Monday, June 27, 2011

Lord.....please raise up Nehemiah's! Make me a Nehemiah

Nehemiah 1:2-4 (NLT)
Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some men who had just arrived from Judah.  I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and how things were going in Jerusalem.  They said to me, "Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah.  They are in great trouble and disgrace.  The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down and the gates have been destroyed by fire."  When I heard this, I sat down and wept.  In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

Back in the days of Nehemiah, walls meant security and safety.  Nehemiah was broken hearted that his homeland was in such disrepair and while he had a very nice job of being a cupbearer to the King, he could not just let his homeland be in this trouble.  He wanted to do something, so he made the appropriate first step of taking his concerns to the Lord through prayer and fasting.  Nehemiah was not just asking a casual question of "how are things going" and hoping he wouldn't have to stand around and hear the answer.  His concern was genuine and this concern took him to prayer and then God led him in an action plan that led to the walls being rebuilt in record time.

America is in trouble.  I am not so sure she realizes it....or if WE realize it, but she is in serious trouble.  My husband and I live in the Los Angeles, California area.  Just yesterday we were driving through Hollywood on our way home.  As we drove down Sunset Blvd we saw billboards of lesbians kissing (it actually was a advertisement for a brand of clothes...go figure), we saw billboards for new movies or TV programs.  Every billboard was either sex oriented or occult vampire shows or gross murder films.  We saw many folks sleeping on the streets, we saw a man digging though a garbage can looking for something to drink, shaking beverage cans to see if there was anything left in them.  We saw a city in bondage.  It was heart breaking.

There was one particular store we wanted to stop at.  We began to look for parking when my husband said that he didn't know if we were going to be able to go to this store.  I looked around and I understood why.  It was dark out and there were a lot of young people around in small groups that looked like they were up to no good.  We couldn't quite figure out what was going on, but we knew something was not right.  Finally my husband decided we would park in the "Jack in the Box" fast food parking lot, go in get a coke and then run in this store real quick since the store was right across the street and we would only be in there a few minutes.  We got up to the counter only to find this young man who had appeared to have some mind altering substance flowing through him making inappropriate comments to the lady behind the counter.  My husband kind of stepped right up to order in hopes of shutting this guy up.....he succeeded.  We got our cokes and headed out the door.  Approximately  25 feet in front of us was a man on a motorcycle who was fighting with this woman telling her to get on the motor cycle with him.  He yanked her pretty hard and was using some harsh language. She jerked away from the hold he had on her and started walking pretty fast away from this man.........more bondage

We passed the large CNN building where the news was scrolling across the building in big lights.  What was the story?  The celebration in New York.  Gay marriage signed into law......more bondage

It seems like this bondage to sin is more of a joke than it is heart breaking to most Americans.  I ask myself if I am like Nehemiah.....am I laughing about some of it, am I just shaking it off, or am I truly burdened.  Burdened enough to fast and pray over the trouble that my country,which I love dearly, has found herself in.

America's bondage in sin is the joke of every late night comedian. Many of those folk who don't find it funny find that in many ways they are in a state of apathy...."it's just how this world is today....what can you do?"  At times I am embarrassed to admit that I have had that thought cross my mind.

Nehemiah took his problem to the Lord.  He and the Lord worked together and things changed.  It took effort and sacrifice on the part of Nehemiah, but he was willing to sacrifice his comfort of living in the King's palace to go and work and pray and love people and confront people.  He looked evil square in the eye, unafraid, for he knew that the Lord was on his side.

Oh Lord, thank you for America, Father, you see the trouble she is in, the bondage to sin. Wake us up Father.  May we not find it humorous but rather see it as you see it......heartbreaking.  Give us a love for this country and her people.  May we be like your Son who had such great compassion, seeing the crowds through eyes of compassion, for they were like sheep without a Shepherd.

Take us out of our comfort zones and give us a burden for the lost living around us.  In Jesus name.

The most troubling thought is that most of those folks my husband and I saw last night will die and spend eternity separated from Christ in hell.  Hell is not a "state of mind".  It is a real place where real people who have rejected Christ, will reside forever and ever and ever.  Hope is abandoned at the entrance gates of hell.  There is no exit gates in hell.

What if each one would reach one?


Amen

To God be the glory