“Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success!” (Psalm 118:25, ESV)
The Bible seems to connect building projects with prayer. Our Lord Jesus assures us that He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Yet He would have us pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the field, and engage ourselves in the building project.
We see the primacy of prayer at work in the establishment and growth of the new covenant church recorded in Acts. The first act of the apostles after Christ’s ascension was to gather in prayer. Assembled in an upper room, the apostles “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” (Acts 1:14).
It was clear from the outset that the building of the church was the job of the triune God. The followers of Jesus might be the ones who sowed the seed, mulched it with truth, and watered it in prayer, but it would be God who would bring growth and fruitfulness. Good soil that would produce a crop would come from the Holy Spirit promised by the risen Christ, for the saving purposes of a sovereign God.
Those saved and incorporated into the visible church were enfolded into the mission of extending the kingdom of God as the Spirit brought those in darkness to bow the knee before Jesus Christ. These young believers in the faith cut their teeth on “the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42).
Grounded on truth, growing in community, sustained by grace, and devoted to prayer, the fledgling church would take the world by storm, turning it upside down. But not as a movement of man. It would be built by God, and prayer would be the conduit to any and all resources needed.
The necessity of prayer is not something novel to God’s building work on this side of the cross. The Old Testament is filled with prayer expressed in relationship with God and dependence upon Him for the exercise of His calling.
That sort of prayer is conspicuous in the book of Nehemiah. The exiled people of Israel had been permitted by the good hand of God, who directs the hearts of kings, to return to their homeland. On the wings of prayer, Nehemiah was dispatched to Jerusalem by the Persian King to rebuild the broken and burned walls of Jerusalem in 445 B.C. Prayer accompanied the work throughout, accomplishing the building project in spite of enemy opposition.
In this series, we will follow the flow of prayer through the book of Nehemiah and look to apply what we learn to our own work for the sake of the kingdom of God. While in Acts corporate prayer is featured, it is the personal prayer of leadership that we find in Nehemiah. Yet in either case, the object of our prayer is the same – complete and continual dependence upon the living God.
May the Lord richly bless our study of prayer and its engagement for the work He has given us!
How would you most like to grow in prayer? Ask God to lead you.
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
