Prayer Changes Things

Text: Ezra 10:1-5

Thesis: for the intercession of God's anointed can make the difference in what God will do to and through his people


I. Prayer Produces a Proper Assembly

-verse 1...while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly
-prayer will cause God's people to gather around the altar for prayer

a. Unified Society...a very great assembly of men, women and children gathered together
b. Uncovered Sins...wept bitterly...they wept with the reality that they were sinning against God

II. Prayer Produces a Proper Answer

-verse 2...and Shecaniah, the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam addressed Ezra: we have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this
-this prayer caused Shecaniah to confess the obvious sin of the people of God...they married pagan women
-God's law did not permit this type of marriage because they were from different nationalities...but because they professed a different faith
-Ezra's answer was not to hide their sins...but to confess that they have broken faith with God

III. Prayer Produces a Proper Agreement

-verse 3...therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my Lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law
-Shecaniah makes this agreement to free God's people from their sinfulness so that they could truly worship the Lord
-it was intersting that Shecaniah was the spokesman with this agreement...since his father married a pagan woman which would suggest that his mother was that woman...and if this agreement was met, then both his mother and he would have to leave
-sometimes the hard decisions are the ones that will free the people from the bondage of sin

IV. Prayer Produces a Proper Attitude

-verses 4& 5...suggest that Ezra displays the right attitude by not blasting the people for their sins...he instead prays for them
-when he looks up to heaven, they look up to heaven...his attitude was to pray...their attitude was to follow spiritual leadership
-prayer will cause sinners to follow leadership back to the feet of the Master