O Lord, may Your ear be attentive to my prayer and to the prayers of Your servants who delight to revere Your name. Give Your servant success this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” (At that time I was the cupbearer to the king.)Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name; and please prosper your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” Now I was cup bearer to the king.O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king’s cupbearer.O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. Now I was cupbearer to the king.
3 sermons cite this verse
Now, like I said, we see in this prayer the first five elements of discerning the call of God on your life. Before I give you those five, however, I want you to note that this prayer follows a three-point outline. Adoration of God, acknowledgement of sin, and an appeal based on promise. Interestingly, by the way, this is the exact same outline as the Lord's Prayer, the model prayer, which means that this is a good pattern for all of your prayers. Adoration of God, acknowledgement of sin, and appeal based on God's promises. So let's break those down really quickly. Okay. Adoration of God. This is verses five and six. This is where true prayer always begins, a vision of who God is. You see, you will never pray rightly until you see God rightly. Our father who art in heaven. And what does Nehemiah declare specifically about God? Verse five, you're a God who keeps his covenant. A God who is filled with steadfast, unchanging, never giving up love. …
and for some of us, that's where we have to start. We just go, God, okay, I get it. I've loved all these other things. I've been pursuing all these other things, and I'll give you some of the leftover time like this. Something's wrong with me. God, and I'm getting it right now. I want to humble myself before you and say, sorry, we've been thinking about so many other things, and prayer just feels like an obligation. and God changed that. and he's just praying, saying, God, just please hear my voice. and the whole testament you see you remember when david we know we we think of that um that uh you know national day of prayer we think of solomon's prayer in uh first chronicles 7 14 when he says look if my people who are called by your if your people called by your name will humble themselves and seek your face you know it's like god if we ever let's say we totally blow it, but when we humble ourselves and we seek you and we tell you that we're sorry, then will you hear us from heaven and forgive us our sins and heal our land? And then if you read on all through the Chronicles, you see that the kings, one after another, it's like one of them would get arrogant and God would curse them. And then suddenly he'd humble himself and God would relent again. …
8. But it is not only from the people of God that we learn, when his anger is moved, to seek him by fasting and prayer; but even from the Heathens. When Jonah had declared, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” the people of Nineveh proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them unto the least. “For the King of Nineveh arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: Let them not feed, nor drink water:” (Not that the beast had sinned, or could repent; but that, by their example, man might be admonished, considering that, for his sin, the anger of God was hanging over all creatures:) “Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?” And their labour was not in vain. The fierce anger of God was turned away from them. “God saw their works;” (the fruits of that repentance and faith which he had wrought in them by his Prophet;) “and God repented of the evil that he had said he would do unto them; and he did it not.” (Jonah 3:4.) 9. And it is a means not only of turning away the wrath of God, but also of obtaining whatever blessings we stand in need of. So, when the other tribes were smitten before the Benjamites, “all the children of Israel went up unto the house of God, and wept, and fasted that day until even;” and then the Lord said, “Go up” again; “for to-morrow I will deliver them into thine hand.” (Judges 20:26.) So Samuel gathered all Israel together, when they were in bondage to the Philistines, “and they fasted on that day” before the Lord: And when “the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel, the Lord thundered” upon them “with a great thunder, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel.” (1 Sam. 7:6.) So Ezra: “I proclaimed a fast at the river Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones; and he was entreated of us.” (Ezra 8:21.) So Nehemiah: I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, and said, Prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man:” And God granted him mercy in the sight of the king. (Neh. 1:4–11) …