Saturday, February 25, 2017

REVIVAL THROUGH PRAYER

2Chronicles 7:14- “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.
                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Most Christians have heard of 2 Chronicles 7:14 when things with the church start to go very bad or when there is an outbreak of evil throughout the nation and there is the need for a revival. In such cases, we desperately search through the scriptures for some insight about our needs, and usually somehow end up at 2 Chronicles 7:14. Thereafter, we carryout nice prayer sessions presenting our requests to the Lord and genuinely expect to receive a true revival which sometimes eludes us.
2Chronicles 7:14 says “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.
Many people are ignorant where this promise in 2 Chronicles 7:14 actually came from. Such great care and insight was at the formation of this promise by God. The noble action of a certain man brought God to issue forth a promise that would shape the way He would respond to a people who acted on these words.
God gave this promise to Solomon and the people of Israel after Solomon had completed the house of the Lord (Temple) and its dedication, to His acceptance. In 2Chronicle 7:13-14, God assured Solomon and Israel that “If I (God) shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I (God) command the locusts to devour the land, or if I(God) send pestilence among my people; v14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I (God) hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

As Christians
We are the people of God. We are Christians, known by the name of Jesus. We need to pray for a revival, we as the people of God need to humble ourselves, repent, and seek God. We need to be in right relationship with our God, so He gets ALL the glory and so He can move. We need to turn from our sinful ways so that people will see our good works and honour our Father in Heaven, then He will forgive our sins and “heal our land” (fulfill our requests).
Prayer is one of the most important tools of the Christian. Prayer is not an end in itself, but a means to an end; a means to communicate with our God through Jesus Christ and seek His face. Prayer and holy living are prerequisites to revival. When God brings revival to His people, then tremendous attention is given to Christian living and all of its consequences.
Commitment
Dedication is the key to knowing God. Apart from proving our great love for God, we will not be able to know God well. Consecration and sacrifice leads us to God's presence and promises.
The famous 2 Chronicles 7:14 promise of revival is a result of Solomon's unselfish prayer found in 2 Chronicles 6:14-42. As long as we seek our own welfare, we simply have not understood how much God distastes our unholiness. We are not grieved about God's people leaving God and running after their own pleasures. God knew the true heart condition of His people. Solomon amazingly understood this too. This is why God was willing to pledge to His people that on certain conditions His people can always seek and find Him.
Things will get so bad, so despairing in fact, that even God's people will think that God has given up hope for them. He will faithfully send His prophets who will tell God's people, "Didn't God say that when things get so bad, there is still hope?!" Then they will speak on 2 Chronicles 7:14, "Revival, in the midst of Despair."

Failure of Revival Movements 
Having witnessed many revival prayer meetings, it seems that many times we think that we are really seeking God. We are humbled. We seem to be broken. We pray. We even might pray for long regular times. But then after awhile, WE FAIL TO TURN FROM OUR OLD WICKED WAYS.

Though we grieve over our sins, we’re still too consumed with getting a better life for ourselves. We cannot break through and make that complete step forward to God's throne where genuine repentance could be found. We normally go back to our sins. During such revival prayer times, most of us are broken before God, but not deep enough to bring that long lasting change. We still clung to our old individual lives- the politician, the engineer, the health worker, the social worker, the NGO executive, the Journalist, etc. If we really would change sincerely, the whole nation would have been greatly impacted, but we failed. When we reject God's grace, we suffer greater consequences.
The Lord speaks of our sins, but we just weren't moved enough to change. If God's Words don't change us, then a series of calamities will arise. Some hearts are not prepared to receive the words right before verse 7:14. Many Christians do not have a proper understanding of God. They don't think He would bring disaster or have His hand in tragedies. Some go a bit further and say that God would tolerate it but not do it. We forget that we are dealing with the God who allowed all of Israel delivered from Egypt originally to perish in the wilderness and not step foot on the Promised Land because of their sins.      
 

As we fast and pray seeking the face of God for our woes as a church and nation; as we raise our hands towards heaven to ask for a revival in our land, we have to understand that this revival will not happen in the midst of our wickedness and disobedience. Our land shall not experience this promise of healing, if we do not turn from our wicked ways.
How are we turning away from our greed, mischief, deception, pride, cheats, lies, backbiting, turning one person against the other, adultery, fornication, coveting and extorting in the name of God (2Pet.2:2-4)?
As a Politician: How truthful are you to the people? How do you spend the budget of the people? How do you ascend to the position you occupy? Is your parliamentary debate based on facts or mischief? As a Teacher: Do you teach your students faithfully? Do you fail a student because he failed to buy your pamphlet? As a journalist: What agenda do you set for the day? An agenda for mischief or for the nation’s growth? Are you exposing the ills of society or  doing mischievous ‘Public Relations’ for people or groups? Is what you say or write bringing peace to the nation? As a design/ construction worker: Are you churning the rightful designs? Are you ensuring the contractor is following the right specifications or you are sharing in his profit, at the expense of good job that will last? As a Pastor: Are you preaching God’s word for good or pastoring with the nicolaitan spirit? Are you taking advantage of the flock to amass wealth through covetousness and extortion? (2Peter 2:2-4kjv)? As NGO Officer: Are you amassing wealth by deceiving your donors with the proposal at the expense of the poor in society? As Procurement person: Are you procuring the goods and jobs according to the rules to save for your company or country or making money into your personal accounts? As a security person: Are you taking bribes to survive? Are you aiding the arming and aiding the armed robbers to terrorize the people? Are you hiding the evidence to free the drug baron? As a Tax collector: How faithful are you in your tax collection? The list can go on and on and on…

Chance for True Revival
The God of Heaven is ready to heal our land as HE promised Solomon and Israel in 2chron. 7:14. Isaiah 55:7 says "Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him and to our God, for He will freely pardon."  2 Corinthians 7:10 says "Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret." And Joel 2:12 says “Return to Me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."
If we Christians, which have God’s name, shall humble ourselves and pray and seek His face and turn from our wicked ways then He will hear from Heaven and will forgive our sins and he will heal our land of the drought, of the pestilence, of locusts devouring our land, of the persecutions, of the poverty, of the chronic diseases, of the barrenness, of the unemployment, of the failures and anything that is denying our peace.                                        


As we lift up our voice and hands towards heaven, Let us ask ourselves, “have I repented  from my wicked ways so that the Lord will hear from heaven our prayers, and will forgive our sins, and will heal our land. Amen!

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