If My People

But it includes being aware of His being, acknowledging His sovereignty, and actively placing our faith in Him. Prayer develops our relationship with a loving Father.

So often people pray "fox- hole prayers" when life is out of control and they are desperate for help. But at that point, He is a stranger to them. They don't know Him as their friend who walks beside them in every circumstance. They're playing a game of "catch up" and have forfeited the blessing of a personal, intimate relationship.

He is much more interested in my prayer life than my preaching because if my prayer life isn't what it should be, my preaching can't possibly be what it could be. The same thing is true with a church: Its programs and projects will never be as important to God as day by day prayer hours and prayer meetings. Prayer is what America needs. We must humble ourselves and seek His face.

After seeking His face, we must turn from our wicked ways. To turn and go in another direction requires initiative and a conscious decision on our part. It is real easy to throw stones at others, especially non-Christians, but we really don’t want to judge the sin in our own lives. When we pretend that sin belongs to everyone else but us, we are living in denial.

Yet, even with sin in our lives, God is willing to do what He promises - if we turn from our sins.

II. THE CONSEQUENCES

The words of Solomon as an old man show that he had learned the main thing: to keep God's commandments. He finally discovered that everything else is futile. He also learned that there is a set of consequences for obedience as well as for disobedience.

1. The Consequence Of Obedience

God promises to hear His people, whatever their circumstances, as long as they are obedient. He also promises to forgive their sin. Just imagine how many people in our own congregation, feeling the hurt and anguish of divorce, need to forgive those who have hurt them and to be forgiven by partners and children. The Apostle Paul tells us in, Ephesians 4:32 “... Forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you.”

Another consequence of obedience is a healed land, and I can't think of a land that needs healing more than our America. We have holes in the ozone layer, entire species becoming extinct, polluted air and water, and a disease-ridden population. In 1948, there were only two sexually-transmitted diseases. Today there are at least five, two of which are incurable.

When we are rightly related to God and living by His principles, He will do as He has promised and heal our land.

2. The Consequences Of Disobedience

Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived wrote in, Ecclesiastes 10:1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment, and

cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.

He recognized that God's word is true - obedience is rewarded, disobedience is punished.

God spoke the truth when He declared that the disobedient would be uprooted and He would withdraw His presence from the temple, making it an object lesson to those who turned their backs on Him.