A true man of prayer puts feet to his prayers. He’s learned that God doesn’t do for us what He’s already given us the ability to do. God looks for people who pray about their work for Him. He also looks for people who, having prayed, do His work. God found such a man in Nehemiah.
To do a study of prayer as found in the book of Nehemiah, first, collect all the references to prayer. Then correlate what you find in these references into an outline. Next crystallize what you discover into some applications.
Nehemiah 1 records how his burden about the woeful conditions in Jerusalem drove him to fervent prayer and fasting. Verse 11 shows urgency in his prayer: “Give your servant success today!” When given the opportunity to tell the king his burden, Nehemiah 2:4 says, “I prayed to the God of heaven and answered the king.” In chapter 4 he prays against his enemies, and then continues to pray and post a guard day and night to meet this threat. In chapter 6 he prays for strength to continue the work, and for God to deal with the opposition. In chapter 8 and 9, after hearing God’s Word, the people confess sin and worship God in prayer. Nehemiah also called on God to remember him for the things he had done.
Reflecting on all of this, I then correlated it into an outline:
1. Pray before you start a work.
2. Pray during the work.
3. Pray after the work is done.