"If my people..." the patron saint of all corporate prayer meetings.

If scriptures could be patron saints, there is one that would be the patron saint of all large group prayer meetings for revival. Perhaps you've heard it before.

"If 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 and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

Perhaps you've prayed it. Pointed it out. Put it on a flyer. Used it as a rallying cry to get the church to a prayer meeting. One prayer leader said he heard a woman at a prayer meeting say "I hate that verse" When he asked her why she told him "Because it gets people's hopes up and then they are so disappointed afterwards. It almost does more harm than good." Should this be true of God's word? Should these scriptures be like an airbnb burn, great online pictures and then when you get there the floors are sticky. I don't think so. So, what is this scripture about. What is the context within which it was spoken. What does the story around it teach us about prayer that matters and repentance that will actually heal the land? What does it mean to heal the land anyway? How does land get sick- and what does it mean to you and me when it does?

Here's the scripture in its context.

" When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices.

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, 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. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. 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." 2 Chronicles 7:12-15.

So, after reading that. I have. question for you. Should 2 Chronicles 7:14 be our patron saint for revival. Or is there a much more important passage? If we are thinking of revival in the way I've heard revival described- a regional or national repentance, a turning back to God so that the land can be healed, violence and poverty can end, and prosperity can come again, should this passage be the passage we use. I don't think so.

I think there is a much more foundational verse in this passage and its found a little bit earlier in the passage. The foundational verse is verse actually verses 11 and 12 .

" When Solomon had finished the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had succeeded in carrying out all he had in mind to do in the temple of the Lord and in his own palace, 12 the Lord appeared to him at night and said:

“I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a temple for sacrifices."

Do you see it?

The focus of the entire Chapter, perhaps the entire book, is not as much about the work of repentance as it is about building a temple and presenting that temple to God. The real work of revival was building a temple. In fact, according to the passage. if it weren't for the temple, there wouldn't be a plague. The temple is the reason God sends a famine when the people sin. The temple is the reason God wounds the land when there is rebellion and heals it when the people repent. Perhaps, the only reason the land is alive is because God has chosen to put his temple there. If this is the case, then the real work or revival was to build the temple and invite God to dwell there. Answered prayer wasn't so much that the land would be healed but that God would move in. When we understand this, everything we think about praying for revival begins to change.

Next: "The Double Edged Sword

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