Lord Jesus,I come to you now to be restored You, to be renewed in You to receive your life and love and all the grace and mercy I so desperately need this day. I now open the ears of my heart to You by faith and ask you to send Your Holy Spirit to bring me all You have for me from your word this day! Amen
2 Chronicles 7 - 11 When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices. 13 “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, 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 I 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. 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
The theme for this week is all about prayer! This is a favorite passage on prayer for a lot of people. I seem to here it alot around election time when praying for our nation! What is God saying to me today?
The context is the dedication of the original temple in Jerusalem built by Solomon. In 2Chronicles 6 is recorded an extensive prayer by King Solomon asking God to "Hear!" the prayers of the people in all kinds of life situations - whether under seige by enemies, under a disciplining famine from God, whether Israelite or foreigner - didn't matter - Solomon is asking God to be gracious and hear the prayers of His undeserving people!
I have never noticed before that the entire "Dedication Prayer of the Temple" was about prayer! No wonder 1000 years later Jesus got so upset when He saw the temple resembling a marketplace and vehemently declared, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a House of Prayer for all nations!'"
So it makes sense when God respsonds to Solomon in the words of today's text with a beautiful promise that can be summed up in the phrase, "I WILL HEAR YOU!" That is key to our understanding and motivation to pray! "I WILL HEAR YOU!" No matter what the situation the promise is the same, "I WILL HEAR YOU!"
Now to tap into that promise I must recognize my part. My part is to "humble myself, pray, seek His face and turn from my wicked ways"! This taps me into the promises God has committed Himself to "Hear,Forgive and Heal!"
I need that - I want that from God - I get to come to a HEARING GOD!
WOW!
delton
PS. As I am finishing writing I sense God saying to me, "Just DO IT delton, DO IT!, Come to Me - NOW!!" I think I better pray NOW!