The Courage to Intercede for the Lost

SUMMARY: The world is in spiritual ruin due to sin and ignorance of God. Secularism has instituted its own values that are contrary to God's will. Like Nehemiah, we need to intercede for the salvation and spiritual rebuilding of our brothers and nations. Prayer is important and we should pray for all believers and the lost. The rebuilding of the wall was the preamble to a spiritual restoration that led to deeper worship and obedience. We need intercessors like Nehemiah to rise up and claim God's promises of redemption.

We inhabit a world that is in spiritual ruin. Sin and ignorance of the living and creator God is the only cause of the collapse of the values sustained by his Word. Our confidence rests on the promise that the Word is eternal, abides and will last forever, despite the rampant standards of atheism. Secularism has instituted its own values and disguised them with a Apparent cloak of piety, but deep down they are nothing more than deformations of the character of the impious man to go contrary to the designs and will of God: selfishness, pride, envy, debauchery. "The god of this world has blinded the minds of these unbelievers, so that they do not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, which is the image of God." (2 Cor 4.4).

The Word refers that Nehemiah felt the need to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of the city after receiving the report of the state of ruins in which they had been many years ago (Neh 1). The people of God, without walls to protect themselves, felt helpless, discouraged, not in the mood to get up to start the work. A feeling of desolation and helplessness had gripped those who had returned from exile in Babylon. The ruin was also moral.