UNDERSTANDING A BURDEN ON THE HEART [Leadership style of Nehemiah 1]

in hive-196037 •  10 months ago 

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1 These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa.
2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I ASKED THEM ABOUT THE JEWS WHO HAD RETURNED THERE FROM CAPTIVITY AND ABOUT HOW THINGS WERE GOING IN JERUSALEM.
3 They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. THE WALL OF JERUSALEM HAS BEEN TORN DOWN, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.”
4 WHEN I HEARD THIS, I sat down and WEPT. In fact, FOR DAYS I MOURNED, FASTED, AND PRAYED TO THE GOD OF HEAVEN."
Nehemiah 1:1-4 (NLT)

• If God wanted to use you for a particular purpose, He usually starts by putting a burden on your heart for the said purpose. A Burden for Jerusalem was given to Nehemiah.
(i) God will give you a burden for whatever He wanted you to correct. The Burden will move you to pray. You pray on the particular thing which the Burden has laid on your heart.

  • At the point of praying on the subject, calling God's attention to it; It becomes a vision.
  • Such a burden was usually given by God, it was not mechanical, nor fabricated by you. It was divine and was given by the Spirit of God.
    (ii) In addition to that, God would work on your prayer life. He would burden your heart to pray earnestly for the purpose.
  • When you begin to have a strong Burden for prayer, and you are prompted to respond to the Burden, It means you are in for a special assignment from the Lord.
    (iii) The next thing is, favour will accompany the Burden given to you.
  • Nehemiah received favour in the sight of King Artaxerxes. The king granted him permission to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the Wall as he requested (Nehemiah 2:8).

• Note: God may not speak to you through one of the spectacular ways, it could be a Burden, an impression, or a sanctified imagination; that He uses in communicating the message to you (1 Kings 19:11,12).

  • If you had received any message through any of the means of hearing from God we mentioned above, do not wait to receive any spectacular message again. God has already communicated His mind to you!
  • In some cases, those who have had a Burden like Nehemiah did, ignored it, because it was not spectacular, such as: vision, dream, audible voice, angelic visitation, and so on.
  • God might not speak to you spectacularly about the assignment He has for you, it might not be dramatic like Paul's encounter on his way to Damascus (Acts 9:1-9); but could just be an impression, a gentle whisper, or a Burden in your heart.
  • Burden is a trouble or worry in your heart about a particular thing or person.
    WHEN you had restlessness, uneasiness, discomfort, or lack of peace, in your heart about a particular thing, place, person, or people.

• The first step to take when such a burden is given or perceived is, prayer.
• Identification prayer (Nehemiah 1:4-11).

  • In praying for your place of assignment, or your land of inheritance, you would have to identify with the land and the people in the place of your prayer.
    (i) You identify with their sins, confess them, and repent of them:
    4 When I [Nehemiah] heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I MOURNED, FASTED, and PRAYED to the God of heaven. 5 Then I said, “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of unfailing love with those who love him and obey his commands, 6 listen to my prayer! Look down and see me praying night and day for your people Israel. I CONFESS THAT WE HAVE SINNED AGAINST YOU. YES, EVEN MY OWN FAMILY AND I HAVE SINNED!" (Nehemiah 1:4-6 NLT).
    READ: Daniel 9:3-6
  • You may have not been part of their sins, that is, you were not there when the sins were committed and did not partake in them; but then, you have to identify with their sins:
    3 Then I [Daniel] set my face toward the Lord God to make request by PRAYER and SUPPLICATIONS, with FASTING, SACKCLOTH, and ASHES. 4 And I PRAYED to the Lord my God, and MADE CONFESSION, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, 5 WE HAVE SINNED AND COMMITTED INIQUITY, we have DONE WICKEDLY and REBELLED, even by DEPARTING from Your PRECEPTS and Your JUDGMENTS. 6 Neither have WE heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land" (Daniel 9:3-6 NKJV).
  • You need to identify with them in prayer, for God to have mercy and intervene in their situation.
    IN the above prayer of Daniel, he was using WE, which means he included himself—he identified with the sins which the people of Israel had committed.
  • Be remorseful, confess and repent, of the Sin of the land (Nehemiah 1:7; 1 John 1:9).
    (ii) The Love for the people and the land should be in your heart, otherwise you would not be able to pray for them sincerely and wholeheartedly.
  • If you do NOT love the land and the people, you will not be able to identify with their sins.
  • If you love the people of your land of inheritance, you will be able to Sacrifice your time, deny yourself pleasure and comfort, in order to fast for repentance—the turn of their captivity and predicament.
    (iii) Fasting and godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:9), with genuine repentance, will bring healing to the land:
    "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 I will hear from heaven, AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN AND HEAL THEIR LAND."
    2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)

• Note: If you are living in the land, in the midst of the people that you are supplicating for, do NOT partake in whatever Sin being practiced there.

  • If you are partaking in their sinful practices, the sinful acts would make your prayers ineffective.
  • Remind God of His promises in the Scripture that talk about forgiveness (2 Chronicles 7:14; Nehemiah 1:8,9; 1 John 1:9).
  • Ask for mercy. Ask for favour that His hands would rest on you for good, as you take a step to work in the land.

• Identification prayer is needed in any land that is under God's wrath or curse.
IF the step being explained here is taken by you, it means God wanted to use you in liberating the land and the people.
I. If God has actually burdened your heart to do the work:
(a) He would honour your prayers and efforts.
(b) He would cause you to proper in the assignment which He has for you in the land.
(c) He will subdue the devil, the hijacker, who has taken over the Land.
II. To accomplish the work:
(a) You pray for favour, mercy, and help (Nehemiah 1:11; 2:1-7).
(b) You also pray for men, those whom God has ordained to accomplish the purpose with. In other words, that God should give you the right people to accomplish the purpose or vision with (Nehemiah 2:18).
(c) And You pray for financial resources (Nehemiah 2:8).
THE provision of the things highlighted above would be a proof to know if actually the Burden was from the Lord or not. If it was from the Lord, He would provide the things mentioned above.
III. That said, the burden might be from the Lord, but if the timing was not right, God may not provide the helps needed.

  • You must understand the principle of timing in the event of things. God will cause things to work in your favour if your ways pleased Him (Proverbs 6:7).
    HOWEVER, If your ways did not please God, He might not grant you the favour and the help needed to accomplish the work.
  • If God's hand were not on Nehemiah, the King could have commanded him to be killed or imprisoned, because he supposed not to serve before the King with a sorrowful countenance (Nehemiah 2:2,3).

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.

  • You will live in health all the days of your life in Jesus' name.
    Peace!
    TO BE CONTINUED
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