Dedication

 

2 Chronicles 6: 32-42

 

May 25, 2023

 

Dedication 

“Likewise, when a foreigner, who is not of your people Israel, comes from a far country for the sake of your great name and your mighty hand and your outstretched arm, when he comes and prays toward this house,  hear from heaven your dwelling place and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to you, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel, and that they may know that this house that I have built is called by your name.

“If your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way you shall send them, and they pray to you toward this city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name, then hear from heaven their prayer and their plea and maintain their cause.

“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near,  yet if they turn their heart in the land to which they have been carried captive, and repent and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’  if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,  then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas, and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.  Now, O my God, let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer of this place.

 “And now arise, O Lord God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.  Let your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness.  O Lord God,                                          do not turn away the face of your anointed one!  Remember your steadfast love for David your servant.”

Did you understand all have sin, and fallen short of the glory of God.  You and I are included in the all.  So Church, in that all sin, would we not be wise to include ourselves in this prayer with a broken and contrite heart.  

‘We have sinned and have acted perversely and wickedly,’  if they repent with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity to which they were carried captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave to their fathers, the city that you have chosen and the house that I have built for your name,  then hear from heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their pleas and maintain their cause and forgive your people who have sinned against you.   

You may be saying I have not been captive, but when sin is present, you will always find the person controlled by the flesh, and the flesh is always battling with the Spirit that lives in you.

 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice