A Call To Prayer
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The title of my message is: “A Call To Prayer”. Turn with me in your bibles to II Chronicles 7:14.
That’s II 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 sins, and will heal their land.”
God is waiting for us to pray to Him so that He can hear and answer our prayers.
God will not override our wills. He is waiting for us to give Him permission through our prayers.
Permission to help us, to help our families, to help our country, and to help the whole world.
In II Chronicles 7:14, God told us what we need to do
to make sure that our prayers are heard and answered by Him.
He told us to humble ourselves and pray. Notice, God didn’t tell us to pray humbly.
As a matter of fact, He told us in Hebrews 4:16:
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
God wants us to come boldly to Him in prayer expecting to receive from Him,
but we must first humble ourselves.
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To humble ourselves means to recognize that we need God to help,
and to guide us. It means that we need to acknowledge the fact that God is the only one
who is wise enough and powerful enough to solve all of our problems.
God created us. He created the whole world and everything that is in it.
He knows the answer to everything. He knows everything that has happened in the past,
He knows everything that is happening now,
and He knows everything that will happen in the future.
God even knew the ending before the beginning of time.
Turn with me to Isaiah 46:9-10. That's Isaiah 46:9-10.
“Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is none like me.
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done,
saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”
God has already spoken what is going to happen in the future.
He is God, and there is no one or nothing that can stand against Him.
What God has spoken has already been established in heaven,
and it will come to pass. We need to stay in contact with Him
so that He can instruct us to move with Him.
None of us want to be left behind in the dark.
God told us to pray and to seek His face.
To seek His face means to pray, search the scriptures, and meditate on His word
until we receive an answer. It means to pray the promises of His word.
God told us, in Isaiah 43:26, to put Him in remembrance of His promises,
and to talk to Him so that we can be justified.
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God told us to turn from our wicked ways. To turn from our wicked ways means to admit,
to acknowledge, and to agree with the fact that we have sinned.
It means to confess our sins to God so that He can forgive our sins,
and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Turn with me to I John 1:9.
That's I John 1:9. “If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins,
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
It also means to repent and to turn away from sin and to follow God.
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God, Almighty, has humbled Himself and asked us to pray so that He can help us.
Surely, we can humble ourselves and pray to Him so that we can receive from Him.
What an awesome privilege and opportunity that we often neglect
when we don’t spend time in prayer and in fellowship with God.
I have heard some people say, that if they could go to The President of The United States
for just one hour, that they would take that time to tell him
about the things that are most important to them.
We have someone who is higher than The President of The United States.
We have The Creator of everything. We have God Almighty Himself,
reaching out to us. We don’t even have to make an appointment with Him.
We don’t have to go through His secretary.
We can go directly to Him in the name of Jesus.
God is never too busy to listen to us or to talk to us.
He never gets tired of our prayers.
In II Thessalonians 5:17, He tells us to pray without ceasing.
If we humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from our wicked ways,
as God has instructed us to do, then, we can be assured that He will hear from heaven,
forgive our sins, and heal our land. God keeps all of His promises
because He is not a man that He should lie. Turn with me to Numbers 23:19.
That's Numbers 23:19. “God is not a man that He should lie;
neither the don of man that He should repent;
hath He said and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”
Great things have been accomplished through prayer.
In Joshua 10:12-14, Joshua prayed, and the sun and the moon stood still for a whole day.
In I Kings 18:36-39, Elijah prayed, and God sent fire from heaven.
In II Kings 20:1-16, Hezekiah prayed, and God healed him, and added fifteen more years to his life.
In the first chapter of I Samuel, Hannah, who could not have a child, prayed,
and God gave her a son. In Acts chapter 16, Paul and Silas prayed.
God used an earthquake to open the prison doors.
In Acts chapter 10, Cornelius prayed. God sent Peter to him,
and Cornelius and his whole household received salvation.
In Acts chapter 12, the church prayed for Peter,
and God sent an angel to lead him out of prison.
These are only a few examples of the power of prayer.
I am sure that most of us here can remember a time when we prayed and God did great things.
Our prayers are never useless. They are all precious to God.
Turn with me to Revelation 5:8-9. That's Revelation 5:8-9.
“And when he had taken the book, the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb,
having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors,
which are the prayers of saints.” Our prayers are sweet odors to God.
They are so precious to Him, that He collects them and puts them in golden vials.
Turn with me to Revelation 8:2-3. That's Revelation 8:2-3.
“And I saw the seven angels which stood before God.
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer;
and there was given unto him much incense,
that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar
which was before the throne.”
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Our prayers are so precious to God that they are collected in golden vials
and are offered to Him on the golden altar that stands before His throne.
When we obey God, by following His instructions,
we can go to Him boldly in the name of Jesus.
We can go to Him with great faith, assurance, and confidence.
We can go to the throne of grace with great expectation to receive from God
the grace, mercy, and help that we need.