Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:09] Well, hey, friends, welcome back to another edition of the weekday podcast. My name is Bobby. Pastor Chuck, and I absolutely love these podcasts. And you probably have noticed last week and this week, we're spending a lot of time in Nehemiah. It actually aligns with our teachings on Sunday. And so if you're not connected with us, if you have never checked that out, you can go to Sugarhill Church and you can watch replays of our recent messages.
[00:00:29] But today, I want to think about this idea of what happens when prayer actually becomes your reflex. So, Nehemiah, chapter 2, verse 4. The king says to Nehemiah, what are you requesting? And then it says, nehemiah. So I prayed to the God of heaven. I don't know if you've ever been caught off by a big moment, but the question comes. The spotlight hits and suddenly your mind goes blank. That's the moment that Nehemiah found himself in. He's standing before the most powerful man in the land and his heart is pounding.
[00:00:57] For four months, Nehemiah had been praying in private. So when the king suddenly asked, what do you want? Prayer wasn't something that he had to think about. It actually was his reflex. Now, in the original language of Hebrew, that phrase means there is this quick turning of the heart towards heaven. In other words, there's no long speech, there's no flowery words, just a silent plea. God, would you help me right now? And that's exactly what God did. This moment reminds us that prayer is not just for quiet mornings and church services. It's actually for board meetings, for phone calls, for classrooms and conversations that could change everything.
[00:01:35] Prayer is what turns panic into peace in real time. It's sort of like when you've been asked a tough question in a meeting and you whisper, lord, please give me the words. That's Nehemiah's prayer. Or it's like when your GPS freezes mid route and you mutter, jesus, take the wheel. You're doing exactly what Nehemiah did. So I want to encourage you, let prayer become your first instinct, not your last resort. And here's a couple of ways to do that. One is that you could preload your heart. And what I mean by that, the more you pray in private, the more natural it becomes in public. Two, pause before reacting. A three second prayer, it can redirect the whole conversation. And then, number three, plan with open hands. Nehemiah had a detailed plan already, but he still paused. And pray. Because when prayer shapes your reflexes, peace shapes your response. Prayer is what fuels vision, but planning builds it. So keep your heart so connected to God that prayer becomes your natural reaction, not your emergency backup. Have a great day. We'll see you back here soon.
