Becoming a Corporate Nehemiah to Preserve God’s Recovery

Today’s Main Verses for Pray-reading

Nehemiah prayed for God’s house and its service

“Remember me, O my God” concerning the good deeds he had done for God’s house and its service (Nehemiah 13:14).

Preserve a sanctified living

Nehemiah charged the Levites to purify themselves and keep the gates, so that the Sabbath would be sanctified. He asked God to “spare me according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness” (Nehemiah 13:22).

Do not allow the priesthood and its covenant to be defiled

Nehemiah prayed concerning those who had “defiled the priesthood” and the covenant related to the priests and Levites (Nehemiah 13:29).

Provide for the needs of God’s house regularly

Nehemiah appointed the people to provide the wood offering and the firstfruits at the appointed times, and prayed, “Remember me, O my God, for good” (Nehemiah 13:31).

Today’s Prayer Burden

God’s recovery cannot remain the burden of Nehemiah alone. It must become the daily practice of all the saints, our mutual reminding, and everyone’s willing responsibility. May we become a corporate Nehemiah, so that the building up of the Body of Christ may advance normally, organically, and continually, rising higher and higher until the Lord comes!

Today’s Prayer

Lord, speak to us through Nehemiah 13. Cause us to practice daily, remind one another, and take responsibility willingly. Constitute us with the high peak truths, bring us to thorough repentance and absolute, concrete consecration, and lead us into a kingdom living and the normal functioning of the priesthood. Teach us to practice continually, remind one another again and again, and take responsibility so that Your recovery may advance without interruption, from one high peak to another, until the age turns.

Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us to the last chapter of Nehemiah. The recovery of the house of God reached a high point in chapter 12, but it did not continue in chapter 13. After Nehemiah was away for a time, Tobiah occupied a chamber in the house of God; the Levites, whose supply had stopped, returned to their fields; buying and selling again took over the Sabbath; and mixed marriages caused the next generation to lose the language of God’s people. Save us from repeating Israel’s fall after reaching a high point in the recovery.

Lord, deliver us from practicing only when someone is present to direct, oversee, and remind us. Your recovery cannot depend on one person carrying the burden while everyone else follows. Give every person a burden, every household a practice, every vital group a watchful care, and every member the initiative to remind, support, and take responsibility. When the responsible brothers are absent, will we still pray? When our companions do not remind us, will we still contact people? When we see someone becoming weak, will we shepherd him? When the reality of the truth is damaged, will we stand for it in love? Cause Your truth to be wrought into us, so that we willingly bear Your interests.

Lord, Your word brings us into the recovery and keeps us in it. Keep shining through Your word to enlighten, cleanse, and preserve us. May the high peak truths be not merely the content of a training but a living light that shines every day. The mixture dealt with in Nehemiah 13 does not mean excluding people today according to ethnicity or background; it means dealing with elements that enter the church life and damage sanctification and God’s interests. Keep us holding to Your word throughout our practice.

Lord, cleanse the places in our hearts, households, time, and vital groups that have gradually been occupied by things other than You. As Nehemiah cleared Tobiah’s chamber, remove what does not belong and restore everything to its proper use for You. Regain Your place in our prayer time, our shepherding burden, our simple love for You, and our fellowship in the Body.

Lord, restore the normal priestly function of every member. When the offering stopped, the Levites lost their supply, their function was damaged, and the service in God’s house became abnormal. If someone stops praying or shepherding, do not let us merely ask why he has no burden. Lead us to find him, supply him, accompany him, and bring him back into coordination and function. True recovery does not merely point out who has failed; it restores the function in life that was lost after failure.

Lord, bring our work, time, money, plans, and daily rhythms under Your ruling. Preserve a corporate God-man living among us: Your place, the purity of the truth, a sanctified living, the fellowship of brotherly love, and time that is not taken over by the world. Preserve the next generation also. May they not only hear us speak the high peak truths but be constituted with them; may they not only hear of our consecration but be brought into it; and may they not merely see vital groups in this generation but become vital ones in the next.

Lord, thank You for giving us Nehemiah as an example. He shepherded people, yet he would not compromise concerning what damaged God’s interests. Give us his absoluteness for God’s interests, faithfulness to God’s house, noncompromising attitude toward mixture, care to restore those who have lost their function, and persistence in a sanctified living. In the Old Testament setting of a united civil and religious order, Nehemiah used forceful actions, including physical punishment. The New Testament church must not copy those actions today. Teach us to shepherd and recover people in love, by the Spirit, and according to the truth. May we care for people in life and never call compromise concerning Your interests love.

Lord, Nehemiah acted while repeatedly praying before You. Keep us from merely arranging, correcting, urging, and handling problems. Bring us back to You again and again to ask You to remember Your interests, have compassion on us, and preserve what You have recovered. Restore each person to his own portion: the priests to their priestly service, the Levites to their service, the people to their responsibility to offer, the gatekeepers to keeping the gates, and those who supply to continuing their supply. Do not let a vital group become one person praying, shepherding, reminding, and bearing responsibility while everyone else listens, waits, or receives. Make us all practice, remind, bear responsibility, and function. Gain a company of people who willingly take responsibility. Amen!

Fellowship

The recovery requires the continual watchfulness of all the saints

After Nehemiah was away for a time, breaches appeared in the house of God, the supply for the service, the Sabbath, and the next generation. This warns us that the recovery cannot continue if it depends only on one leader to push it forward. True constitution is not practicing only when someone urges us. It is the truth of God wrought into us, so that every person, household, vital group, and member takes the initiative to watch, support, and bear responsibility.

In Nehemiah 13 the book of Moses was read again, exposing the people’s condition. God’s word does not constitute us only at the beginning; it must continually enlighten, cleanse, and preserve us. The high peak truths are not merely the subject of a one-time training; they are a light that shines every day.

Clear what has taken over and restore the function of God’s house

Tobiah had attacked the building from outside, yet later occupied a large chamber in the house of God that had been used for the service. The enemy did not need to tear down the wall; he could damage the normal operation of God’s house by taking over its service space from within. This also calls us to consider whether things other than the Lord have gradually occupied our heart, household, time, prayer, shepherding, or fellowship in the Body. Recovery requires clearing unsuitable occupants and restoring everything for God’s use.

Restore the supply so that every member can function

When the people stopped offering, the Levites lost their appointed supply, returned to their fields, and the service in the house of God was left unattended. When the offering stopped, the supply stopped; when the supply stopped, function was damaged; and when function was damaged, the living of God’s house became abnormal. In the New Testament, the priestly service is the normal functioning of every member in the Body, and each member needs the continual support and supply of the others. The church may still have meetings while the priestly function of all the members has ceased.

Preserve a kingdom living and pass the truth on to the next generation

When the Sabbath was occupied by buying and selling, the people’s daily living had again slipped out from under God’s ruling. A God-man living is not merely saying, “Lord, I love You,” in a meeting. It also brings our work, time, money, plans, and daily rhythms under the Lord’s ruling. Nehemiah 13 also shows that mixed marriages affected the next generation, so that they did not know the language of Judah. This is a serious contrast with chapter 8, where the people entered into God’s word and were reconstituted. Our generation may speak the high peak truths, but will the next generation speak them? We may have experiences of consecration, but have our children been brought into consecration? We may have vital groups, but will they produce vital ones in the next generation? One great danger to the recovery is not that this generation lacks the truth, but that the next generation is not constituted with it.

Shepherd people without compromising concerning God’s interests

Nehemiah shepherded people but would not compromise concerning what damaged God’s interests. We need to receive his faithfulness to God’s house, his stand for sanctification, and his care to restore those who lost their function. But we must not carry the forceful actions of the Old Testament, including physical punishment, into the practice of the New Testament church. Today we must be in love, by the Spirit, and according to the truth, with the goal of shepherding and recovering people. We care for people in life, and we do not treat compromise concerning God’s interests as love.

Reminding is not rebuking; it is accompanying one another in practice

The Body life requires continual mutual awakening. The spirit of reminding is not, “Why did you fail again?” but, “Let us do this together”; not, “You should have more burden,” but, “I will bear this with you”; and not asking why there has been no increase, but praying for someone together and then contacting him in a practical way. Reminding is not pressuring people to perform. It is bringing them again and again to the Lord, to the supply of life, to the fellowship of the Body, and to their priestly function. An early reminder brings an earlier recovery.

We can practice three kinds of reminding:

1. Remind ourselves and practice proactively every day. Have I contacted the Lord today? Have I lived in the spirit? Have I prayed for the ones I shepherd? Has my consecration become part of my living today?
2. Remind our vital companions so that no one falls back alone. Pray together for a few minutes; ask how a new one is doing and visit him; check whether we practiced what we fellowshipped about last time; and bring one another’s difficulties to the Lord together.
3. Remind one another in the household and vital group so the practice continues. Husbands and wives support one another and lead their children to contact the Lord. In the vital group, everyone cares about the progress and takes the initiative to pray, fellowship, shepherd, and contact people.

Establish vital groups that function daily, weekly, and monthly

• Daily: Practice the God-man living personally and as a household: contact the Lord, live Christ, and remember people.
• Weekly: The vital companions pray together, fellowship about their actual condition, review what they agreed to practice, and arrange concrete contact, shepherding, and gospel actions. Do not let fellowship stop at sharing feelings.
• Monthly: The whole group reviews and adjusts its care for the companions, new ones, and households.

Reminding must go both ways. It is not only the leader reminding the whole group; anyone who sees a need may initiate fellowship and practice in a proper way. When we see a breach, we should fill it together at once. The vitality of a vital group is not a fixed activity. It is the initiative of life within everyone, continual mutual reminding outwardly, and the resulting increase and new function in practice.

Do not be only someone pushed forward by Nehemiah; become someone who bears the burden of Nehemiah—a corporate Nehemiah. Do not only receive reminders; practice proactively and remind one another. Let us not merely enjoy the results of the recovery. May we preserve them daily in faith and love and continue onward, rising higher in the indwelling Spirit.