Connecting With ProvisionFrancis Madojemu

Understanding Critical

• We want to show you how important this issue of

understanding is, that we not only understand the bible but we understand the way God thinks, what

life is, how things work

• We also want to talk to you about some of the

things you may not think are your responsibilities in

Prayer

• Nehemiah Example!

Nehemiah 1:1-11 (NKJV)• 1The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, 2that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. 3And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.”

Nehemiah 1:1-11 (NKJV)

• 4So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and prayingbefore the God of heaven. 5And I said: “I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments,

Nehemiah 1:1-11 (NKJV)• 6“please let Your ear be attentive and Your

eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. 7“We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

Nehemiah 1:1-11 (NKJV)• 8“Remember, I pray, the word that You

commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; 9‘but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.’

Nehemiah 1:1-11 (NKJV)• 10“Now these are Your servants and Your

people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. 11“O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.” For I was the king’s cupbearer.

2 Similar Prayer Points

• I want to show you two prayer points almost

identical but different emphases: Daniel and

Nehemiah.• (The most important

thing about prayer is getting God to hear you. One of the good things about revelation is that

once you receive, it starts a motion in your life. It

wasn’t because you didn’t see it but because it

hadn’t been revealed.)

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 1In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of

the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. 3Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. 4And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, “O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• , 5“we have sinned and committed iniquity, we

have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. 6“Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. 7“O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us shame of face, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You.

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 8“O Lord, to us belongs shame of face, to our

kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. 9“To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. 10“We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. 11“Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him.

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 12“And He has confirmed His words, which He

spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. 13“As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 14“Therefore the LORD has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 15“And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your

people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly!16“O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. 17“Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate.

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 18“O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your

eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. 19“O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.” 20Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD

my God for the holy mountain of my God,

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 21yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man

Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering. 22And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, “O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. 23“At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved; therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision:

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 24 “Seventy weeks are determined For your

people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

Daniel 9:1-27 (NKJV)• 25 “Know therefore and understand, That from

the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times. 26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Similar but Different• Have you seen the similarity

in both prayers? Right from day 1 the very point he started from was we’ve

broken your precepts “we” not “they” not “those in

Abuja”. • He identifies with the sins and comes back to the same

thing, in spite of what we have done still God hear our

prayers.• There are so many

similarities. • The one distinguishing

factor is the timing.

Responsibility Starts with:• When Nehemiah heard that

the walls of Jerusalem lay in ruin that the gates sat rotten and the Jewish survivors lived

in distress and reproach he did what every great leader

must do: he fasted and prayed.

• Sometimes when a leader prays and stands in the gap for his people, intercession must always be the primary role for

a leader. • The apostle Peter once declared his top leadership

priorities are prayer and ministry of the word.

What Prayer Does• John Maxwell teaches that a

leader’s prayer accomplishes 4 things:

• Prayer internalizes the burden, deepening our

ownership of a need

• Prayer insists that we quiet our hearts and wait, slowing us down to receive from God

• Prayer infuses the vision enabling us to see what God

wants to do

• Prayer initiates the vision fulfillment acting as a catalyst for us to act

The Law of Timing• Good leaders understand

that timing is important.

• Nehemiah spoke to the king of Jerusalem but

not until 4 months after he first heard about the

broken wall.

• He began praying about it in December but not

until April did he approach the king about

rebuilding it.

The Law of Timing• He gets the information in

the month of Kislev, he begins to pray night and day,

he was also fasting but it was in the month of Nisan

that he approached the king. - Bible scholars say

that’s 4 months. • Most of us don’t know that

the book of acts happened over a 30 year period. Most

of us think it was in 3 months. They were wide

time gaps between miracles. • Everything God does

involves timing

Even Preaching!• In the Frank Peretti book

“This Present Darkness” it gives an idea of what happens in the realm of

the spirit in very real terms there was a scene

when a preacher came to meet a man in a bar but the spirit of alcohol was blocking his ears so he

couldn’t hear. • Or the spirit of greed or

any other spirit behind any of the devils strategy

or plan.

Why? FREE WILL• What you do in

intercession is your prayer binds those spirits from acting on the person’s

heart.

• That spirit cannot dominate that person

when God wants to work.

• God operates without touching the free will of

man but the devil loves to influence the will of man.

What was Nehemiah waiting for

• No one is sure but he might have been waiting on

• 1 His ownership of the burden and vision.

• 2. A foundation of prayer to be laid

• 3 His readiness with a plan.

• 4 The kings mental and emotional mood

• 5 The season when he could move quickly

• 6 A trust to deepen between him and the king

Nehemiah 2:1-8 (NKJV)• 1And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in

the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. 2Therefore the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart.” So I became dreadfully afraid, 3and said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?”

Nehemiah 2:1-8 (NKJV)• 4Then the king said to me, “What do you

request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may rebuild it.” 6Then the king said to me (the queen also sitting beside him), “How long will your journey be? And when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

Nehemiah 2:1-8 (NKJV)• 7Furthermore I said to the king, “If it pleases

the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah, 8“and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

Why do we stop praying?

• We tend to stop praying when we see that our prayers have not been

answered.

• Nehemiah didn’t stop praying.

• It was even the king that noticed that something was

wrong with him.

• FESTAC 77- remember people said Nigeria became what we became because we came to worship idols.

Purpose & Timing• And in churches for many

years we have been repenting for FESTAC 77 but there is nothing like

that in these prayers.• Daniel received the

schedule for Gods timing. There was nothing he

could do because it wasn’t time.

• All he could do was gather the information,

document it so that those coming after him had the

tools to act.

Purpose & Timing• Nehemiah got the revelation of what was

happening but he also had the opportunity to act.

• The most important thing with working with God is

timing. • There are a number of

people who received revelation about this

country but could not do anything about it because it

wasn’t the right time for that thing to happen.

Certain other things have to fall in place.

Purpose & Timing• I have an old book which said

what in God’s name could the old testament saints been

praying for Jesus to come after all God had promised that Jesus

was going to come.

• It was already written.

• However, in that particular time there was war all over the place.

It took a Roman Government taking over to bring relative

peace and created roads and trading and that became the

tools which Jesus used to achieve what He came to do on the

earth.

Purpose & Timing• So Jesus couldn’t have

come 100 years earlier because what he needed

wasn’t available. • That’s the difference between our generation

and the one that has gone before us, they didn’t even

have the opportunity no understanding of our role. • They didn’t even watch television, how much more going into politics, getting

involved in what’s going on out there.

Provision• One thing I noticed from

Nehemiah and Daniel is that every time you need

to act on behalf of God He positions you in such a way that you have access to the

resources you need.

• What other resources could Nehemiah have needed apart from the

king.

• Which person of repute or resource have we

presented our ideas to?

Provision• Even Daniel had access to the

king's money. Joseph also had access to the Pharaoh, Moses

was equipped by the Pharaoh! An unbelieving king.

• That is the generation we belong to. There is one of

pure intercessory prayer of revelation of gathering fruits

but there is also a new generation coming up that is

going to have a new blueprint.

• Nehemiah had a master plan.

Connect to Resources• We are meant to be

connected to resources to carry out God's plan if we are in the category of Nehemiah,

or Daniel (writing books).

• Which category do you want to belong to?

• We need to get to the realm of Nehemiah where you get an idea from God, you pray, you spend your time getting understanding and then you ask God for success, ask for favor that will push you into

another realm.

Connect to Resources• Even when Nehemiah was made the governor he refused

to take all the privileges of being a governor because he

realized that he was put in that office and was given that

opportunity to serve.

• Its not about you getting money to go and start a

successful business, its for you getting money to go and start a successful business that will

impact. Its not for you to collect money and then use it

to build nice houses for yourself and be comfortable.

Personal Provision Incld• If you listen to Nehemiah he

asked the king for three things and one of them was resources to build his own

house. • I'm not saying your house

won't be taken care of but the reason why your house

will be taken care of is not for your comfort but for you to

be comfortable enough to do what God wants you to do.

• Most of us are struggling right now because we can't make ends meet how much more help somebody else.

We have Identify with…Nation, Calling

• I believe I've finally understood what is wrong and

I'm going to make an adjustment in my life. How

about you? • This is a good time to go to

God and identify and please don't do vague identification,

you can identify with your area of calling, with the

mountain that God has called you to take or to be on, you

can identify with the nation if you are into politics but for

those of us who are into ministry.

We have Identify with…Nation, Calling

• We cannot isolate ourselves from the

mistakes of this nation, or of the body of Christ, we

can't isolate ourselves from what is happening in our

universities, in our schools, in our families.

• We can't say its not us so we are not guilty. We are guilty and we have seen it

through Daniel and Nehemiah that we need to

identify and take responsibility.

We have Identify with…Nation, Calling

• We need to stand in the gap and make up a hedge. We need to ask God to give us success and favour to play our own role, what we can

do in this realm he has called us to.

• We must tell God we are sorry for how this nation

has been sold down, taken advantage of, how people

are dying left, right and centre with the governors,

local governors and government that doesn't

care.

Do You Know what to do?• We have taken the example of

Nehemiah & have repented for our people and as his servant said of Abraham he said Lord grant me success and show

kindness to my master Abraham.

• Nehemiah prayed a little differently he said grant me success and show me favor

before this man. • We can pray this prayer but it

won't be correct yet. In praying this prayer Nehemiah

understood what he was supposed to do, where he was supposed to go and what he

needed.

Do You Know what to do?• Remember how Abraham's

servant said I'm going to the well where women come out in the evening to fetch water

he knew where to go and what to do and that's also

praying for your connection with the resources that you

need to succeed. • We are not going to pray

selfishly but for men and women out there who have been called of God and for

whatever reason these resources have been an

issue for them.

Lord Show Me, Teach Me Open My Eyes

• We are going to pray that Father we need to know where to go, You need to

open our eyes You need to teach us as to where to go, who to go to and what to

do.• God knows what we are

looking for and who has it and He's the only one who can connect the two of you together in a painless way. Nehemiah prayed for favor

and mercy.• I believe its always favor.

Show Me My RESOURCE • Nehemiah identified that it

was the king who was going to he'll him. He said grant me this day, yet it took 4 months.

He must have been praying everyday because he didn't

know which day it was going to be answered.

• He wasn't preparing his agenda he was preparing

God's agenda.• Nehemiah was ready. He had

a plan.• He understood what he was

to do and exactly how much time he needed to do it.

Help Me To PLAN• Are our plans that

accurate? Every time we sit down saying we are waiting for God we are supposed to be planning and preparing.

• A king asked Nehemiah in one afternoon and he knew

exactly what he needed. How many of us are that

ready? • One night my wife and I went for dinner with pastor Agwu and he just asked us a

simple question: you are starting your own church

what do you need?

Help Me To PLAN• And he said tomorrow

text your needs to my assistant because he was

travelling the next morning.

• The next morning he travelled and I texted what I needed to his

assistant and the next morning £4000 worth of equipment was bought and shipped to Lagos.

• What if I didn't know what I needed?

Help Me To Be PREPARED

• We are included in the situation!

• Are we truly ready?

• We need to ask for success and for favour

specifically and we are to make a promise to

• God if I'm not ready then help me to get ready to

begin to do my homework, to begin to

ask questions.

Help Me To Be PREPARED• For every opportunity you

get the only weapon you have is preparation.

• I wonder how many times we have given up just

before a solution came up.

• You will never stretch yourself until someone

pushes you.

• It is only a man that is expended that God can

fully use.

Help Me To Be PREPARED• Most of the time we give

up. Sometimes we are to try the same idea many

times.

• If you want to buy the perfect property for you,

you need to check out about 100 just to buy 1.

• Are we patient enough to go through the process?

• Success is opportunity meeting preparation.

• We need to ask God to help us to prepare.

God Does Not Back to An OLD MOVE

• The successful hockey player says others run to where the puck is I run to

where the puck I'd going to.

• Do we even know what we need to do to be prepared?

• The kind of preparation or divine connections we need to succeed, the move that's happening out there, do we know what the latest thing is or are we trying to use

old principles?

Troubles & Tests• There is a logic in

Christianity that says if you are doing the will of God you shouldn't have any trouble but see how much trouble Nehemiah got into where they even threatened to report him to the king that he was

planning treason. • Some one told me years

ago that if you don't have any trouble it means you are moving in the same direction as the devil.

Troubles & Tests• Just because God connects

us divinely doesn't mean we won't have challenges but every time Nehemiah had a challenge God gave

him wisdom.

• His prayer methods followed closely with Ezra.

Put your trowels in one hand and your sword in

the other.

• We always expect immediate results.

Nehemiah 5: 1- 7• After thinking over it!

• God wants to use all of our facilities that's why some are

analytical or impulsive, we are specifically equipped to

bring us to our destiny.• We should learn to think the

way God made us think and let him develop it. Not trying to think like other people. –

Mind of Christ• Nehemiah thought. We are

going to trust God for wisdom to face our

challenges. Our thought processes are going to be so

highly developed.

2 Samuel 15:29-34 (NKJV)• 30So David went up by the Ascent of the

Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went up. 31Then someone told David, saying, “Ahithophelis among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”

2 Samuel 15:29-34 (NKJV)• 32Now it happened when David had come to

the top of the mountain, where he worshiped God—there was Hushai the Archite coming to meet him with his robe torn and dust on his head. 33David said to him, “If you go on with me, then you will become a burden to me. 34“But if you return to the city, and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I was your father’s servant previously, so I will now also be your servant,’ then you may defeat the counsel of Ahithophel for me.

The story of Ahithophel. • 2 Samuel 15• When he spoke it was as if the

oracle of God had spoken. He had so developed his thought process that when he spoke it was as if God had spoken. Ahithophel was good but he chose the wrong side.

• As David was leaving he prayed.

• We have brilliant criminals in Nigeria. But they are on the wrong side. Wrong motives. Even in church and in families. Men whose minds are well articulated but with wrong motives.

2 Samuel 16:20-23 (NKJV)• 20Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give counsel

as to what we should do.” 21And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, whom he has left to keep the house; and all Israel will hear that you are abhorred by your father. Then the hands of all who are with you will be strong.” 22So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the top of the house, and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel. 23Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophelboth with David and with Absalom.

2 Samuel 17:1-4 (NKJV)• 1Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Now

let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 2“I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king. 3“Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace.” 4And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

Hursai• If we only pray for evil counsel

to be defeated, we will ignore Hurshai

• When David prayed that prayer how God was going to answer it wasn't the way we thought

He was going to.

• The advice of Ahithophel was still there but it was countered

by the advice of Hurshai.

• For some things in your life where the counsel of

Ahithophel is we also need the counsel of Hurshai that will

bring you into destiny.

2 Samuel 17:4-14 (NKJV)

• 5Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushaithe Archite also, and let us hear what he says too.” 6And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel has spoken in this manner. Shall we do as he says? If not, speak up.” 7So Hushai said to Absalom: “The advice that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time.

2 Samuel 17:4-14 (NKJV)• 8“For,” said Hushai, “you know your father and

his men, that they are mighty men, and they are enraged in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not camp with the people. 9“Surely by now he is hidden in some pit, or in some other place. And it will be, when some of them are overthrown at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’

2 Samuel 17:4-14 (NKJV)• 10“And even he who is valiant, whose heart is

like the heart of a lion, will melt completely. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. 11“Therefore I advise that all Israel be fully gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person.11“Therefore I advise that all Israel be fully gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person.

2 Samuel 17:4-14 (NKJV)12“So we will come upon him in some place where

he may be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground. And of him and all the men who are with him there shall not be left so much as one. 13“Moreover, if he has withdrawn into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city; and we will pull it into the river, until there is not one small stone found there.” 14So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom.

Godly Counsel• Let's take the president and

pray that the same way.

• Ahithophel's counsel was countered God will go into the 7mindmolders and we will begin to see the overcoming of evil counsel that it is brought to naught and replaced by Godly counsel.

• Its a new day. We cannot use yesterday's counsel for a new day. He said behold I do something new.

Godly Counsel• I make a way in the desert.

• Its only God that can show us this new pathway,

methodology, business ideas.

• Cry out for wisdom, for understanding, what we

need to succeed as a nation, what we need to

learn and do.

• Open our eyes as a nation, give us your counsel and

your direction

Pray for Clarity.

• Many things we are doing even in church is

very unclear.

• Isaiah 58: 6

• This is talking about fasting.

• The purpose God is blessing us is not only for ourselves but for

others.

There Must Be CHANGE

• So this business of us praying and

tomorrow we will not be able to tell

the difference between you

yesterday and today ends today.

• From today you will be able to measure

your growth.