Day 36
The Domino Effect
Coming to the point of turning from our wicked ways is truly an act of God. I was talking to a lady at church this past Sunday who is struggling with forgiving someone that has done something awful to her. Although God’s requirement is to forgive, she could not possibly come to the point of forgiveness on her own. God must initiate that within her. However, she needs to set herself up to allow God to initiate that within her. When we take another look at II Chronicles 7:14, we discover that each part fits together kind of like a puzzle with the end result of turning from our wicked ways.
We first discover we have a problem. As God said in II Chronicles 7:13, “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people.” When we realize we are in a spiritual drought and that the devourer has come and the pestilence soon follows, we realize that we are truly in trouble. We have fought and fought, but we then come to the understanding that there is nothing we can do. We are utterly helpless.
This then brings us to the realization that we need to turn to God for the solution. God is the solution; yet, He has given us (His people called by His name) charge in representing Him upon the earth. He has called us to carry out His statutes that His name shall be glorified among the nations and praised with the highest of exultation. God has called every man and woman that is a child of His to serve Him for the purpose of bringing the gospel into the entire world and reclaiming the land for the Lord.
When we then come to realize the call that God has placed upon our lives and that we are no longer living life for selfish pursuits but living for the purpose of giving God glory it should then initiate humility into our lives where we humbly submit ourselves to His authority understanding that we are not self-sufficient in any way. We need the power of God working in our lives to fulfill the call He has placed upon our lives. Apart from the power of God, we know that we will fail miserably; and this world will have no hope of redemption.
When we do come to the realization that we are not self sufficient it will then humble us to the point of calling upon the one who is more than sufficient, God. We then discover the power of prayer through faith and total dependency upon God; and it will stir our hearts to seek, to ask, and to knock. We know that the door will be open because we are not asking or seeking our own will or our own desires or our own goals but the will, desires, and goals of God.
When we then know the call God has placed upon our lives and we accept it, it brings us to humility and prayer. This then will lead us to the place where we are seeking His face, and seeking to know Him, to serve Him, and to worship Him. Once our hearts are compelled to start truly seeking Him, we are at the point of no return. There will be no stopping us. Our hearts will be so filled with love and admiration for God that we will long for the hour of prayer. Upon understanding His might, glory, and splendor, we will understand what an honor it is to know and serve Him; and in the most natural of ways, we will humble ourselves before His majesty praying and seeking His face.
The final ingredient of II Chronicles 7:14 will then be the most natural part of them all: turning from our wicked ways. We will be so in love with the Lord that He will be our focus; He will be our desire; and He will fill our hearts, our souls, and our minds with the measure of fullness with His love. When we are full of God, we have no room for anything else. If we are full of God, we truly are full. Just as the unrepentant soul is by nature a child of wrath (according to Ephesians 2:3), the nature of the child full of God will be purity. Colossians 3:8-10 says, “But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him.”
Rest assured the closer we try to get to the Lord, the closer the devil will try to get to us. The devil isn’t concerned with the man on the barstool. Why? Because he’s already where the devil wants him. However, the devil knows the closer we try to get to God, the more dangerous we are to his kingdom. He doesn’t want us on fire for God and will throw every form of temptation He can our way. However, James 4:7 says, “Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Let God have the victory in your life, and let’s get busy reclaiming this land for the Lord. Allow the domino effect of II Chronicles 7:14 to work in your life by knowing you are a child of God called by His name. This will produce humility in your life causing you to then pray which will motivate you to seek His face, and, when you find Him, just as Isaiah did, you will turn from your wicked ways.
Day 36 Prayer Guide
- Ask God to reveal any sin or mindset that would prevent Him from hearing your prayers.
- Repent of any such hindrance and ask for God’s forgiveness.
- Ask God to remove any doubts and keep you focused on Him.
- Seek the Holy Spirit to consume you during this time to lead you. Be obedient to Him.
- Spend some time praising God for the fact that He is able. Quote some scriptures or some of His characteristics to Him in praise.
- Pray that the people of God will repent of sins and mindsets that dishonor and hinder Him.
- Pray that all of God’s Children would recognize and respond to God’s holiness.
- Pray that God would convict us of all that He deems wicked, and that we would repent.
- Pray that the church would repent of its wicked and stagnant heart in its refusal to live in obedience to God’s purpose and call.
- Ask God to forgive and restore the church to an upright position.
- Ask God to remove anyone or anything that would refuse to submit to His holy standards.
- Pray that our standard would be nothing short of holiness.
- Pray that the people of God will stand in faith knowing God can reclaim this land.
- Pray that our churches would be devoted to, and peruse the things that honor God.
- Pray that the people of God would see the need for revival and begin to seek God for it.
- Pray specifically for revival in your church. Pray for your pastor and church leaders.
- Pray that the people of God will be broken hearted over the lost.
- Pray that the church will be a gospel centered church with a heart to evangelize the world while starting in their own back yard.
- Pray that the power of God would fall on the church moving them to prayer and sowing the gospel seed.
- Pray for a great awakening in your community. Name off streets and neighborhoods.
- Do not be judgmental in this, but pray that if there is any within the church who do not have a genuine relationship with Jesus that God would convict their heart and save them.
- Make a list of individuals who are not saved and begin petitioning God for their salvation.
- Pray for repentance of sin and a great awakening in our nation.
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