2 CHRONICLES 7:12-14 “IF”
1. “If:” 1,595 times in the Bible ... The Hebrew word is “im” (eem)
and means “on condition that.”
* I remind you of 2 Thess. 3:16 “Now the Lord of peace himself give you
peace always by all means. (In every situation) The Lord be with you all.”
2. To many people around the world, 2020 was a difficult year, even a tragic
one, and we have no idea what the new year will bring.
* But we do know this without a doubt: In every situation we face, our Savior
is with us.
3. Every situation means every day, every hour, every circumstances.
* Every need, every fear, every joy, every opportunity, every step.
* He is more present than you know, and more powerful than you can possibly
conceive ... 2021 is already in His hands.
A) There’s no doubt in my mind that America needs healing – There’s still
hope for America.
* In this message I want to look at one of the greatest sources of hope we have,
* And that is, the promise that we can move God’s heart and hand through prayer.
B) If we Christians are going to build rather than destroy America .......
* We’ve got to fall on our knees and our faces before God and pray.
* Not talk about prayer, but pray – Not agree on the importance of prayer, but pray.
C) The context of 2 Chron. 7:14 is very important, so let’s set the stage here.
* The occasion is the dedication of Solomon’s great Temple.
* Solomon offers a prayer of dedication in Chapter 6 in which he says, in essence:
* “Lord, I want to lead this people in righteousness ... I want to lead this people in
honoring You, and I want to do it the way You want it done.”
D) Then in 7:1-10, God’s glory came down and filled the Temple.
* And the people offered sacrifices and held a feast.
* Then the text records in v.11-14 .......
E) We know the context of v.14 ... What God is saying is that if a people turn
away from Him and reject His ways .......
* Then it doesn’t matter who is in the White House, or how much money the
government has for social programs.
F) When God starts withholding His rain and sends the locusts to devour
your land, and sends diseases, you had better start dealing with Him.
* God will not be played for a fool ... You can’t continue to dismiss God from
your life and expect everything to work right.
G) “My people” are the only ones qualified to claim this promise.
* We are the ones who are supposed to know where to turn for help.
LET’S FIND OUT WHAT GOD WANTS FROM US:
A) The 1st thing God says about whose prayers get through to him are, “my
people.”
* This tells us who can pray ... He’s talking about His covenant people.
* In the O.T. His covenant people was Israel – In the N.T. it’s the church; true Christians.
B) God is not obligated to hear the prayers of sinners, unless they are asking
for forgiveness.
* God has no obligation to sinners who pray because they’re not His people and they
have not been called by His name – John 9:31 “Now we know that God .......”
C) Only Christians get through to heaven ... They only have access to the
throne of grace.
* If God has decided to destroy America, only Christians can make Him rethink that.
* His people can get through to Him because they bear His name, which means they
are under His authority.
D) When God calls us His people, He is saying, “You belong to Me – You are
called to live under My authority.”
* That’s who can pray ... And that’s why satan’s main goal today is to keep
Christians from getting it together, especially on their knees .......
* Because he knows if we ever get it together, he’s in bad shape.
E) Satan’s big thing is leaving Christians inoperative.
* He’s not worried about the sinners ... He can handle any sinner, because they
already belong to him – They don’t know they belong to him, but they do.
* But if he can lull Christians to sleep spiritually, he’s ready to run the show.
F) Now listen to God tell us how we can have a revival in our souls.
(1) HE’S SEEKING THOSE WHO WILL HUMBLE THEMSELVES
A) Humble Christians get through to God.
* Opposite of being humble is “being haughty.” – And when we get haughty .......
* God allows us to go through trials that we can’t fix in order to humble us and put
us flat on our backs, as if to say, “Now, let’s see you get up all by yourself.”
B) My friend, we need God ... I don’t care who you are or how long you’ve
been saved.
* The opposite of God putting you flat on your back, is you putting yourself flat
on your face in humility.
C) God says, “If you want Me to have your attention, humble yourself .......”
* “Don’t come before Me boastful, proud and independent ... Because I will let
you know real quick that you need Me.”
D) Some don’t pray because they are too proud.
* “But Preacher, I’m not proud.” – If you don’t pray, you are.
E) Why do I say that?
* Because prayer says to God, “I need You – I can’t make this marriage work
on my own.” – Or, “I can’t solve this problem at work on my own.”
* Or “I’m not sufficient in myself to do what needs to be done.”
F) Lot of times we try everything except the one thing that could change
the whole scene – And that is, “Come before God and pray.”
* This is the challenge of the Church.
* To put prayer last is to put God last ... And to put God last means that everything
else we do is a waste of time.
(2) THEN THE LORD SAYS “SEEK MY FACE.”
A) This doesn’t mean the kind of prayers we usually pray over dinner,
“Lord, bless this food to nourish our bodies .......”
* Seeking God’s face has much more than that in mind.
B) The context here is one of God turning His face away from His people
in judgment.
* They now have to gain His attention once again before He’ll give attention to
their prayers.
C) You know how hard it is to carry on a conversation with someone whose
back is to you.
* Once a person turns away from you in disapproval, if the problem is yours,
you are now obligated to win back that person’s approval.
D) In other words, you have to do the adjusting so you can look at the
person’s face again.
* What has turned God’s face away from His people is our sin.
* So we are the ones who have to come to Him on His terms.
E) Prayer is not a process of negotiation – LET ME EXPLAIN .......
* We don’t come before God and say, “God, let me tell You what You’re going
to do, let’s make a deal.”
F) We want God to adjust to our will ... But God says, “No, you seek my
face ... You come to Me willing to submit to My terms.”
* We are the ones who had better come to seek God’s face and His terms of
reconciliation.
(3) TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS
A) This is closely linked together with “seek My face.”
* This is how we seek God’s face ... By turning from our sin.
* The idea here is repentance ... Turning away from something that displeases
God and turning toward that which pleases Him.
B) If you’re living the way you want to live, then you’re wasting your
time on your knees.
* If you want God to show His face to you, then you must turn toward Him.
* And that involves turning away from anything that is contrary to His will.
C) A lot of prayers go unanswered because of the lifestyle of the person
praying is unacceptable to the One being prayed to.
* God will not negotiate His standards ... Never has, and never will.
D) He wants us to place ourselves under the authority of His Word and
conform to it – We are not to conform to the world’s system.
* We say, “Well, everybody else is doing it.”
E) Imagine a teenager smoking weed and he/she gets caught by their
parents ... When questioned, they say something like this .......
* “Well Dad/Mom, all my friends at school are doing it, I thought since they’re
doing it, it’s alright for me to do it.”
* And you plead with them that you don’t want them to be like or do what
others are doing, that you want them to live the way Christ wants them to.
F) In the same sense, God doesn’t want us conforming to this world and
being like the world – He wants us to be different and be like Him.
* Rom. 8:29 “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son,”
G) God is saying, “You are called by My name – I’m your Father .......”
* “The rest of the world didn’t die for you ... The rest of the world didn’t rise from
the grave for you ... So the rest of the world shouldn’t be telling you what to do.”
H) Now, there’s an important word right in the middle of 2 Chron. 7:14.
(4) “THEN” GOD SAYS, “WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN AND WILL HEAL YOUR LAND.”
A) That means when we as God’s people have fulfilled HIS conditions .......
* And come to Him on HIS terms, “THEN” He will hear from heaven, and heal our
land, but not until you humble yourself, and pray and seek His face .......
B) After you do these three things, then you must TURN FROM your wicked ways.
* Let’s define a few of words here: “Turn from their wicked ways;”
* Hebrew words are “shuwb ra derek” and means to return again, reverse, to change
position from your course of life.
C) The common biblical word throughout the Bible is REPENT. (And mean it)
* Wicked is defined as: Morally very bad, evil, disgustingly unpleasant, vile.
* The Hebrew word for our English word “land” is “erets” (eh’-rets) and means,
“the earth, the world, a country. (USA)
D) We know God hears everything we say.
* The idea is that He’ll pay attention to our prayers when we come humbly,
seeking His face and turning from our sins.
E) If you talk to someone, you have to have their attention ... God says,
“If you’ll come to Me the way that I prescribe, you’ll have My attention.”
* And more than that, God promises to forgive our sin and heal our land when we
get His attention ... But you’ve got to have His attention.
CLOSE
A) You may say, “America is too far gone.” – IT’S NOT FOR GOD.
* “My life, my marriage, my relationship, my family, my ___________”
* Nothing is too far gone for God.
B) God wants people who will commit themselves to Him personally.
* Commit yourself, your marriage, your relationship, your family, your everything
to God.
C) Are we going to sit back and watch everything fall apart?
* Are we going to place the blame on everybody else?
D) We have shifted the blame long enough.
* Husbands blame their wives, wives blame their husbands, parents blame their kids,
kids blame their parents, dogs blame the cats, cats blame the dogs, etc.
E) I’m not denying that there are problems in all kinds of relationships.
* But our real problem as God’s people is with Him.
* Until we are willing to humble ourselves and seek His face, and turn from our
wicked ways, there’s not much anyone else can do for us.
F) The promise of 2 Chron. 7:14 is an awesome promise ... But we’ve got to
pay the price.
* Too often we allow other things to push prayer aside rather than prayer to push
everything else aside.
G) Church, get in contact with God.
* We have a great God Who’s willing to forgive and heal us – IF .......
* He can find some people who are ready to fall on their knees to seek His face.
