FORMULA FOR NATIONAL HEALING

“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 will forgive their sin and heal their land. " (2 Chron. 7:14 NKJV).

At the dedication of the Temple, God appeared to Solomon and gave him some important instructions. It gives the Divine formula for national healing, and involves humbling, praying, seeking, and forsaking.

Humbling - “Will humble themselves.” This is where healing begins. Pride causes so much trouble. It was Lucifer’s problem, and it is a big problem in our society as seen in the emphasis on our rights and self-esteem. If a person does not boast and brag today, people think you have an inferiority complex. Yet pride is evil. It is selfish, it is cruel, and corrupting.

Praying - “Pray.” To pray to God acknowledges our need of Divine help and healing. When a national disaster happens, public officials sometimes call for a time of prayer. This acknowledges our need of God’s help. With the kind of troubles we have in our land today, only God’s help will provide any healing. Therefore, we need to get on our knees and pray to the Lord for His help.

Seeking - “Seek My face.” Not many folks today are seeking God. Most people have little time for God. You can tell this by where they go on Sundays. Few show up at church to worship God. Few are interested enough in God to seek Him in His Word and prayer. But until the nation seeks God sincerely and regularly, there will be no healing.

Forsaking - “Turn from their wicked ways.” This does not mean to legalizing sin by making laws to allow sinful behavior to exist. It does not mean to excuse our sins because everyone else is doing it. Nor does it mean to minimize the seriousness of evil. It means to forsake our evil ways, and to forsake anything that would encourage evil. Our land, however, is pursuing evil, not forsaking it. But until we forsakes sin, the problems of society will not be healed.

(Adapted from Butler Daily Bible Reading)

Soli Deo Gloria (To God Alone Be The Glory)

Quotation of the Week

“Prayer is not a last extremity – it’s a first necessity!”

Anonymous

Word Study

Disgraceful (dishonest)

In Titus 1:11we read, “Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain” (NKJV).

Disgraceful is the Greek word aichros (αἰσχρός = ahee-skhros'). The word means shameful, base, disgraceful, dishonorable. In Classical Greek, aischros is anything that causes shame, disgrace. This can be either physical appearance (ugly) or a moral condition (shameful). In the Septuagint aischros carries the same general idea and is used of cows that were skinny or scrawny. It was also used of the disgrace a wayward son might bring his parents, and of the shame that is brought about by divine judgment.

In the New Testament, aischros was used to refer to shame associated with sexual perversion and to the shame of money. Further, there was shame associated with women who worshiped with their heads uncovered (1 Cor. 11:6). The Scripture also talks about women speaking in the worship service as being shameful (1 Cor. 14:35). And it was shameful to speak of the things done by the disobedient in secret (Eph. 5:12).

Prophecies Fulfilled by Jesus

Old Testament Prophecy – That He would ascend into heaven (Psalm 24:7-10)

New Testament Fulfillment – Mark 16:19; Luke 24:51

Bible Facts

God has created all mankind from one blood (Acts 17:26; Genesis 5). Today researchers have discovered that we have all descended from one gene pool. For example, a 1995 study of a section of Y chromosomes from 38 men from different ethnic groups around the world was consistent with the Biblical teaching that we all come from one man (Adam).

Bible Quiz

According to the Psalmist, what is “precious in the sight of the Lord?”

**Answer to last week’s trivia: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, and revelries are all listed in Galatians 5. These things are known as what in Galatians 5? “The works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19-21).

That’s in the Bible

"Ask for bread and receives a stone”

“Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?” (Matt. 7:9 NKJV).

This means to get much less than requested. In these words, the Lord Jesus is revealing the heart of God the Father. God is not selfish, begrudging, or stingy; His children don’t have to beg or grovel when they come with their requests. He is a loving Father who understands, cares, comforts, and willingly gives good gifts to those who ask him. If humans can be kind, imagine how kind God.

Did You Know – Christian History

William Fox was born at Clapton, Gloucestershire, on 14 February 1736. He was a wealthy Baptist merchant and founder of the Sunday School Society.

William was an extraordinary individual who developed his first business plan at the age of ten and completely fulfilled it. Impressed by the Sunday school work of Gloucester’s newspaper editor Robert Raikes which tallied with ideas he had earlier tried to implement, William had called for an association to assist and promote Sunday schools.

When he became successful he remained deeply concerned for the poor and did what he could to meet their needs through attempts at legislation, through efforts for their education and his single-handed endeavors to clothe them.

Seeking more leverage, William wrote to Robert Raikes, owner and printer of the Gloucester Journal about his educational plan. Raikes and other prominent philanthropists gathered to implement William’s idea. The result was the first Sunday School Society for Britain.

It is hard to overemphasize the value of this society. It coached the poor each week, educating thousands who otherwise would have had no schooling. The society established rules, provided textbooks and offered funding. Close to 4,000 Sunday schools were formed. This spelled relief for many communities in England.

A Little Humor

Before going to Europe on business, a man drove his Rolls-Royce to a downtown NY City bank and went in to ask for an immediate loan of $5,000. The loan officer was quite taken aback, and requested collateral. “Well, then, here are the keys to my Rolls-Royce,” the man said. The loan officer promptly had the car driven into the bank’s underground parking for safe keeping, and gave him $5,000. Two weeks later, the man walked through the bank’s doors, and asked to settle his loan and get his car back. The loan officer checked the records and told him, “That will be $5,000 in principal, and $15.40 in interest.” The man wrote out a check, thanked the loan officer, and started to walk away. “Wait sir,” the loan officer said, “While you were gone, I found out you are a millionaire. Why in the world would you need to borrow?’ The man smiled. “Where else could I securely park my Rolls-Royce in Manhattan for two weeks and pay only $15.40?”

Thought Provoking Church Sign

“Calvary is never to be forgotten; and never to be repeated!”