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Nehemiah escaping the affliction and reproach suffered as a
result of the Jews captivity returns to Jerusalem only to see
and experience another horror. Nehemiah 1:3 says “the wall of
Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned
with fire.”
Gates and walls particularly during these times afforded a city
a sense of safety and protection. The city gates were opened
freely for inhabitants to come and go, and closed when danger
approached. Where there are no city gates anything and
everybody is free to enter. And so it is in our lives.
When the gates of our lives are left open many enemies sneak in
and corrupt. Perhaps the gates in your life are not totally
burned. Perhaps they are still functioning but you have widened
them so that many undesirables follow you into the city of
refuge. Remember what Jesus said, that we should “Enter ye in at
the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in
thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way,
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
(Matthew 7:13-14 KJV)
There is hope found here in Nehemiah! Notice please Nehemiah’s
response to his viewing of the Holy City of Jerusalem and it’s
terrible state which is found in verse four of chapter one, “And
it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and
wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before
the God of heaven,”. And Nehemiah continues in prayer pleading
for the God of Israel’s mercy. Confessing and Repenting for not
only his sin’s but the children of Israel. What a heart!
Nehemiah was a man who knew how to pray.
This is the Church’s answer for today. This is your answer and
mine! We need to rebuild through prayer and fasting the gates
in our lives. So that peace may once again be found in the
walls and at the gates of your heart. We cannot wall off our
hearts there must be an in flow and an outflow of peace. “Peace
be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces. (Psalms
122:7 KJVR)
Some things just don't happen any other way but by prayer and
fasting. One day a man out of sheer desperation brought his son
to the disciples. This dad's only son suffers terribly, falling
into seizures and frequently he is pitched into the fire, and at
other times into the river. The disciples were unable to cast
out the devil and make whole the little boy. As any good dad
would he decided he would go straight to the source for his son.
Jesus seeing the boy's bondage and hearing of His
disciple’s inability to cast out the devil declares: "O
faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?
how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me." (Matthew
17:17)
And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the
child was cured from that very hour. Then came the disciples to
Jesus apart, and said, why could not we cast him out? And Jesus
said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I
say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye
shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and
it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and
fasting.
"
(Matthew 17:18-21)
A
heart that is filled with unbelief will not go the extra mile in
prayer and fasting. Jesus' first recorded miracle was in Cana of
Galilee when He turned water into wine. A short while later
Jesus again returns to Cana of Galilee where He is met by a
nobleman whose son was sick near death at Capernaum. Jesus
instructs the man thusly "Go thy way; thy son liveth."
And Scripture goes on to record unbelief was not to be found in
the nobleman. "And the man believed the word that Jesus had
spoken unto him, and he went his way. And as he was now going
down, his servants met him, and told him, saying, Thy son
liveth." (John 4:50-51)
Because of unbelief many in Jesus' home town lived their lives
without healing and deliverance for the Scripture tells us that
"he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief."
(Matthew 13:58) Let me encourage you today to
stop limiting Jesus and throw off the shackles of unbelief and
seek the Lord with much prayer and fasting.
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