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 sin and will heal their land. -II Chronicles 7:14
Anytime there has been a movement of God’s Spirit it came as a result of prayer. The people humbled themselves, prayed, sought the face of God, sought a right relationship with God, repented of any sin that was present, and the result was the Spirit of God fell upon the people. Consider the following attitudes toward prayer:
Pray in humility. (II Chronicles 7:14) The essence of this verse is that if the people will first humble themselves and pray that God will pour out His blessings upon them. I once heard it said that God has a storehouse of blessings that constantly go unclaimed; the reason being that people do not ask God for them. I heard on the news about a war torn and famine stricken country in Africa where the people are starving. Countries are sending all kinds of relief in the form of food, supplies, and medicine, but it remains sitting in storehouses with little way of getting it to the people. How like that is the situation with God’s blessing. The Lord is ready and willing to pour out His blessings, open up the storehouses and bless us, but we must first be willing to receive it. Until we do that we miss out. What keeps people from humbling themselves before God? Pride, apathy, and being comfortable where we are; these keep often keep us from humbling ourselves before the Lord.
Pray for those we would rather not pray for. Jesus said in Matthew 5:44 to pray for our enemies and bless those who persecute us. When we begin to pray for those who have hurt us, wronged us, or even persecuted us, we will find that the Lord will fill our hearts with His love. The love of Jesus drives from us hatred, bitterness, and an unforgiving spirit. This in turns frees the power of God to function in us. When we pray and seek the Lord and pray as Jesus said we should then we are empowered to walk in spiritual victory. We too have to daily face all kinds of frustrations. The difference comes in how we handle them. The Scripture teaches that we are to function under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We go at the problems of life differently than the world does. How might the world handle conflict? Hatred, cursing, lose control, and give full vent to anger, or ever plot violence and revenge. All of those responses are contrary and opposite to what Jesus taught.
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