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| 2 Chronicles 7: 14 � 16 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 will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. These verses begin with a very small word � IF. This is God speaking by the way � and God says �IF�. Some people don�t think that word is part of God�s vocabulary. After all, God is sovereign � and so surely God doesn�t have to use words like IF, surely God can do what He wants! And so He can. But God in His sovereignty has sovereignly decided that in His dealings with man He is going to give man personal responsibility. And so God has limited Himself in His dealings with man � He doesn�t do anything until man does something first! He does say something � but He doesn�t do anything. God has given man FAITH (Romans 12: 3) � faith which is activated through hearing and applying what God says. When man begins to apply what God has said, then God acts. Here in 2 Chronicles 7: 14 God uses this word �if�, and He says �IF My people who are called by My name� � He�s talking about His people � �IF My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways, THEN I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.� When? THEN! As soon as His people respond to His Word! He goes on in verse 15 and 16, and He says �NOW� � �NOW My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. For NOW I have chosen and sanctified (set apart) this house, that My name may be there FOREVER; and My eyes (My attention) and My heart (My concern) will be there PERPETUALLY.� When something is perpetual it is there eternally; it lasts forever; it is CONTINUAL and UNINTERRUPTED! |
| Jesus said, �I will NEVER leave you, nor forsake you� (Hebrews 13: 5) � He was saying, �I will be with you perpetually!� So if there is a problem with �revival� right now, the problem is not with God. God has not sovereignly decided to turn off the tap � to turn the flow on and off when He sovereignly feels like it! But He has left the ball very firmly in our court, and He has said, �IF My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray...� So what has that produced? We have a lot of people chewing carpets � we have a lot of people slinging snot around � trying to �humble� themselves and get into a place where they can be worthy to receive the blessings of God. But God said something else. He said, �You�ve got to turn from your wicked ways.� Repentance is a �turning� � it is a 180-degree turnaround. Repentance is about walking away from death and walking into life; it is about walking out of darkness and walking into light; it is about walking out from under the power and dominion of satan and walking into the kingdom of God; it is about walking out of sickness and walking into health; it is about walking out of bondage and oppression and walking into deliverance and freedom; it is about walking out of anxiety and walking into peace; it is about walking out of poverty and walking into prosperity; it is about walking out of fear and torment and walking into faith that works through love; it is about walking out of religious formality and walking into revival! When God says, �If My people will turn�, that is what He is talking about! Romans 2: 4 says, �The goodness of God leads us to repentance.� The revelation of His goodness causes us to turn � to abandon the death and the darkness and to pursue His goodness! The problem is that people are focusing on their �badness� rather than on God�s �goodness�, and so you have Christians who are paralysed, and who believe that God is withholding something from them, when what they really need to believe is that God is longing to pour everything out on them � all they need to do is believe and receive! |
| And so when people stop their unbelieving thoughts and their �evil thinking� - their bad thoughts about the Lord � and instead begin to believe in the goodness of God and in the fullness of His provision, THEN we are really going to see something happen! Because God says, �Revival NOW!� He doesn�t say, �Revival in five years�, He doesn�t say, �Revival in ten years�, He doesn�t say, �Revival in forty years� � He says, �Revival NOW!� As soon as His people BELIEVE in His GOODNESS they walk into REVIVAL! And as long as they continue to believe in His goodness they continue to walk in revival! Perpetual revival! |
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