“Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
praise him in the heights!
Praise him, all his angels;
praise him, all his hosts!
Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars!
Praise him, you highest heavens,
and you waters above the heavens!
Let them praise the name of the Lord!
For he commanded and they were created.”
– Psalm 148:1-5

Let us join with all of creation in simply praising God! Praise God because He created. God spoke and all things came into existence. Space and time. Stars and planets. Angels and animals. God is Creator and Sustainer. He is the sovereign ruler and king. He is the author of all life. He is the source of all blessings. Praise Him in the highest heavens!

“Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.” – Nehemiah 1:6

Nehemiah 1 is a wonderful example of how any one of God’s people can pray earnestly and impactfully on behalf of all God’s people. Hearing a sad report of the state of affairs in far-off Jerusalem, Nehemiah began to fast, mourn, weep, and pray. He fasted, cried, and prayed for days! With our short attention spans it’s hard for us to imagine sustaining prayer for hours, much less days, yet Nehemiah prayed for days and God answered his prayers. We must learn from him!

Nehemiah came before God to confess the failures and sins not only of himself but of his people. Though he hadn’t committed most of those sins, he was brutally honest about the failure of God’s people to obey God’s Law. He prayed for God’s active intervention in the world to use him to bring about restoration. Because he did, God honored and answered his prayers.

We can’t fix all of the problems in the world. We can’t fix all of the problems in Christianity. We can’t fix all of the problems in either the universal church or our local church. But we can pray for them. We can confess the sins and errors we commit and that we see in other Christians. We can confess to God our failure to make disciples, to observe all Christ commanded, to love and live like Jesus. We can confess to God our need for His work of conviction, renewal, and revival in all Christians. We can weep and mourn the state of Christianity in the west and pray for God’s active intervention to bring about revival and awakening. God will hear our prayers and He will honor them, so let us pray!

“After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, ‘The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.’” – Ezra 9:1

Throughout history, God’s people have been called to set themselves apart in devotion to the Lord. This command not to join into sinful activities simply because they are popular, pleasurable, cultural, or traditional is a call to holiness. To be holy is literally to be “set apart” and devoted to God. That looks somewhat different today because followers of Jesus aren’t under the Old Testament Law. We’re made holy not by our actions but by the cleansing work of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross is what makes all who believe in Him holy in the eyes of God.

Nonetheless, we’re still called to pursue holiness in our lives. As Christians, we’re commanded to live and pursue that holiness every day of our lives. We’re called to imitate Jesus Who was perfectly holy. We’re to be in the world but not of the world which is a call to holiness in the way we conduct every aspect of our lives: worship, work, school, play, family, friendship, and everything else. Followers of Jesus should be making friends with, working with, and caring for those who don’t know Jesus, without ever embracing the unbiblical behaviors, values, norms, and expectations of those who haven’t yet been adopted as children of a most holy God.

“Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.” – Ezra 7:27

It’s way too easy to think in terms of what’s “impossible”. Ezra’s story is a great reminder that with God, nothing is impossible. Logically, it would seem impossible that a powerful pagan king would care in the slightest about the spiritual condition of a conquered people. Yet, because the spiritual condition of God’s people is always important to God Himself, the Lord moved the king of Persia to action.

The king directed Ezra to go and teach God’s Law to God’s people. The king directed that large sums of money be given for the renewal of God’s Temple. The king directed that God’s work be done for the purposes of God’s kingdom. Can anyone honestly believe that a pagan king just happened to come up with that idea? Absolutely not!

God can work through the powers of the world to accomplish His purposes, even when the situation seems impossible. God can work through people who don’t know Him to accomplish His purposes. There’s no reason for the people of God to ever despair that the work of God is “impossible”. There’s simply no such category as “impossible” when we’re talking about our Living God!

Whatever is going on and whatever obstacles you may face to the work of God’s Kingdom, don’t give up! Pray. Seek the Lord. Trust the Lord. Teach His Word. Do His work. Advance His Kingdom.

“For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.” – Ezra 7:10

Ezra had a unique task in Israel. God’s temple had just been rebuilt when God appointed Ezra the task of rebuilding His people. God’s people had returned home, but they didn’t know how to be His people. They were happy to be back in the land but they didn’t know how to be faithful, how to grow, or how to serve and please the Lord. So God sent Ezra to rebuild His people.

How did Ezra rebuild the people of God? Through the Word of God. Ezra “set his heart” – he committed himself through and through – to three simple things.

First, he committed to diligently studying the Bible for himself. Successfully building up the people of God isn’t the result of personal charisma, unique communication skills, or special effects though those things may help. The long term building up of God’s people must be rooted in leaders and teachers deeply committed to personal study of God’s Word.

Second, Ezra committed himself to personally doing what the Bible said to do. Building up God’s people cannot be done in a hypocritical or abstract manner. Those called to build up the people of God must order their lives in deep obedience to God’s Word. They must lead by example and teach from experience.

Third, Ezra committed his entire life to teaching the Bible. He probably could have taught other leadership techniques and skills, how to win friends, or to influence people, but he didn’t. The hard work of building up God’s people must always be done first and foremost through the teaching and application of God’s Word. There is no substitute or shortcut. Offer nothing less and accept nothing less!