Nehemiah 1:1-11
Nehemiah:  Too busy not to pray
Making time to pursue the face of God in prayer can lead to the hand of God moving in monumental ways.

A Huge Problem 1:1-3
Bad things caused by selfish/lazy people can directly affect others
Sad fact
141 years after it had been destroyed and 91 years after the Jews had returned to Jerusalem, the city continued to be in ruins.

Serious Significance
God's three key promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob of the Land (of Israel), a Seed (the Jewish Nation...the Jewish Messiah) and the blessing (of salvation for the world) means that Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day was to be the epicenter of God's program for the world and yet due to lack of proper priority, laziness and intimidation, God's people had allowed it to linger in mediocrity for decades.

Nehemiah's amazing prayer 1:4-11a
Doing God's will involves not just a what, but also a when and a how.

The structure of Nehemiah's prayer reflects his awe/ respect of God
Adoration of God's character v4-5
Confession of sin to God v6-7
Profession of faith in scripture (Deuteronomy 28/30) v8-10
Physical petition to God v11a

The structure of the Lord's Prayer is similar to Nehemiah's
Adoration of God's character (Our Father...hallowed be thy name)
Profession of faith in the scripture (Thy kingdom come)
Consecration of the moral will of God now (Thy will be done)
Physical petition to God (Give us...our daily bread)
Confession of sin to God (Forgive us...)Based on having forgiven others
Spiritual petition to God (Lead us not...deliver us from evil)
Adoration of God's character (Thine is the Kingdom and the power...)

Nehemiah's physical petition to God 1:11a
Make Your servant (Nehemiah) successful today and (IOWs) grant him compassion before THIS MAN (Nehemiah's boss-the human sovereign over the vast Persian Empire-none other than Artaxerxes).  Nehemiah petitions his heavenly/the Ultimate Sovereign concerning his upcoming meeting with his human sovereign...who isn't a Jew/Christian!

God's subtle (but sure) providence 1:11b
Rather than praying for God "to show up", believers need to focus more fully on 1: seeing Him at work in/around us all the time and 2: appreciating His blessing in/around us so that we can more fully love/serve Him and be a blessing to others

God's providence had put Nehemiah in a position to do something beyond simply praying about this problem.  Nehemiah was a Jew, who had risen to a high government position in constant personal contact with the most poserful man in the world.  You/I may never work directly with the President of the USA or even the Pres/CEO of HEC but we are to use the positions and the prerogatives we do have to contribute to the Kingdom of God and the greater good of others.

Take this to heart
Even at you busiest, you are too busy NOT to pray
Making time to pursue the face of God in prayer can lead to the hand of God moving in monumental ways

If prayer is a bore for you; you probaly need a PTU (prayer tune up)
Our prayers should be more about God's character than our circumstances and always about God's will over our wants.

Rather than pouting in the face of problems, believers should pour positive prayer on our problems and continue to trust/obey the LORD.

If we find ourselves praying regularly about something but are unwilling to do what we COULD DO to help deal with that something, then...something is wrong with our prayer(s).