IF MY PEOPLE WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES AND PRAY
Study Text: 2 Chronicles 7: 13 - 14
Introduction:
- This verse is God’s promise that those who turn from their sins; call on Him and walk in His ways will experience a revival of the presence and blessing of the Lord.
- Those who meet the conditions detailed in this verse will experience the promises mentioned in this verse.
- There are four problems mentioned in this verse that can sabotage and prevent revival from taking place.
- We need to understand carefully what the Bible has to say about this matter and do whatever we need to do to see that these obstacles of revival do not hinder us from getting what we need from the Lord.
- This statement is directed to God’s people. He says, “If My people, which are called by My name…” This is not a statement to lost people. Lost people do not need revival, they need to be saved!
- If you are not saved, you need to come to Jesus Christ, confess your sins and call on Him for your soul’s salvation.
- We shall discuss the topic under two sub-headings:
1. God’s Pattern for Divine Visitation
2. God’s Promise of Divine Visitation
1. God’s Pattern for Divine Visitation
- God gave four conditions, and assured us that He will visit us if we can fulfil all these conditions.
i. Will humble themselves:
- This phrase deals with the area of our pride. It speaks of men thinking more of themselves and their abilities than they do of God.
- We have learned how to function without the help of the Lord and it has destroyed the power of the church.
- How can you tell if you have a pride problem? Here are the evidences of pride in a life:
1. Pride refuses to listen, it always interrupts others.
2. Pride likes to talk about itself all the time.
3. Pride has an intense desire to be noticed.
4. Pride believes that it deserves everything it gets.
5. Pride is not thankful.
6. Pride cannot be corrected.
7. Pride does not like to follow instructions.
8. Pride exalts itself in the presence of others; it brags.
9. Pride criticizes and tries to makes itself look better by putting others down.
10. Pride thinks of its own needs first.
- God has a better plan! He calls on His people to “humble themselves”. The word “humble” means “to bend the knee; to bring down; to place self under another.”
- God desires His people to take whatever steps are necessary to bring themselves under His authority. He wants us to know that we cannot do it. He wants us to know that we are dependent upon Him for everything we have
- When Jonah entered Nineveh and preached his message of impending judgment, the king of that city proclaimed a fast and all the people humbled themselves under God’s mighty hand, Jonah 3:1-8a.
- That is what the church needs to do today. God’s people need to realize that we were nothing when He found us; we would be nothing without Him and that we can accomplish nothing apart from His power in our lives, John 15:5.
ii. Pray
- The people of God are challenged to “pray. Prayerlessness relies on self and the resources self can produce and refuses to lean on Jesus alone.
- It is a fact that we can pray and not have revival; but we will never have a revival apart from prayer!
- Prayer acknowledges personal, profound dependence upon the Lord. We do not have revival because we do not pray! And, we do not have revival because we do not pray as we should. James 4:2-3!
- We have to come to the place where we sacrifice our pride on God’s altar; declare our utter helplessness; and cling to Him until He moves in power in our lives and church.
- When Jonah’s message came to Nineveh, the people humbled themselves and they began to pray, Jonah 3:8b. When they did, God moved in power and sent a revival!
iii. Seek His Face:
- God’s people are told to “seek His face”. This little phrase is a call for God’s people to stop looking for help and purpose in every other thing in life. They are called upon to make God their primary focus and their first priority.
- You see, revival does not come to people who seek revival; but to people who seek God! Far too many people are caught up in what God can do for them. But, seeking His face means that we hunger for Him more than for what He can do.
- He wants us to love Him for Who He is! The essence of genuine revival is falling in love with Jesus all over again, Ill. Rev. 2:1-7. Seeking Him will bring revival to His church, James 4:8; Isa. 55:6.
- When anything but God is the number one priority in your life, you are out of balance and you are not a candidate for revival.
- When God is our first priority, the things He cares about are the things we will care about. When we are seeking His face, we will be able to see what has His attention. And, what has His attention is to be that which has our attention.
- The priorities of Nineveh were all messed up. Then, Jonah came to town with his message of doom and destruction. The people of Nineveh, from the king on down, got their priorities fixed up and they began to seek the Lord, Jonah 3:8.
- They got interested in the things that interested the Lord. Things like prayer, holiness, worship, etc became a priority and God sent them a revival. He can and will do the same for us, when our priorities are what they ought to be.
iv. Turn From Their Wicked Ways
- Finally, God’s people are told to “turn from their wicked ways.” That is, they are to forsake their sins and embrace holiness.
- We do not have revival because we are just as guilty as the world! Church people sin! They drink, they steal, they lie, they cheat; they commit adultery; they engage in sexual activity outside of marriage; they carry hate in their heart; they walk in pride; they walk in hypocrisy; they drag the precious name of Jesus through the mud and He cannot and will not bless a mess like that!
- We are saved by grace, but grace is never a license to sin! What we need is a season of repentance.
- We are good with our excuses; and we are quick to rationalize our behaviour; but we are slow to fall before the Lord and confess our sins and receive His forgiveness.
- Revival will come when God’s people adopt the attitude that gripped the hearts of the people of Nineveh. They dealt with their sin problem and God moved in a great revival, Jonah 3:8-10.
2. God’s Promise of Divine Visitation
- God promised Israel that He would “hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” That is a description of divine visitation: God hearing; God cleansing and God working.
- The word “heal” means “to stitch back together; to repair thoroughly.” That is what we need today!
- Once we do the four things God has specified, He will do three things. Understanding His promises will certainly uplift, encourage, and strengthen our faith.
i. "I will hear from Heaven."
- It is significant that the first promise God has made is that He will open up the store house.
ii. "I will forgive their sin."
- Unconfessed sin robs the Christian of the joy of God's salvation. That is exactly what happened to David (Psalm 51:12).
- When the Christian loses the joy, he does not worship well, walk well, work well, witness well, or war well. A heavy load will settle on him--even if he does not know what is happening.
- The word forgive means to lift and remove a heavy load.
iii. "I will heal their land."
- God has told us what we are to do which will result in healing in the land. Let's do it one by one, person by person, believer by believer.
Conclusion:
- Our situation in this nation cannot be solved by human means, we need Divine intervention to bring this country back to being a God-fearing, Christian nation. Jesus told his disciples Apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)
- We should stop being so full of ourselves and realize that whatever we have, we have because of God and not of ourselves. God will visit when his people reach a point of desperation. When we surrender that pride, the idea that we can do pretty good on our own, and we get down on our knees and admit things are not as they should be, then God will come to His people.
- We should see only God can start a revival and God is quite clear about what He expects before He will return to His people.
Are we willing to do His will, not ours? Are we seeking HIS face? Is it all about HIM?
