The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Nehemiah 1:1-6, “The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev (December), in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol,
2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
3 They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”
4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. .
5 I said, ‘I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments,
6 let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned.’”

Does bad news prompt you to pray? It did for Nehemiah. To the best of my knowledge, this
Book of Nehemiah is the only book in the Bible that commences and concludes with prayer.
At the same time, we would do well personally to commence and conclude every day with earnest and burdensome prayer.

The burden of Nehemiah’s prayer was not for himself, although he considered his own need for prayer prior to laying the needs of his nation before the LORD. Surely, our prayers for our nation require that we pray first for forgiveness of our own sin. Nor should our prayers be
rushed and thin. True prayer –prayer that gets through to Almighty God—requires much time.

There are currently 195 countries in our world. Without exception, each and every country
needs the help and blessing of God. Of course, many don’t want God’s “interference”; and
others sincerely desire His help, but either do not know Him or fail to call upon Him. Missionaries seek eagerly to bring native people to faith in Jesus; yet, we often fail to pray for the missionaries.

May we earnestly agree to engage the LORD in prayer at both the commencement and the conclusion of every day. Pray for the spiritually lost and the spiritually straying. Pray for those
whose political decisions affect us and our families. Pray for those who protect us from the
elements of devastation that often befall us. Pray for the sick and the suffering. Pray for your
church and your pastor(s). May we all learn to lean on the LORD and trust His workings.
Thank you, Nehemiah, for showing us that it can be done! Thank You, LORD for doing it!

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom