100 Days with Jesus -- Do You Have God with You Because You Were With God First?

Day 27


I’m continuing today in the book of Nehemiah. It’s such an exciting book and certainly one of the best management tools I’ve ever read. Nehemiah was organized, an excellent planner, very detail oriented and thought through things before he did or SAID anything. But more importantly, he prayed with all his heart to God for guidance at every step of the way - unlike me. I’m pretty bad to spend some time in prayer, throw a plan together and strike out with guns blazing! It doesn’t always work out the way I had hoped!

As Nehemiah was fasting and praying for his beloved city, knowing that he would go before the king for help, he was also very carefully planning his strategy. The scripture doesn’t really say so but I imagine that he was praying and writing down a plan and then praying some more and adding to the plan. Why do I think so? Well, when he had the opportunity to go before the king and ask for help for his home town, when the king granted his assistance and asked what he needed, he immediately laid out a detailed plan as to what he would do, how long he would be gone, what he would need to take with him – the whole plan! He knew exactly from start to finish how he would progress and he was prepared when asked the question. It says in Nehemiah 2:8……’and because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.’ Nehemiah had God with him because he was with God first. He went to the Lord in prayer first instead of creating a plan and then asking God to bless it. I find it interesting that he also prayed before he opened his mouth. Nehemiah 2:5 says ‘Then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the king.’ This may be the most powerful lesson in the whole book! This will be my prayer for today too!