Nehemiah…A Man of Prayer

 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.— Nehemiah 1:4

Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.—Nehemiah 2:4

Nehemiah was a leader, he was a mover and a shaker but what I see most in the life of Nehemiah is that he was a man of prayer. 

Reading through Ch 1, verses 5-11 tells me that Nehemiah had a genuine, active and dependent relationship with his God. The content of his prayer tells me that they sprung from a heart that truly believed God is who He says He is.  I love that!   I so want to emulate the relationship Nehemiah fostered with God!  I want my prayers to come from a heart that believes God.  I want My Father in heaven to be the first person I think about when I awake and the last person on my heart as I drop off to sleep.  I want an awareness of His Presence continually so that my calling on Him becomes as natural as breathing.

Believing with Nehemiah that:

The LORD IS...

merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
9 He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father pities his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
14 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
16 For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.fn
17 But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children's children,
18 To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.—Ps 103:8-18