I can get easily involved in a television show or
sporting event. When I do, my wife can
be sitting right next to me, ask me a question, and I won’t even hear her. She has to get my attention first before she
is heard. If she wants to communicate
effectively with me, this is a necessary step.
If I am trying to talk to someone and they are not hearing me, communication
will not happen.
The next step in our communication is that we must
be heard. When I see
a scripture that tells me if I take certain steps, He will not only hear me,
but He will forgive my sins and heal my land, I take notice. By inference, this verse says He will grant
our request if we do as He asks. The key verse I want to
make sure you get a hold of is 2nd Chronicles 7:14. This verse gives us a great
outline on effective prayer
“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.”
“If
my people”
Paul tells us that if Christ has become our
Savior (circumcision of the heart), then we are considered in the same way as
Jews. Romans 4:11-16 explains this
further. Abraham was not only the father
of circumcision, but also of faith. The
seed of Abraham is not only through circumcision, but also through faith by
grace. That makes us God’s people, so we
can apply these prayer principles to our situations today.
“Which are called by my name”
The followers of Jesus were first called Christians
in Antioch. Christian is a derivative of
the word meaning Christ, Messiah, or anointed one. Having this name says we are called by His
name. His name is the most powerful name
in the universe. This association with
His name carries His authority. He gave
us that authority before He left this earth (Mark 16:17-18). He also gave us authority at other times in
His ministry (Luke 10:19 and Matthew 18:18-20).
Being called by His name also means we can call on His name.
“Shall
humble themselves”
Here is the
main point and stumbling block to a majority of our prayers, in my
opinion. As human beings, we don’t want
to humble ourselves. We want to tell God
when and where and how to answer us. We
expect Him to do what we want Him to do, like we are in control. So we pray as if we are in charge of the
answer. This is not humility. It is pride, and pride has no place in
prayer.
Have you ever taken notice that God says to humble
ourselves first? Before we pray, seek or
repent, we must humble ourselves. When
we come to God, we should have a reverence and awe for Him that transcends
anything else. We should bow low before
Him, and remember that He owes us nothing and that He has given us
everything. I am nothing without Him
except a lowly shell of a man. I need
His mercy and strength, wisdom and guidance every day.
“ and pray”
This whole study is on the activity of prayer. We have already spent a lot of time on prayer
and will be going further into it throughout the rest of this study, so I won’t
spend much time here. Just a few
scriptures to keep the word active.
Mark 11:24.
”Therefore
I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye
receive them, and ye shall have them.”
These
words of Jesus are very powerful. When they went up to the tree, there was no
fruit. Jesus says that the fig tree would not produce any fruit forever. The
next morning, they came by the same tree.
It was withered and dried up, and the disciples were amazed.
When
we pray for the right reason, it will be answered. This fig tree is symbolistic
of those who show on the outside the fruits of righteousness, but inside they
are dead and non-productive. Jesus wants all of us to be fruitful, not just
what people see but what is inside of us. This fig tree was hypocritical in a
sense, and we must not have hypocrisy in our lives. He goes on to say that we can move a mountain
if we believe. If we are desiring the things of God, our prayers will be
answered if we believe that God will answer them.
“and seek my face”
We
must take time to seek Him, to seek His will and His face. Our prayers need to line up with His will and
how will we know that will if we are not seeking Him? Zseeking Him means to be in His word, to meditate
on that Word, to spend time in prayer and praise and to just be still before
Him (Psalms 46:10)
Deuteronomy 4:29.
“But
if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy
God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”
Psalm 119:2.
“Blessed
are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.”
If we
seek the Lord with all our heart, we will find him. As I said before, He’s not
hiding. He’s right there waiting and
hoping that we will call on Him. God
does not force himself upon us or into our lives. He wants to bless us. He wants to have a relationship with us. God does not move away. It is us who move away from Him. If we seek
him with all that we have, we will find Him.
I believe this applies to absolutely everyone, even those who say there
is no God. If they seek Him with all
their heart, they will find Him.
“Turn from your wicked ways.”
We
need to repent of the things that we have done that don’t line up with the
Word. If you would like to do a great
daily Bible study on repentance, I suggest you go to Amazon.com and buy the
book entitled The Walk of Repentance by
Steve Gallagher. It is an amazing 24
week journey, and you will not regret it. We need to
walk with a repentant heart on a daily basis because we are sinners saved by
grace. There is never a day goes by that we don’t need to repent before the
Lord, that we don’t need to turn from our wicked ways and come to Him.
After these steps God says he will hear from
heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. This is something to
take deep into our souls and make sure we are a=carrying out these steps each
time we pray.
If you
enjoyed this post and would like to see the full study on this verse, please
pick up “The Ask Principle” by clicking on the “Buy Now” button in the side
panel of this web site.