The Cost of Building
Isaac Wales is a man most people have probably never heard of. He arrived in Syracuse in 1810. He arrived in New York as a slave. He eventually was able to purchase his freedom for $80. He was able to do this by taking jobs. One of which was digging the Erie Canal through Syracuse (what is now Clinton Square). That $80 purchased his freedom, and Wales was able to go on to buy property, build businesses, becoming one of the first builders of a city that would grow to be come remarkable in the 1800s.
In 1925, Syracuse filled in the Canal that went through the city. As New York opened the barge canal, Syracuse was able to create more space by moving the canal. In 2001, the city had a ceremony naming that spot “Clinton Square,” after Governor DeWitt Clinton, who was governor during the building of the Erie Canal.
The stories that get buried in time is always interesting. This is not shade on Governor Clinton, or the name Clinton Square. It is more of a picture of what can get sacrificed if you are a builder. There is a cost to building, and it is sometimes important to take a step back and honor those who got their hands dirty, sacrificed, and helped build great things.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to be builders. Everyone wants to be at the ribbon cutting when things are great, but it takes courage to join the call of building.
Being a builder takes sacrificial participation and sacrificial resilience.
When Nehemiah first told his people the project that was at hand, he did not sugar coat the reality: “You see the trouble we are in.” Being honest with the current reality will build trust and buy-in. His people responded with “Let us start rebuilding.” They understood the assignment (as much as they could at that point) and joined the mission.
These were not masons, contractors or soldiers. Nehemiah 3 tells us exactly who we are dealing with. Nehemiah had perfume makers and goldsmiths, amongst other random groups of people. This was not necessarily the lineup of workers one would pick when the project calls for extensive civil engineering.
Yet, what we find, the people were all in.
Not only were they willing to build, but they were resilient in the face of intense opposition. The threats were extensive, and serious enough that the people began working with weapons in one hand and building tools in the other. Nehemiah talks about how he and his men worked from sun up to sundown. They did not change their clothes, they did not even stop for food and water. They showed sacrificial resilience in order for the mission to be completed.
The most important part of all of this was why they were building. Nehemiah reminds the people time and time again, most elegantly in Nehemiah 4:
When I saw their fear, I stood and said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people: “Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
As we build and rebuild the church, there is a reminder that we are custodians of the future. How we build, how we pray, how we worship, all of it is framing how future generations will respond to the things of God.
We build, not for recognition, but because God has called us to it.
We build, not with the promise of an easy path, but in the face of opposition. Knowing full well that the future of the church is stronger based on the building we do today.
How to Build a Life of Prayer
God actually wants to communicate with you. Prayer is one of the most powerful things that humans can do, because it puts us in direct communication with the Creator of the Universe. Time and time again, Scripture reminds us of the importance of prayer. There are several occurrences where Jesus talks about prayer:
“Ask and it will be given to you.” Matthew 7:7
“When you pray…” Matthew 6:5–6
“How much more will the Father give to those who ask him.” Matthew 7:11 / Luke 11:13
Jesus did not speak about prayer as if it was something reserved for the spiritual elite. He talked about it in a matter-of-fact way, as if the expectation was that all followers would have a prayer life.
What was true then, is true now. There is a necessity to prayer that we have to embrace. You may be reading this today, and prayer is not a part of your everyday life. We want to help you change the trajectory of your life, by helping you build the habit of prayer into your daily routine.
What follows is a framework for you to be able to make room for prayer in your day.
Adoration
When we come to prayer, it is important that we understand that God is not a genie. He is Lord, but he is also an intimate friend. We should treat our time with him as such. When you start to pray, spend the first few sentences giving gratitude for how great God is.
When we read Nehemiah, he does this in chapter one: 5 Then I said: “Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments..”
There is an obvious reverence in the words that Nehemiah speaks as he begins to pray. It is amazing what adoration will do to your mind and your heart. The more time you spend just recognizing how great God is, you will find that the issues in front of you lose their grandeur.Confession
The enemy has a keen ability to deceive you into thinking that you are separated from the heart of God. We miss the mark quite often. You and I, we mess up, we sin. Left unrepentant, sin can distort our intimacy with God. Sin gives shame space to grow roots in our hearts, causing us to want to hide from the Father that actually wants to be our closest friend. Confession is at risk of becoming a lost art the more we neglect it. After you spend time glorifying the greatness of God, remember that God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. Spend time confessing your sins as you pray.
Nehemiah spends several verses confessing, not only his sins, but the sins of his ancestors: “I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s family, have committed against you. 7 We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.”
Remember that prayer is a conversation with God. As you get closer to the heart of the Father, you will realize that he is full of grace and mercy. Confession is a part of prayer, because it reorients our hearts and our minds to the gift of salvation.Remembrance
After Nehemiah spends time confessing his sins, he asks God to remember his covenant: “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, 9 but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’
It is important to realize that God has never struggled to remember anything. He is all knowing. With this prayer Nehemiah is doing several things. First of all, he is recognizing, again the grandness of God. “God you are Holy, we have been unholy. Please do not hold our unrighteousness against us, but in your great mercy, remember your promise.” It is a prayer that is highlighting the character of God.
This is also a pray for Nehemiah himself. It is important to bring to your own remembrance how good God has been over your life. The promise of scripture is that we have been bought with a price. That the sacrifice of Jesus has given us the promise of eternal life. Through that there are countless blessings that we can point to in remembrance.Petition
I like to end my time of prayer in petition. As we stated earlier, Jesus says to ask and it will be given. The goal of prayer is not to get God to agree with us. God is not a genie, and he will also not be spiritually manipulated. So, we do not start our prayers with adoration, confession and remembrance as a way to prime the pumps for God to move on our behalf. It is not as if we can fake out God. While that is true, it is also true that God has never been shocked by the things that we need.
It is ok to ask God to come through for you when you need him to. Adoration, confession and remembrance are there to align your heart to the heart of God. The more time you spend practicing these things, the more you will realize that even your requests to God change.
God will not always answer our prayers the way that we want. Some of this will remain a mystery until we are on the other side of eternity. However, God wants to be our friend. It is important to make your requests known to God.
If you implement these four steps of prayer into your daily prayer time, you will be shocked at how focused you can remain on your prayer time. In the past, maybe you ran through your list of needs and said “Amen” after a few seconds. By adding more handles to your prayer time, you will find that God truly is that friend who sticks closer than a brother.
What if prayer could become a part of your new normal?
The challenge, take 30 days and every day spend time in prayer. If it is 1 minute on day one, then try two minutes tomorrow. Challenge yourself to develop a habit of daily prayer. The goal is not to impress yourself with the length of your prayers, the goal is create a daily habit of prayer. Your plans, your family, our city and our church will benefit from it!