March 26, 2020
2 Chronicles 7:13-15 New International Version
(NIV)
13 “When I shut up the heavens
so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a
plague among My people, 14 if My people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray
and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will
hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will
heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this
place.”
HUMBLE OURSELVES!
I
have been silent is sharing My Daily Delight with The Lord for the past two
weeks for several reasons that don’t need explaining, but today my heart is
stirred to appeal to God’s People.
The
Scripture for today has been preached, shared, prayed, and proclaimed in many
ways over the past few years as most Americans have been concerned about the
condition of our country. It seems that
everyone has someone or something to blame for the condition we are in. My dear fellow Christians, the blame falls on
us!
LISTEN
carefully to the Scripture that we have chosen for our solution.
Background: Solomon has just finished building the Temple
and his house and has offered sacrifices and prayed to God…and God answers:
“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as
a temple for sacrifices.
13 “When I shut
up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the
land or send a plague among My
people, 14 if My people,
who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their
sin and will heal their land. 15 Now My eyes
will be open and My ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 16 I have chosen and
consecrated this temple so that My Name may be there forever. My eyes and My
heart will always be there.
17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as
David your father did, and do all I command, and observe My decrees and
laws, 18 I will
establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I
said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.’
19 “But if you turn away and
forsake the decrees and commands I have given you and go off to serve
other gods and worship them, 20 then I will uproot Israel from
My land, which I have given them, and will reject this temple I have
consecrated for My Name. I will make it a byword and an object of ridicule among
all peoples. 21 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why
has the Lord done
such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 22 People will
answer, ‘Because they have
forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who
brought them out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving
them—that is why he brought all this disaster on them.’”
This Scripture has to do with God’s People, the
Israelites, and the Temple built to give God a place for His Spirit to dwell
and His People to worship Him. It is
also about Solomon, the king.
For us to claim this Word and pray, we must
associate ourselves as God’s People and recognize the fullness of these words. This is God’s People in the Land He gave to
them with blessings – the land of Israel.
God says: “When disaster comes…” it will be the result of turning from God and
His instructions. So, how do they get
rid of the disastrous conditions of weather, pestilence and disease? We say, seek God and pray! Why do we choose to stop there and think that’s
the solution? God said: “If MY People, which are called by MY Name,
will HUMBLE themselves…” We act like we
are superior because we belong to God and it’s everyone else who is at
fault! God said, those who claim His
Name are at fault and need to humble themselves and do 3 more things: PRAY; SEEK HIS FACE; TURN
FROM WICKED WAYS! Are we, God’s People,
doing this? Praying this way? You know
we have to do this in reverse – we have to turn around to face God and the only
prayer He wants to hear is confession.
THEN…He will
HEAR…FORGIVE your SIN; and HEAL your Land…
THEN…His Eyes will
be open and His Ears attentive to the PRAYERS offered in that Place (the Temple
where sin offerings were made and worship from the heart of love for God),
“I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that My Name may
be there forever. My eyes and My heart will always be there.”
We hear the Heart
of God! What is it? His People seeking Him with confession on their
hearts and repentance to worship Him!
QUESTION ~ Where is the Temple of God
today? There isn’t one in Israel!
IF you are one who truly bears the
Name of God because of believing and receiving the Gospel of Jesus Christ, THEN…
My Dear Family of God, when are
we going to fall on our face before God confessing our sin and rise up in
humility and confess to the rest of the world; then STAND UNITED in PRAYER
thanking God for healing our land and making HIS LOVE & PRESENCE A REALITY
so that, the world may believe?
