If My people humble themselves and pray......

II Chronicles 7:14 (NASB)

“…….and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 

  

Despite this verse appearing in a relatively obscure Old Testament book that few Christian people ever study, II Chronicles 7:14 is one of the most beloved and quoted verses in the entire Bible.  It has been used primarily as the motivational verse for church revivals in America such as the mid-1970s “If My People” rallies in convention centers all over the U.S. led by Pat Boone.

However, as with all Scripture, it is important to keep in mind the context of the verse or passage in question.  The object of this great promise of God is King Solomon.  It was in the first chapter of II Chron that God asked Solomon what He should give him and of all the possibilities that Solomon could have asked for, he asked for wisdom and knowledge (1:10).  God’s answer in verses 11 and 12 show how pleased He was with this request.  Solomon’s temple and palace were built as described in II Chron chapters 3-5.  Solomon then dedicated the temple to God with his prayer recorded in chapter 6.  Then here in chapter 7 God again appeared to Solomon in v 12 as He had in chapter 1.  God says in II Chron 7:12, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.”  What was Solomon’s prayer that resulted in God answering him in II Chron 7:12-22? 

Solomon asked for two things in his prayer---(1) allowing Solomon to sit on the throne of Israel (II Chron 6:17) that God answered in 7:16-22 and (2) answering the prayers of His people (II Chron 6:18-42) that God answered in 7:12-15.  So this famous verse of II Chron 7:14 actually results from God’s answer to Solomon’s prayer that He listen and respond to His people’s prayers. 

When do the people pray?  Again, reading Solomon’s prayer of II Chronicles 6, Solomon described 7 different scenarios when people pray:

1.   Sinning again your neighbor (6:22)

2.   Defeated before an enemy because of sin (6:24)

3.   When there is no rain because of sin (6:26)

4.   When there is famine, pestilence, and other judgments of God (6:28)

5.   Foreigners who are God-fearing (6:32)

6.   Before going out to battle (6:34)

7.   When people sin against God and He delivers them to an enemy (6:36)

God says in II Chronicles 7:14 that He responds when His people do four things:  humble themselves, pray, seek Him, and turn from their wicked ways. 

When people are hurting, when a nation is hurting, when people and circumstances are desperate, people become humbled and pray individually and collectively.  But, there are two other requirements for God to forgive sin and heal the land---(1) people must seek Him and (2) turn from their wicked ways.  These latter two requirements are much more long-term than being humble and praying for help.  Repentance of sin, both individually and as a nation, must be sincere and a life-long effort to stay repentant.  In other words, repentance must be genuine and, in turn, bring long-lasting change to those who are humbling themselves by praying.  For too many, after a short time of humility and praying and repentance, you stop seeking God and return to your wicked ways.  Since this is a common pattern for individuals, how can we ever expect this to be any different for nations? 

J. Barton Payne in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary said it best about this verse:  "It expresses, as does no other passage in the Bible, the stipulations that God lays down for a nation to experience his blessing, whether that nation be Solomon's, Ezra's, or our own. Those who have been chosen to be His people must cease from their sins, turn from living lives of proud self-centeredness, pray to the Lord, and yield their desires to his Word and his will. Then, and only then, will he grant heaven-sent revival.” 

Can America ever experience a heaven-sent revival?

Praying "big prayers"

Luke 11:5-13 (NIV)

Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’  And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me…..I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need. “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? ……If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”

When you think of who your true friends really are, think about whom would you go to if you had a need in the middle of the night?  Who would you call or knock on their door?  And how would you react if you were awakened in the middle of the night by someone who had a need, especially a need requiring you to get up and do something for them?  Who considers you such a friend?

What two words from these two parables catch your eye the most?  I say, “shameless audacity” of 11:8.  Jesus used the word “anadeia” to describe a boldness that persists over time.  Most translations interpret “anadeia” as “persistence”, but the NIV interprets it as “shameless audacity” and the NLT interprets it as “shameless persistence”.   The man making the request of his neighbor late at night is exhibiting shameless persistence or audacity.  Yet Jesus is using this story to illustrate how we should pray to God---with shameless audacity!

Shameless audacity or persistence, according to Jesus, means to keep praying for God to answer your prayer need(s).  The man who went to his neighbor’s place at midnight needed food for a friend, a legitimate need, not a “want”.  You must discern in your prayer life what you really need versus what you want and with shameless audacity and persistence pray for it. 

The main point of Jesus’ parables here is to be bold when you pray to God for your needs.  The requests for a fish or an egg are needs and God provides those needs.  He is not going to ignore your requests as long as you pray for them, but so many people don’t bother to pray for their basic needs.  Also, God answers prayers in ways that people often don’t expect.  A “no” answer today, e.g. not receiving a job offer you really wanted (note the verb), will become a “yes” answer later that is something even better for you.  The death of a loved one that you so desperately prayed to survive will result in new opportunities for you to do good deeds in the memory of that loved one that would have never happened otherwise.

You need to pray “big prayers”, prayers that will result in “big things” happening in your life and others.  Most of our prayers are for minutia (help me do this or that today) that they have no lasting impact on anyone.  Jesus says to “ask”…..”seek”…..”knock”.  His words really mean “keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking” where such relentless, persistent, bold, and “shameless audacious” praying will get results (you will receive, you will find, the door will be opened).  It is only the “big prayers” that require persistence in asking and seeking and knocking.  What “big prayers” are you praying for?     

There’s always the question when our prayers are not answered----was it not within God’s will or did we not pray persistently enough?  Why didn’t you get that job you prayed about?  Why did you pray for safety while traveling yet still had car trouble or missed a connecting flight?  Why did you pray for reconciliation with a spouse or a friend only to see the relationship get worse?  Why did your child(ren) not become Christians after you prayed so much that they would?  Why did you pray for healing only to see your loved one die anyway?   BUT, notice what Jesus is emphasizing here.  He is not emphasizing that whatever you pray for persistently, you will receive answers, but He is emphasizing that what the Father give those who ask is the Holy Spirit.  It is from the Holy Spirit that you receive His gifts and His fruit.  His Holy Spirit will enable you to understand the reasons for His answers, especially if they are “no” or ‘wait”.  His Holy Spirit gives you the faith to carry on no matter the circumstances.  His Holy Spirit is the best answer God gives you because the Holy Spirit is your source of love, joy, peace, and all other attributes of the character of God.

What are your “big prayers” today?  Are you filled with God’s Holy Spirit as you pray?  What is Jesus really teaching you about prayer in this passage?  Would you agree with the view that “prayer changes the person praying more than it changes the circumstances about which the person is praying”?      

He who is able

Jude 1:24 (NLT)

Now all glory to God, who is able to keep you from falling away and will bring you with great joy into his glorious presence without a single fault.

I realize that I am starting this writing about Jude with something silly, but it’s a strong memory that I have to put down on paper…….well, computer screen!  When I was a student at the University of Iowa way back in 1970, the Iowa basketball team went undefeated in the Big Ten Conference and set a team scoring record that still stands, averaging 103 points per game.   The Beatles song, “Hey Jude” was popular back then so toward the end of each home game, the band would start playing this song and the entire fieldhouse of fans would start swaying back and forth, singing “La-la-la-lalala-la, lalala-la, hey Jude! 

Sorry for my walk down memory lane, but must admit that I think about those memories every time I see the name “Jude”.  The biblical Jude wrote only one chapter—25 verses—that is a reminder to readers to live a pure and faithful life, not denying God and not succumbing to the pleasures of the flesh.  Jude describes himself in verse 1 as a “servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James.  There exists disagreement whether this Jude was one of the 12 apostles or simply another of the many men in biblical times named Jude.  He is not the Jude---Judas—who betrayed Jesus.

Verses 24 and 25 are considered a doxology of very high quality.  These verses are recited in many churches today as words of praise to almighty God.  Let’s focus on the three claims about God that Jude lists in verse 24.  God  

1.     Keeps you from falling away

2.     Brings you into His presence without a single fault

3.     Brings you into His presence with great joy.

The Greek word for “falling” means to stand firm and not stumbling.  How is God able to keep you from falling away, standing firm, and not stumbling?  There are many promises in His Word that if you stay close to Him through faith, Bible study, prayer, and serving Him, He will protect, strengthen, and guide you.  Here are some examples:

·  “God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us” Eph 3:20

·  “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” James 4:8

·  “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me” Phil 4:19

·  “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer………my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge” II Samuel 22:2-3

·  “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” Psalm 119:105

Jude writes that God will bring you into His presence without a single fault.  Oh, how can that be?  Read Col 1:21-22.  It is through your faith in Jesus who is the One who brings you to God without fault.  He reconciled you to God by dying on the cross for your sins. Your faith in this redemptive act enables you to be presented before God “holy and blameless and beyond reproach”.  Isn’t that unbelievable what Jesus did for you and all you have to do is believe? 

Then Jude write that God brings you into His presence with great joy.   Who has the great joy?  Well, both God and you.  Indeed, knowing all the wrong you have done in your life, yet because of salvation in Christ and the gift of eternal life, you have and will have great joy entering into the presence of almighty God without a single fault.  Truly unimaginable and unbelievable, isn’t it?  Yet this is what the Bible promises to you if you believe in the Lord, love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30), and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:31. 

When you consider all the wonderful truths of this one verse, indeed, all glory belongs to God for what He has done through Christ to bless you now and forever.  Describe the hope in you as you meditate on Jude 1:24.  Offer the same prayer to God as Jude 1:25 proclaims: “To the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power, and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore!  Amen. 

Divine guidance

Psalm 32:8 (NIV) 

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.

Have you ever prayed for divine guidance?  Divine guidance not only for you, but also for your loved ones?  I try every day to lift up my loved ones and ask the Lord to protect them and give them divine guidance.  When I pray this request one of the verses I am thinking of is this one. 

The Lord makes a wonderful promise here.  He promises to instruct and teach you in the way you should go.  And as you are going, that is, as you are living your life, hopefully in faith and obedience to Him, He is continuously counseling you and watching over you.  It’s not just one thing He is doing, but four things He is doing to enable you to live your life wisely, abundantly, and successfully.  And please note that this verse emphasizes that God is personally is involved in instructing and teaching and counseling you and all the time watching over you.  This is God speaking, not some limited human being.  Remember this.  

At first glance, the words instruct and teach seem redundant.  Yet they are different.  The Hebrew word for instruct means to be prudent, circumspect, wisely understand, and prosper.  So God’s instruction basically aims to enable you to be wise in His ways and to prosper because of your wisdom.  His instruction will enable you to make right and wise choices in your life, choices that will allow you to prosper with respect to being rich in certainty, security, and peace of mind. 

The Hebrew word for teach means to throw, shoot, cast or pour.  God will direct you in the way you should live your life.  He will take special aim with your life with a specific purpose in mind.

The Bible is God’s instruction and teaching book.  II Timothy 3:16-17 says that “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, correction, reproof, and training for righteousness.”  You need both teaching and instruction to live your life the way God created you to live it.  His Word gives you His instructions and by studying His Word, His Holy Spirit teaches you how to live.

How does God counsel you and watch over you?   The Hebrew word for counsel means to guide or advise.  God is willing personally to be your travel guide for the rest of your life if you will let Him.  All you have to do is to pray each morning, “Lord, please guide me this day to do the right things and make the right decisions”.  However, besides prayer, you also need that daily intake of His Word.  By enabling you to remember what His Word says, He counsels you when you are praying where He will bring to your mind something that you have heard or read from His Word that gives you the appropriate guidance.  And then while you are going about your daily business in your life, all the things you do, God is watching over you.  His “hedge of protection” (Job 1:10) surrounds you.  His angelic forces are with you to help you react properly to situations around you.  Your true nature is revealed not by your planned actions, but your unplanned reactions and such reactions are based on who truly controls your heart and mind.

This verse of four promises applies throughout your life.  It applies when you are growing up, as you are making decisions about what to do with your life, especially your choices of career and future spouse.  It applies in your role as spouse, parent, career worker, leader, neighbor, servant.  And it applies in all the decisions you make, some you make intentionally asking the Lord for His guidance and others you make without intentionally asking Him but He is there anyway working out situations supernaturally so that the path you take, the direction you go is where He wants you to go.  It’s His blessing beyond comprehension and all you can do is marvel and humbly thank Him through your words and attitudes and actions.   God has a special plan and purpose for your life and He is willing to give you the tools to fulfill His plan and purpose. 

Are you sincerely interested and willing to allow the Lord to be your life-long instructor and teacher and guide?  There are indescribable promises and possibilities implicit in this verse, but it also takes your daily willingness to open your heart and will to allow Him to lead you.    

Two primary biblical definitions of faith

Hebrews 11:1,6 (NIV)

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him. 

These two verses ought to be memorized by every Christian believer.  Verse 1 defines faith and verse 6 describes the consequences of a lack of faith.

The definition of faith is not hard to understand.  Faith is being sure (assurance) and certain (conviction).  But, what is harder to understand is the real meaning of assurance and conviction.  The word used for “assurance” or “being sure” literally means “confidence that something is real”.  The word used for “conviction” or “certain” means “something that is proved”.  So this verse can be amplified by stating that “faith is confident trust that our hope is real and there is proof that whatever I cannot see is true”.  In fact the Amplified Bible says: “Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]”. 

The best way to live out your faith is to live your life daily with the solid assumption that God’s Word is absolutely true.  Whatever God says in the Bible, it is true and it will happen.  Simply believing that whatever God’s word says, that in itself is sufficient evidence that it is true and no further proof is necessary.

Yet, honestly, it is very difficult for intelligent humans to agree to believe like this.  I know that I cringe sometimes when I see or hear people who dismiss the thinking process and say things like “whatever the Bible says, I believe it and that’s that.”  Indeed that should be the ultimate belief of every believer, but it is also the responsibility of every believer to come to this conclusion on his/her own searching and studying the Scriptures and not take the easy way out.  God does not want blind faith from you.  He wants you to dig deep into His word, think it through rationally and carefully, and come to your own conclusion that what He says in His Word is absolutely true. 

Someone has said that Christianity is reasonable and rational, logically consistent that fits the evidence and relevant for every person.  It is not blind faith, it is faith based on an intelligent pursuit of what is truth.  Jesus said in John 10:37-38, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me, but if I do them, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and understand………”  I like His emphasis on the pursuit of knowledge and understanding, the cornerstone of faith. 

Hebrews 11:6 clearly states that confident trust in God is necessary if you wish to please Him.  Such trust will produce rewards (what might those be?), but note the emphasis not only on faith, but also on seeking God.  Seeking God requires action, requires diligent effort (see Proverbs 2:1-5) to be in fellowship with Him, to spend quality time with Him, to give Him first priority in your life, and to learn from His Word how you can practice your faith daily. 

Think about ways that you can pursue deepening your faith.  Figure out how you can spend perhaps at least an hour a day in quality time with God.  This may seem like too much time to spare, but the rewards of a faith full of assurance and conviction will be worth far more than any other way you choose to spend your time.