The 
Phases of Faith
Faith is the only way to grow in our relationship with God.
Thursday, May 13, 2004
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My Prayer Today
Dear God, I come to you today and worship your name. You are so holy. I thank you that you not only hear my prayers, but you also answer them. I do not want to rely upon my own ability to work things out in my life, but I rely wholly upon you. I ask that you would work out the details and the difficulties of my life. I cannot solve my own problems, I need you to do it. Help me to rely upon you. I ask that you would give me a heart of prayer today. May I come to you in all things, and in all concerns that I have. Build me into a person of great faith. I ask this in Jesus' name. . . Amen.
God's Word For Me Today
Nehemiah 4:4-5
Then I prayed, "Hear us, O our God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back on their own heads, and may they themselves become captive in a foreign land! Do not ignore their guilt. Do not blot our their sins, for they have provoked you to anger here in the presence of the builders."
Reflecting on God's Word
According to the beginning of verse 4, what did Nehemiah do when facing difficulty?
What was Nehemiah's attitude during this prayer?
Did this prayer make a difference immediately? (read verse 6-8)
A Deeper Exploration of God's Word
Read Nehemiah 4:1-4 and explain the circumstances that led to his prayer.
Read Nehemiah 6:15 and explain what happened to those who Nehemiah prayed about.
Understanding God's Purpose
Why does God want us to pray when we face difficulty?
How does prayer help to change things?
Does prayer change God, or change us? How so?
Applying God's Word to Our Lives
When was the last time that you prayed for your difficult circumstance? How often do you pray?
Did you pray before or after you did all you could do? Why?
Are your prayers focused simply on "outward" change of circumstance, or also "inward" change of heart and growth of faith? Why?
Thoughts...
Prayer makes the difference. All of us have times when we do not know what to do next. There are some difficulties that we face where we do not have an immediate answer for. However, faith is born when ability is dead! When we come to the end of ourselves, God is there. God will often place us in circumstances where we do not know how something will be done, so that when it is done, he receives complete glory for what is done. In fact, God loves doing things when we cannot. When we are facing difficult circumstances the best thing that we could ever do is go to God in prayer. We must go to God before we even try to solve the problem on our own. There are some people who believe that Benjamin Franklin's statement "God helps those who help themselves" is actually found in the Bible -- it is not! What the Bible teaches is that God helps those who "humble" themselves -- and we humble ourselves through prayer. Let your first response to any problem always be prayer.
In the book of Nehemiah, the people of Israel had been enduring great difficulty and criticism as they were rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. When they faced these difficulties, Nehemiah went to God in prayer. Nehemiah offers to us an example of faith. When we have great problems, we can ask God for strength, help, and deliverance in prayer just as he did. Prayer must be our first response and not our last. When we do come to God in prayer, we must not worry about it afterwards. If we have left it in God's hands, it is foolish to want to take it back and worry about it all day long. If we release things to God in prayer, simply leave them there and watch God work out the details in our lives. Prayer indeed makes the difference.