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7/22/2009 - Restoring What Has Been Lost I Chronicles 7:14
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Restoring What Has Been Lost
Reference: I Chronicles 7:14 Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.
Observation: We take this verse as one referring to prayer for our nation. It is not a bad application; God certainly was telling His people how to pray for the blessing of their nation.
On the other hand, "their land" refers simply to the place they live. It may be their city, their home or, for us, our church where we live in community together.
So if we want blessing on our home, our church, our community or our nation what does God ask us to do?
- Humble ourselves. We must take the time to realize that we desperately need God. We have to believe and act like we can not make it on our own. That is tough for us. It seems to God allows difficult times for the very purpose of humbling us - getting us to see how dependant we are on Him.
- Pray. Seems simple but it is so hard for us to discipline ourselves sometimes, to simply pray - to cry out to Him for help, to admit that we have a need and to have the perseverance to keep praying when the answer is delayed.
- Seek His face. We need to do more than ask for stuff. We must press into an intimate knowledge of Him. That is what "seek my face" means and it is necessary if we are going to see His work of restoration in our lives.
- Turn from our wicked ways. There are those who will tell us that God will keep His promise of blessing regardless of how we live morally. It is not true. God’s greatest blessings are contingent on a lifestyle of repentance and commitment to living right. It’s not that we are sin free but that we are doing our best to recognize sin and turn from it.
The great truth is that when God restores something He restores forward - forward to the plan He had all along. So when we do seek God and pray we can expect our lives, our homes, our families, our church to be brought to where God intended all along. That is a comforting and wonderful thought.
Application/Confession: In the church I pastor there is still some restoring that I am asking God to do. I would like to see the attendance back where it used to be. I want to see God restore our supply of resources. I stand believing that as I humble myself, pray, seek His face and pursue righteous living, that is exactly what He will do.
PRAYER: Lord, I will do all of these things. Please bring blessing and restoration to my family and to Your church.
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