If My People Pray

"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray, 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)

There's power in prayer.

I forget that. I try to follow Christ's teaching. But I get so busy. I try to do things that will honor God. I try to do all I can to further God's Kingdom here on earth. But I get side-tracked sometimes. I do the best I can.

What I don't do as well as I would like to do... is pray.

After King Solomon built and dedicated the Temple to the Lord, God spoke these words to the young king: "If My people who are called by My name humble themselves, pray, seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." God desires to forgive us, to heal us, to prosper us. But God also desires us to humble ourselves, to seek Him and to pray.

At our September session meeting, our elders made a commitment to pray. While we continue to pray for the concerns and needs of our church family and community, we purposed to pray intentionally for our budget. We feel God has called us to this specific place for such a time as this. But we are deeply concerned about our finances and our resources.

Now, we can make cuts and we probably will. We can put a task force together to study the problem and offer recommendations. We can ask the congregation to give more. We can hire outside consultants to study our current budget and make recommendations.

But in September I was proud of our session. While they didn't eliminate the possibility of doing any of the above listed actions, they decided to pray for our budget. There are 14 active session members, so two were assigned to each day of the week. Your session is intentionally praying for our church budget.

Ironically, a week after we started to pray, NBC contacted the church office asking if they could use our parking lot and facility while they were shooting an episode of the series, "Outlaw." Suddenly, we had several thousand dollars donated to the church for use of the facility.

Now, some might say that was a coincidence. As my friend, Steve Murray, likes to say, "I don't know if it was a coincidence or not. I just know that when I pray, a lot of coincidences happen!"

And I know that a few thousand dollars aren't going to solve all of our budget woes. But I thank God for this provision. I believe that this donation was an answer to prayer. And that spurs me to want to pray more. To thank God for the way He has supplied our needs in the past. Wow! He has done amazing things through the faithful members of this church who have gone before us. And I believe God will continue to do amazing things in our church today and into the future. If...

Yeah, that's the "conditional phrase" in the Bible. If my people humble themselves. If my people seek my face. If my people pray.

Will you join us? Will you pray with us? Will you pray intentionally for our budget? Will you pray that God will continue to guide our leaders into His vision for this congregation? And will you pray that God will supply our needs to fulfill that vision?

I believe that where God provides the vision, God will provide the means.

But the funny thing is... God wants us to ask. I can't think of a single time Jesus performed a miracle that was unasked for. Can you? So lets ask! Let's pray for God's vision. Let's pray for the finances to carry out that vision. Let's pray for a miracle!

As we consider the context of the passage from 2 Chronicles, lets ask ourselves what happened following the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem. The nation of Israel reached its zenith. King Solomon was the wealthiest king in the nation's history; some suggest he was the wealthiest monarch in all of history! Tales are still told of Solomon's treasures. And the kingdom of Israel spread in all directions.

Now, I'm not suggesting that there's something formulaic about prayer. I'm not saying that if we say certain words we'll be blessed. And I'm not suggesting a prosperity gospel. But I do believe this, if we do not pray, God will not respond to our need. As scripture reminds us, "You do not have, because you do not ask." (Js 4:2) So let's pray!

Please join with your session as we pray for the budget of First Presbyterian Church Santa Ana.

May God richly bless us even as He blesses others through us!

In His Love & Service,

Lance