September 30, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
For the past few weeks I’ve been providing you with
information about the Pray31 campaign.
I’ve put announcements in the bulletin and I’ve explained it to you
verbally in our closing announcements.
In doing this I’ve been extending to you the invitation to join me in
raising your hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer on behalf of our nation,
its leaders, and its churches. I’ve been
inviting you to be part of a movement whose goal is simply to rally one million
Christians throughout our nation to raise their hearts and voices to the Lord
in prayer, fervently and strategically praying to the Lord about the challenges
that we face as a nation today.
But why would I take the time to invite you to join
me in this during the next 31 days of October?
The simple reason is that God wants his people to pray, and throughout
history he has provided prayer as our direct line of communication with our
heavenly Father. In fact, in our
Scripture lessons today we have already seen the great importance of prayer as
we witnessed Jesus, in our gospel lesson, teaching his disciples to pray by
giving them the words of the Lord’s Prayer.
We saw how the disciples gathered together to pray to the Lord after
Peter and John were released from prison, and we saw how the Lord so quickly
answered their prayer by shaking the place where they were meeting and filling
them with the Holy Spirit. In fact,
through the Old Testament lesson are reminded just how important it is for us
to be regularly lifting our voices to the Lord in prayer as the Lord speaks to
King Solomon and to us, saying: “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their
land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV84)
Now, when the Lord spoke these words to King
Solomon, 13 years had passed since the temple had been completed and dedicated
to the Lord. Thirteen years had passed
since Solomon had stood before the Lord at the temple dedication, praying to
the Lord on behalf of the Israelites, asking that the Lord would bless his
people by his presence dwelling among them from his temple. Thirteen years had passed since Solomon had
prayed to the Lord asking that the Lord would hear the prayers of his people
when they turned their hearts toward the Lord and his temple and prayed to him
in faith. Thirteen years had passed
since Solomon had prayed, asking the Lord to hear the prayers of his people
when they turned to him after they had sinned; after the Lord had brought war
on the land, famine on the land, or even plague or disaster upon the land and
upon the people. Thirteen years had
passed since that day, and now, after Solomon had completed his palace the Lord
appeared to him at night and said, “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal
their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV84)
Though it took thirteen years, when the Lord came to
Solomon on that night, the Lord assured Solomon that he would answer Solomon’s
prayer. The Lord assured Solomon that
he, the Lord, would indeed hear the prayers of his people. The Lord assured Solomon that he would not
only hear the prayers of his people, but he would also listen. He would hear and listen and answer the
prayers that his people brought to him in faith. Though it is clear from the Lord’s appearing
to Solomon that the Lord never promised that the answers to prayers would come
instantaneously, it is also clear that the Lord will do what he promised—the
Lord will hear the prayers of his people.
The Lord will forgive the sins of his people. The Lord will heal the lands of his people.
This is why we, as Christians, are being called on
to raise our voices to the Lord in prayer!
We are being called on to raise our voices to the Lord in prayer, because
the Lord has promised to hear our prayers.
We are being called on to raise our voices to the Lord in prayer,
because the Lord has promised to answer our prayers. We are being called on to
raise our voices to the Lord in prayer, because the Lord has promised to
forgive our sins. We are being called on to raise our voices to the Lord in
prayer, because the Lord has promised to heal our land. We are being called to raise our voices to
the Lord in prayer because our nation is greatly in need of our prayers!
Just think about what we, as a nation have been
facing lately. We have been at war for
the last 11 years. Our economy has taken
a down-turn, started to stabilize, and some experts say that it will soon get
better while other experts are saying that an even greater down-turn is coming
in the near future. Unemployment rates
and underemployment rates see to be continually on the rise. Housing prices and housing markets that used
to be so strong are now nowhere near where they once were. Health care is facing a major change in the
coming year, and as some have said, the election will determine what direction
health care will go. Federal and state
budgets are facing deficits, while programs like welfare, social security and
Medicare place an even greater strain on budgets as the baby-boomer generation
begins to retire. Our nation is facing a
drought and because of that food prices will soon be going up. Gas prices seem to be constantly on the
rise! Even when they come down for a
while they don’t seem to stay down too long before they start going back
up. On top of all of this we, as
Christians find that we are under more attacks and more scrutiny than ever
before. The very things that we hold
dear are openly mocked and ridiculed on a daily basis. Marriage itself is under attack as special
interest groups seek to redefine God’s definition of marriage, change its
parameters, and utterly destroy the foundation of society itself!
It is because of all of these things that I am
inviting you to join with me in praying for our nation during the month of
October. Whether you choose to follow
the pray31 prayer atlas or simply choose to keep the leaders of our nation, our
states, and the churches of our country in your prayers is completely up to
you. But the reason I invite you to
raise your hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer with me during the month of
October is so that we might join together with hundreds of thousands if not a
million other Christians who are raising their hearts and voices to the Lord in
prayer on behalf of our nation.
Now, just imagine with me what could happen if we
did just this; if we raised our hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer for our
nation during this next month. Imagine
what could happen if we raised our hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer
during this next month, with Christians everywhere who have pledged to do
this! Imagine the sheer volume of
prayers that the Lord will hear. Imagine
the sheer volume of prayers that the Lord will listen to and answer! Imagine the changes that could be affected in
our nation because we, as Christians, stormed the Lord’s throne of grace with
prayers on a daily basis! After all, it
is the Lord who has commanded us to pray!
It is the Lord who has promised to hear our prayers! It is the Lord who promises to answer our
prayers!
Thus, we can be assured that when we pray to the
Lord our prayers will make a difference!
Can our prayers change our nation?
Absolutely! They can defiantly
change our nation! But, will they change
our nation? That is up to the Lord! When we pray to him, he hears our
prayers! When we pray to him, he answers
our prayers! However, he does not always
answer them immediately. Though he
immediately answered the apostle’s prayer by shaking the place where they
prayed and sending the Holy Spirit, it wasn’t until thirteen years had passed
that the Lord appeared to Solomon and specifically answered his prayer by
telling him, “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 will I hear
from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles
7:14, NIV84)
The same thing is true for us! When we pray the Lord will hear us and answer
us. If he answers us immediately, we
will praise his name. If he holds off
for a time, we will praise his name by continuing to raise our hearts and
voices in prayer to the Lord our God.
So, dear friends, let us heed the Lord’s call! Let us raise our hearts and voices to the Lord
our God in prayer. Let us storm the
throne of his grace with prayers and requests for our nation, for our leaders,
for our sates, for our churches, for our schools, for our educators, for our
synod, her leaders, her teachers and her pastors. Let us continually raise our hearts and
voices to the Lord our God in prayer, knowing that the Lord will hear and
answer. Let us continually raise our
hearts and voices to the Lord in prayer trusting the promise that he gave us in
our lesson today when he said, “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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their
land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14, NIV84) Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
