What if his people prayed......

If 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 heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

A lot of the time we (as Christians) ask “what is this world coming to?” “What’s wrong with the world?” “Why are courts upholding abortion rights and getting friendlier with gay rights?” But yet we Christians are united primarily by grumbling and sitting on our hands. We mostly hear, “It’s the government’s fault that all this is happening. The schools are doing this, and the politicians are doing that.” The government, the schools, and the media were always the problem. They’re easy targets, and we’ve proven it by jumping on them. I think one of our problems is that we have forget a lot of this world is lost. Lost people sin. There is no Holy Spirit in them pointing them in the right direction, we Christians have that “compass” if you will that points to true north. Maybe it’s not always the rest of the world, maybe it’s the Christians. Look at God’s promise in that verse above. 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 will I hear from heaven…and will forgive their sins…and heal their land. So God promise

1. He will hear our prayers,
2. He will forgive our sins, and
3. He will heal our sick nation.

Yet we are still saying, “God, heal our land. Feed the poor. Bring revival to our country. Why aren’t you moving, Lord? Why is all this stuff happening?” Have we forgotten the first part of that verse? It’s an if/then statement, “IF my people…….THEN will I hear from heaven.” Nothing will change if Christian don’t change their ways. Let it start within yourself.

Some questions to ponder:

1. Read Matthew 7:2-4, how often do you struggle with judgmental thoughts, and what do you think is the source of these thoughts.
2. Can you think of an occasion when you or someone you know took a proper stand on an issue but did it in the wrong spirit? What was the outcome? How could the situation have been handled better?
3. In what areas do you think the Church is failing its New Testament mission? In what areas is the Church strong?

For those of you who don’t know my favorite Christian band is Casting Crowns and if you are familiar with them then this title should have rang a bell. This brings us to the song “What if His People Prayed” here are the lyrics and if you want to listen to it you can, just click on the link below (awesome and powerful song).

*Note: In the song it says

“What if the family turned to Jesus,

Stopped asking Oprah what to do?”

Mark Hall is not pointing fingers at Oprah Winfrey or putting down her talk show. He is merely pointing out that we exalt people and take advice from others instead of finding counsel in God’s word. Psalms 118:8 says “It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lF-lXgjEHo0

"What if His People Prayed" by Casting Crowns

What if the armies of the Lord
Picked up and dusted off their swords
Vowed to set the captive free
And not let satan have one more

What if the Church, for heaven's sake
Finally stepped up to the plate
Took a stand upon God's promise
And stormed hell's rusty gates

Chorus I:
What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His faith, yeah
And turn from their old ways

And what would happen if we prayed
For those raised up to lead the way
Then maybe kids in school could pray
And unborn children see light of day

What if the life that we pursue
Came from a hunger for the truth
What if the family turned to Jesus
Stopped asking Oprah what to do

Chorus I:
What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His face yeah
And turn from their own way
Chorus II:
He said that He would hear
His promise has been made
He'll answer loud and clear, yeah
If only we would pray

Bridge:
If My people call by My name
If they'll humble themselves and pray
If My people call by My name
If they'll humble themselves and pray

Choruses:
What if His people prayed
And those who bear His name
Would humbly seek His face, yeah
And turn from their old ways
He said that He would hear
His promise has been made
He'll answer loud and clear yeaah
If only we would pray