” And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. 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,”
Neh 1:3-4
In my day, when folks hear that some brethren or preacher is in trouble, their response it to type a message on social networks telling us how stupid that man is. It seems to me many folks love it when some brethren are in trouble, but that attitude doesn’t reflect Christ. Nehemiah heard about the afflictions of his brethren, and he responded with morning, crying, fasting, and prayer unto God for the troubled brethren. Whatever evil you do or say about the brethren, you do it to yourself because we are one body and members in particular. We are not in competition with other brethren, and neither are we out there to prove that we are better, holier, smarter, and more anointed than so and so. We can’t spend time discussing people’s mistakes, troubles, and bad choices. We should spend time interceding for them.
How do you respond when you hear that a minister from another denomination has been arrested? ” Ooooh, I always said he is not of God, now see.” That’s how some will respond. Some will say,” He was stealing money from members. He will rot in hell.” You must respond with love and faith to the troubles of others. Don’t hear and go around gossiping, hear, and be moved to pray. If you are not going to pray, then don’t hear it and don’t discuss it. If you hear that a certain city has no preachers, how do you respond? ” Oooh, all big churches don’t like going down there because the people are poor.” Is that how you respond? Don’t respond as a sinner who has no fear of God . I just watched with tears a certain man give a testimony of how he visited 21 Native Doctors and spent so much money to get help on his marriage and immediately I began to pray for those who are bound in marriages. We should be moved to act.
If you hear that such and such a place has no schools, how do you respond? Do you start by blaming the president? Who blames you? Why do you always blame others for what’s not done? Come on, get up and do something in response to the needs around you.
