2 Chronicles 7:10-14 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the LORD had done for David, and to Solomon, and for His people Israel. And Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the King’s palace, and Solomon successfully completed all that came into his heart to make in the house of the LORD and in his own palace, he has caused to prosper. And the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him, “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, if My people, which 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 will heal their land.”
Roughly 3000 years ago during this month, King Solomon dedicated the Temple he had built for the Lord. So it was in the Hebrew month of Tishrei, the month of the fall feasts of Israel, that the presence of the Lord fell and the glory of God was displayed in the Temple.
A few nights from now will mark the closing of this final feast, but its occurrence 3000 years ago is also significantly highlighted — by a visitation from God — to King Solomon.
You see, it was on this night, after the feast of Sukkot was over, that God appeared to Solomon by night, and said, “If my people, who are called by My name, shall 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 will heal their land.”
Yes, God gave us here an eternal promise with a set of conditions; one which is quoted by everyone who seeks revival for his nation.
Let’s take God at His Word and turn this “IF” into an “I WILL”…humble myself, and pray, and seek Your face, and repent of my wicked ways…and thank you for answering from heaven, and forgiving my sin, and Praise You for healing our land!
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It is among popular “Christian” belief that an abundance of material and other blessings follow those whose hearts are truly after God and that those who seem to consistently struggle to that end, cannot possibly be in God’s perfect will. I want to submit to you a realization I had about this very thing. I think we might have it all backwards.
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While I was in the States, I read several stories about Ronald Reagan that made me appreciate him as a person and as a leader. But one amusing story really caught my attention and made me smile. When he was a young man, Reagan worked at a radio station and sometimes played records of sermons. His shift at the station was a one-man operation and so, on occasion, Ron would set the record playing and then sneak out for a cup of coffee. One day he got a call while he was at the coffee shop from the station’s owner, ordering him back to the station, and then … he received his termination notice. He’d returned to the station finding the record skipping at a particular point in the sermon…