Being a Man of Prayer

“Man of God, if you want to serve God and cannot find the favorable occasion, wait awhile in prayer, and your opportunity will break on your path like a sunbeam.” Charles Spurgeon

Men of Belvedere!

It is such an honor to get to send out this issue of the Belvedere Men Monthly! I hope it finds you doing well and that you will be encouraged. Serving as an intern at Belvedere over the past couple months has been a much-needed refresh for my spirit. Thanks to each of you that have taken the time to give me a word or two of encouragement along the way. It is much appreciated!

Prayer.

Stop! Don’t delete the email and run just yet!

Yes. Prayer. That is this month’s focus at Warren Belvedere.

Did you shutter when you read that word? Prayer. Does it make you feel uneasy? Why is that? Why is it that so many believers have an issue with prayer?

The two most common excuses for why Christians don’t pray are “I don’t have time” and “I don’t know what to say.” Has that ever been you? Is that you right now, today? I know that I have felt this way about prayer many times over the years.

However, I would like to challenge and encourage you in this. As with many things, God judges your prayer life not based off performance. Rather, He judges it as a matter of the heart. We have the perfect example of this in God’s Word.

Enter, Nehemiah.

Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 1:11) in a time following the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. Upon hearing that the city had been destroyed, Nehemiah is greatly grieved and goes into a period of mourning and continuous prayer (approximately 4 months), asking that God would hear him and remember his promises to his people (v. 1:1-11). Nehemiah is then presented with an opportunity.

In chapter 2, he is obviously depressed and the king asks what’s the matter (v. 2). Nehemiah replies that the city is in ruins, and the king basically asks what he wants him to do about it (v. 3-4). In that moment, Nehemiah could have thought that this question alone was the answer to his previous prayers.

He could have jumped straight in and given his own opinion and his heart’s desire. However, Nehemiah does something completely different.

“So I prayed to the God of Heaven.” Nehemiah 2:4

There are at least two immediate takeaways from Nehemiah’s example in this moment.

First: That he prayed at all.

Nehemiah was asked a very direct question by the king. One would suppose that the correct thing to do would be to answer. Not so. Before he answered, he “prayed to the God of heaven.” While being “very much afraid (2:2),” Nehemiah didn’t feel a pull to rush and answer, he felt a pull to rush and pray.

Second: The manner in which he prayed.

He did it in a moment. In the gap. In the exhale of a breath, even. This was all mid-conversation with the king. It was an exclamatory prayer. He hurled a dart and then it was over. Prayer does not have to be some long, drawn-out thing where we must have all the right words to say in the right order and at the right time. Prayers like Nehemiah’s are just as effective, and maybe even more practical. His prayer was intuitive, and it was the exact prayer that prevailed with God.

Exclamatory prayers are a matter of the posture of the heart, not a matter of the formation of words. Not length, but sincerity.

So, then, to the answer of not knowing what to say and having no time…

“The short, brief, quick, frequent exclamations of which Nehemiah gives us an example… hinders no engagement and occupies no time.” Charles Spurgeon

“We cannot do in a lifetime of effort what God can do in a moment of prayer.” Pastor Stephen Newman

Men of Belvedere, seek your God with all your heart, and be encouraged! I’m looking forward to spending time with you in prayer for four Wednesday’s in July! Check link below for more information. Rich Stamper Ministry Intern Warren Belvedere