The Nehemiah Way
Character Principle #1 Pray Your Plan - Episode 3
(Some describe it as ‘The Big Ask’ I prefer “Pray Your Plan” This 3 part post will share what I believe is a foundational characteristic of the Nehemiah Way.)
Big Idea or Big Problem, have you ever had one? A successful outcome usually requires a plan, some have been as brief as Southwest Airlines plan sketched on a bar napkin. British business leader Richard Branson suggests “…Keep it short, sharp and picture perfect.” Ironically, whether it’s a big idea or a big problem many of us leaders on occasion, employ the ‘Ready, Fire, Aim’ method of execution. This often negatively impacts their organizations, such as Musk’s DOGE or Joshua’s disastrous deal with the Gibeonites (see Joshua chapter 9). Maybe it’s time for prayer.
As a Proverb admonishes “Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.” (15:22) I’d suggest adding God to the list of advisors by Praying Your Plan. Praying in faith whether a Big Idea or a Big Problem, provides the following: Communication, Clarity, Confidence which in turn deepens one’s Conviction and Commitment
Prayer methods are many: •A Buddhist would not enter into what we might call a deistic prayer, but would in effect pray nonetheless through chanting sutras, mantras or the recitation of Buddhist scriptures. •In the early 13th century, a Greek Orthodox monk, Nicephorus, employed a prayer style known as Hesychasm (Grk. hesychia – seeking divine quietness) through the contemplation of God in uninterrupted prayer, involving soul, mind and body including the repetitive recitation of the ‘Jesus Prayer’ “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner” • Or… as the Apostle Paul advised the Philippians “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God…” (4:6)
Like contacting a trusted consultant, those of us who pray can count on a response. A faith leader I knew shared his take on prayer – “God answers our prayers in one of three ways,’ he told me, ‘Yes, No or Wait.’ During his years of ministry, he would personally experience all three answers – even during the painful loss of his adult children. Prayer doesn’t guarantee a “Yes” after all, Jesus had his last prayer declined “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Lk 22:42)
Albanian Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu, known to us as Mother Teresa, had both a Big Idea and a Big Problem. Already serving as a nun for 17 years, she had what she described as a ‘call within a call,’ to set up a ministry to the poor of Calcutta. But her Big Idea had a Big Problem - the Vatican needed to approve it. She would have to wait some two years before Sisters of Charity was allowed to minister to the “least of these.” Between her Problem and her Plan, she Prayed.
Nehemiah didn’t have a bar napkin, or a big idea, but he employed the power of prayer. As he stood before his employer, the king of Persia, he kept his plan short, sharp and picture-perfect “…send me to Judah that I may rebuild it.” (Ne. 2:5) Before his plan he faced a problem - “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and disgrace, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.” (v.3) Nehemiah prayed – and he would pray ‘day and night’ for over four months before the plan came into focus. (2:4-8)
He may have acted, but it was God who aided.
Today’s Big Idea – Between Your Problem and Your Plan, try Prayer