Are You Praying Like You Believe God Can Fix It?

What does your prayer life reveal about your faith? In this illuminating exploration of Nehemiah 1:1-11, we uncover the profound connection between our prayer habits and our true belief in God's sovereignty. Nehemiah's immediate response to crisis—turning to fasting and prayer before attempting any human solution—challenges us to examine our own spiritual reflexes when facing obstacles.

Many of us readily advise others to "pray through" their difficulties, but how consistently do we follow this counsel ourselves? The episode unpacks a revealing truth: "You can tell how serious people are in their belief that God truly is the King of Kings by how and when they pray." When troubles arise, do we first rack our brains for solutions within our control, or do we, like Nehemiah, fall to our knees in dependent trust?

We explore the transformative power of confession as Nehemiah identifies himself as part of the problem, owning his share in the collective sin of his people. This radical accountability creates the foundation for restoration. Whatever personal challenges you're facing—in relationships, finances, or faith—God promises gathering and restoration to those who return to Him in genuine obedience. Not selective compliance with easy commands, but comprehensive submission to His will.

The weekend approaches with an invitation: examine your prayer life, consider what it reveals about your faith, and remember that God is "in the gathering business." No matter how far you've strayed or what mess you've created, His promise stands firm—return to Him, obey His commands, and watch Him transform your world. Tomorrow, join us for a special conversation with Bray Goode, a high school senior demonstrating unwavering faith among his peers. Subscribe now and discover what happens when we pray like we truly believe God can fix everything.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome, guys, to Word Up.
It is Friday morning, it isfinally Friday.
The weekend is right around thecorner.
If you have not spent time inGod's Word, pause.
Right here.
Go to Nehemiah 1, verses 1-11.
Right here, go to Nehemiah,chapter 1, verses 1 through 11,

(00:30):
and let's come back and talkabout what God has shown us this
morning.
As I've been reading throughNehemiah, chapter 1, verses 1
through 11, the very first thingthat stands out to me is
Nehemiah's prayer, startingright there in verse 4.
It says when I heard thesewords, I sat down and wept.
I mourned for a number of days,fasting and praying before the

(00:53):
God of the heavens, nehemiah.
When he heard of what had takenplace and, out of concern for
his people, he immediately wentto God, began fasting and
praying.
You know, we often tell people,we hear about their troubles, we
hear about the tough times.
I'm not even talking about inour own life.

(01:15):
I'm talking about challengesthat other people are facing and
we quickly will tell them topray through a tough situation.
Hey, you're just going to haveto seek the Lord.
You're going to have to turn toHim.
He's the only one that can helpyou with that.
We are quick to give thatadvice, but how much do we
honestly believe that advice?

(01:36):
How much do we use it in ourown lives?
How much do we put it intoaction?
You can tell how serious peopleare in their belief that God
truly is the King of Kings byhow and when they pray.
How many times do we face atrue obstacle in life and the

(01:59):
first thing we do is startracking our brain about how
we're going to get through it.
We start thinking about what wecan do under our own power and
guys, that really shows thatwe're not trusting God through
that situation.
When we're like Nehemiah andwe're fully focused on God is
going to protect me.

(02:19):
God is going to bring methrough this.
All I've got to do is beginfasting and praying right now.
But that really shows where ourfaith is and we can tell how
serious we are in our belief ofwho God is and what he could do.
And I mean I just I love theway that he starts his prayer

(02:39):
out.
It says he says I said Lord,the God of the heavens, the
great and all inspiring God, whokeeps his gracious covenant
with those who love him.
The reason that Nehemiah wentstraight to fasting and praying
is because he truly believedexactly what he said when he
started that prayer.
He believes that God is Lord,is the God of the heavens, the

(03:03):
great and awe-inspiring God.
That's the way we should startour prayers, but normally we
just want to jump straight tothe fix God.
Let me tell you what theproblem is and you just fix it,
instead of truly acknowledgingwho he is and just having that
faith that he is in control ofall things, that he can fix

(03:28):
whatever situation that we're in.
So, guys, I mean we've got totake our own advice, we've got
to truly turn to God.
Do I immediately go to God anddo I continue without ceasing?
I think back to a story one timethat Brother Keith Screws
shared whenever me and my familywe were at Greenbrier, and he

(03:49):
would share this often duringhis messages, whenever he would
talk about praying.
But he talked about a time whenhis wife, miss Kim, was having
a hard time.
She was going through a roughpatch and she was just broken
and and didn't know which way togo, where to turn.
And he talks about getting upin the morning and normally he's
the first one awake, but hewalks through the house and he

(04:11):
could hear her speaking andtalking, he wasn't sure what was
going on.
He walks past their den and shehad made an altar there at the
fireplace and she was on herknees and she could just he
could hear her crying out to godI'm not gonna move until I hear
your direction.
I will not get up from thisplace until I hear your

(04:33):
direction.
When is the last time that youstayed in one place until you
heard from God?
The last time that you said Idon't care if I'm late for work,
I don't care if I miss the ballgame, I don't care if I miss my
favorite TV show.
I am not moving from this placeuntil you give me the direction

(04:54):
that you have for me.
Guys, that's truly believing ina God who can fix everything
and that's showing how much webelieve.
So I say we can tell a lotabout where our faith lies, in
how we pray and when we pray.
In verses 6 and 7, nehemiahidentifies himself as part of

(05:17):
the problem.
He's praying on behalf of hispeople, but he also owns his
part of the problem.
It says Let your eyes be openand your ears be attentive to
hear your servant's prayer.
That I now pray to you day andnight For your servants, the
Israelites.
I confess the sins we havecommitted against you.
We have committed against you.

(05:39):
Both I and my father's familyhave sinned.
The troubles in our personallives, whether it be family,
financial friendships it can allbe tracked back to sin in our
lives.
There was a time when we allowedsomething to come between us
and God.
We decided to go a differentway, out of convenience or out
of what we thought was best, andwe have failed to own our part.

(06:05):
We've got to own it, guys.
We've got to identify what thatwas.
We've got to see how weseparated ourselves from God's
plan.
Once we own it, then we canaddress it and we can move
forward with God.
And he tells us right here, inverse 9,.
It says that but if you returnto me and carefully observe my

(06:28):
commands, even though yourexiles were banished to the
farthest horizon, I will gatherthem from there and bring them
to the place where I chose tohave my name dwell.
God's word tells us no matterthe mess you've made, no matter
how bad you've messed up, if youwill return to me, obey my

(06:51):
commands, god is in thegathering business.
If you are faithful, he willturn your world around.
It doesn't matter where you'vebeen, how far you've gone, what
mess you've made, if we willturn back to Him obeying His

(07:11):
commands.
This is not just a I'm going tofix things for a week.
I'm going to get rid of thislittle thing right here.
That's easy to get rid of.
Oh God, you want me to quitcussing.
Let me just do that.
Let me check off this onelittle box.
That's easy for me to do.
No, it is getting in God's Wordand addressing whatever he asks

(07:32):
us to address.
Sometimes it's easier,sometimes it's hard, but we have
got to be all in.
And it says he will gather us,he will bring us back together
and he will turn your worldaround.
He wants to use you today.

(07:52):
He wants to fix the problems.
He wants to address yourpersonal problems, your life,
your family, your financialsituation, your friendships,
relationships.
He has the answer for all ofthat.
But are we willing and are wepraying like we truly believe

(08:17):
that he can fix it?
I love you guys.
I hope you have an awesomeweekend.
I hope that God has reallyspoken to your life this week,
and we're going to have anotherspecial episode tomorrow morning
.
Saturday morning, we're going tohave a guest on here, mr Bray
Good those of you that know Brayhe's a senior at Alexandria

(08:40):
High School.
He's a member of the baseballteam.
He joins me every Thursdaymorning at Alexandria Middle
School to help mentor to thoseyounger kids and he truly stands
for Christ, no matter who'swatching or no matter what
anybody thinks.
He's going to stand firm on hisrelationship with the Lord and
so we're going to have him ontomorrow morning and just talk

(09:02):
about the stand that he takesand some of the challenges that
he may face with his walk withChrist, but why it's important
to him to keep God first.
Y'all join us right back heretomorrow and hear Bray's heart
and how God is using him atAlexandria High School.
I love you guys.
I hope you've had a great week.
Dig into God's Word.

(09:24):
Allow God to use you and speakthrough you as you go through
this weekend and into next week.