Nehemiah had a burden, a deep desire to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. He inquired of the state of the wall and was told that the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire (Nehemiah 1:3 KJV).
He immediately began building a wall. No, not a physical wall, but a spiritual wall. We see this in the very next verse. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven (Nehemiah 1:4 KJV).
God said that mine house shall be called an house of prayer (Isaiah 56:7 KJV). Building a prayer life can be comparable to building a wall. If you’re building a brick wall there are many steps involved. I won’t go into all of them here.
One step is site preparation. You have to clear the area, ensure adequate space, and elevate bricks off the ground to prevent moisture damage. We have to clean the junk out of our lives. We do this by repentance. We elevate by lifting up our prayers to God. This prevents “moisture damage” by us not drowning in our sorrows.
Another step is making sure that the foundation is level. If we build our prayer life on our own personal opinions and beliefs then it will be unlevel. But if we build our prayer life on Jesus and His teachings I can assure you that the foundation is good. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 3:11 KJV).
Another step is mortar mixing. If things are churning and turning, if it seems like chaos. It may be the mortar mixing process. Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance (James 1:2-3 ISV). Our faith will be tested, but when we hold on and keep believing this will produce a faith that endures, a faith that will hold us together.
Then there is mortar application. We need to apply our faith. If we have faith, we will pray. If we don’t have faith then we will not pray. We must remain alert. Keep standing firm in your faith. Keep on being courageous and strong (1 Corinthians 16:13 ISV).
Then you lay the bricks and stagger them as you go. We must consistently lay out our prayers. We must “stagger” our prayers or pray at different
intervals throughout the day. Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice (Psalm 55:17 KJV).
These are just a few steps in building a prayer life. It is important to mention that building a physical brick structure to completion can take a long time. So if you are praying over a situation that seems to be dragging out. Remember that you may be building it up. You may be like Cornelius in Acts 10 who was told that his prayers had become a memorial before God. So don’t give up because you aren’t seeing immediate results, you may be building. You are building a prayer life. Keep stacking the bricks of prayer, keep pushing through and don’t give up.
1 Peter 2:5 KJV Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
Colossians 4:2 NET Be devoted to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.
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