Nehemiah was a man of vision. When he received news of the condition of the people of Judah and of Jerusalem, he stepped forward. God had prepared him for this time. He had been promoted to a place of political power. He was the king's cupbearer (vs. 11). It was, more or less, a rather cushy job. He lived in the palace. He was greatly trusted by the king. The job only had one drawback - he had to taste the king’s wine before the king drank it to make sure it had not been poisoned. He saw his position as an opportunity from God to rebuild Jerusalem and bring the restoration of Israel. We may be thousands of years removed from Nehemiah, but we need people of vision who want to see our Lord’s work here prosper. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish . . . ” Where do we begin? Right where Nehemiah did -- in our own place, and with our own people. We can sit and worry about the future, or we can do something about it. Nehemiah was willing to sacrifice all that he had to perform what God had laid on his heart. Nehemiah is most noted for directing the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem, but he was also a great leader of men. He led them to do what some said could not be done. He did it in the face of incredible odds. He did it in record time. But he did not do it alone. (For what it’s worth, no pastor can build a church alone!) Nehemiah was a MAN OF FAITH. (Note the number of times he trusted God and encouraged his brethren to trust God in what we would call impossible conditions. But the main thought I want us to see in this message is that Nehemiah was a man of prayer. We see his prayer in chapter 1. We see him praying in 2:4 before he makes his request of the king: “Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven.” In 4:7-9 he prayed when he was confronted and being harassed by the enemy. “But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, (8) And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. (9) Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.” And that is what we want to examine in this message - Nehemiah’s prayer in chapter one.

I. THERE WAS A SERIOUS CONCERN - VV. 2-4.

II. THERE WAS STRONG CONTRITION - VS. 4.

III. THERE WAS SOBERING CONFESSION - VV. 5-7.

IV. THERE WAS A SETTLED CONFIDENCE - VV. 8-11.