Devotionals

Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 2:4

Our Scripture text today shows Nehemiah in spontaneous prayer. Nehemiah had approached the king for permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city walls. Nehemiah was afraid when approaching the king. When the king asked, “For what dost thou make request?,” in a spontaneous moment, Nehemiah called out to God for guidance.

As we read on in Nehemiah 2, we find that the king granted Nehemiah permission to return to Jerusalem. Obviously, spontaneous prayer can be very productive, but what we ask for must be in agreement with God’s will. Whatever we ask for, and however we ask for it, must be for the uplifting of Jesus Christ.

We should also be spiritually prepared to receive whatever we ask for spontaneously. We often exercise impulsive prayers to escape an uncomfortable situation which we are not prepared to handle. In these situations, we should evaluate our purpose for prayer. Perhaps we should examine all of our spontaneous prayers to see the true intents of our hearts.

If we pray on the spur of the moment, we often expect the answer on the spur of the moment. If we are not spiritually rooted in Christ Jesus, this could lead to problems. If the answer does not come immediately, we become weak in the faith and open to Satan’s deceptions. In order to practice effective spontaneous prayer, we must first learn to exercise spiritual maturity by applying faith even to our spontaneous prayers. James 1:16 says, “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”

Don't waver in faith just because you're prayer is spontaneous. Believe that God hears it just because it's a prayer of faith.

"To practice effective spontaneous prayer, we must first learn to exercise spiritual maturity by applying faith even to our spontaneous prayers."

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• Tags: answer, believe, faith, prayer

• Posted by: Dr. Brenda Robinson