God Works Through Prayer
37"Solomon prayed...and if they have a change of heart in the land where they are held captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity and say, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong and acted wickedly’; 38 and if they turn back to you with all their heart and soul in the land of their captivity where they were taken, and pray toward the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you have chosen and toward the temple I have built for your Name; 39 then from heaven, your dwelling place, hear their prayer and their pleas, and uphold their cause. And forgive your people, who have sinned against you." God responds,"If my people who are called by my NAME will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land." -2 Chronicles 6:37-39; 7:14
God gives us a responsibility in his response to Solomons prayer. He says, IF you do this, THEN I will do this, it's up to us, the ball is in our court. God is ready to hear us repent and is also ready to forgive if our hearts are willing to obey him. Right now our country is in this stage of needing to to have a heart willing to obey God. However, our country cannot change if Christians do not rise up and change first. We have been given the promise of a new land in Revelation, this world isn't our home, America isn't where our citizenship is, but my my how we as Christians and Americans have messed up. We have turned our back on God; our creator, the one who we are under. Our land is in trouble, and we all need to repent and ask God to forgive us.
We observe an example of this in the life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah spent 4 months in intensive intercessory prayer. His prayers included praising God for his power and love, confessing the nations sins, and calling on god to act. Nehemiah explored all 4 areas that the Lord asks of us in 2 Chronicles 7:14, he was humble, he repented, he sought the Lord, and he prayed. We see in Nehemiah 9 that Ezra leads in confession: 1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.
We have to depend on God's power to change people's hearts, because it is God who sovereignly controls that lives of individuals and nations. My pastor has called our church to a time of fasting and praying, repenting and seeking God. Jesus said that somethings require fasting and praying, not just prayer alone. The Lord pleads with us in Joel 2:12-14 "Even now return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God."
We need to give our hearts to the Lord. The end in near, true belief and true repentance needs to be in all of our actions. The Lord is coming to pour his judgement out on the world, don't be lost without Him!! Turn from your ways, repent. It's not a joking matter, DO NOT keep putting Him off, DON'T miss Jesus. When you've missed Jesus, you've missed God.
God gives us a responsibility in his response to Solomons prayer. He says, IF you do this, THEN I will do this, it's up to us, the ball is in our court. God is ready to hear us repent and is also ready to forgive if our hearts are willing to obey him. Right now our country is in this stage of needing to to have a heart willing to obey God. However, our country cannot change if Christians do not rise up and change first. We have been given the promise of a new land in Revelation, this world isn't our home, America isn't where our citizenship is, but my my how we as Christians and Americans have messed up. We have turned our back on God; our creator, the one who we are under. Our land is in trouble, and we all need to repent and ask God to forgive us.
We observe an example of this in the life of Nehemiah. Nehemiah spent 4 months in intensive intercessory prayer. His prayers included praising God for his power and love, confessing the nations sins, and calling on god to act. Nehemiah explored all 4 areas that the Lord asks of us in 2 Chronicles 7:14, he was humble, he repented, he sought the Lord, and he prayed. We see in Nehemiah 9 that Ezra leads in confession: 1 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads. 2 Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors. 3 They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the LORD their God.
We have to depend on God's power to change people's hearts, because it is God who sovereignly controls that lives of individuals and nations. My pastor has called our church to a time of fasting and praying, repenting and seeking God. Jesus said that somethings require fasting and praying, not just prayer alone. The Lord pleads with us in Joel 2:12-14 "Even now return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. 13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. 14 Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing— grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God."
We need to give our hearts to the Lord. The end in near, true belief and true repentance needs to be in all of our actions. The Lord is coming to pour his judgement out on the world, don't be lost without Him!! Turn from your ways, repent. It's not a joking matter, DO NOT keep putting Him off, DON'T miss Jesus. When you've missed Jesus, you've missed God.
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