Nougat 23

Please receive today’s Holy Nougat

“Then the leaders of the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—called out to the people: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God, for he lives from everlasting to everlasting!” Then they prayed: “May your glorious name be praised! May it be exalted above all blessing and praise!” ‭‭Nehemiah‬ ‭9‬:‭5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A Call to Prayer

In the midst of captivity, 8 priestly Levitical leaders, call the people to prayer. I invite us to chew on the following as we heed the call to pray:

1) Each priest’s name includes God in the definition: Their families had not lost Hope despite the situation.

2) 8 Levite leaders called the national prayer (not a prayer breakfast, but to intercede for the nation): it is believed that the number eight represented New Beginnings. It was a new era, despite being exiled.

3) Their call was prayer to an everlasting and eternal God. They were looking to God, Who’d been proven over time: and Who was beyond their own time. Perhaps remembering words from Deuteronomy 33.

4) Although the prayer had several other components, it evidently began with Praise: Might we ‘Stand up and praise the Lord our God’ regardless of our circumstances?

In this season of ongoing Advent, we too are in exile, as we wait for Jesus’ return. How do we respond-

1) Will our lives point to God as the priestly leaders’ names do?

2) Can we sense the new beginning in store for us with Jesus? Might the Lord find 8, willing to lead the nations to pray?

3) Do we recognize that we serve an everlasting and eternal God, Who is our dwelling place and our support?

4) Will we be caught praising, regardless of the current situation?

Siblings, it’s time to pray

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May all we seek be found in Christ