The sometimes harsh old testament, prayer, and more scripture about "stuff"...

Nehemiah 13
Malachi 1, 2
Acts 4

The sometimes harsh old testament, prayer, and more scripture about "stuff"...

Scripture
Today's scripture from Nehemiah and Malachi in general.
Acts 4:24, 31 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God, "Sovereign Lord," they said, "you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them." ... After they had prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.
Acts 4:32 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.

Observation
This is more old testament scripture that I struggle with. Nehemiah seems like a pretty cool guy, and then we read about him beating some men that had married women of other nations. I guess it goes along with the times, and those men had really messed up. But it just seems so harsh. And then in Malachi there is more scripture that makes God sound like a five year old that's mad because his brothers and sisters aren't treating him like he's the greatest of them all. It's all still pretty confusing to me. But at least I can read it now and not get totally thrown off track. I used to read it and not like it and decide I didn't want to go to church any more. I'd just stick with prayer and skip the Bible and church because I didn't like that old testament stuff. So, progress is being made. I'm reading it. I'm still here, not going anywhere. But I still don't get it. On to the new testament and the stuff that I do get, but have yet to take action to follow... :-)
Peter and the other followers of Jesus were faced with opposition. They went to God in prayer and he heard their prayers and filled them with the Holy Spirit.
During this time it sounds like the believers lived as a group, sharing everything so that no one was in need.

Application
I've been trying to figure out the prayer thing lately. I put some thought into over the last couple months and didn't really get far. I wanted to pray the "right way" but have had trouble figuring out what that is. So I just went back to the way I've been praying. And I think I'll stick with that as a baseline, but hope to learn as I come across scripture that talks about prayer. So, what do I learn from this scripture? The thing that I notice most is that the whole purpose of their prayer seems to be asking God to help them so that they can keep serving him. That seems like a very good reason to ask God for something. It's not just asking for something so you can be comfortable or content, happy, etc. It's asking him because you are trying to serve him and something is standing in your path. So, I'm going to pay attention when I pray. How much of what I ask is just for myself and not serving any purpose for God?
Also, they mention possessions again here, a major theme in my life lately as I have way too many of them. I've picked a day, Saturday, and I'm going to commit myself to sorting through as much of this junk as I can. I think I'll have to do a little Friday too cause I'll probably call a donation center and have them come by and take a load of stuff off my hands. So, action is going to be taken. And I'm trying to involve my dad too. His house is chaos and he's been trying to sort through junk there. Our current plan is to meet early for breakfast, each head to our own houses and work really hard all afternoon, then meet again to watch Virginia Tech beat Georgia Tech. That way we have a set time frame, some goals, and a treat at the end. Ok, anyway, thanks God for the continued scripture about "stuff". It's helping motivate me to get this done!

Prayer
Dear Lord, does cleaning out our house count as serving you? I think it's something you have told me to do. Maybe it's not serving you, but perhaps it counts as following you? Lord please help my dad and I be able to put some sense into the chaos of all the stuff around our houses. Help us stay on task and work hard. I feel like you've been telling me to make some changes here for a long time and I haven't made the time to do it. I feel like this might be kind of a road block on the path you have for me. Lord please bless my efforts to do what you've told me to do. Thank you Lord for loving me and leading me through this life. Amen.