“All we find in the New Testament is the admonition to “come near to God and he will come near to you” (James 4.8). The responsibility lies with us. If enough people in New York City or San Francisco call out to God with all their hearts, those cities can become world-famous for revival. God is no respecter of geography.”
This quote reminded me of the important passage in 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.”
There is an interesting relationship throughout Scripture between God’s outpouring of power and the people of God calling out to God for that power. The sometimes frustrating part is that there is clearly no formula – you don’t pray a certain way or a certain number of times and then sit back with a sense of spiritual entitlement that God has to perform in a certain way. Yet on the other hand, you also can’t avoid this clear relationship between God’s power being an outflow of repentance, humility, and hunger for the fullness of God.
I would love to imagine what the city of Chicago would look like if the citizens of this great city prayed and postured ourselves in the spirit of 2 Chronicles 7. For that matter, I would love to imagine what would happen if the citizens of the greater Humboldt Park neighborhood would do that.
But let’s start far smaller than that. Is this true in River City? Are God’s people in River City, who are called by name, humbling ourselves and praying and seeking God’s face, ready to turn from our wicked ways? Am I? Are you?
These are the ingredients of receptive spiritual soil…
No comments:
Post a Comment