BECOMING AWARE

Day: Day 1
Date: January 8, 2024

I believe most Christians are aware of how much territory the enemy has taken as the world shakes, trembles, and groans from the impact of the enemy’s assault on so many sides. However, I don’t believe that many Christians are aware of how important they are to what will happen in the
future.

So, let’s look at a man who seems insignificant until he begins to see things from the Heavenly perspective.

Nehemiah 1:1-3 NKJV

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel,
2 That Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.
3 And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

Nehemiah knew the things that were happening because he asked and actually cared about what was going on in Jerusalem and with the Jews who had survived captivity.

I want you to begin to see right away that this fasting guide is to make us, like Nehemiah, more aware of the state of the people of God and what is broken. This is not for us to have judgment but instead, it is to reveal to us how we can work together to bring forth the change that is needed.
We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and the dwelling place that God wants to fully inhabit. And we have been under siege. The walls of many hearts have been broken down and our gates are burned with fire from the enemy who has come to kill, steal, and destroy.

Many have turned their lives away from God instead of to Him.

The Church (made up of the people of God) is broken and dysfunctional.

We have been busy concentrating on our jobs, and our family and trying to survive.

But during times of trouble, God has everyone’s attention.

Many have said there is a great awakening that is going to happen.

I agree. I believe this is a year that the people of God will have a great awakening to their own need to allow the Holy Spirit to adjust their lives differently. God said that He would shake everything that needs to be shaken. Let the shaking shake out the old and bring in the new into our lives so we can concentrate on changing the lives of others. This is also a year that the people of God are to RE-ESTABLISH things for others.

It is a time when God is counting on His people to rise and do what is necessary to turn things around.

We are being called upon to give our attention and affection back to our God and to intentionally set our sights on building a dwelling place for God’s habitation.

When there seem to be challenges on every side, it can be overwhelming. Nehemiah was overwhelmed upon recognizing the damage that had been done to God’s dwelling place. Let’s examine his response.

HE WAS BROKENHEARTED

Nehemiah 1:4 NKJV

So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of Heaven.

You see, this meant there was no proper place built to inhabit the presence of God.

Nehemiah took it personally as he grasped the bigger picture.

There was no Temple for the people to worship in and experience the presence of God together. They also had no place to come to learn and grow in the knowledge of God.

The center for the people to become one with each other and celebrate together that they were God’s chosen people was broken and in need of repair.

It had to be RE-ESTABLISHED.

As Nehemiah responded, he was aware of God’s broken heart for His people. God Himself was moving upon a person to cause that which was necessary to bring His people back into functionality.

This is who God is looking for, again today. He is looking for ordinary seemingly insignificant people, who will become aware of the true brokenness of the Temple. And when they do, they will begin to move TOWARDS God for insight and instructions on what to do.

HE WEPT BEFORE GOD

I am crying out to God that this is not just another fasting guide that you are reading because that is what we do at the beginning of the year. I am crying out that we all be sobered as we recognize by the Spirit of God, that we must live according to God’s bigger picture. We must respond like Nehemiah when we recognize the devastation of what has happened to take many slowly away from their connection to God.

Nehemiah was touched to the core of his being, and he recognized God as a God of covenant and mercy.

Nehemiah 1:5 NKJV

And I said: “I pray, Lord God of Heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments.”

HE REPENTED FOR HIS OWN SIN AND THAT OF HIS FAMILY, BUT ALSO FOR THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL

Nehemiah 1:6 NKJV

“Please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned.”

He stood in the gap and asked that God would remember His promises to them as a people.

HE FASTED

He was grieved and sorrowful because he was now aware of the conditions, and it drove him into fasting.

He got rid of his own logic by fasting. He had not been able to take in the real awareness of how bad the condition of the people of God was, and that the Temple must be RE-ESTABLISHED for them to be holders of His glory.

HE PRAYED

He reminded God of who he was, and he honored Him

Nehemiah 1:10 NKJV

“Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand.”

He set aside time to be with His God and to go where He needed to go, to get what he needed to get.

Nehemiah 1:11 NKJV

“O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

This is what WE are doing now!

God is looking for people who will be aware and awakened to what they can do when they set their priorities on the things that have eternal value, instead of just temporal things.

You may ask who this man Nehemiah was.

Was he a King? No.

Was he a priest? No.

Was he a prophet? No.

He was a cupbearer to the king.

He was just an average man with a very secondary position in life. As a matter of fact, he looked insignificant in his position in the natural.

However, where he was and what he was currently doing was significant to God.

Maybe you feel you are insignificant, doing a job that doesn’t have a lot of effect on others.

But we are God’s people, called by His name, and when ONE PERSON SAYS YES WHOLEHEARTEDLY, it can cause an uprising!

Let us be the people that come together and cause an uprising!

PRAYER

We come before You today, Lord, and we are surveying in our hearts what You are looking at on the earth today.

We come broken before you, Lord, not knowing what we can do to heal those who are broken from being held captive by the enemy for so long.

We are broken for those who are deceived into believing You have failed them.

We are broken for those who are confused about their identities.

We are broken for those who have no hope and believe there is no future.

We are broken for all those who are not experiencing Your very presence and are not allowing Your presence to flow through them.

We come to cry out for them, ourselves, the Church, and those who don’t know how to cry out for themselves.

Forgive us, God, for being so self-occupied, that we have left Your presence. Forgive us for not taking it personally that people need to be built back up by becoming aware of your unconditional love and that You have already made a way for victory to be experienced once again.

We are sorry, Lord, and we ask that we would be a part of the RE-ESTABLISHMENT of Your people who will fashion themselves as Temples worthy to have

Your presence in full operation.

Thank You for coming right now, meeting in this place of our hearts, and making it very apparent how we can partner with You to make Your heart glad again.

We are those who desire to experience Your very presence to change us and RE-ESTABLISH us in truth and allow Your presence to flow through us.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

WORSHIP/VIDEOS

Hungry – Vineyard

Defender – Rita Springer