If 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV)
The passage above, one so close to my heart, encapsulates the reason to pray, how to pray, and what to pray.
Notice, the verse is directed to "my people;" God, our Heavenly Father, surely listens to the cries of His children.
Our Lord then asks us to humble ourselves before him. He is our sovereign; we are his servants.
Almighty God then commands us to pray, seek Him, and repent from our sinful selves. Then, there is the wonderful promise, that if we do those things, then we will be forgiven and He will heal our land.
Absent the Civil War, I know of no other time when our nation needs more healing than now. Our beloved nation is hurting and deeply wounded. The institutions that are the foundation of our society are under attack. Over the next seven days, I urge you to continue with these devotions and pray with me for these institutions—families, educators, media and entertainment, the military, businesses and workers, churches, and our government.
However, before healing and restoration can occur, it must start with those of us who call ourselves by His name. We must humble ourselves. We must pray and seek His will, not our own. We must turn from our wicked ways. We must end complacency in our churches. Then and only then can this great nation experience the spiritual awakening which it so desperately needs.
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.”
Luke 10:30–32
In March of 1964, a young woman named Kitty Genovese was attacked on her way home from work in New York City. Though many people saw or heard at least part of the attack (various news reports and investigations put the number between thirty-six and forty-nine), no one intervened, and only a few people called the police. The attack was carried out over the space of half an hour, and it is quite likely that Genovese’s death could have been prevented if only someone had been willing to intervene. But no one was willing to do what it took to save her life. One of the bystanders even admitted to a reporter, “I didn’t want to get involved.”
All around us there are people who are facing far worse than physical death. The lost have no hope of salvation unless someone loves and cares for them enough to reach out to them with the gospel. Yet too often, like the priest and the Levite in the parable Jesus told, those who should be the first to help find reasons not to do so. We are not told what motivated those two men to cross to the other side of the road. Perhaps they feared for their safety, or perhaps they simply didn’t want to get their hands dirty. But whatever the case, they failed to step up and answer the challenge of helping someone in desperate need.
Today’s Growth Principle:
If those of us who are saved do not do our part to reach them, the lost have no hope for eternity.
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