24-Hour Prayer Chain
Our HOURLY PRAYER CHAIN begins from 12 midnight every first Friday of the month.
Prayer is vital if a church wants to see revival, and that is our earnest prayer, that God revive us. What is revival? “Re”….again; “viva”….life. Or to bring something to life again. Revival starts in the individual and then spreads to a church or community. So for our monthly Friday prayer we will this year be focusing on first getting our own hearts and lives in order, on allowing the Holy Spirit to speak to us, to change us, to challenge us, to revive us so we can be an instrument in God's hands to bring revival.
Our focus will be on 2 Chronicles 7:14.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 NLT
At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command
grasshoppers to devour your crops or send plagues among you. 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.
Reading: 2 Chronicles 7.
This is the last thing God requires from His people - to turn from their wicked ways.
(Wicked or evil, heart issues)
When I read this, I ask….what had they done that was so wicked? After all, these were God's chosen people. They had come through 40 years in the desert, become established in the promised land, built a magnificent temple for God, but after everything God had done for them and all He'd given them, they were worshipping idols. God knew their heart, He knew that they had turned away from Him, their allegiance had shifted and their worship was no longer His alone. They had a divided heart. All God ever required and still requires today is that we wholeheartedly love and obey Him. (Exodus 20:3 -6. The 10 commandments.). He wants all of our heart.
Jesus said….
Mark 12:30 KJV
And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.
So, is it possible that even as followers of Jesus we can have a divided heart, that we have idols in our life?
Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (incurably sick) who can know it?….
Do we really know the state of our heart? No! Only God the Holy Spirit knows but if we ask Him He will reveal it to us. Then we can pray as David did in the book of Psalms. 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
139:23-24 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.
Evidence of idolatry is pride. We actually exalt ourself as being of more importance than God. Self becomes number 1. We want what we want, we think ourselves better than we really are, and we must have everything done our way.
The apostle Paul says….I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves…
God requires truth in our heart, for pride starts there.
Proverbs 4:23 NLT
Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.
Pride caused the downfall of Lucifer (Satan). He wanted God's throne and kingdom.
Isaiah 14:12-16 and Ezekiel 28:12 -17 tell us of his beauty, his pride and his end. Verse 17 says about him…Your heart was filled with pride.
We need to beware of a rebellious heart. We react against some things the bible says. We fail to fully surrender to the Lord, holding on to things that are important to us. This opens the way to idolatry and a divided heart.
Read this old hymn. Make it your prayer.
Search me, O God, and know my heart today,
Try me, O Saviour, know my thoughts, I pray;
See if there be some wicked way in me;
Cleanse me from every sin, and set me free.
I praise Thee, Lord, for cleansing me from sin;
Fulfil Thy word and make me pure within;
Fill me with fire, where once I burned with shame;
Grant my desire to magnify Thy name.
Lord, take my life, and make it wholly Thine;
Fill
my poor heart with Thy great love divine;
Take all my will, my passion, self and pride;
I now surrender, Lord, in me abide.
O Holy Ghost, revival comes from Thee;
Send a revival, start the work in me;
Thy Word declares Thou will supply our need;
For blessings now, O Lord, I humbly plead.
Perhaps the Holy Spirit is speaking to you now, convicting you of things in your heart that you need to repent of, showing you the idols you have held on to. But it doesn’t stop there….you also need to turn from them and begin to go in the direction the Holy Spirit is going. Turn, leaving sin behind you. The voice of the Holy Spirit calls to you today as he did in the past to Israel….
Turn! Turn from your wickedness, O people of Israel! (O people of God) Why should you die? Ezekiel 33:11.
God is not willing that any should perish. He calls us all to repent… then He will surely forgive.
Is your idolatry (or mine) preventing the blessing of God being poured out on our lives?
Is our unwillingness to respond to this last requirement holding up God's forgiveness and
restoration in our lives and in our land? Don't say “one day” I'll deal with that habit or
attitude or sin. The bible says….
2 Corinthians 6:2 NLT
For God says, "At just the right time, I heard you. On the day of salvation, I helped you."
Indeed, the "right time" is now. Today is the day of salvation.”
Change my heart O God. https://youtu.be/DwudqCO7mSQ
Purify my heart. https://youtu.be/2-Jp8W2F5bY