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God is a loving person
Nehemiah knew the resources of God's loving person: "Then I said, 'O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commands'" (verse 5).
What makes this opening address so compelling is the profound grasp Nehemiah has on God's personality. His God is a covenant-keeping God who is a God of love. He is great and awesome. Nehemiah does not contemplate his crisis alone. He allows himself to see his crisis against the backdrop of God's person.
A student named Harry recently walked up to the InterVarsity table where we were conducting an outreach. His face seemed joyless and haggard. He was a Christian who was involved in both a church and a youth group. As we spoke, he began to reveal some of his deeper issues. Harry was caught up in a whirlwind of spiritual activities. He mentioned anxiously that he had been hearing God prompt him to obey in a variety of areas. Frankly, some of the areas in which he claimed God's direction sounded questionable. As we explored some of these issues further, I finally asked him, "What kind of a person do you think God is?" Thankfully, he refrained from giving me the "correct" answer, and gave the answer he was feeling in his heart. He replied in one word: "Harsh." I don't think Harry had been hearing the voice of the true God very clearly at all. Rather it seemed he had been listening to the accusing echoes of his own wounded heart. He held on to a distorted image of a cruel and harsh God. We spoke at length that day of the God who is Father, the God of the Cross, rich in mercy, love and forgiveness, and we prayed together that his distorted, false view of God would be changed.
I am very much like Harry. I often view God as taker, not giver. He is taskmaster, not father; he is accuser, not comforter; he is critical, not loving; he is outside my life, rather than participating in it.
We are so often deceived by the whispers of our wounded and unhealed hearts, the distorted projections of our own authority figures and the expectations this world has taught us. In reality, who indeed would want to pray to the false gods that our hearts conjure up?
In summary, people don't pray (or they pray amiss) because they do not know to whom they are praying.
What are some of the distorted views we have of God? Think of plotting a line on a graph. Given a couple of points we can create a line and extend (or extrapolate) it till it hits the x or y axis. Similarly, the way a person prays can be extrapolated to the kind of God that he or she believes in. A person who prays in unhealthy fear of punishment may believe in an authoritarian God who does not love. Those who pray without acknowledging their own fallenness before God may believe in an indulgent father who overlooks sins instead of forgiving them.
Prayer begins with allowing the true God to become the contextual backdrop for our needs and crises. When we are unsure of the goodness of God, we invariably become reluctant and fearful of placing our needs, great or small, against the backdrop of God's personality in prayer. What should we do? We need him to heal us and to give us a correct view of himself.
One way to gain a biblical picture of God is to consider the Cross of Christ. No matter how much my heart is screaming about the untrustworthiness and unreliability of God, as I bring the depths of my heart into the light of the Cross, I grab on to something firmer than the projections my heart is pouring into my mind. When I gaze upon the Cross I cannot help but admit that this is a God who is not detached, but rather involved, one who is not stoic but rather loving, good and sacrificial towards me. The Cross is the visible demonstration of the invisible and sometimes intangible love of God. When our emotions throw dark shadows that create unhealthy images of God, we can deliberately place our faith and attention on the reality of God's character as conveyed by the Cross of Jesus.
By the power of the Cross, I am stilled, healed and enabled to pray.

God keeps his word
Second, Nehemiah knew the resources of God's promises:"Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to a place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name'" (verses 8-9).
God takes his word seriously. Corrie Ten Boom tells the story of traveling to a country closed to the gospel, where she was taking a suitcase full of Bibles. As she passed through customs it became apparent that her cases were going to be checked thoroughly. She was then reminded of a verse in Jeremiah that said, "I am watching over my word to perform it" (Jeremiah 1:12). So Corrie prayed, "God you said in Jeremiah that you would watch over your word to fulfill it. Lord, you said it, now please do it." Corrie continues her story to say that it was the first time in her life that she "saw beings of light" around her suitcase. Not only did the customs official not open her case, but he even loaded it into a taxi for her!
People who do not know God's word pray weak prayers, not bold prayers. Nehemiah is very familiar with God's word and his promises. He quotes almost verbatim the word of God to Moses. God reveals his person and his will through his word. While acknowledging that there are aspects about God that we are not clear about, Scripture clearly reveals his identity and his general intention and will toward us
A lot of people pray "if-it-be-your-will" prayers. Certainly, there are many cases, such as painful circumstances, death and tragedy where God's will becomes a confusing, much debated issue. In such times we understandably wrestle with God's clear intentions. However, many of us have lost the art of praying boldly and in alignment with God's intentions. We cannot manipulate God by using Scripture, but as we begin to pray Scripture aright, we may find ourselves imbued with a sense of being part of God's own plans and movement on behalf of his name. We are in desperate need of his word to be stored in our hearts as we pray. Only then will we grow in faith and obey the command to come boldly before his throne of grace even as Nehemiah did.
The Cross is a testimony that God keeps his promises. Throughout the ages--in the garden of Eden, the tents of Abraham and the cities of Israel--kings, commoners and prophets alike proclaimed that Messiah would come to deliver the world from the power of sin and death. When we look upon the Cross, we are impelled to pray boldly and with fervor because we know that the Cross is evidence that in Jesus, God has done what was promised. The Cross tells us that God keeps his word.

God provides
Third, Nehemiah knew the resources of God's provision: "O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man [the king]" (verse 11).
We can hold two main doubts about God's provision: we can doubt his ability and we can doubt his willingness to provide. We can fear that whatever we need is not in God's hands, or that he will not give it to us.
Is God able to provide? In the beginning of his prayer, Nehemiah pleads for mercy, and toward the end asks for success and favor. In the latter part of his prayer, Nehemiah names things that he wants--things he knows are in the Father's hands. He prays, "Give your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man [the king]." He is rooted in the conviction that these things he needs are the Lord's to give and not in his limited, human hands.
People who are unaware of God's provisions tend to be anxious. They strategize and seek fulfillment apart from God. The plans made at chapter training camps will be burdens if we think that we somehow have to make them happen. While these plans need excellence and hard work, it is the Lord who can blow success into them and grant us favor with the students and administrators on our campuses. Rather than worry over plans, we can commit them to him. Rather than implement strategies in our own strength, we can trust him. Whatever we need, whether it be healing, success or security, we can know that provision, life, wisdom and strength are in his hand. As the psalmist writes, "When you open your hand, [we] are filled with good things" (Psalm 104:28).
How giving is our God? We may be convinced that he has good things to give, yet be unsure as to whether he will give them to us. Let us once again gaze upon the Cross and listen to the enduring truth that rings out: "He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us--will he not with him also give us everything else?" (Romans 8:32). The highest and most precious in all of heaven and earth is Jesus Himself. There is no one more precious or wonderful than he. God has given fully, without holding back his innocent Son to die for our sins. The Cross is a symbol of the generosity of our God. This is the place where God has given us himself. Why wouldn't he give us other things that are needful to us?