II Chronicles 7:14 is a passage well known to the Christian Church:
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.
This passage raises a question. Israel was the nation involved in this text. Healing the land is easy to identify, that is to say, the land of Israel. But what land is in view for the church now? In the first Epistle of Peter we find the believer is a member of a “nation.” What nation? The believer is also a member of the “Royal Priesthood of Believers.”
The “nation” in view is that of the people of God sprinkled through all nations as per the Great Commission. God calls them to grown so they grow in influence and permeate an entire society thus spoiling Satan’s house. And bringing nations- as promised in scripture- into the rule of the kingdom of God. This is a promise found in Psalm 2 where the Father says to the Son “As of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”
So what is the believer’s responsibility? In 2 Chronicles 7:14 we find that which the law of the lord established previously in the Pentateuch, as the union of elements surrounding their prayers.
Those elements include the following.
The first is a set of dire circumstances as you find in II Chronicles 7:12 and 13.
The 2nd is the humbling of the church or the individual Christian like Job, where he places his hand over his mouth at the end of the book where God confronts him over his murmurings. Therein Job testifies that he is vile and won’t speak any more of what the Lord has done in his life. He is humbled before God.
The third element is the prayer itself which we know from Scripture is to be heartfelt…but what is its content?
We see in II Chronicles 6:33 that Israel seems to be in a state of reform, where things are done “faithfully.” But it wasn’t until the book of the Law was rediscovered that he realized the outward circumstances of apparent blessing was not the true story. God’s wrath was upon Israel and Josiah was broken in prayer crying unto God and leading the people in repentance.
The Law of the Lord must be rediscovered by the Church and like a set of tools in a toolbox, it must instruct us in the nature of evil and instruction in Righteousness.
This is the reason the Apostle Paul tells us that with his mind he serves the law of God…the very last verse of Romans 7. So, must we serve the law of the Lord with our minds and hearts.
The Contents of the Law of the Lord, instructs us as to God’s will as the very center of our prayers. Therefore, as 2 Chronicles 7:14 instructs us, we add to the elements of prayer faith and seeking the Lord’s face and turning from our sinfulness so he will forgive our sins and heal our land.
Therefore, the elements of prayer are the dire circumstances will bring on our humility of heart, leading to the necessity of our prayer, resulting in seeking His face and turning from our wicked ways which by its nature means turning unto righteousness as well.
We see this in the lives of Nehemiah, Moses, Josiah and the Apostle Paul. All of this results in the need of the hour: The Church must become the pillar and ground of truth and lead mankind to understand our heavenly Father demands the Kingdom of his Son be paramount, above all other requests and necessities.
