Prayerlessness is a Sign of Pride
2 Chronicles 7:14 says “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
This was the scripture that the Holy Spirit ministered to me as I joined in a prayer session during a sermon I was watching. I had heard it said by anointed ministers that prayerlessness was a sign of pride but this day, I was illuminated with understanding. A few things to take from this verse:
1. “If my people, which are called by my name” – This indicates that these are believers. These are people who are children of God and are identified with Him. Yes, we are all created in the image and likeness of God but not all have made that decision to be identified with God. So, the first step is making the decision to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. From the end of the verse, we see that He wants to heal their land. The first step in getting that healing from God, whatever you may be facing or going through is to identify yourself with Him. Just like a bride gets married to her groom and takes her new identity as his wife or even further by his last name, Jesus Christ wants you to make the decision to identify with Him. If you will like to make this decision today, please say this prayer:
“Lord Jesus Christ, I believe you are the Son of God and I believe You died for me on the cross of Calvary. I know I am a sinner and today, I come to You to forgive me of all my sins and to make me a brand new creation. I accept You as my personal Lord and Saviour. Thank you Lord for forgiving me and making me born again, in Jesus name, Amen”.
Congratulations!!!! You are now a born-again Christian (It simply means a new born baby in Christ and there is loads of celebration in heaven because of YOU!)
If you made this decision, please leave a comment on this post or reach out to us at https://www.cccghq.org/contact/
2. “… Shall humble themselves, and pray and seek my face...” – It takes humility to totally depend on a person, in this case God, by praying. When we wake up and go about our day without saying a word to God, it could mean we can handle the matters of the day without the help of God. We do not know what life may throw at us that day and it takes the grace of God to victoriously go through each day. From this verse, we see that one of the things that was restricting the people of God from praying and seeking His face was pride. Sometimes, our flesh wants to do things by itself without God’s help. It takes humility to ask for God’s grace to perform tasks that we might be very skilled in doing. It might seem silly but let’s think about it, learnt skills such as writing, reside in our memories. Without the proper functioning of a person’s memory, it is impossible to demonstrate this skill. It’s all by the grace of God.
3. “…And turn from their wicked ways…” – This is talking about repentance. Repentance is making a 180 degree in the opposite direction. It is a choice we make! Some sins are well known to us while some are not. For those that we are not aware of, we need the conviction of the Holy Spirit to realize them as sin. Sometimes, such conviction would come while seeking God’s face. Seeking His face is not only in the scheduled time of prayer but having that lifestyle of intimacy with God. It’s in that constant communication with God that He reveals some hidden truths to us.
4. “…Then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” – We need to do all the above, before we get to the stage where God will hear our prayers, forgive us, and heal our land. Without humbling ourselves to pray and seek God’s face, the answers to the prayers cannot take place.
It takes humility to pray and seek the face of God!
By: Pastor Ibukun Adewusi