Charles Stanley - A Call to Prayer
Solomon had just finished building the Temple and the Bible says they had this big celebration. Can you imagine how they celebrated? And the scripture says that when they had finished all of that in this Second Chronicles chapter seven, the scripture says, "Then on the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people to their tents," sent them home, "rejoicing and happy of heart because of the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to His people". And so they'd just had this awesome time. But God spoke to them in a way that they knew God was speaking through Solomon.
And so the scripture says beginning in verse eleven, "Thus Solomon finished the house, the Lord and the king's palace, and successfully completed all that he had planned to do in the house of the Lord and his palace. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, 'I have heard your prayers and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.'" And then He gave them a warning. He said, Now, thinking if you choose to be disobedient to Me, here's what happens, "If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people," which is His way of saying, If My judgment comes upon you, He says then verse fourteen, "And my people who are called by My name 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. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place".
God's Word has not changed. He doesn't change His mind. He doesn't change His laws. He doesn't change His love for us. But if we disobey God, we will suffer the consequences. We have already disobeyed God; and we have committed ourselves to disobeying Him by tolerating all kinds of sin that God specifically, there's no guesswork, specifically forbids to be a part of our life. And so says, Well, if you realize what's happening; if you're wise enough to see that; if you want deliverance, here's what you must do. And I want to read these four and just comment on a few moments because this is our hope. This is our hope. Listen to what He says. He says, If we will humble ourselves.
What does it mean to humble ourselves? It means to acknowledge our sinfulness and yield ourselves absolutely and completely to Almighty God, drop our pride and recognize who we are. We are sinners saved by the grace, we've become the children of God and a lifestyle of sin doesn't fit who we are. To humble ourselves is to acknowledge the sovereign power and the sovereign leadership of Almighty God upon us and over us. The first thing He says in order to face these things that are coming, He says, Humble yourself before Me. Ask yourself the question, Do you have any pride in your life? Do you sorta think that other folks are fine but you are something else? Can you boast of your income? Can you boast of your position? Is there pride in your life or do you walk daily recognizing that you and I are absolutely dependent upon God for everything?
We live under the absolute authority of the Word of God. Either disobediently, pridefully, arrogantly or humbly we submit ourselves to Him. So when you're facing the kind of dangers that we are facing, you don't look at Washington to find out what kind of dangers you're facing. You just look around. You just find out what's happening. Look at news that comes from other nations. Hear the cries of people who are suffering as we've never suffered before. He says, Humble yourself. That is, don't depend upon your own self. Realize that God Almighty is your source of protection, watch-care and the provision of your life. Then he says not only that, he says humble yourselves and pray. All through the scriptures we're admonished to pray.
So let me ask you a question. After you have prayed for yourself and your children, your household, your income, your job, your this, your that, and when you finally run out of things to pray for yourself, I wonder how long it takes you to get around to praying for this nation. Or if you said, Well I don't know how to pray for the nation. Well I'm telling you right now. Here's what He says. He says, you humble yourselves and you pray, the Bible talks about crying out to God. Crying out to God is an indication that I recognize how inadequate I am. Crying out to God recognizes that I know we're in danger. Crying out to God says, I am dependent upon You, God. If You don't help us, we are lost. Crying out to God is what every believer ought to participate in their prayers, when they begin to realize how serious the circumstances are. You can't just read the newspapers or watch the television or listen to the reports of those who have rule over us. Get in the Word of God and see what is the indication that things are wrong; things are not right. And we don't see any evidence of anybody being wise enough, brilliant enough, humble enough, submissive enough to come up with the right answers.
And so we walk and we go in circles. Well, things are going to get better while they're still getting worse. He says we're to pray to Him. And if you'll think about it, that's the way we communicate with Him, listening to Him, listening to Him and praying to Him. And when I look at that thirty-fourth Psalm, and look if you will in this fourth verse, "I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears". And you can just go right down these passages of scripture about praying and God answering our prayers. "That when the righteous cry, and the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted, saves those who are crushed in spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all". Who else delivers us? Who else can deliver us? Not some other nation. Not we delivering ourselves. That is the height of pride.
So God gives us all these admonitions to pray and to seek His face. And for our nation, we need to pray for our leaders. We need to pray for those who are making laws. We need to pray for God to waken up the people who have responsibility to govern us. We need to ask of God to waken them up. In other words, stop worrying about your position and how long you're going to be there and start thinking about the people you're supposed to be governing. And only God can do it. He says we're to pray. And then we're to seek His face. Well, what in the world does that mean? What it is is simply this. You're not going to see Him, but you're going to have a relationship with Him that is extremely intimate. You're going to have a relationship with Him, you know that He's listening. He's there in presence, not visible presence, but invisible presence. To seek His face is to seek His will and His way in your life.
And all of us have to pray that. God, what is Your will about this? Show me what to do here. Show me how to handle this. We are to humble ourselves, cry out to Him and to seek His face. How do I do that? I get in the Word of God and say, Lord, speak to my heart. What are You saying to me? You have big decisions to make about your children and about your husband or wife. Big decisions to make about your job. Big decisions to make about your future. Do you ever ask Him? Do you seek His face? Lord, what would You have me to do, since Lord, You're omniscient and You know what's best. I don't know what to do at this point, but I'm asking You. I'm seeking the face of God, the mind of God, the will of God, the plan of God, the purpose of God. What do You want me to do?
You say, Well I don't think God answers that kind of prayer for me. The reason He hasn't is because you haven't asked Him and you haven't expected Him to do it. And you did not trust Him to keep His Word. Yes, He will. He is a God of love. He is a God who cares for us as a people as a nation; and He cares for us as individuals. And we're at a time in history of our nation, we need to be intimate with Almighty God. God is more than willing to answer our prayer. God will show our leaders if they'll listen. He will show us if we'll listen. And every church in America needs to begin listening to God for our nation. Lord, what would You have us to do? And what would He say? He would simply say, Humble yourself before Me. Cry out to Me. And as He says here, Seek My face. But that's not all. One other thing He says. He says, "And turn from your wicked ways".
Do you know what a wicked way is? Wicked means determined, willful disobedience. Wicked. And so He says, "Turn from your wicked ways". And somebody says, Well, I don't think I have any wicked ways. Deliberate disobedience, deliberate rebellion toward God is wickedness. In the eyes of God, it's wicked. And when there is greed and pride and selfishness and all the rest. When we've turned our eyes away from God and just decided we're going to live the way we want to live, that is indeed wickedness. And I think about what's happening in our nation, it's like a plague. Immorality in America today is like a plague. It's penetrating every aspect of life. It's wicked. It's deliberate willful, rebellion, disobedience toward God and hurtful toward other people.
So when you ask yourself the question, Well, so what are we supposed to do about it? Well just exactly what God said, and notice what He says. He says, "If you are willing to humble yourself, pray, seek My face and turn from your wicked ways". Turn doesn't mean I just recognize that I'm a sinner. Turn means I turn away from it. Confession must be followed by repentance. Or, you think about it. How many times have all of us at some point in our life, confessed sin when, and said Lord, I want to confess this to You. I ask You to forgive me of my sin. Thank You very much. And next night you're confessing what? Not some different sin, the same sin. There are some people who confess the same thing over and over and over again and say, Well the Bible says if we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Keep reading. Because it isn't just saying the same thing over and over to God every night. It's turning from it.
He says, If we do these things and turn from your wicked ways, "Then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal your land". There needs to be a turning in this country. There needs to be a revival. I don't mean some tent revival somewhere. I mean in the hearts of people, especially those of us who say we're Christians. If we'll do what we need to do, God will use us to help other people realize what they need to do. And God says if we, "Turn from our wicked ways". Here's what He says He'll do. I'll hear your cry. I'm listening. I'll forgive your sin. I always will. And I will heal your land. I will rescue it. I will protect your land. I will keep it from being invaded, destroyed and devoured. When God makes a promise, watch this, all the sovereign power of Almighty God is behind that promise. And there is nothing that can withhold the power of God. But where does it begin? It begins with His children. Well, how many of His children? Well, it's amazing what God does with a remnant. A remnant is a few.
And so I'm saying to you today, There needs to be a remnant of people who take God seriously in behalf of our nation. And you and I are part of that remnant. And I'm going to ask you today to do something very specific. I'm going to ask you if you're willing to pledge to Almighty God. You're not going to be perfect, I understand that. But if you're willing to humble yourself before Him and say, God, and mean it; I acknowledge my absolute dependence upon you. Secondly, I'm committing myself to pray to You, dear God, every day for our nation. And third, Lord, as I learn to seek Your face, look to You for your will and your way, I choose to do that. And God, I want to forsake. I want to depart from. I want to repent. I want to turn from every known sin in my life and Lord, to the best of my God-given abilities, I choose to live a godly life, crying out for the future of this nation, and praying, God, that You'll use me beginning this morning.
And recognizing it doesn't take millions and millions, it starts with a remnant of people who are willing to take God seriously. And if you're willing to join me in that, I'm going to ask you to stand up in a minute, walk down this aisle, kneel, fill this place up; fill up the aisles, stand where you are, turn to your friend, pray silently or pray with somebody else. But let's make a statement this morning. God, we take a stand for You. And let's start right now. This altar need to be filled. These aisles need to be filled with people who are serious about God and about our nation. I know some of you can't move, or maybe where you are, but you can pray alone or you can pray with somebody. But we're praying for those few things that we've mentioned. And apart from this, it's not going to happen. And we want to pray that God will do it all over this nation. And if you're standing in the back, turn to somebody else and say, Let's pray. Or if you can't come down the aisle, just stand over there against the wall. Just make some kind of move that you are crying out to God this morning.
Father, we're crying out to You in obedience to Your Word; humbling ourselves before You. Knowing in our heart that You desire to hear the prayers of Your children. Praying first of all, dear God, for our own hearts to be clean and pure. Committing ourselves to You; humbling ourselves before You and acknowledging we need You; acknowledging we want You; acknowledging that we desire You to guide us and to lead us. And that every day would be a day of prayer. That every day we would come before You, not sometimes once in a while. Etch in our hearts this morning as we kneel here or stand here, Lord. We're making a commitment, dear God, to humble ourselves before You. We're making a commitment to cry out to You and to believe, dear God, that You hear and answer the prayers of Your children.
Oh Father, we ask that our hearts would be clean today. And Lord, that You would etch in our minds that we bow before You; we kneel before You; we stand before You saying, Lord, we love this nation of ours. We love the propagation of the gospel. We want the world to hear the truth of the gospel. And Lord, You've given us freedom and liberty. And You've provided the finances necessary to get the truth of the gospel all around this world. Dear God that we are crying out to the Sovereign God of this universe. You are our strength; You are our defense; and we pray for the defeat, dear God, of the enemy.
And Father, not just victory for victory, but Father, that Your name would be honored and lifted up and exalted, the God of all gods and the Lord of all lords and the God who has all power and all might who knows all things. We glorify You. We honor You. We love You. We adore You. We look to You as our salvation, and to no one else. We pray that You'll change the minds and hearts of those who rule over us, God. We pray for great conviction. You said, Lord, turn away from all wickedness. God, I pray that You will begin to etch that in the minds and hearts of Your children, Lord. That none of that belongs to us. We are your children. The holy family of the Living God.
So today we pray, Father, we want to make a move. We want to make a mark. We want to make a statement today, God, that we as this remnant, we are trusting You for the forgiveness of sin; that You'll begin a change in the life of this nation. You will protect us and You will bring us back to Yourself. God, You know exactly what it takes to do that and that is our prayer. We love You and we praise You and we thank You for this time that we could acknowledge our dependence upon You; our love for You; and acknowledge, dear God, for each other; and acknowledge, dear God, the wonderful privilege of having the Word of God as our guidebook. May it be our guidebook every day of our life. And we pray this in Jesus' name, looking forward to demonstrations of Your power, expressions of Your awesome power, in Jesus' name, amen.
And Father, not just victory for victory, but Father, that Your name would be honored and lifted up and exalted, the God of all gods and the Lord of all lords and the God who has all power and all might who knows all things. We glorify You. We honor You. We love You. We adore You. We look to You as our salvation, and to no one else. We pray that You'll change the minds and hearts of those who rule over us, God. We pray for great conviction. You said, Lord, turn away from all wickedness. God, I pray that You will begin to etch that in the minds and hearts of Your children, Lord. That none of that belongs to us. We are your children. The holy family of the Living God.
So today we pray, Father, we want to make a move. We want to make a mark. We want to make a statement today, God, that we as this remnant, we are trusting You for the forgiveness of sin; that You'll begin a change in the life of this nation. You will protect us and You will bring us back to Yourself. God, You know exactly what it takes to do that and that is our prayer. We love You and we praise You and we thank You for this time that we could acknowledge our dependence upon You; our love for You; and acknowledge, dear God, for each other; and acknowledge, dear God, the wonderful privilege of having the Word of God as our guidebook. May it be our guidebook every day of our life. And we pray this in Jesus' name, looking forward to demonstrations of Your power, expressions of Your awesome power, in Jesus' name, amen.