2 Crônicas 7

2 Crônicas 7

William MacDonald - “Wilt thou not revive us again that thy people may rejoice in thee.” (Psa. 85:6) A backslidden condition is often like cancer; we don’t know we have it. We can grow spiritually cold so gradually that we don’t realize how carnal we have actually become. Sometimes it takes a tragedy, a crisis or the voice of some prophet of God to awaken us to our desperate need. Only then can we claim God’s promise, “I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground” (Isa. 44:3). I am in need of revival when I have lost my enthusiastic zest for the Word of God, when my prayer life has lapsed into a dull routine (or lapsed altogether), when I have left my first love. I need a fresh touch from God when I am more interested in TV programs than in the meeting of the local fellowship, when I am punctual for work but late for meetings, when I am regular at my job but spasmodic at the assembly. I need reviving when I am willing to do for dollars what I am unwilling to do for the Savior, when I spend more money on self- indulgence than I do on the work of the Lord. We need revival when we harbor grudges, resentments, bitter feelings. When we are guilty of gossiping and backbiting. When we are unwilling to confess wrongs we have committed or to forgive others when they confess their faults to us. We need reviving when we fight like cats at home, then appear in the assembly as if all were sweetness and light. We need to be revived when we have become conformed to the world in our talk, our walk, our whole life-style. How great is our need when we are guilty of the sins of Sodom—pride, fullness of bread and prosperous ease (Ez. 16:49)! As soon as we realize our coldness and barrenness, we can claim the promise of 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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.” Confession is the road to revival! O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee; Send a revival—start the work in me. Thy Word declares Thou wilt supply our need. For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead. --J. Edwin Orr Wood into Marble It was claimed for Augustus Caesar that he found Rome a city of wood, and left it a city of marble. The pastor who succeeds in changing his people from a prayerless to a prayerful people has done a greater work than did Augustus... And after all, this is the prime work of the preacher. —E. M. Bounds REVIVAL PRAYER Jim Cymbala began at the Brooklyn Tabernacle as an ill-equipped, under-educated, time-strapped preacher who led a second congregation in New Jersey. The Brooklyn church had no money to pay him, a ramshackle building, and barely enough attendance to bother with weekly meetings. Today, the Tabernacle hosts around 6,000 spirited worshipers. The difference came when Jim, in a moment of desperation, set aside his planned message and called the church to pray. The weekly prayer meeting, not the Sunday worship, became the focal point of the Brooklyn Tabernacle. Jim's belief that "God can't resist those who humbly and honestly admit how desperately they need him" (p. 19) guides his work. It is Prayer, not preaching that brings Revival. "and 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, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chron. 7:14 NASB) —From "Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire: What Happens When God's Spirit Invades the Heart of His People" (Borrow) Vance Havner - The First "Prospect"—Yourself! 1. If my people...shall humble themselves...(2 Chron. 7:14). 2. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself (Matt. 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23). 3. The churches of Macedonia...first gave their own selves to the Lord (2 Cor. 8:5). The First "Prospect"—Yourself! If my people... shall humble themselves... II Chronicles 7:14. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself. Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23. The churches of Macedonia... first gave their own selves to the Lord. II Corinthians 8:1, 5. Dr. Torrey's first rule for revival was, "Let a few members of any church get thoroughly right with God themselves." Then they might go after others, but not until then. In their zeal for new members too many churches urge old members into visiting and canvassing "prospects," when first they need to get right with God themselves. We have no business going out to win others until we have faced our own condition first. Such activity may keep us from first giving ourselves to God. We may become occupied with others and thus dodge our own need. When Christians are right with God they will win others. Our revivals are stressing an "ingathering" of others, when God wants us to humble ourselves, deny ourselves, give ourselves. A drive for "prospects" before we do that is no revival at all. Doctoral student at Princeton, 1952: "What is there left in the world for original dissertation research?" Visiting lecturer Albert Einstein: "Find out about prayer. Somebody must find out about prayer." Three Medicines By contrition we are made clean, by compassion we are made ready, and by true longing we are made worthy. By these three medicines it behooveth that every soul should be healed. Repentance is not a fatal day when tears are shed, but a natal day when, as a result of tears, a new life begins. —Ilion T. Jones, Christian Reader Repentance is always difficult, and the difficulty grows still greater by delay. —Samuel Johnson Vance Havner - "If" of Revival Confession (2 Chron. 7:14). Separation (1 John 2:15). Submission (Rom. 10:9). Filling of the Spirit (John 7:37-39). Continuance (John 8:31). Down The Up Staircase Read: 2 Chronicles 12:1-8 If My people . . . will humble themselves, and pray . . . and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin. — 2 Chronicles 7:14 The video starts with a puppy at the top of the stairs afraid to go down. Despite much encouragement from people cheering at the bottom, Daisy can’t figure it out. She wants so badly to join them, but fear keeps her pacing the landing. Then a bigger dog comes to help. Simon runs up the steps and then back down, showing Daisy how easy it is. Daisy is not convinced. Simon tries again. This time more slowly. Then he watches Daisy try again. But Daisy still is too scared. Once again Simon goes to the top and demonstrates the technique. Finally Daisy dares to let her back legs follow the front ones. Simon stays beside her. She makes it. Everyone celebrates! What a beautiful picture of discipleship. We spend much of our time trying to teach others to climb up, but the more important, and more difficult, thing to learn is how to “go down.” Throughout Scripture we read that God desires humility of us. Because the people of Judah humbled themselves, the Lord said, “Therefore I will not destroy them” (2 Chron. 12:7). More like the Master I would ever be, More of His meekness, more humility; More zeal to labor, more courage to be true, More consecration for work He bids me do. — Gabriel No one will learn anything at all unless he first learns humility. 2 Chronicles 7:12-18 LOOK AT ME "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, and seek My face,...then I will...forgive their sin." - 2 Chronicles 7:14 It was one of those split-second exchanges between a 16-year-old girl and her father, but it spoke volumes. While he was out of town, she had broken her curfew and stayed out too late with her boyfriend. Now she had to talk to Dad about it. Embarrassed and afraid, she sat quietly looking down at her hands in her lap while the discussion went on. She apologized and they decided on a suitable discipline. "Look at me," Dad said. She didn't want to, but she did. Instead of a hard look of displeasure, she saw tears and a look of deep love. She threw her arms around him, and they both knew that everything would be all right between them. To keep everything right between us and our heavenly Father, we have to seek His face (Ps. 27:8). We may feel guilt, disappointment, anger, or hurt toward God. But that is when we must respond to His invitation to look at Him -- especially if fellowship has been broken. The more we go to God in prayer, Intent to seek His face, The more we'll want to be with Him Before the throne of grace.- - Sper The heart of prayer is prayer from the heart. The Word That Irritates - Selwyn Hughes [If] My people ... humble themselves ... and turn from their evil ways, then I will ... forgive their sin, and heal their land.—2 CHRONICLES 7:14 Most Christians never allow themselves to come too close to the deep thirst for God that exists at the core of their being, for if they did, they would be compelled to get in touch with their basic helplessness. Why would we want to deny this? Because to recognize our helplessness puts us in a position where we have to repent of it—and that is something our fallen human nature pulls back from doing. Believe me, the one word that grates and irritates our carnal nature is the word "repent." It is much easier to be given advice like: "Read more of the Bible every day," "Add extra minutes to your prayer time," or "Seize more opportunities to share your faith," than to be told to repent. All these things I have just mentioned may be excellent in themselves, but more is required if we are to get in touch with our deep thirst for God. We must repent! But repent of what? Our stubborn commitment to independence, as well as the awful desire and practice of choosing to dig our own wells. A passionate pursuit of God demands this. Believe me, no matter what we say with our lips, we will never begin to pant after God until we repent of the self-sufficiency that has made its home deep within our hearts. This, in my opinion, is the biggest single step we can take in our pursuit of God and the experience of having feet like "hinds' feet." Prayer Gracious and loving heavenly Father, help me to repent deeply. May I know at this moment a turning from self-dependence to God-dependence. I give You my willingness—now give me Your power. In Jesus' name I ask it. Amen. Prescription for Revival - Vance Havner "If my people, which are called by my name, shall 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."—2 Chronicles 7:14. THIS is a well-worn verse among revivalists, but there is no danger of exhausting its message today. The need of America is a return to God, and that means, first of all, repentance and revival in the church. What has been said about the weather might be said about revival: everybody talks about it but nobody does anything. There is not much we can do about the weather, but there is plenty we can do about revival. Thousands of Christians today have no faith for revival. Some believe that because we are in the last days, we need never expect an awakening. But we read that "knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep." The fact that we are in the last days was never meant to be a lullaby to put us to sleep but a reveille to wake us up. We can have a revival any time that Christians will pay the price. The fact that Jesus may come at any time should arouse the saints to stir up the gift of God within them. It is just after Paul's description of the coming apostasy that he tells Timothy, "Do the work of an evangelist," and to do real evangelism we must first have revival. Others think that revivals are a thing of the past, that times have changed, and that such mass movements do not belong today. Instead, we have "revival through education," building revivals, stewardship revivals. Now, education and buildings and stewardship have their place in the church, but these things can never compensate for revival. Our great denominational programs today do not give much place to revivals. Of course, there is much good in many of these programs, but it is evident to any honest observer that they are not meeting the situation today. They do some good things, but their approach is not adequate to the need. They simply do not hit the spot. Until the church bodies begin with repentance and humbling before God and confession of sin, these other activities will simply put the cart before the horse. It is true that evangelism is emphasized, but there cannot be effective evangelism until first there is revival. It is after the lost joy of salvation has been restored and we are upheld by God's Spirit that we are able to teach transgressors His ways and that sinners shall be converted unto Him. David had the correct order and it has never changed. Neither will Bible teaching alone fill the need. There are churches that major in Bible teaching which have not had a revival in years. It is possible to study prophecy, for instance, to the neglect of other great themes, like the work of the Holy Spirit. There is an awful ignorance of that subject these days. It is true that real Bible study should produce revival, just as real revival should produce Bible study, but there is a head-study that does not hide the Word in the heart and the Word does not profit, not being mixed with faith. Hearing but not doing, men deceive themselves. There are others who are opposed to revivals because to call for revival seems to them a confession of failure and defeat. Some pastors feel that to try to have a revival is an admission of abnormality in the church and that the normal activities of the church should be sufficient. But, regardless of whose fault it is, failure and abnormality mark the church today and it will do no harm but rather good honestly to face the fact, confess it, and do something about it.... Others have been turned against revivals by the extremism and extravagances of some traveling preachers. Of course, this is foolish, for we could abandon every phase of Christian work if we thus looked at the evils of some workers. Some have concluded that the pastor can do all the work of the ministry and would rule out God's order of "prophets, evangelists, teachers."... There are others who realize that we need revival, but they substitute a false and carnal stir, whipped up by mere human excitement for the genuine work of the Spirit of God. We live in an age that must be amused and entertained, and some have put on glorified shows and religious circuses that attract crowds and temporarily excite the people, but the last state of most of them is worse than the first. It is better to have no revival than to have a counterfeit. The serious and solemn searching of souls by the preaching of the Word is too holy a thing for any man to dare to imitate. But, no matter how many do not believe in revival nor how many arguments may be brought to bear against it, there is absolutely no way for the church today to regain her power in a world gone mad except through the way of our text, humility, repentance and a return to God. Americans need to read the history of our nation and learn that whatever we have today worth talking about we owe to Christianity and that the Christian fires in America have been kept burning through old-fashioned revivals. To hear some Americans talk, you would never think religion had anything to do with our progress. Too many college students know about explorers and generals and politicians, but know little about the revivalists in our national life. Jonathan Edwards and Whitefield and Wesley and Asbury and Roger Williams and Timothy Dwight and ...Cartwright and a host of others of their kind meant more to America than all the politicians. But, dark as this hour may be, there is every reason to believe we can and may have revival. In the same year that Butler published his Analogy, saying that "amongst all people of discernment, it was taken for granted that Christianity was fictitious,"—in that very year John Wesley was converted! God had other arrangements! But if we have revival, we shall have to do more than merely start another movement. We are great people at starting movements, but we won't move! We will join the "National Association for Proclamation of Revival," but we won't revive! The way to revival is outlined in our text. "IF MY PEOPLE, WHICH ARE CALLED BY MY NAME..." The application today is to us Christians who bear the name of Christ. A revival is God's people getting right with God. And whether there is a revival or not depends on what they do. It hangs on an "IF." Revivals do not just "happen," like a thunderstorm some afternoon. This idea that if we pray and pray, maybe sometime something will crash down on us and make us all be better and feel better is not true. If we meet certain conditions we have a revival, just as when farmers meet certain conditions they raise a crop. It is indeed a work of God, but it turns on what we do: the Word does not say "IF GOD..." but "IF MY PEOPLE... SHALL HUMBLE THEMSELVES." We ask God to make us humble, but God asks us to humble ourselves. "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 18:4). "He that shall humble himself shall be exalted" (Matt. 23:12). "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up" (Jas. 4:10). "Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time" (1 Pet. 5:6). To humble ourselves is not merely to have pious feelings, but to acknowledge our lowly estate before God, confess our sins against Him and be willing to eat humble pie before our fellow men in confessing our faults one to another, making restitution for wrong we have done and esteeming others better than ourselves in all lowliness of mind. This is about the last thing most Christians are willing to do, so there are few revivals. We try to have a revival and save our faces, but the first thing we must lose is our face! "AND PRAY." Everybody agrees that prayer is a fine thing, but nobody does much praying. Prayer that brings revival is hard work. The flesh resents it, our minds quickly cloud up, our tongues cleave to the roof of the mouth, we think of everything else and we quickly excuse ourselves. If our Lord taught anything, He taught importunate prayer, as in the parables of the woman and the judge and the man calling at midnight for bread. And Jesus practised it, for He prayed all night more than once. If He who always lived in the Father's will needed to pray all night, what shall we needy creatures say about ourselves? "AND SEEK MY FACE." To seek God's face is to seek God's approval, His smile, the light of His countenance upon us. Does the favor of God rest on your life? Are you in communion with Him? We need to renew the covenant, to go back to Bethel and dwell there. We have sought everything else in our churches, we have courted the favor of the world, and in seeking it we have lost what favor we did have, we have lost the world's respect. If we had spent our time getting on better terms with God, we should have had power both with God and men. We have had preachers who have sought to please the Athenians, ever chasing a new thing, who have learned to review books and dabble a little in literature and philosophy, but they are making no dent on this generation. Yet God raised up unlettered Dwight L. Moody and shook nations with him because Moody sought the face of God, not the favor of men. When Paul was called to preach, he conferred not with flesh and blood. He went to Arabia and got better acquainted with God. We have enough big preachers and important churches: we need preachers and churches who know the secret of the Lord, with the stamp of Divine approval on them. "AND TURN FROM THEIR WICKED WAYS." This part of God's prescription is definitely out of style today. Preachers who dare to speak of the sins of the saints are considered unethical, negative fault-finders. Days of prayer have been proclaimed, but if we go to church to hear the minister read or pray a formal petition to God, then go out lugging our sins along, we might as well have stayed at home. Politely admitting that we have all done wrong is very fashionable these days, but there is no repentance in it. There must be a definite, deliberate breaking with our sins. "Whoso confesseth AND FORSAKETH his sins shall have mercy." Sin is simply having our own way. "We have turned every one to his own way." Real repentance is not merely turning from this particular sin and that, but turning from having our way and letting God have His way. "THEN WILL I HEAR FROM HEAVEN, AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN, AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND." You see, when we do certain things, then God does certain things. "IF MY PEOPLE... THEN WILL I..." And there is blessing not only for the individual but for the land. Isaiah confessed individual guilt, "I am a man of unclean lips," and then national guilt, "I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." Here God promises to hear and forgive the individual and then to heal the land. When American Christians and churches turn to God, it will mean blessing on all America. A revival in the church always brings blessings that overflow the church. Here then is God's prescription. But it is cleverly drowned out today with drives and campaigns and programs and religious retreats and spiritual emphasis weeks. It is unpopular, for nobody likes to humble himself and pray and seek God's face and turn from his wicked ways. It is much more pleasant to put on a picnic or get up a play or prepare a stunt for the next meeting. So the dead keep on burying the dead. But God's prescription knows no substitute for all our concoctions that claim to be "just as good." Our Moral Compass If My people . . . turn from their wicked ways, then I will . . . forgive their sin and heal their land. —2 Chronicles 7:14 When Abraham Lincoln was introduced to author Harriet Beecher Stowe, he reportedly said that she was “the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war.” Although President Lincoln’s comment wasn’t entirely serious, Stowe’s novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin was instrumental in abolishing slavery in the US. Its graphic depiction of racism and the injustice of slavery helped lead to the start of civil war. Ultimately, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slaves “shall be free.” Thus, Stowe’s novel helped to change a nation’s moral compass. Centuries earlier, King Solomon was told about what would change the moral compass of God’s people Israel. It was to start with humility and confession. The Lord told Solomon: “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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). Revive us again, Fill each heart with Thy love; May each soul be rekindled With fire from above. —Mackay Nothing is politically right which is morally wrong. —O'Connell 2 Chronicles 7:15 “Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. mine eyes. 2Chr 6:20, 40. De. 11:12. Ne. 1:6. Ps. 65:2; 130:2. 1 Pe. 3:12. that is made in this place. Heb. of this place. 2Chr 6:40. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place