Desperate Times Call for Desperate Prayer
Monday, June 28, 2010 at 10:32AM Healing in the land
2 Chronicles 7:14-15 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
Listed below are some recent headlines from various news sources throughout the country:
Washington (DC) Post-National - “Choose your own deficit”
CNN-US – “Storm may add to oil disaster”
Fox News- National - “Calif. father accused of trying to sell his baby for $25 at Walmart is beaten by jail inmates”
Recently, when I was at work, a few of my co-workers were looking up recent news online, of course, most of which was “bad” news. This was not the first time that I found myself in the middle of a conversation where I had to hear of more and more unfortunate reports.
So…It got me thinking…
I see a common trend in how believers and non-believers alike are conversing about these “tough times” that we are in. Many come together and chatter over how the government is or isn’t doing this, how horrible it is that this criminal did this or that or how the economic situation doesn’t seem to be improving.
We can all agree that all of these above scenarios can be true and can become worrisome if we choose to keep them as our focus.
Being the problem-solver that I am, I started to then think: “I have listened to conversation after conversation of how times are getting tougher, and how it is getting harder and harder to live nowadays. God what is my part to play in all of this?”
Have you ever found yourself thinking something similar?
I started to go through the list of possibilities:
1. I’m not a politician nor would I make a good one. Okay, check…That idea won’t work.
2. I really dislike being a person who talks about problems but does nothing about them. Okay, so where does this leave me?
The Bible says in 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.
Now more than ever, we need healing in our land.
God spoke to King Solomon and told him this (2 Chronicles 7:14-15) when Solomon devoted himself and his “rule” to God. Solomon prayed for wisdom and knowledge to rule God’s people with. God honored his prayer because of his selflessness. Solomon went on to build a temple for God. This temple took years and years to build (see 2 Chronicles 8:1) and was made from the finest materials.
I believe that there is a building going on now. God is working and preparing His people for something great. During this time of building, it is important to offer God our greatest and finest, just as King Solomon did in the building of the temple (I encourage you to read through 1st and 2nd Chronicles- The Bible descriptively explains what was used to build the temple).
Here’s what we can give God… In 2 Chronicles, we are encouraged, now (I believe), just as the people were then: to humble ourselves- turn from our own way of thinking and doing things, to pray and seek God’s face- give of our time by truly offering up prayers of thanksgiving and prayers for our country (etc.), and to turn from our wicked ways- turn to God.
This is our part to play in all of this. Let’s really delve deeper into the things of God and remember what God says in 2 Chronicles, in order to bring healing to our land!
God Bless,
Melissa
*This is how good God is! Last night at Connections Church, unbeknownst to me, we sang a song called “Give Us Clean Hands.” This song is taken from the scripture 2 Chronicles 7:14-15, and is the song that came to my remembrance as I was writing this blog. What an encouragement and a confirmation! It’s truly exciting to see that God is placing this word in the hearts of others as well.
Reader Comments (3)
Great word Melissa! Such a positive message that needs to get out there!!!
Outstanding, Melissa! Very confirming for me too...lets give our best to the building of God's "temple" in these important times!
Love it Melissa! Good word.