This past weekend I attended the If Gathering, an organization that was created to gather, equip and unleash women to live out their calling. It was here that God reminded me of what is most essential to the work of My Refuge House; Prayer. It was also here that God brought Nehemiah to my mind.
When the the book of Nehemiah opens there is great despair. The whole city of Jerusalem has been destroyed. The great temple of Solomon was turned into a pile of rubble. For over a century the city of Jerusalem has laid in ruins. And we see Nehemiah turning his heart to God through prayer.
In this beautiful prayer from Nehemiah we see 5 elements of effective prayer: praise, thanksgiving, repentance, specific requests & commitment. Nehemiah praises God for who he is, “He is the Great and Awesome God.” He thanks him for what he does, “that he keeps his covenant love to those who love him and obey his commands.” He confesses the sin of Israel including himself and his father’s house. He requests, “God’s favor in the presence of the king.” and he commits himself to being used by God as God sees fit.
We need to recognize that Nehemiah is a leader, a visionary, man of action, dynamic personality, but he is also a man of prayer. Ten times throughout the book we get insight into the prayer life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah knew that if anything was going to happen about the brokenness he had encountered, it was only going to happen because God showed up, because God had his hands in it.
The brokenness of our world grieves the heart of God and it should grieve our hearts as well. But don’t feel overwhelmed because Christ will carry those burdens as you walk along side of Him.
I love this prayer written by Amy Carmichael,
“There were days when the sky turned black for me because of what I heard and knew was true. Sometimes it was as if I saw the Lord Jesus Christ kneeling alone, as he knelt long ago under the olive trees. And the only thing that one who cared could do was to go softly and kneel down beside him, so that he would not be alone in his sorrow over the little children…. And I knew that this was His burden, not mine. It was He who was asking me to share it with Him, not I who was asking Him to share it with me. After that there was only one thing to do: who that saw Him kneeling there could turn away and forget? Who could have done anything but go into the garden and kneel down beside Him under the olive trees?”
Prayer is essential to the work of My Refuge House. Our story began with prayer when a faithful church community saw the need for a home in Cebu, Philippines. This was a community of believers that knew they must respond to the issue of sex trafficking and through prayer God gave them the courage and direction to begin My Refuge House.
We need you to pray. Here are 4 ways you might consider. Choose one or maybe choose them all. We would also ask you to include your friends, community group or perhaps church group.
Christ’s Peace
You can use the following link to sign up for our Monthly prayer requests and our Human Trafficking Prayer Guide.
https://app.mobilecause.com/f/q2b/n
