DO YOU WANT REVIVAL?
You and I must ask ourselves, “How important is it for us to be used of God?” Well God will not use worldly minded believers; He is looking for spiritual minded men and women. We must choose where we want our lives to count, either for God or this world. What is God looking for? He is looking for a person who is willing to fulfil His conditions for revival as outlined in 2 Chronicles 7:14 “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.”
The context of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is the dedication of the just completed Temple which Solomon built in Jerusalem in response to God’s Word to his father, King David. Solomon offers a prayer on behalf of the nation, persuasive the Almighty to be merciful toward them when, during future times of trials, they pray with a contrite heart toward the City and Temple of His Name.
In the quiet of the night, God appears to Solomon and gives him the answer to his prayer. God’s answer is found in this verse outlining His conditions for national spiritual healing. He begins:
“If My people who are called by My Name.”
God’s conditions for national spiritual revival are limited to His people, and only to His people. To be precise, the people that are called by God’s Name, the Israelites in the Old Testament and through His Son, the Christians in the New Testament.
God does not require every citizen to respond to His offer, but He does require His people to, because He has chosen to work through us! Why? I do not know, but if we fail, God’s healing will not come. So what does He require of us?
“Will humble themselves, and pray.”
But prayer without humility is a wasted activity. Only the genuinely humble person can offer a sincere prayer, for he alone is convinced of his helplessness and God’s all powerfulness.
But be sure of this, no one can make us humble. They may humiliate us, but that will only result in anger or resentment, not humility. Only we can humble ourselves, just as Jesus humbled Himself when He obeyed His Father and willingly gave His life for us (Philippians 2:8).
If we are not humble, it is not because we cannot be, but because we will not be. Pride is what keeps us from humility. Our belief that we can fulfil our own needs, that we can take care of ourselves, that we do not need help, thank you! But the truth is that we cannot and that we do.
And the greater truth is that we are completely dependent on God, our Creator and Sustainer, who provides our daily needs, the strength to make it through each day and every breath we take! We need Him whether we know Him or not, for nothing good happens without His involvement, and until we open our eyes to this truth.
“Seek My face and turn from their wicked ways.”
It is not enough to humble ourselves and to pray. He desires us to seek His face. There are at least two instances of people seeing, or asking to see God’s face.
1. One was when Jacob wrestled with God and said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
2. The second was when Moses asked to see God’s glory and was told, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
Only when you truly gaze into the eyes of the One who is pure holiness, of the One who loves you supremely just as you are. Do you desire to be numbered among them? To align your life with the things that really matter and count for eternity? For to them, God makes the following promises:
“Then I will hear from Heaven.”
Does not God always hear? Of course He does, but in Scripture, when God says He hears, He is saying He will answer as well (see 1 John 5:14-15) those who will meet His conditions will see their prayers fulfilled! And the reason is simple. The ones meeting God’s conditions have so tuned their hearts to His that their every prayer is His prayer and His will as well.
“Will forgive their sin.”
To hear the words, ‘I forgive you’, from the lips of God is a comfort to the penitent sinner. It is the promise of a new start, of a new life and of a new relationship with God. With forgiveness come renewal and the restoration of our intimacy with our heavenly Father, resulting in spiritual growth. But God’s promise also extends to the physical realm.
“And heal their land.”
When God’s people fulfil God’s conditions, all people experience God’s blessings. Scripture reveals the relationship between the spiritual world and the physical. Natural catastrophes can be a sign of God’s judgment and prosperity an indication of His pleasure.
Conclusion:
Is your ‘Land’ in need of God’s healing? Is your community falling away from God’s morals? Is the love of pleasure, wealth, or social status replacing the love for God?
The ultimate solution is in the hands of God’s people. They are the key to God’s forgiveness and healing that can revive all people to a new spiritual awareness and relationship with the Creator.
And it starts with one godly person who will say, “I want to be that man!” “I want to be that woman!” Is that person you?
