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.
OCTOBER. "... and will heal their land."
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
Why does land need healing? Because much land is waste, unusable and unproductive. What causes that? Several things - eg. contamination through poisons, but mainly the lack of good water.
God gave Ezekiel, a prophet in bible times, a vision about this.
READING EZEKIEL 47:1-12 NLT
Ezekiel's vision was of a river which had its source under the temple of God,…it came from the holy place. In the vision a man appeared who led Ezekiel along the river bank and into the river.
It was at first quite shallow, but as Ezekiel was led into it, became deeper and deeper until he couldn’t walk through it, but had to swim.
He had to commit himself to it, to become saturated by the water.
Ezekiel saw that where this river flowed there was healing and restoration. It flowed into the Dead Sea and healed the water. Now the fish could thrive in this healed water, fish of every kind. “There will be swarms of living things wherever the water of this river flows.” V.9
This water also enabled the trees to grow and become productive. “There will always be fruit on their branches. There will be a new crop every month, for they are watered by the river flowing from the Temple. The fruit will be for food and the leaves for healing." V.12
This river produced life, healing and fruitfulness everywhere it flowed. “Life will flourish wherever this water flows.” V.9
As we read this today, we can liken this barren, unproductive land to areas of our own life. We all have those places which need to be reclaimed and revived. As the vision showed, the river flowing from God's throne was a river of life which revived the barren places, the wastelands.
God wants us all to
be productive, to be filled with the life of God through the person of the Holy
Spirit.
In the vision Ezekiel was taken along the river bank, then through the water to the other side. Four times he was taken by the “man” through the water. At first the water was shallow, just up to his ankles. The second time it was up to his knees. The third time it was up to his waist and the fourth time too deep to walk across, so he had to swim.
God is always calling us to go deeper. We have
access to that river of life that flows from the Holy place, and that flow never
stops. The “man” is a type of the Holy
Spirit. He leads us into all truth. He leads us beside “still waters and restores
our soul.” We have to be willing to
become saturated by the Holy Spirit, to trust Him, to commit ourself to Him and
His leading.
John 7:38 KJV. Jesus said…..He that believes on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this he spoke of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive:….)
That living water comes from the presence of the Holy Spirit in our life. This is available for every believer. God within us, refreshing and reviving us.
How can we live without His presence? He is the source of our life! He is our life!
READING. JOHN 4:1-15
In this reading we see a story of Jesus, who is the source of living water, bringing hope, healing, and refreshing to a lost, barren life, transforming an ungodly woman to be a carrier of that living water to a whole city.
[28] The woman left her water jar beside the well and ran back to the village, telling everyone, [29] "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did! Could he possibly be the Messiah?" [30] So the people came streaming from the village to see him.
[40] When they came out to see him, they begged him to stay in their village. So he stayed for two days, [41] long enough for many more to hear his message and believe. [42] Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not just because of what you told us, but because we have heard him ourselves. Now we know that he is indeed the Savior of the world."
Life came to a woman then to a village, and then to a whole area because the One who is living water was there, and the life within Him flowed out to heal all who would believe.
You and I are carriers of that life, that living water. Are you letting the living water flow from you to others or are you ashamed or afraid to speak of Jesus.
Do you really know that Jesus IS your life, that without Him you can do nothing?
Do you know He is the source of everything you need?
This last part of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is important. (Heal our land)
The earth has absorbed the blood of many saints, of many aborted babies, and murdered children, but this earth will also be redeemed. God is a God who makes everything new!
When Jesus died on the cross His blood flowed down and sank into this sin-cursed earth.
The bible says that “the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.”
2 Peter 3:10-13 NLT
But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment. Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God's righteousness.
READING: Revelation 21:1-5
After the judgment, God will create a new heavens and earth, no longer filled with sin, but filled with righteousness.
Are you ready for that day, the day of the Lord? It is closer than we think.
Examine your heart and allow the Holy Spirit, that source of living water, to refresh and revive you. Confess what areas of your life need reviving and receive a new touch from Him.