After four months of praying, God opened the door for Nehemiah to ask the king if he could go back to his homeland and rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. The king had some questions, and Nehemiah was prepared with the answers. You see, while he was praying, he was also burning the midnight oil. He had blueprints for those walls in his pockets along with a timeline of how long he would be away. He knew what he needed – a letter from the king for safe passage. He had already been to Home Depot and had a purchase order for the building supplies. While he was praying, he was preparing. He knew that one day the timing would be right, God would open the door, and he wanted to be ready. He was prepared. Sometimes we pray for opportunities to fix something that is broken or solutions to problems, and then we don’t plan as if we expect for God to give us the opportunity. You do not drift into repairing things that are broken. You pray, you wait, and while you wait, you make plans. The best way to allow Satan to keep you from rebuilding things in your life that are broken is to get you to do nothing. God says to pray, wait, and plan. Remember, you don’t drift into repairing things that are broken. You pray, you wait, and while you wait, you make plans.
– Dr. Tim Thompson