MOTIVATE

• If you forget your cell phone, you’ll likely feel inconvenienced.
• If you walk out your door and forget your car keys, you need to return or you won’t get very far.
• If you forget to turn off the lights of your vehicle, the next day your battery will have died, and you’ll need a jump start.
• If you forget to pay your bills, you’ll pay a late fee. After so many months of forgetting to pay, you’ll have items removed from your possession.
• If you forget to turn off the stove after using, and touch the oven top, you will get burned.
• Our world is suffering from forgetfulness – but not just of random possessions or responsibilities but of our Creator. 

In the Bible, God gives the command to remember dozens of times because forgetting has grave consequences. The writer of Ecclesiastes says “Remember your Creator” (12:1). When we fail to remember God and His principles then God will withhold His promises in our life. God is not mandated to bless us, nor does He need to impress us. God desires to bless His people, but a repeatedly mocked parent or spurned lover has a limit to their gentleness and grace. A fierce independence and spirit of forgetfulness will always result in loneliness and sorrow.

Let’s turn to our text to discover several truths about revival praying for a nation.

EXAMINE  2 Chronicles 7:1-14

¹ As soon as Solomon finished his prayer,

The context of this passage is Solomon becoming king and building the temple to the LORD. After completed construction, Solomon dedicates the building to the LORD and God responds…

fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. ² And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord’s house.
³ When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

The people worshiped the LORD and God responded with sharing His glory. True worship is not about feeling nostalgic over hymns or joyful from the sermon; instead we know we have met with God when we have been overwhelmed with the reality of our sin. The Israelites bowed their faces to the ground. Yet, God doesn’t leave His people in despair. God’s grace takes us when we’re down and lifts us up from despair to hope. The people gave thanks to the Lord, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

If there is one hope I want us to focus during this election season – and really in all of life – it is this: gratefulness for God’s grace is greater than everything.

Gratefulness for God’s grace is greater than everything.

@dave_dwb

Israel’s greatest issue is that they forgot how good God was; they overlooked God’s holiness, overestimated their innocence and underestimated their guilt.

à Gratefulness for God’s grace is cultivated by gazing at the cross of Jesus. Like the hymn writer says, “When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride…
Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were a present far too small;
love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.

⁴ Then the king & all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁵ King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22K oxen and 120K sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.

Another sign of worship is generous giving to the LORD. I know, I know… you think the preacher is just being self-serving speaking about “giving.” And besides, we like to receive in worship:

• Give me happiness
• Give me peace
• Give me prosperity
• Give me a pain-free, no-problem life

But God says, “I AM.”

• I am holy.
• I am truth.
• I am the good shepherd.
• I am the vine.
• My grace is sufficient.

SO, if we believe God is “I AM,” then we will not withhold giving or seek to tip God with trite offerings.

⁶ The priests stood at their posts; the Levites also, with the instruments for music to the Lord that King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord—for his steadfast love endures forever—whenever David offered praises by their ministry; opposite them the priests sounded trumpets, and all Israel stood. ⁷ And Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, for there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat. ⁸ At that time Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt. ⁹ And on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. ¹⁰ On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the prosperity that the Lord had granted to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people. ¹¹ Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king’s house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. ¹² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.

God’s temple is designated as a house of prayer, but here is described as a house of sacrifice. Again, reinforcing the act of worship includes bringing something to God… upward praise, outward compassion.

¹³ When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or I command the locust to devour the land, or I send pestilence among my people,

God is telling Solomon that there will be consequences for Israel’s forgetfulness and failures. Israel’s problems will not be misfortune; their confusion will not be accidental; their misery will not be a mystery – NO – instead, God takes full responsibility for Israel’s judgment. God is a nation’s greatest hope but He is also their greatest threat. BUT – God does not take joy on judgment. Rather, God delights in lavishing grace.

Verse 14 is our key verse… ¹⁴ if 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  

4 truths

1. God has a people.
In the OT, God’s people were Israel. God made a special covenant with Abraham to bless him and make him into a great nation with innumerable offspring. The generations were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) with 12 sons becoming the 12 tribes of Israel.

In God’s response to Solomon, He was reminding Israel that they were once conquered and enslaved. Yet, as they humbly trusted the Lord’s promise of a Passover lamb, they were spared and set free in the Exodus narrative.

While God’s people were Israelites, today by grace through faith, Christians are Abraham’s offspring (Gal 3:29). In another place, Paul says all God’s interactions with Israel serve as an example to Christians to not be idolaters or put Christ to the test with ingratitude or immorality (1Cor 10:6-11).

So, while the exact details of this verse were for Israel, we can still apply the principles of God’s people. But we need to be clear: America is not God’s people. To be American ≠ to be Christian. The United States is not God’s chosen land, nor are we a Christian nation. That may shock some of you, or you may disagree. The reality is that though the USA was established with religious freedom with a heritage of some of our founders being Christians (and others being mere Deists or nominal faith); USA was always a secular nation; even more so today.

Now here me: I love my country, and you should too! I’m thankful to be a citizen of USA. I love baseball, apple pie, the Chesapeake Bay, the TN mountains, Florida sunshine, and even a head nod to Texas – though if the Dallas Cowboys are America’s football team, then George Washington deserves a full refund. Overall, our country has many flaws, but we are a blessed nation compared to many others.

So, God’s blessing does not start anymore with an honored nation but a holy people, a people of God’s possession who called us out of darkness into marvelous light (cf 1Pet 2:9-10).  

Thus, Christians cannot look to government majority, or presidential races, or religious celebrities for bettering our life or blessing our nation. We need to stop relying on worldly inspiration and humble ourselves to kingdom influence. If the USA falls and fails as an experiment, then it will not be the fault of politics in Washington DC, stock exchanges in NY, or entertainment of LA, but the weakness of the church. “For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1Pet 4:17)

> Have you tasted the Lord’s forgiving grace? What holds you back from identifying with God’s people?   

2. God hates pride.

God wants His people to humble themselves bc pride steals from God; it’s like cosmic plagiarism, taking credit for abilities or accomplishments of which God is the source. Tony Evans says, “Pride is the only disease that makes everyone sick, except the one who has it.”^[1] Pride is the root of all evil, as its what caused Satan to be evicted from heaven. Pride is fatal… but…

The therapy for pride is honest community. Unhealthy pride isolates from others. Pride causes you to compartmentalize areas that limit others to hold you accountable or God’s word to address. We stuff these areas into locked boxes and don’t want anyone asking for the key. But God says He actively opposes the proud.   

We humble ourselves by…

> Praying. Prayerlessness is due to thinking we have all the wisdom to guide our path and strength to persevere on our own. But we don’t, which is why God invites us to “cast all our anxieties on Christ, because He cares for you” (1Pet 5:7).

>> Pray for personal freedom in Christ.
>> Pray for national humbling of pride, healing division, and openness to God.

3. God hears prayer.

This verse gives us a meaningful and monumental truth. The Creator of galaxies and earth’s globe, bends down to hear the prayers of tiny specks of dust.

We have a blessing at the end of each service: “The LORD bless you and keep you, the LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” This reminds us that God’s face is not a formality or guarantee of grace. In fact, God hides His face from unrepentant sin (Isa 59:2) and closes His ears to those who cherish personal depravity (Ps 66:18). But the prayer that God hears is that of repentance and He revives those who are contrite in spirit (Isa 57:15). 

Faith and repentance are two sides of a coin. They are inseparable. If we say we believe and follow God but do not walk in repentance, then we are not only out of step with God but our soul will rot. “Our heart [w/o God] is desperately sick” (Jer 17:9). So, if we conceal our sin, we will not get well, but if we confess and forsake our sin, we will obtain mercy (Pr 28:13).

Vague confession ≠ contrition. Repentance must be specific with a strategic plan toward reconciliation. Otherwise, we’re just like the addict who assures everyone they’re not going back but their empty promises are evident the next week with the stains of indulgence. 

4. God honors His promises.

¹⁴ if 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land.  

God’s promise to every repentant heart is hope and healing. Many people have lost understanding of sin. They don’t know God’s commands; they have drifted from God’s designs; and so their life bears the evidence of emptiness, confusion, and aimless wandering through life. But the hearing of God’s word softens hearts and opens eyes to conviction of sin; which leads to confession, repentance, and freedom.

Ps 32 “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the one against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night God’s hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. [But] I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity…and God forgave my sin.”

Gal 5:1 “Christ set us free; stand firm and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

God is a promise keeper. He is trustworthy. We don’t have to hide from Him, but instead can take our biggest burdens, most painful problems, and deepest scars and place them into His hands. For Jesus knows what it is like to feel alone and struggle, even to the point of death. He promises to walk through the valleys with us. If we are trusting in the LORD, God will sustain each step we take so that we will remain unshaken by whatever this life brings. In all these things, we are more than conquerors and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

We don’t have to hide from God, but instead can take our biggest burdens, most painful problems, and deepest scars and place them into His hands.

@dave_dwb

APPLY/TAKEAWAY

It’s never too late. It’s not too late for USA. The same God who gave revival to

• Humbled Hezekiah
• Josiah’s reforms
• Repentant Nineveh
• Holy Spirit wind to Jerusalem
• Awakening to Europe & America in 1800’s
• Renewal at Asbury & college campuses

Is the same God who is waiting for our nations repentance today. It starts this moment with you. The most patriotic and practical action you can take is not just to vote, but to give your life to Jesus Christ.

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^[1] Tony Evans, Tony Evans’ Book of Illustrations: Stories, Quotes, and Anecdotes from More than 30 Years of Preaching and Public Speaking (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2009), 238.