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The king said to me, \u201cWhat is it you want?\u201d\xa0 Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king\u2026 (Nehemiah 2:4-5a)

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Not all prayers are long and eloquent.\xa0

This second prayer of Nehemiah\u2019s certainly wasn\u2019t.\xa0

Now, I suppose it is possible that Nehemiah heard the king\u2019s question, ran home to get on his knees beside his bed, prayed sincerely for half an hour, then ran back to the palace to give the king his response. \xa0But, probably not.

The way this is written, it sure would make it seem like this was a prayer in real time in the king\u2019s presence, offered mid-conversation without Nehemiah so much as skipping a beat.\xa0 It no doubt happened silently then\u2014a blink of the eyes and a deep breath before plunging into a response.

When I think of the kind of \u201cpraying without ceasing\u201d that Paul talks about in his letter to the Thessalonians, this kind of breath-long Nehemiah prayer is exactly what I think of.\xa0

It\u2019s not necessarily about the length or formality of the prayer or about the words.\xa0 It\u2019s also not necessarily about the continuity of praying throughout days and weeks even.\xa0 It is, I think, about an unceasingly prayerful posture that defines our approach and our reaction to all of our lives.\xa0

What do I mean by that?\xa0 Well, there\u2019s something about Nehemiah\u2019s posture throughout this book so far that speaks to someone who took a prayerful posture toward their life.\xa0 And that\u2019s just a different way of saying that Nehemiah was unceasingly aware of, and actively attentive to God.\xa0 \xa0\xa0

This is nothing that we haven\u2019t said before in these past few devotions, except that now I\u2019m connecting the dot to prayer.\xa0 Nehemiah\u2019s attention to God pervaded his life.\xa0 He knew that he belonged to God.\xa0 He knew that God ultimately held the power over the nations and over history.\xa0 He knew that it was with God that he had to do.\xa0 And that naturally meant that Nehemiah prayed, that he connected all of his life, his thoughts, and his conversations to God in prayer.\xa0

When a deep sorrow washed over him at the plight of his people, he talked to God.\xa0 As he pondered what action to take, he talked it over with God.\xa0 As he prepared to enter the king\u2019s presence with his request, he inquired of God.\xa0 As he responded to the king in the moment, he prayed to God.\xa0 Nehemiah was constantly aware of and attentive to God, such that his in-the-moment responses had turned into prayer.\xa0 His life posture, was a prayerful posture.\xa0 \xa0

They say that our character is what pops out of us when we hit a bump in the road.\xa0 Well, what popped out of Nehemiah was prayer.\xa0

Maybe not always big or eloquent prayer\u2014but prayer none-the-less.\xa0

Prayer is just talking with God.\xa0 Sometimes nothing more than a \u201cplease, God\u201d or a \u201cthanks, Jesus\u201d mid-sentence across our day is exactly the sort of thing that speaks to a prayerful posture.\xa0 It\u2019s not that that\u2019s all our prayer lives should be, but that is part of it.\xa0 A part of it that says: yes, throughout my day, I remember and am aware of the presence of God that actively pervades my every moment.

And, maybe that\u2019s just part of what it means to pray continually.\xa0 To be always attentive to and ready to respond to God.\xa0 In the big moments, and the in small ones.\xa0 In dedicated times of attention and devotion, as well as in the passing moments.

So, what\u2019s your posture to life? \xa0To God?\xa0 What pops out of you when you hit a bump in the road of life?\xa0 Pay attention today and see. \xa0Then, let it remind you to pay attention to God as you breathe a little \u201cthanks for the reminder, God\u201d prayer.

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