The Lord had been impressing on me recently to look at 2 Chronicles 7:14-16
2 Chron 7:14-16
14 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 I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.
16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
I've heard verse 14 quoted in many church sermons on revival; and we love to use this verse when praying for a revival in our land, but as I read this passage, what I heard from the Lord was an entirely different sermon.
In the context of the chapter, God spoke to Solomon and gave him several conditions for the children of Israel to fulfil for God to forgive their sin and heal their land.
I) Humble themselves before Him
II) Pray
III) Seek His Face and
IV) Turn from their wicked ways
What I received from the Lord regarding this verse was much different than anything I'd ever heard before as He gave me a different perspective on how Biblical Revival starts, from the inside out.
If we apply this passage to ourselves, I want to relate the following:
"My people who are called by My name"
As Blood-bought children of God, purchased by the Blood of Jesus, we fall under this category, being given that Name which is above every other name.
Humbling ourselves before God is a serious issue.
Also notice what God said in vv 15-16:
15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.
16 For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.
In the context of the chapter again, the house the Lord referred to would have been the temple of Solomon where the Shekinah Glory filled the temple before it left as can be seen in Ezekiel 10.
But applying it to ourselves, see how God has defined His house in the New Testament:
Isa 56:7
7 All these I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; for My house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.
2 Cor 5:1 (AMP)
5:1 For we know that if the tent which is our earthly home is destroyed (dissolved), we have from God a building, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
2 Cor 6:16 (AMP)
16 What agreement [can there be between] a temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God; even as God said, I will dwell in and with and among them and will walk in and with and among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Since God sees us as His House or His Temple; and if He said that His eyes will be open and His ears attentive to prayer made in this place i.e. the House, then I can safely say that revival must start from the inside out.
We have to get on our knees before God and pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways. Clean out our temple of all idolatry and be a people consecrated unto God alone.
Idolatry is much more than those small idols (or big ones) we see in any temple by the roadside. I like the way a pastor put it: Anything that stands between you and your relationship with God is an idol. Anyone feeling uncomfortable yet?
Before we pray for the next revival to hit our land, pray that we be revived ourselves first.
