keep trying to get him to come down and have a conversation with them about it. And more than likely, he said, I don't have anything to talk about. You remember what he said?
He said, I'm too busy to come down and talk. And so, he's training these people how to carry out this construction. He's training the army how to have an instrument in this hand to build, instrument in this hand to fight. And so, in fifty-two days, they build a wall and they build the gates. And not only that, he gets the, he organizes the people. And then, they find the book of the genealogy of all these people.
And how many of them are true Jews and how many of them are not. And then he finds out that they're mistreating each other financially. So, he puts a stop to all of that. Then he discovers, for example, that they stopped tithing a long time ago.
So, he says, we must tithe. Then he finds out, for example, that not only have they found the book of the genealogy, but Ezra, who is the high priest at that point there, they decide to have worship. And they call the people together. Now, they'd not heard the reading of the Word in years and years and years and years. And so, when you read the book and you realize when they announced that they were going to have a reading of the law of Moses, these people stood up for hours while he read the law of God. And really what happened in these fifty-two days and the days that follow, they came from total chaos, disorganization to being organized, ready to fight, ready to defend, rebuild the walls and the gates. And not only that, correcting situations financially, the relationships to each other, starting to tithe once again, and having worship.
They had a revival, fifty-two days and a few days and months after that. Now, how did all that happen? One man who decided to live on his knees became so tall spiritually, and so strong, not only in his ability and skill to bring people together, to challenge them to correct those things that were not corrected, that needed to be corrected, that were not right.
He knew they were not right. There was something about Nehemiah, listen carefully, that could be something about you if you have the right relationship to God. That God could use you in the most awesome fashion if you would allow Him to do it, if you would believe that He could do it, and you'd make yourself available to let Him do it. We underestimate the power of God in us and through us.
And Nehemiah's such a perfect example of what happened. Now, when I think about how he began, he began as a cupbearer on his knees before God. And God began to work in this life. So, what I want to do this morning is simply this.
I want to give you a list of things that are true when you and I begin to pray seriously before God and how God can work in your life. I want you to forget the past. You say, well, you know, at this point in my life I've done this and I've done, forget all about the past.
What matters is what do you want to do and what can you do from this point on? So, think about what we said. That is, we stand the tallest and we're the strongest in the outreach and the effect and the impact we have on those around us, facing anything and everything with strength and confidence when we live on our knees before God. Now, you say, well, do you mean to tell me that I got to kneel every time I pray?
No, but I want you to listen carefully. There is something about kneeling that makes a difference. I know sometimes people can't kneel. But the truth is, it isn't so much the kneeling as it is, it's praying, it's talking to God. So, I want you to think about this for a moment because some of the people talk to God like, well, you know, I prayed last night or I pray, pray, pray, pray. But how much serious praying do we do? Do we expect God to do things or do we just hope He does?
There's a lot of difference in expectation, trust and hope. And God talks about trusting Him, believing Him, expecting Him to do it. So, think about this for a moment. When you kneel or when you pray, you are to recognize this is what we should be doing. We should be recognizing God is the sovereign of this universe. That is, that He absolutely controls all things as He says in that hundred and third chapter of the Psalms. That He has established His throne in the heavens and His sovereignty rules over all, over all things, all times, all places, everything. So, listen, if God is not the sovereign of the universe, why pray to Him?
There are a lot of things that you and I know that appear to be impossible. Why pray to a God if you don't believe He's sovereign in absolute control and rules all things, then why talk to Him? So, we have to remember who we're talking to. He's not the man upstairs as people oftentimes call Him. He's the sovereign God of the universe. While He is God and while He is sovereign, yes, He is my friend. And listen, He can be your friend and my friend, but He never ceases to be the Creator and He never ceases to be the ruler and He never ceases to be the Lord and Master. He is the sovereign of the universe. We recognize who is this we're talking to.
He's not somebody to be joked about or to talk to frivolously. He is the sovereign God of the universe. And so, He says, great and awesome God. It was this Spirit that drove Him to His knees, fasting and praying for four solid months, crying out to God for Jerusalem, but crying out to God, what is it, do you want me involved in this in any fashion? And when I see how God began to use Him and how He must have had to deal with this and struggle with this, well, why have they told me this?
What do you want me to do about this? God put a burden on Him. Now listen, a burden from God is a heaviness that God places upon someone, first of all, to get their attention, then to bring something to mind He wants us to deal with. It could be a burden because of our sin. It could be a burden because of something He wants you to do, someplace He wants you to go, someone He wants you to talk to.
He was heavily burdened. And so, now He comes before a holy God and what happens? The next thing that happens here, if you'll notice, He begins to confess sin. Not only the sins of the nation of Israel. And Daniel's prayer sounds just like this, talking about the sins of the nation of Israel. But if you'll notice that Nehemiah, he says, my Father, we have sinned against You. We have corrupted ourselves because of sin.
Now, you know the Scripture there in Isaiah, or the Psalms really, when he talks about sin in our life and he says, if I regard it in my life that He will not hear my prayers. And the other word for that regard means if I cherish it, if I hold on to it. And usually if you'll think about it, if there's some sin in your life and you know it's done, you don't want to give it up, you do cherish it. You say, well, not really cherish it.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. If you're holding on to it, you don't want to give it up. Listen to what God says. If you hold on to practicing some sin in your life and you won't give it up, the prayers are not going anywhere. And people will say oftentimes, I pray and pray and pray and I pray and pray and pray and pray. And I pray and pray and pray, and I pray and pray and pray. And if you're holding on to something over here, I don't believe God's hearing me. Correct.
Maybe He's not. Why? Because you've got something over here.
Listen to this. You've got something over here that's so more valuable to you than your relationship to God, you're holding on to something over here that you're saying to the Creator, to the sovereign governor and guard and God of this universe, before I give you a prayer, you're holding on to something over here that you're saying to the Lord, I pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray and pray. And if you're saying, I cherish, I hold on to that God has said, let it go, I'm telling you, listen carefully. You can't get prayers answered holding on to things that are sinful in the eyes of God. We forget, for example, that He is the sovereign of this universe who is absolutely holy. And if He wants to deal with it, He's not going to answer prayer till you learn to deal with it. Then I began right in the confession of sin, of His own sin, the sins of His Father.
Here is awesome, holy God, full of grace, full of mercy, full of love, willing to answer the needs of your heart. But He will, listen, He wants you to clean up. And until you clean up, the prayer's not going to get answered. You say, well, you know what, here's what I believe. And once in a while, I'll tell somebody what the Word of God says and they'll say, well, yeah, but that's because you're a preacher, but here's what I believe and la-da-da-da-da.
And I want to say to them, let me tell you something. It isn't what I believe, it's what He says. And what you're rejecting is not what I say, you're rejecting what He says. And you may be one of those persons who says, well, I pray all the time and God answers my prayer. Does He? He's not answering prayer, not if you're sinning against Him, He's not answering prayer. Does God do good things even in the life of an unbeliever?
Yes, Paul said. He said, do you not know that the goodness of God is for the purpose of leading you to repentance to get your attention? But He's not answering prayer. He said, if I regard iniquity in my heart sin, if I cherish it, He says, God will not hear me. And what I want you to see here is simply this, that after He recognizes the sovereignty of God and after He recognizes the holiness of God, He deals with this whole issue of sin. Now watch this carefully, are you listening? Say, amen. Purity of heart and the power of God are linked.
They're linked. If you want the power of God in your life, your life's got to be pure. Thank you for listening to Standing Tall and Strong through prayer. If you'd like to know more about Charles Stanley or InTouch Ministries, stop by InTouch.org. This podcast is a presentation of InTouch Ministries, Atlanta, Georgia.
