World-changing Prayer

World-Changing Prayer

If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14

WHEN SOLOMON FINISHED BUILDING THE TEMPLE, he and the whole kingdom celebrated with a dedication ceremony. Solomon prayed magnificent, sweeping prayers for God’s presence and power in that place, pledging the devotion of his people and asking for their prayers to be answered. The glory of God filled the Temple, so much that priests and observers couldn’t enter in and fell to the ground in worship. Then God made a promise based on the certainty that the people would sometimes fail to keep the covenant and reap the consequences. He told them that if they turned to him in humility, rejected evil, and sought his face, he would forgive and restore. He would heal the land—and, we can assume, the hearts of the people in it.

That’s a comforting promise, and it’s recalled often at national, denominational, and organizational prayer initiatives. But we don’t have to wait for big events to claim it. We can pray it now—for our communities, cities, nations, and world. We can even pray it for ourselves, our families, and our churches. Though it was given to a specific kingdom in covenant with God, it expresses his heart toward everyone who is in covenant with him. It captures his side of the relationship—his reluctance to bless those who have strayed far from his character and would only abuse and distort his blessings, but also his eagerness to bless those who align their hearts with his and reject old, ungodly ways. It stands as an open invitation for all believers at all times.

Accepting this invitation is a tremendous opportunity, and it would be tragic to miss out on its promise. From where we sit at this moment, we can sow faith into the direction of history and bend it toward God’s purposes. In fact, he has called us to do so (1 Timothy 2:1-8). The course of history is not in the hands of the ungodly. It’s in ours. Never neglect that privilege.

God has no greater controversy with his people today than this, that with boundless promises to believing prayer, there are so few who actually give themselves to intercession.