A Time To Fight

When was the last time you asked God to crush your enemy? Have you ever prayed to God that He NOT cover someone's guilt, or NOT blot out someone's sin? For many of us the presence of this type of prayer in Scripture is difficult enough let alone the personal use of it in our prayer lives. In many ways, it is good that we are hesitant to pray like Nehemiah does in Neh 4.4-5. Nehemiah's petition for cursing on God's enemies is inspired by the Holy Spirit and isn't about personal revenge but the glory of God and the good of His people. Nehemiah was fighting and laboring for the rebuilding of a city and of the church, and all around enemies were actively laboring to crush, discourage, distract, and destroy the work and God's people. So Nehemiah prays that God would turn taunts back on the heads of their enemies. He prays to God that He would not cover their guilt or blot our their sin, and he does all of this because men like Tobiah and Sanaballat "have provoked you [God] to anger."

Nehemiah is actually standing in a long line of people offering imprecatory prayers (just read Psalms). Praying like this isn't unbiblical and is in fact grounded in God's promises found in places like Genesis 12. Thousands of years before Nehemiah God covenanted with Abraham that He would bless those who bless him and curse those who curse him. Among many things, this means God cares about what happens to His people and that He will protect, defend, avenge, repay, and judge those who are hostile to the restoration, mission and people of the church. This truth is meant to encourage and embolden. God sees, God cares, and God will act. Take a minute and allow that truth to set in. As you fight for the church, as you labor to see Her thrive, as you offer your very lives in the mission of making disciples of all tribes and tongues God takes notice of every insult, every blow, every drop of blood from every martyr.

Nehemiah's prayer goes even further than giving us personal confidence and hope that God cares about our opposition, it provides corporate fervor to keep laboring. The context for Nehemiah's prayer of imprecation is the coordinated effort of God's people to accomplish their God given task while facing a hostile environment littered with slandering, threatening, violent enemies. No doubt, God's people then, as now, are prone to discouragement and fear, and one of the ways God encourages us is to know that what we suffer He sees and what we endure He will do something about. This was true for Nehemiah and the church at that time, it is true in places like Revelation 6 where those killed for their faith are told that God will judge and avenge their blood, and it is true for the church today.

How To Fight

It would be a mistake at this point to encourage any of us to constant imprecation. In fact, we would do better to allow the Biblical prayers to teach us more about who God is and what He is doing, and will do, than how to pray for the dashing of our enemies. However, this doesn't mean that there is never a place to pray prayers loosely patterned and inspired after those seen in places like Nehemiah 4. We can rightly claim the promises that God will judge, God will avenge, God cares, God sees, God defends, God protects, and so on. Utilizing these truths in the context of our personal and corporate prayer lives gives glory to God as sovereign over all people and also strengthens His saints to keep fighting even as they face opposition at every step.

Here are a few ways you might incorporate 'imprecatory' type prayers:

"Soveriegn Lord, I know you see all things. You see our enemies and you see our  suffering. God we are facing fierce opponents. Would you save them and would you stop them. Do what you deem right for your glory. Let us know and believe that the blows and the blood of your saints matter to You. Let us with confidence and courage fight trusting that vengeance is Yours, and that you will repay."

"Papa, right now there are great and wicked obstacles against your people. There are legal, cultural, spiritual, physical assaults issued forth by real people who despise and hate us. Your church is insulted and ridiculed. Your church that is called by your name. For your glory would you turn the taunts of our culture back on their own heads. Would you show the foolishness of opposing You by opposing your people. Would you cause knees to bow, and if they don't bow, would you cause knees to break. However you choose to do it would you save and stop our enemies. Would you bring to an end their taunts. Would you remove their power over us. Would you vindicate your church that those who are now discouraged would be revived as our enemies are put to shame and your might is seen in the saving and stopping of those that currently curse You and hate us."

As you can see I am slow to pray specifically like Nehemiah that God wouldn't forgive sin or wouldn't cover guilt. As a sinful man, prone to ungodly self serving revenge, I want to pray that God changes, saves, restores, and forgives my enemies much more than I would ever pray that He would curse them. Even more than the tendency to sin, we have the words of Jesus in places like Matthew 5.44 that say, "Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you." Or Paul's words in Romans 12.14; "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse." However, this doesn't mean we can't pray in more general terms Nehemiah 4 type prayers that God would save and stop our enemies according to His good pleasure. In fact, sometimes that's exactly what we need to pray, both for ourselves and for the people we are laboring with. Not so much prayers of cursing, but prayers of conquest.

The One Who Really Fights

Perhaps the biggest reason we should be slow to pray imprecation against others is that without Christ we are all enemies of God that deserve cursing. We must remember that before we were ever like Nehemiah, or the builders laboring, or even the people who's strength was fading, we were like Sanballat and Tobiah discouraging, oppressing, and opposing. For many of us our activity may not have been as outwardly overt as the enemies facing Nehemiah, but we were no less opposed to Jesus. And in our opposition, as enemies of God, Jesus prayed and Jesus died. Amazingly, instead of cursing us, God blesses us by cursing Christ. The reason we fight in prayer by asking that our opponents would be saved is because Jesus died for us that our guilt would be covered and our sin would blotted out. No doubt, we can still pray that God would stop enemies of the church but the Gospel compels us to pray He stops them first and foremost by saving them, just like He did for us. For those He doesn't save we know He will ultimately stop. He will bring justice. He will avenge the blood of His saints. He will defend His people and vindicate His name. With confidence in God we fight and we pray; 'God would you save and stop our enemies, for our good, their good, and most importantly, your glory.'

You Don’t Have Because You Don’t Ask

As I am writing this our church is 12 days away from launching a 7pm service in a new location somewhere in our city but as of now we don’t know exactly where. We made the decision to launch this new service two days ago, so while we may not be procrastinating we sure could have done some better planning. But as we look at some immediate strategic opportunities to introduce a whole new group of people to Jesus we feel like this is what God wants us to pursue.

On top of not having a facility, we don’t have a core group, we don’t have a budget, we don’t have a band. However, we do have a good and generous God who has more than enough to supply every need, and we have a church asking Him to do just that. While I wouldn’t recommend what we are doing as a good strategy for other churches to follow, I will say it is a practical reminder that we need to pray. Because of the short time frame and the incredible lack of resources we are conscious of our dependence and need. Truthfully, we are always completely dependent but so often we don’t realize it because at the end of the day we think we are pretty capable to build the church on our own and without much prayer. We come up with vision and strategy and ideas about how to multiply churches and reach our cities and then we get to work on putting those initiatives into action, often without much prayer, if any.

As we look at Nehemiah in chapter 2 we see a telling, encouraging, and convicting narrative of how God provided resources for the rebuilding of a city. Nehemiah is standing before Artaxerxes and after some brief interaction the king asks; “What are you requesting?” Think about the question and who is asking it. The Persian King is asking his cupbearer what he wants. The one asking has the resources to supply just about anything requested as well as the authority and power to bestow it. But Nehemiah knows something that we so often forget as we labor in the church, God owns everything and can provide anything through anyone at anytime He wants. Before Nehemiah responds to the king’s question he “prayed to the God of heaven.” In that moment, most likely silent and standing before the king, he prays. And this isn’t just a feeble half hearted hope, Nehemiah prays to the God of Heaven. He knows who holds the check-book and so Nehemiah prays and asks God and then he asks the king.

Are you lacking musicians? Do you have potential elders? Are you seeing conversions? Well, are you asking? Now, I don’t embrace a prosperity theology that attempts to turn God into a giant vending machine pumping out treats if you only hit the right buttons. That’s offensive. But it is clear throughout Scripture that God is generous and does provide what’s needed to bring glory to His Name.

God often connects the resources needed for the mission with prayer. For example, Jesus tells us “the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matthew 9.37-38). I’ll often read a text like this, spend three minutes in prayer, and then go spend four weeks recruiting people. Sadly, I do this with just about everything in the church. I don’t know what to preach so I’ll look at commentaries or check out other church websites for what they’re doing. If we aren’t seeing conversions I’ll read a book on evangelism. When our kid’s ministry doesn’t have enough volunteers I’ll do a passionate appeal to the church telling them that Jesus would serve the kids. Now, to be clear, these are all good and right things to do, but there not sufficient. Where’s the prayer? Jesus sees need and says ‘pray,’ we see the need and plan. Now, don’t drop planning, but perhaps it’s time to fall on our knees and really start asking.

You Don’t Have Because Of Why You Ask

I am grateful for the way James pulls together prayer and provision in his letter in chapter 4 with a right desire in the asking. In James 4.2-3 we read; “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.” Here we see both the call to ask but to do some with right motives. In other words, God is inviting us to ask Him for whatever it is we believe is going to result in His glory. When we ask for things wrongly to spend on our passion, James means asking for selfish, adulterous, ungodly, self-exalting, God-cheapening reasons. Meaning, you can ask for good things with wrong motives, and by doing so, not receive what you ask for. For example, you plead with God for more people to meet Jesus. Great prayer. But why are you asking? Is this about God’s glory or yours? You ask God to fill every seat in the church building. Good prayer. But why are you asking? Is this for your reputation or for the fame of Jesus?

What we see in Nehemiah is a man asking the God of Heaven to provide resources ultimately for God’s own glory. One of the ways we know this is the refrain in Nehemiah “the good hand of my God was upon me.” Nehemiah isn’t looking to rebuild a city for his name. He isn’t asking for himself. Nehemiah, standing before the King of Persia appeals to the power God for the glory of God. Let us be people who ask, and who ask rightly and when we receive what we have asked for, with Nehemiah say it’s because “the good hand of my God was upon me.”

Jesus Asks On Our Behalf

James tells us to ask rightly, but if we are honest, not matter what we ask for we know our motives are mixed. I imagine this was true for Nehemiah to some extent, and I know is true of me way too often. I honestly don’t believe I have ever asked God for anything without the temptation to spend it on my own passions. This may be true for you as well. But amazingly, what we see in Nehemiah, a God-glorifying prayer-dependent leader, is a precursor to a perfect Leader who would give Himself to prayer for the good of others and the glory of God. Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus asking the Father, the God of Heaven, for the good of His Church who are so needy. As the previous post emphasized, Nehemiah must not firstly be an example for us to follow but a pointer to our Perfect Substitute who prays for us and gives good gifts to us, even when we forget to ask, or even ask wrongly. Think about the comfort that comes from having Jesus pray for the good of the church you serve knowing that He never asks wrongly. Jesus loves the church. Jesus sees the needs of your church. Jesus asks the Father and the Father gives good gifts. Knowing we have such a strong and generous and kind God who sees us through Christ and who over time conforms even our selfish requests to be about His glory and not our own, let’s pray. Ask knowing that God’s good hand is upon us because of the pierced hands of Christ. I am sure there is so much in your church that you need or would like for the mission. You see lots of needs and lots of lack. God may be giving you big dreams for His glory in your city and in this world. Praises Jesus for the dreams He is giving, now pray in the name of Jesus for the resources needed. Go to the God of Heaven and ask Him to supply every need. Ask Him for His glory and where your motives are mixed ask Him to purify those as well. Who knows what would really happen in our cities if the church just started asking.

Ask

God of Heaven, I must first confess that so often I see needs in the church and spend way too much time working to fill them and far too little time praying for you to supply for them. I know it is right to labor hard in planning but it is glorious and good and practical to labor hard in prayer. Make me, make us, a people that love to pray. Not only, or even primarily to get things from you, but because we love to commune with you. And yet as the most generous Father, you love to give good gifts for us to enjoy and you provide all the resources needed for your church to thrive. In the church I serve there have been far too many times where we limited what we do by what resources we had. Instead of asking you for more we just did less.  We look out at our cities and see how ripe it is for harvest, we see thousands in every neighborhood that don’t know you, and then we look at our church rosters and realize we don’t have the numbers to go get them. We are asking for more laborers. We want our churches to grow and multiply and preach and reach to the end of your creation that billions who don’t know Jesus will fall in love with Him. And as we receive resources may you make us remember that it is only because your good hand is upon us, because of the pierced hand of Christ. All of this we pray for your glory, asking for the good of your people and the fame of your Son.

Passion Produces Tears

My wife was giving birth to our first child and things didn’t go as planned. Emma got stuck and both my daughter and my wife were in trouble. It was a frightening time for all of us. But one of the things I remember most about those hours of uncertainty was seeing my wife struggle in pain and fear. I watched a strong courageous woman keep fighting while her body was breaking. At one point I just started weeping. I couldn’t control it and I didn’t want to. I adore my bride and I ache when she hurts. I wasn’t as concerned with what would happen but what was happening. In that moment I saw one I love with deep passion in great trouble and crumbling, so I wept. What I felt was natural. When you love someone, really love someone, if they ache you weep.

This is how Nehemiah must have felt as he received the news that God’s church, and His city, was in shambles. Nehemiah wept because the church was broken (Neh 1.3-4). The report had come in and it wasn’t good. What once was glorious had fallen greatly. There had been many attempts to rebuild the broken city but they weren’t successful. On top of broken walls, the city was full of broken lives and spirits. Imagine a hundred years of rubble. Day in, day out, living with the visible and constant reminders of brokenness. It was like that for God’s church during the days of Nehemiah and it is like that for many today. I have friends laboring in places where Jesus used to be adored. In fact, there are a lot of those “used to” places. Far too many. So we weep.

But even more than a broken city, Nehemiah wept for the glory of God. In Nehemiah 1.11 we see his prayer conclude with a word of delight in the fear of God’s name. Compelled by fear, reverence, and awe for God is a constant theme for Nehemiah. What is true for Nehemiah is also true for others. Those who delight to fear God’s name are moved to tears as His name is maligned, cheapened, or ignored.  Throughout the book of Nehemiah we see that the central motivation must have been the glory of God. He continually made clear that any advances in the mission were due to God’s good hand. He rallied people for the mission by grounding people in God’s promises and power. Nehemiah even stopped oppression for the reputation of God and His church among their enemies. Nehemiah cared what people thought of God and so he wanted to see the church rebuilt, renewed, and thriving. Think about it this way, how gloriously will God be displayed as He revives the UK? How ignored is Jesus in Boston where He is seemingly forgotten? Imagine the kind of praise that would resound if New York City experienced revival. And we could go on. Just think, what would happen if the church in your area came to life and everyone could perceive “that the work had been accomplished with the help of our God” (Neh 6.16).

Tears Produce Prayer

Nehemiah is passionate for God’s people and God’s glory so when his eyes are opened to the condition of the church he weeps and mourns and fasts and prays, for months. When was the last time you cried that your crucified King isn’t adored in your city? Or walked by a church that now preaches a different gospel and fell down and prayed? If you love the church and you love the glory of God you will weep. Like Nehemiah you will cry out for help. And this kind of prayer isn’t something you get to do, it’s something you have to do. When I saw Kati hurting, I hurt, because I love her. When I see the Church hurting, I hurt, because I love Her. This isn’t something you work up but something that spills out. Passion produces tears, and tears produce prayer.

It is helpful to note that Nehemiah’s prayer in chapter 1 is not helpless or hopeless sobbing. If you read the entire prayer you will see a man greatly moved but through those tears he is confident that God can do something. God invites us to mourn with the promise and hope the He hears and He can heal. He invites us to confess sin, corporate and private. He listens to the cries of His people and He cares. He invites us to weep and pray. So let’s do just that. Let your passion for the church and the glory of God produce weeping prayer.

Jesus Wept

One of the dangers in looking at the prayer life of Nehemiah is we would see him as the hero and make every effort to be like him. That isn’t all bad. God uses men and women to inspire us through their lives and model for us ways to live. Their passion and pursuit of God can help us and we should imitate others as they imitate Jesus. But that’s just it. No matter how godly someone appears, they are at best, imperfect imitations of Jesus. The goal in looking at how Nehemiah prayed isn’t to make ‘every effort’ to be like Nehemiah, but directed to the One who prayed with more passion and tears than Nehemiah could possibly imagine. As we weep on behalf of the broken church we have to see the One who first wept for us, a broken people. In fact, throughout the story of Nehemiah we aren’t first or foremost like Nehemiah. We are the shamed, busted, scared, vulnerable, rebellious, apathetic, needy, poor, stained people in need of intercession, in need of a weeping Savior. In Jesus, that’s what we have.

Jesus cried in compassion for Mary and Martha and others (John 11.35) even though He knew the situation would emerge in life and glory. Jesus grieves over the rebellious city, Jerusalem, in a touching lament for His people to be brought near (Matthew 23.37-38). And on the Cross, Jesus cries out while spilling blood. There are many churches in shame and dishonor waiting for renewal. But because Jesus is the Hero, our shameful indifference toward the church is forgiven and as we see the infinite price Jesus paid for His church and how He much loves His bride, our sometimes cold-hearts are stirred to love God’s glory and pray for His church. In other words, as we hear Jesus weep we cry out. We hurt for the church but do so with hope because of the One who can heal the church. Passion produces tears. The more you love the church the more you’ll mourn and fast and pray. Weeping produces prayer. The less people adore God and dishonor His name the more you will fall down and cry out. Because Jesus is the Hero, we can weep and pray knowing that Jesus can wipe away tears as He renews the church.

Jesus Wept, So We Cry Out

O LORD God of Heaven,

We look out at the church and we can see so much to be hopeful about. People are meeting Jesus. People are hearing the Gospel. There seem to be whole nations turning to you. And yet, there are so many others that are running from you. The church, in places like France and Germany, have experienced some great revivals, and yet now appear as if they never knew you. In the Unites States, in regions like New England, we see Universities that began with the mission to train men to preach Jesus, now turned into institutions that ignore and even hate Him. Church building after building flipped into someone’s home leaving a steeple-sized reminder that there used to be a church there. We long for the church to live. We ache over every loss of every congregation, every fracture, every split, every weakening of your people. And above our sadness over the state of your church in far too many places is our great pain that the value of your Name is not esteemed.

So, like Daniel we cry out that you would hear and forgive, and pay attention and act. We do not come in our righteousness, for we deserve open shame. True, the church has enemies but so often Her brokenness and disrepair is the product of our neglect and abuse. And so we come before you God of Heaven, our great and awesome God, and ask that you would incline your ear and hear, that you would open your eyes and see our desolations and the churches that are called by your name. We come to you not according to our merit but your mercy and ask, for your name’s sake, for the glory of your Son, for the fame of Him among all people, that you would revive, renew, and rebuild and restore. All for the glory of your beautiful name, which we delight to fear, and the good of your church, that we know Jesus will make beautiful. And it is in the good and mighty name of our weeping Savior we pray, Amen.

“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, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants…” (Nehemiah 1.5-6)

Great Trouble And Shame

The condition wasn’t good. The city was burnt. The walls destroyed. The worship anemic. The people discouraged. The enemy strong. These were some of the challenges Nehemiah faced as he considered leaving Susa and traveling 1,000 miles to Jerusalem to labor for revival. The first few verses of Nehemiah 1 give us a glimpse into the desperate situation of the people of God and books like Ezra and the rest of Nehemiah provide even more background as to how fierce the opposition was and how God’s church was in “great trouble and shame.”

What Can You Do?

As you look at the condition of your local church or the church in your city or region what do you see? Do you see a Spirit-filled people proclaiming with boldness the penal substitution of Jesus? Is the church passionately engaged and actively laboring for the fame of Jesus among all people? Are churches being multiplied? Are people being saved? Is there aching and weeping because God’s glory is dismissed and His value ignored? Is worship fervent and powerful? Or, is the church lukewarm, puttering along in complacency with Jesus more of a mascot than a King? In far too many places the church is in “great trouble and shame.” What can you do?

Or, perhaps you’re part of a church planting or replanting team facing stone heart resistance, and rock hard ground, laboring and toiling for the glory of Jesus among people who are not just uninterested but hostile. You have almost no resources, a handful of discouraged people, a rusted legacy, and an oppressive and strong enemy. For example, "one study suggests that Christianity will be statistically irrelevant in countries like the Netherlands & Switzerland within a few decades. In a recent British poll of people claiming to be ‘Christian’, less than half believed that Jesus rose from the dead. Germany has seen a year-on-year decline in Christianity over the last 25 years yet Islam has grown. In France mediums, faith healers and fortune-tellers earn as much money as medical doctors" (Steve Timmis). This is the context and condition many finds themselves in. So, what can you do?

The First Answer, The Last Answer

When confronted with the condition of the church in Jerusalem Nehemiah’s first response was to pray. In fact, as you read the book of Nehemiah, you realize that he never stopped praying. In 13 chapters we see at least 11 different occurrences of prayer. Nehemiah prays in private and public. He prayed by himself and with the church. He prayed at planned times and on the spot. Some of the prayers are short and some long. Nehemiah prayed for himself and others. There are prayers of praise and confession and repentance and commitment. He has prayers saturated with Scripture and others a humble collection of just a few simple words. There is no set pattern to all of Nehemiah’s prayers but the ever-present reality that he prayed.

We see from Nehemiah 1.5-6 precious truths that drove Nehemiah to pray, and can help motivate us to do the same. God is strong and for us. We pray, in part, because God is completely capable of answering. He is the “LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God.” But that’s not all. He actually wants to answer prayer as the “God who keeps covenant and steadfast love.” So often what keeps us from praying is a functional disbelief that God is God and God is good. The other thing Nehemiah understood, and far too often we don’t, is that we are weak and needy and so much less impressive than we think (you're welcome). In fact, often our prayerlessness is arrogance. Pride is one of the greatest obstacles to prayer. We believe if we plan more, work harder, keep pushing, cast vision, make good decisions, the church will live. But what we see in Nehemiah is a man who did all those things but consistently in the atmosphere of prayer. Can that be said of you? To my shame, I know it can’t for me.

Jesus Prays The Church To Life

So where do we go from here? The great and good news for prayerless people who long for revival, is that there is only One who prayed without ceasing as He labored so the Church would live. Nehemiah is a precursor, an echo, to the One who would fast and pray and die for revival as the Savior who would crush Satan, cover sin, kill death, and promise resurrection. In places like John 17 we see Jesus intercede for the Church. We hear the strong words of this righteous man lifted on our behalf. Even on the Cross as Jesus died in our place we hear Him pray. Prayers of intercession, promise, praise, of completion. Jesus is the one who prays the church to life. Let me state that again, Jesus is THE ONE who prays the Church to life. He cares infinitely more about Her ‘trouble and shame’ then we ever do or ever will. The sure and certain hope is that even in our prayerlessness He is still interceding for us. And as Jesus prays the church to life the church will start to pray.

As we labor as church planters, Gospel leaders, blood bought sons and daughters, may we start praying like the One who never stops. As Marin Lloyd-Jones wrote, “Let us lay hold upon Him and plead with Him to vindicate His own truth and the doctrines which are so dear to our hearts, that the church may be revived and masses of people may be saved.”