As we start this journey we need to know where we are at and also know the hope of where we are going. First we need to know that we live in a desolate time in the church regardless of what we can see around us in the church. North America looks on the outside that things are okay but the truth of the matter is it is not what it appears. Secondly we need to understand that it is possible to keep the charge we have been given and that God will keep his promise to those who seek him whole-heartedly. Jesus began his ministry by stating: repent the kingdom is near. He then empowered his disciples (us included) to go out and preach this same message. It should be our desire to ask God to send us in power once again. Notice in Luke 10:8 “When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. 9 Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 10 But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, 11 ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.” We must believe that this message is still the same, but somewhere along the line unbelief and bad theology has infiltrated the church leading to its desolate and powerless state. God said in 2 Chronicles 20:12 “we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” The answer was “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Sadly we are in the powerless state against our enemies and most are not crying out to God to save them. The only way for the power to return is to repent. Admitting this will be the hardest thing for most.
In 2 Chronicles 36:15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. 17 He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. 18 He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. 19 They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.20 He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its Sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.” We need to be in prayer just as Daniel was for God to remove this abomination that causes desolation, the one that is set up in the temple. In our day we do not see the enemy but they are here. Remember they are not flesh and blood but demonic forces. The church is not what it should be because of this. There are very few true healings, true visions etc. like in Samuels’s younger days the flame was barely a flicker. In our day in some places the flame has gone out and in others it is just a flicker as the Lord God has turned his face from us.
How does that change? The answer is simple. We must repent and turn back to God and away from the ways of man. Many people use the following verse but fail to include verse 13. “When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people”. People must realize we are in a famine. Yes I know, come on Paul look at the land there is always a harvest out there. Yes it does look amazing in Canada but we are talking about spiritual warfare and we are loosing the battle. 2 Chronicles 29:9 “This is why our fathers have fallen by the sword and why our sons and daughters and our wives are in captivity.” That is not how it is supposed to be but we must call out to God to hear from heaven if we want Gods eyes 15 to be open and His ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.” He said, 16 I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.” If we want God to shine His face upon us once again then we must follow these verses realizing we are calling out to God from a desolate place, captivity and a land in famine (Amos 8:11 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.)
Once we understand the state we are in, then we follow this confession. 2 Chronicles 7:14 “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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” We must seek God in prayer and humility while turning from our wicked ways. Read Daniel’s prayer in Daniel 9. The good news as stated to Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7:17 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully as David your father did, and do all I command, and observe my decrees and laws, 18 I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor to rule over Israel.” This is the charge to keep. Because the church has failed in keeping this charge, like Solomon his kingdom was taken from him, just like the church is not seeing the Kingdom in our midst. This is why the church does not look like the church as it is meant to be. We will talk about this amazing promise to David at another point. We must repent and follow the truth, the life and the way. Our way is a wicked way and we must turn from it. This is where we must start from to once again be the victorious church. We must be like Hezekiah, Asa and Josiah and other kings who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord as their father David has done, not turning aside to the right of to the left. When they turned away they failed. Josiah said 2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the remnant in Israel and Judah about what is written in this book that has been found. Great is the Lord’s anger that is poured out on us because those who have gone before us have not kept the word of the Lord; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written in this book.” When we once again find the word of God and repent, God has promised he would hear our cry. Daniel said,” 9:17 “Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favour on your desolate sanctuary. 18 Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. 19 Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.”
