Listen to My Prayer!
Updated: Feb 3, 2021
By Jeanice Sherai
“Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I’m praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I’m including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.”
Nehemiah 1:6
As Green Pastures: A Restorative Space begins our Nehemiah study to start off not only a brand-new year, but also a brand-new decade, I can’t help but relate to the heartbreak of Nehemiah as we witness the things that are being reported on the news in our present world today.
How many of us have prayed a similar prayer for our military, our citizens, our government leadership, and our country in the last few days? How many of us have been heartbroken for the mothers, sisters, brothers, and family members that have had to watch their family members be deployed yet again into the uncertainty and the unknown?
Life, I’ve realized is sure to happen. There will be great days and hard days. There will be sunny days and rainy days. Yet, who are we seeking on those days?
When the news is hard to listen to and the world is full of fear.
Who are we choosing to lean on?
Whose news report are we currently believing?
As we begin this new year and new decade, I invite you to find REST in a God who has seen all, knows all, and has gone before us all.
The questions we have, He can replace with answers.
The fears we have, He can replace with courage.
Yet, like Nehemiah, we must know who to seek in the hard places of our life. We must know who to seek when we watch those we love endure hard things.
We must be strong and bold enough to take our worries, our broken hearts to the One who has the power to strengthen, mend, and encourage us.
Like, Nehemiah, we must also approach God with humility concerning how we have sinned against Him in our life, we must seek Him for forgiveness, but we still must approach Him with boldness as we cry out and ask Him to listen to our prayers for the things that have left us broken in life.
A Moment of Reflection:
In our most recent group discussion via our Empowering Women Thru Esther Group, Denise asked the question: What’s currently breaking your heart?
This month I want you to pay attention to what things are currently breaking your heart in this world. Once you recognize what situations in this world repeatedly breaks your heart to hear about, I want you to begin interceding to God concerning those particular things.
I pray that He gives you vision that sends you out into this world with a plan that will help you mend the brokenness of the things that have left you broken.