From Dr. Reggie Kidd in July/Aug 2009 issue of Worship Leader magazine:
"My father was a victim of Alzheimer’s disease. It was hard to watch this once-vibrantly inquisitive retired college professor lost his ability to remember. Along with his ability to remember, he lost his capacity for learning as well.
"For a brief stint, my dad stayed in a facility for the ’pleasantly confused.’ As we were moving him in, I noticed flaps over the elevator controls. ’Why the flaps,” I asked a nurse.
“’It’s how we keep residents from leaving their floor and wandering off.’
"’I don’t get it. How does that work?’
“’A person like your father doesn’t just have memory issues. Because he can’t remember old things, he can’t learn new things either. So no matter how many times he might see someone lift eh flap and press the button underneath, he can’t learn it for himself.”
"In that moment, I realized the phrase ’pleasantly confused’ was a nice way of describing something quite bad: being trapped in the present."
We’re beginning a new pre-series today: "Getting Ready for Something More." During the month of October we’ll share in the series "Something More," but for now we’re just "Getting Ready for Something More."
None of us needs to be "trapped in the present." We don’t need to accept the status quo when God has something more for us.
All of us want something more but all too often we forget that it takes preparation to receive something more.
How about your life? Do you long for something more? When Nehemiah, a Jewish transplant living in Persia, heard how bad things were back home he began to long for something more. His heart began to ache and his eyes began to fill with tears when he heard that Jerusalem was in ruins.
When Nehemiah saw this picture in his mind he did what comes naturally to all God’s people when they long for something more. He prayed. Not just a nice, customary, uninspired routine prayer; Nehemiah got his prayer on!
There are 12 prayers in this book that begins and ends with prayer!
Today, in this first installment of "Getting Ready for Something More," we’re going to do two things: 1) consider a detailed account of Nehemiah’s exemplary prayer, and 2) spend some time in prayer ourselves. We’re going to spend some time praying during the message because prayer isn’t something you just talk about, it’s something you need to practice.
If you want something more in your relationship with God, if you want something more for Pathway Church, if you want something more in your marriage, in your parenting, in your career, in your finances, in your friendships, in your education… if there is any part of your life where you are tired of the mundane and the status quo, if there is a yearning in your heart for more meaning, greater understanding, if you feel a restlessness in your spirit that tells you its time for more out of life, then here’s
How To Pray When You Want Something More
Nehemiah 1:1-4 (NIV)
1. Put food on the back burner.
The words of Nehemiah, son of Hacaliah: In the month Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
The first thing Nehemiah did was to mourn, fast and pray. He was so heartsick that the city of Jerusalem was a wreck that he couldn’t just ignore the situation. He wanted something more for the capital city of his homeland. But he knew that without the help of God “something more” wasn’t going to happen.
Fasting and prayer can be tough but its worth it!
Giving up food is not something our bodies like to do. Yet we need fasting and prayer because it is a tremendously practical tool when you get to the place in your life that you want something more.
I think one reason for this, at least in my own life, is that I don’t always eat because I’m hungry for food. A lot of times I eat because I’m hungry for something more from God. So I need to take a break from food every once in a while to focus on what I’m really hungry for.
Sadly, the spiritual discipline of fasting is so foreign to most Christ followers that we’re like the church that had this announcement in their bulletin.
“The cost to attend the Fasting and Prayer Conference includes meals.”
At Pathway you’ll hear me talk about fasting every once in a while because it is a tremendous resource for experiencing something more in life! It’s something you shouldn’t neglect.
Several things you need to realize about prayer and fasting…
A. You get a whole lot more than you give up when you fast and pray.
The price tag of giving up eating for one meal, or one day, or sometimes a couple a days, is a small price to pay for what fasting does!
Jesus put it this way:
16"When you fast, [Note: Jesus didn’t say, “if” you fast. Jesus clearly expects His followers to fast.] do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:16-18 (NIV)
Circle that word “reward.”
In verse 16, the Greek word has to do with wages. You can fast to impress others and impressing them will be your only reward – that will be your "wages." But if you fast because you sincerely want something more God will “give back” to you. "Give back" is the meaning of the Greek word used for “reward” in verse 18. Being rewarded by God is better than enjoying eating food! It’s better than what man can cook up for you! [Perhaps a little pun intended.]
There’s a reward from God for fasting! You get a whole lot more than you give up when you fast & pray!
B. Fasting doesn’t change God.
God already wants to answer our prayers. Fasting changes us. The physical hunger we feel when we go without food for a meal or two or a day or two is representative of a much greater hunger – a hunger for God and what He has for us. A hungry stomach represents a hungry spirit. And it takes a hungry spirit for God to affect the kind of change in our lives that makes us ready for something more.
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. 12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58:6-12 (NIV)
C. Fasting is simple and doable.
One way the people of Bible times would fast is really very simple. They would fast “until evening.” (1 Samuel 7:6; 2 Samuel 1:12) For the Jews, from sundown to sundown was one day - not from midnight to midnight like we observe. So, they would fast from sundown to sundown, which is pretty simple.
At the close of this message I’m going to ask each and every one of you to make a commitment to fast and pray about at least one area in which you want God to do something more.
Before we do that, remember that fasting has a partner called prayer. How do you pray when you need something more from God? Let’s get specific.
2. Putting prayer on the front burner!
Some of us don’t think praying is the thing to do when we want "something more." We think about rolling up our sleeves; we think about soliciting the help of our friends; we may even think about giving up – the challenge before us may be too daunting.
Back in high school my older brother Mark bought a 1957 Chevy. As he was pampering it one day, changing the oil was among his chores. He took out the oil plug, changed the filter and then began to refill the engine with oil.
I was sitting on the picnic table under the shade tree with a neighbor and I said, "Hey Mark, before you...
That was all I got out before he said something like, "Can’t you tell I’m busy!"
I said, "Okay."
Then, when he finished pouring all five quarts of oil into his classic auto, I said, "You may have wanted to put the oil plug in before you poured all five quarts of oil out on the ground."
Sometimes we’re like that with God. "God, I’m busy. I don’t have time to talk to you right now." And so we lose a lot of valuable spiritual oil. We keep spinning our wheels when God wants us to talk it all over with Him.
Nothing wrong with rolling up our sleeves or getting our friends to help us out in a tight spot but don’t forget what the Scriptures teach:
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. James 5:16b (NLT)
That’s whay Nehemiah prayed – so that’s what we’re going to do interspersed with today’s Bible teaching. Listen carefully. We’re going to have somewhat of an interactive sermon today. We’re going to do "something more" than we normally do.
I’m going to ask several of you to volunteer to lead the church family in prayer after I teach on certain things that we need to pray about. I have not pre-assigned these prayers. I’ve asked the Holy Spirit to do that.
We’re going to pray like Nehemiah prayed. Look once again at his prayer and listen carefully to my instructions as I give them to you:
VERSE 5: Then I said: “O LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands,
That’s how we need to begin our praying when we want something more. Telling God that we appreciate His wonderful attributes. We too are emboldened when we begin our prayers thinking about God and His greatness rather than dwelling on our need first. We remember how able God is to supply our need!
A. Someone stand up and pray a few sentences to God about how great He is and why.
Next,
VERSES 6-7let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
Why should we pray like this? Because God said, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14
God says, “My people, the ones called by my name, are the ones who need to humble themselves and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways.” Then God promises to hear from heaven and forgive our sin and heal our land. If the church accepts its assignment as salt and light our culture can be healed!
B. Someone stand up and pray about how we in America have sinned against God as a nation and ask God to forgive us and heal us as a nation.
Next...
VERSES 8-9 - “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
We often fail to consider that many of the unchurched people around us are actually Christ followers who have become negligent of worship. Or they’ve become discouraged, or, like this scripture calls them, “unfaithful.”
Remember, in the Old Testament, God saw His people’s straying from worshipping Him as spiritual adultery, spiritual unfaithfulness. In the New Testament, Jesus calls the church His bride, so the analogy is still in effect.
When you or I who know Christ begin to neglect our worship and become “unfaithful” to God, there are dire consequences. But, God says, “if you return to me and obey my commands…I will bring you back.”
C. Someone stand and pray for God to help those who have drifted from God to return to Him and obey His commands.
Next...
10 “They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man.”
I was cupbearer to the king.
The man Nehemiah wanted favor from the king of Persia. Nehemiah had the trusted position of tasting the king’s food and drink. Kings were often the targets of assassination plots and poisoning the king’s food was a common ploy. So ancient kings employed cupbearers to risk their lives to see if the food and drink was safe for the king’s consumption.
Much like the president’s Secret Service detail today, Nehemiah literally laid his life on the line for his boss. So you can see what a position of trust and responsibility this was. Nehemiah was a person of integrity. You don’t start fasting and praying until you have a certain amount of integrity of trustworthiness. When principles and morals matter to you, when you care about being and doing right, prayer and fasting become a great resource for you.
D. Someone stand up and pray that God would give us success and favor with others around us and that we would live with integrity.
When this cupbearer heard how the city of Jerusalem, the capital city of his mother country, was still in ruins with no wall to protect it, he knew that he was going to have to do something about the broken down state of affairs in Jerusalem – even though he was positioned in the “citadel of Susa,” the capitol of Persia.
Nehemiah could have said, “It’s not my problem that the walls of Jerusalem are broken down. The walls here at the citadel of Susa are secure.” But Nehemiah wanted something more for his people, his country and for the work of God. Nehemiah was concerned about others.
Selfish people only get the "something more" that comes from conniving and striving on their own.
Unselfish people get "something more" from God.
When you read the book of Nehemiah, which we shall do in the coming weeks, you see that Nehemiah DID receive "something more" from God but this is where it begins.
I’m going ask you to commit to asking God, through fasting and prayer, for something more throughout the course of this series.
I, _____________________ will fast and pray “until evening” at least once a week during the "Something More" series, asking God to do something more in the following area:___________________________________.
It can be something personal but try and make it something that, if it is personal, it at least affects more people than just you.
I want you to take that communication card and put it somewhere you will see it every day.
