It's Time to Pray

Violence. Tensions between people of different skin tones. Terrorist attacks. Threats from North Korea. Civil conflict over political processes. Alarmist news. Hurricanes. Tornadoes. Fires. Earthquakes. Cancer. Infertility. Heart disease.

I think its time we get down on our knees as a community and pray.

When Solomon went to dedicate the completed temple, he encountered the LORD.  God spoke saying,
"I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.  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, 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 sins and will heal their land.  Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.  I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there." (2 Chronicles 7:12b-16)
Now the temple built by Solomon no longer exists.  And Israel is no longer the Israel that existed in the time and place of the recording of this encounter.  But God's temple does continue to exist in His people, the Church.  The New Testament clearly states that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:12-20)  Jesus' cousin, John the Baptist even made the bold claim that "out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham." (Matthew 3:9)  The early church understood the Church to be part of Israel. (Romans 11:11-24)

So, when we read this call to humility and prayer, we can hear the invitation extending to ourselves, the Church in the 21st Century.  And we can respond on behalf of our nation and the peoples of the world!


Whenever I hear of natural disasters and things seeming to fall apart across the globe, I am reminded of Romans 8 and its explanation that

"the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time."
This passage causes me to wonder what it means for creation to wait for the children of God to be revealed.  One answer that is before me today is that it is waiting for us to do our part.

In my personal search for answers to why there has been an increase of infertility and miscarriage in our world, I have found hope in Exodus 23:26.  It reads, "Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you, and none will miscarry or be barren in your land.  I will give you a full life span."  Doesn't this remind you of the words of God captured in 2 Chronicles 7?

One way the children of God might be revealed is through our worship and prayers.  We can intercede on behalf of the world!   I am reminded of how Abraham plead for the people of Sodom.  God had heard the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah - the Bible says that the outcry was "so great and their sin so grievous"  that God needed to destroy them. (Genesis 18:20)  Abraham begged God to save this city, the residence of his nephew Lot.  Abraham even bargained that if there were just ten righteous people in the city God would spare it - and God agreed.  But there were not ten righteous people and the city was destroyed.  There are more than ten righteous people on this earth!  And we need to intercede!

Church family - I invite you to pray.  I invite you to intercede on behalf of the people.  I invite you to ask the Maker of Heaven and Earth to bring peace and mercy - to change minds, to reduce the stress on the earth, to bring us together in ways that honor God.

The church doors are open Monday - Friday, 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.  You are welcome to come in anytime during this time to pray and worship.  I'll be here today (Thursday, September 7th, 2017) until 1 p.m. and I would love to pray alongside you!  Come on in!  The church can also be open at other times during the week if you want to plan prayer meetings or invite some of your friends to gather with you to worship God.  Don't stay away!  Come!

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