All Churches great and small, Now is the Time to Move!
When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. (2 Chronicles 7:1)
It had to be an awesome picture, being present and able to witness firsthand the mighty fire of God coming down igniting and illuminating everything! As a result, Solomon and all the people of Israel worshiped and praised God.
Solomon had just finished dedicating the new temple for God as a dwelling place, and the Lord responded in favor of the new place. All of 2 Chronicles 7 is the response of the Lord to Solomon’s prayer that he had prayed in the previous chapter. God confirms that if Israel obeys, they will be blessed. But consequently, if they disobey, they will be judged. The judgment is meant to bring Israel to repentance, and God assures Solomon that if they will be humble, pray, and repent, then God will deliver them from judgment.
The king and all the people started this off very well, but God knew that things would not stay that way for long. So after Solomon dedicated the temple, the Lord appeared to him and gave him some warnings and reassurances.
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land or send pestilence among My people, 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 Chronicles 7:12–14)
This is significant because it shows that even though the temple was built according to God’s specifications and was a place where His presence would dwell, it was not enough. The people still had to obey God and live according to His will. They could not just go through the motions and expect everything to be all right.
The dedication of the temple was a turning point for Israel. It was a time when they could have recommitted themselves to following God and living according to His ways. But as we know, they did not. And eventually, the temple was destroyed because of the people’s disobedience.
Even though the people of Israel failed to take advantage of the opportunity to fully follow God, we can learn from their example. We too have a place where God’s presence dwells—in our hearts. And like the Israelites, we must be careful not to take that for granted. We must live according to His ways and obey His commands. Otherwise, we will not experience the fullness of His presence in our lives.
This is a large topic, and it is hard to know where to begin. To summarize, there are some primary reasons that we Christians haven’t been able to witness effectively in our churches today.
We have let our guard down and become too comfortable. We have become content in our own little Christian bubbles and lost sight of the greater lost world around us. We have stopped being radical disciples and instead have watered down the gospel to make it more palatable to a society that is hostile to Christianity. We have stopped being obedient to God’s commands. And finally, we have taken His presence for granted.
If we want to see the fire of God come down and manifest Himself in powerful ways as He did in the days of Solomon, we must first make sure that we are living up to our end of the bargain. We must be obedient and faithful to Him, and we must not take His presence for granted. Only then will He move in a mighty way on our behalf. How far we have strayed from our foundational beliefs! How far we have drifted away from God in our nation’s life, in our local communities, and how far our churches have abandoned the power of God’s fiery passion in their church activities! We see the plague that Solomon could foresee, the judgments of God.
It’s time for God’s people to humble themselves and pray, to turn from their sinful ways, because God will hear and respond. God will forgive them. And the land will be healed. That is His vow. It must start with His people, who are called His church. Some will say those promises were for the Israeli people for that day only and not intended for us today. I completely reject that notion because God’s Word and promises are eternal, and He cannot deviate from His Word. When God promised that He would respond to His people then, that same promise is true today. God will respond when we are the place of humbled and repentant hearts toward Him.
God’s pattern for revitalization is remembering where you have drifted from. It’s turning back to obedience and being radical disciples of Jesus Christ. It’s not being content in your little Christian world, but it’s going out into your community and being the light of Christ that can change hearts and lives, recognizing that we need to consecrate ourselves over again, humbling ourselves, seeking forgiveness, and pleading with God to bring revival to our nation once again. It’s repenting of the waywardness of our relationship with Him, responding in such a way that turns our hearts and affections to God, and finally returning to the place that we once occupied as God’s people and church. We can do this! We must do this! The time is now. Will you answer the call?
This next series of articles is targeted at the people of God and churches that are struggling, whether big or small, rural or urban. God is here to remind them that He has a pattern for revitalizing their relationship and allowing them to fully live in His will. May we all learn from the Israelites’ mistakes, and may we recommit ourselves to following God with all our hearts. This is not a book to beat anyone or the church down because of some failure on their part. It is a book to encourage and support the people and the church in that God wants to restore and renew our churches so that they can be places of life for people needing to be born-again. Experiencing salvation in Jesus Christ.
“Revitalization is the intentional positioning of ourselves to receive the divine provision of revival.”
