Just A Pray Away
Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price | Nehemiah: Building What Matters
Just a Prayer Away
Nehemiah 9:1-38 • Key Text: Nehemiah 9:26-28
Dr. Richard Price • Schrader Lane Church of Christ, Nashville, TN
✝ The Central Truth
No matter what you are going through, you are just a prayer away from gaining understanding and moving closer to God.
🙏 Four Movements of a Prayer That Restores
Prepare the Heart
Nehemiah 9:1-5
- Humbled themselves (fasting, sackcloth, dust)
- Confessed their sins and their ancestors' sins
- Listened to the Word for three hours
- Moved from confession to worship
Remember Who God Is
Nehemiah 9:6-15
- Power: Creator, Deliverer, Red Sea
- Promise: covenant with Abraham
- Provision: manna, water, guidance
- A "prayer of remembrance"
Face Failure, Find Mercy
Nehemiah 9:16-31
- Israel rebelled again and again
- God is forgiving, gracious, merciful, slow to anger (v. 17)
- He let them "bump their head" but never abandoned them
Renew the Commitment
Nehemiah 9:32-38
- Brought their present reality before God
- Accepted responsibility: "You are just" (v. 33)
- Made a solemn covenant for a different future (v. 38)
"Prayer is not simply asking God to do something for us. Prayer also prepares us to do what God calls us to do."
- Dr. Richard Price📖 The Same Pattern Jesus Taught (Matthew 6:9-13)
Not a script to recite word for word, but a model for approaching God when life gets hard.
✅ If We Pray For It, We Must Live It
🔥 This Week's Challenge
Bring your issue to God. Don't stop worshiping because your issue is real.
Barry's Bureau | Inspired by Dr. Richard Price's sermon at Schrader Lane Church of Christ
In Nehemiah 9, God's people prepared their hearts, remembered His faithfulness, faced their failures, and renewed their covenant through prayer. Dr. Richard Price shows why, whatever you face, you are just a prayer away from moving closer to God.
Some weeks, the bills stack up faster than the answers, and you realize you have not really talked to God in days. As Dr. Price put it, what we need most often cannot be found in people, possessions, or opportunities. Sometimes what we need most is to get back to the presence of God.
In this installment of Nehemiah: Building What Matters, Dr. Richard Price takes us to Nehemiah 9. The walls are finished and the exiles are home. In chapter 8 the people listened to the Word; in chapter 9 they respond to it. Dr. Price anchored the message in Nehemiah 9:26-28, where rebellious Israel cried out to a God who "listened once more from heaven" (Nehemiah 9:28, NLT).
The central truth: no matter what you are going through, you are just a prayer away. Prayer is an opportunity to return to God, remember His faithfulness, acknowledge our failures, and renew our commitment to His will over our own.
Prepare Your Heart Before You Pray
Before Israel lifted a prayer, they prepared for it. Nehemiah 9:1-5 describes fasting, burlap on bare skin, and dust on their heads. Dr. Price admitted he cannot stand a tag on the back of his T-shirt, yet these believers wore sackcloth as a sign of genuine remorse. They were not coming to impress God; they were coming because they needed Him.
- They humbled themselves. "There's something powerful," Dr. Price said, "when we stop defending ourselves and start examining ourselves." The most important prayer is often not "Lord, change them," but "Lord, begin with me."
- They confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors (Nehemiah 9:2). Not blame, but maturity: what Dr. Price called "the grace place," where we stop blaming Mama and Daddy and ask for the same faith that brought them through. "We can't ask God to restore what we refuse to acknowledge is broken."
- They listened to the Word for three hours (Nehemiah 9:3). "Prayer must never become an excuse to avoid Scripture."
- They moved from confession to worship (Nehemiah 9:4-5). Repentance should not leave us staring at our mistakes, but turn our eyes toward the God who forgives.
Lesson one: meaningful prayer begins with a heart prepared to meet God.
Remember Who God Is Before You Ask for What You Need
The Levites did not open with requests. They opened with praise: "You alone are the LORD. You made the skies and the heavens and all the stars" (Nehemiah 9:6, NLT). Dr. Price called Nehemiah 9:6-15 a prayer of remembrance. They remembered:
- God's power: creating the heavens, hearing Israel's cry in Egypt, dividing the sea.
- God's promise: His covenant with Abraham, rooted in His faithfulness, not their perfection. "You are not speaking to an empty universe."
- God's provision: manna, water, and guidance through the wilderness.
If He did it for my grandmother, my mama, and my daddy, the same God who was good to them way back then is the same God who will keep me right now. "Sometimes we spend so much time praying about what we need," Dr. Price observed, "that we forget to thank God for what He's already brought us through."
Let God's Mercy Meet You in Your Failures
Nehemiah 9:16-31 does not flatter Israel. They made a golden calf, killed the prophets, and turned their backs on God's law. Yet the prayer keeps turning on one word, mercy: "You are a God of forgiveness, gracious and merciful, slow to become angry, and rich in unfailing love" (Nehemiah 9:17, NLT).
Dr. Price compared it to a parent who lets a hardheaded child "bump their head," or the prodigal's father, who let his son go but kept watching the road (Luke 15:11-24). God may let us feel the consequences, but He does not let go. "Who else is going to love you enough to let some of the things happen to you, but not let you die?"
Nehemiah 9:29 describes God's ways as those "by which people will find life if only they obey" (NLT). In Dr. Price's words, "My life is in my obedience to God, not my feelings."
Move from Remembrance to Renewal
In Nehemiah 9:32-38, the people bring their present reality before God, confessing that He was just in every discipline (v. 33). Then they make a solemn covenant and commit to a different future (v. 38).
Dr. Price warned against a familiar drift: we cry out for a job, God provides, and then we cannot be found in the church house. The same God who gave you the job is watching how you treat Him once you get it. "Bring your issue to God. Don't stop worshiping God because your issue is real." And to our young people: "Don't be trendy in your faith."
Here the sermon reaches us: "Prayer is not simply asking God to do something for us. Prayer also prepares us to do what God calls us to do." If we pray for a stronger church, we must strengthen our commitment to its work.
"Sometimes the next step in your restoration is not a strategy for how you're going to get through. Sometimes it's just a prayer away."- Dr. Richard Price
5 Ways to Pray Like Nehemiah 9 This Week
Dr. Price showed that Nehemiah 9 follows the same pattern Jesus taught in Matthew 6:9-13, a model rather than a script:
- Begin with adoration. Put God above your boss, your bills, and your schedule. "It's not about your vocabulary."
- Submit to His will. His will over yours, even when it costs you.
- Depend on His provision. Ask for today's bread and thank Him for yesterday's.
- Confess and extend forgiveness. Turn away from sin, turn to God, and release others.
- Build accountability. Dr. Price joins members on a 6:00 a.m. prayer call. "If you want something new, you're going to have to do something different."
Listen, Watch, and Learn More
Watch the full sermon, test yourself with this week's quiz and study game, and catch up on the Nehemiah: Building What Matters series.
▶ Watch the Sermon 📚 More Priceless LessonsWhat issue have you been carrying everywhere except to God?
This week, take it to the throne before you worry over it. If you have never entered covenant with God, Dr. Price's invitation stands: hear the gospel, believe (Hebrews 11:6), repent, and be baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38). You are just a prayer away.
Tell us in the comments how God has brought you through, and share this post with someone who needs the reminder.
Join us for worship at Schrader Lane Church of Christ or visit BarrysBureau.org for more resources.
Priceless Lessons from Dr. Price | Nehemiah: Building What Matters
Just a Prayer Away
Nehemiah 9 Knowledge Check • 7 Questions
Test what you learned from Dr. Price's message on Nehemiah 9. Questions move from recall to understanding to application. You will get instant feedback and an explanation after every answer.
Question 1 of 7
Enter your name for your certificate (optional):
Priceless Lessons Study Game | Nehemiah: Building What Matters
Sort the Prayer
Just a Prayer Away • Nehemiah 9 Category Sort
Dr. Price walked us through four movements in the great prayer of Nehemiah 9. Can you place each moment from the chapter in the right movement?
- Tap a card to select it.
- Tap the movement where it belongs.
- Correct cards lock in green. Wrong choices flash red so you can try again.
- Sort all 12 cards with as few mistakes as possible.
Cards to Sort
The Four Movements of Nehemiah 9
Well done!