New Series for November

THE POWER OF PRAYER will be the theme of the month. To start November, a privilege to have again Mrs. Len Sabio as speaker for the morning fellowship. She shared a brief testimony on how God has been faithful to her and to her family and how their prayers were answered. She did something different today, she asked the group to be divided into five and have a small group discussions with facilitators assigned.

The passage was taken from Nehemiah 1:1-11

Nehemiah's Prayer

"The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:
In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."
When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. 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, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses.
"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 the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.'
"They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of this your servant and to 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."

Here are the small group discussion questions:

1. Compare your response when you hear a news about "home" with Nehemiah's response to what he learned from Hamani.

2. What characteristics of God did Nehemiah mention in his prayer?

3. What character of Nehemiah can you glimpse from his prayer?

4. Verse 8 says "Remember..." what does it say about God? Does He forget that Nehemiah needs to remind?

5. What does Nehemiah say about Israel?

6. What was Nehemiah's request?

7. If you were to rate Nehemiah's prayer, what percent is his request?

8. Compare your prayers with that of Nehemiah? Do you think there are areas you need to work on?

After the group discussion, one representative from each group came in front to explain what was discussed. Something new indeed for CONNECT!


Let us WELCOME our first time guests, Jena from ICT Group-Ortigas, Sir Jay from Teleperformance-Tektite and Claire from iSourcing-Libis. And KUDOS to Marc, Venus and Ruben, our early bird of the day! Hope to see you all next week as we enjoy our time together in devotion and fellowship.