“if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name HUMBLE themselves and PRAY and seek My face and TURN from their wicked ways, then I will HEAR from heaven, will FORGIVE their sin and will HEAL their land.”—2 Chronicles 7:13b14 (NASB)
Happy Sunday Afternoon!
This week I suggest that we continue on the theme opened up by the above scripture which is central to our Prayer and Fasting Initiative. A key response of God’s people is to humble themselves. As we seek the Lord for His mercy for our nation and petition Him for the full release of The Third Great Awakening, it is essential that we understand that we cannot make either of these things happen in our own strength.
Father God has laid out three requirements for His people on the roadmap to national restoration and personal spiritual revival:
- Humbling ourselves,
- praying and seeking His face, and
- turning from our wicked ways.
I want to briefly focus this week on Humility.
Humble is a primitive Hebrew root word. It pictures an open palm, the hand used to bless others rather than to work or fight. The second part of the Hebrew root word is the term “seed.” The picture we see is of the opening palm to plant the seed and its root going deep into the soil to provide a firm foundation for growth above the ground.
For me this means that humbling ourselves is unseen, done in private, but as a result sending down deep roots that will result in a strong plant or tree…remember the tree, from Finn’s teaching last Wednesday.
As you deal with humbling yourself in preparation for prayer and effective service, see it as open-handed seed planting done in faith.
“Father God, I seek to empty myself of pride and any sense of self-importance and ask you to use my feeble attempts to honor and glory you, that I may be a light in a dark time. Father this week guide my prayer, that I would join with thousands of other believers seeking you for our wonderful nation.”
What follows are a few verses that speak of God’s call on us to humble ourselves as we seek Him:
- “God has chosen you and made you his holy people. He loves you. So always do these things: Show mercy to others, be kind, humble, gentle, and patient.”—Colossians 3:12 (NCV)
- “Don’t be too proud in the Lord’s presence, and He will make you great.”—James 4:10 (NCV)
- “All who make themselves great will be made humble, but those who make themselves humble will be made great.”—Luke 14:11 (NCV)
- “Pride leads only to shame; it is wise to be humble.”—Proverbs 11:2 (NCV)
The Lord bless you this week as you humble yourselves under the mighty hand of our Lord!
The blessing of Jesus be with you this week,
Paul Laursen, on behalf of Advent Leadership and The Praise Community
