In this series, we will follow the flow of prayer through the book of Nehemiah and look to apply what we learn to our own work for the sake of the kingdom of God. While in Acts corporate prayer is featured, it is the personal prayer of leadership that we find in Nehemiah. Yet in either case, the object of our prayer is the same – complete and continual dependence upon the living God. 

Save us, we pray, O LORD! O LORD, we pray, give us success! (Psalm 118:25, ESV)

The Bible seems to connect building projects with prayer. Our Lord Jesus assures us that He will build His church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Yet He would have us pray to the Lord of the harvest to send workers into the field, and engage ourselves in the building project.

We see the primacy of prayer at work in the establishment and growth of the new covenant church recorded in Acts. The first act of the apostles after Christ’s ascension was to gather in prayer. Assembled in an upper room, the apostles “all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” (Acts 1:14).

It was clear from the outset that the building of the church was the job of the triune God. The followers of Jesus might be the ones who sowed the seed, mulched it with truth, and watered it in prayer, but it would be God who would bring growth and fruitfulness. Good soil that would produce a crop would come from the Holy Spirit promised by the risen Christ, for the saving purposes of a sovereign God.

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