The National Day Of Prayer? (Episode 41)

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Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of His glory.

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Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.

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Hey God bless you everybody. Welcome to Gems for the Journey, Wisdom from the Word of God.

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And we're your host, Matt and Stephanie Gerrity. And we're founders of River of Heaven Ministries.

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We have a three-fold vision to rebuild and restore, equip and empower, and revive and heal.

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Through these broadcasts, you're going to be touched, rebuilt, and restored,

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equipped and empowered and revived and healed. And you're going to be functioning like never before

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as a kingdom man or a kingdom woman. Today is the National Day of Prayer in the United States of

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America. You know the modern law of formalizing the National Day of Prayer's annual observance

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was enacted in 1952 as part of the public reaction to the threats that were perceived in the Korean

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War. Although earlier days of fasting and prayer had been established by the Second Continental

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Congress from 1775 until 1783 and by President John Adams in 1798 and 1799.

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The constitutionality of the National Day of Prayer was unsuccessfully challenged in court by the Freedom from Religion

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Foundation after an appellate court dismissed the case based on standing without a ruling on the

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day's legality. Something called the Alliance Defense Fund, now known as the Alliance Defending

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Freedom provided the defense for observance of the National Day of Prayer. The National Day of Prayer

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shares common roots with our celebration of Thanksgiving, where both were national proclamations

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establishing a day of prayer. In the New England colonies under British rule, traditional observances

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in late fall called for prayer and thanksgiving, while observances in the spring or summer called

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for prayer and fasting. The fall observance was established by President Abraham Lincoln

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as the official Thanksgiving holiday in 1863, but the spring observance was established by President

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Harry S. Truman in 1952 as the National Day of Prayer. And so we have been celebrating the National

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Day of Prayer for a long time. However, it's more than just a formality of religion, or it should be.

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If you examine the proclamation, the 2024 proclamation by our President, he basically opens

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this up to anyone from all faiths to worship whatever God or pray to whatever God they hold dear.

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Now, in the early days of the founding of our nation, this was not even an idea in the founding

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father's mind. When they were talking about one nation under God, they were talking about

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the God of the Bible. They were talking about Yahweh. They were talking about Jesus Christ.

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That's who they were talking about. Our nation, the United States of America, is founded on Judeo-Christian

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principles. As a matter of fact, our Constitution and our Declaration also contain

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moral fabric from the Bible. It's so important to understand that when you look at a nation or you

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look at really anything: the foundation of that nation or the foundation of that structure,

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The foundation of that establishment is absolutely essential as far as the strength of that structure is concerned.

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So if the foundation is correct, if the foundation is sturdy, if the foundation is strong, then the

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building, whatever is built upon that will be strong. However, if the foundation is not strong,

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if the foundation is not sturdy, then whatever is built upon that has the potential to collapse,

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completely collapse. And we know that our nation, the United States of America, was built on Christ,

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was built on Judeo-Christian moral values, was built on biblical principles, was built on biblical

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truth. And for other nations, it could work out differently, but for our nation, some of the earliest

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men that we respect in our nation, George Washington, our first President, Thomas Jefferson,

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the one who wrote many of our founding documents; these individuals both said at one point,

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"it is impossible to govern the United States of America without an understanding of the Scriptures,"

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without an understanding of the Bible. And I'll take it a step further, not just an understanding

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of the Bible, not just understanding the Scriptures but also the need to have a relationship in prayer and

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in worship with Almighty God, with Jesus Christ. See, you can govern many different things,

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because people govern based on principle. You always govern based on the foundation,

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based on the institution of a nation. How are you supposed to govern the right way if you don't even understand

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the foundation upon which the United States of America was constructed? There are so many

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people that want to take God out of everything. In God, we trust they want to remove that.

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They want to remove God from schools. They want to remove God from government houses. They want

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to remove God from everyday life, it seems. But when you begin to remove a foundation, anyone

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who's a builder knows this: when you begin to remove a foundation, the results are catastrophic

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for what's built on that foundation. And I believe that's exactly what we see happening in

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our land today, isn't it? We've got people trying to cover up our nation's history. We've got

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individuals coming across borders and saying we hate America and America needs to change. And

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think about this: what type of change do you think those individuals from other nations want? Keep in mind that

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many of the individuals from these nations are from our totalitarian dictatorial regimes. What kind of

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change do you think they want to be established in our nation? The kind of change they want established

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in our nation is to look more like other pagan nations or other nations that

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are accepting of everything under the sun, everything. As Christians, we don't

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condone certain lifestyles. We love everyone, but we absolutely will not condone things that are

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morally and biblically incorrect. Otherwise, we can't call ourselves Christians. Jesus didn't

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give anyone a free pass. Jesus loved people. He loved every one, but he told multiple people,

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many times in scripture, things like, go and sin no more. Lest something worse come upon you. Go and show

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yourself to the priest and be cleansed. Go and wash yourself. Go and cleanse. Go and live right.

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Go and walk according to the scriptures. And so we need to get back to our foundation like never

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before. The celebration of this national day of prayer brings up an interesting point. I wonder how many people

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actually would consider themselves having prayed just once, once a year. You might be

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shocked to find out that there are hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps even millions,

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who've not prayed one day this year. Some people haven't even prayed one day in their

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life. But when we emphasize something like the national day of prayer, it's not that we're

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wanting people to pray just this one day. No, it's an emphasis to bring us back to our foundation.

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Our nation was founded and welded together in prayer. Our founding fathers were praying people.

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The early colonists were praying people. The individuals who came over, even from

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from Leiden Holland and from England originally, they were Puritans. They were trying

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to escape the corruption of the British crown, which had taken over the church and merged them

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together and was trying to bring humanism and secularism into play, all these different things,

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and say, this is the church now. This is what we're going to do. They made it this man-made,

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man-worship type institution instead of what it must remain, which is the House of God,

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-The people of God worshiping Him in spirit and truth. The word church in Greek is the

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word ekklesia or ecclesia. It is those who have been called out of darkness into the marvelous

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light of Christ. And if you've heard the call and you've responded to that call, then you're part of

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the church. You are part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said I will build my church

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and the gates of hell will never, ever, ever prevail against it. And so, how do we get that call?

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God loves all of us, and his will is for us to receive him. John 3.16 says,

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for God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever would believe in him,

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believe in Jesus Christ, would not perish but would receive everlasting life. Scripture teaches us

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that we're saved by Grace alone through Faith alone in Christ alone for the glory of God alone.

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There are a lot of people who think that we had a lot to do with this process. The only thing that

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we had to do with this process is responding in faith to God's amazing grace. That's what it is.

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Romans 5.8 says God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were yet still sinners,

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Christ died for us. He didn't wait for us to get cleaned up. He didn't wait for us to straighten

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our life out. We couldn't. Otherwise, we all could have obeyed the law, and we would be perfect people.

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But we have all fallen short of God's glory. We've all broken his law. And if we break one part of

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his law, if we break one of the commandments, it's like we've broken all of them. We've broken his law

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and we deserve eternal damnation, eternal separation. But God's grace is so sufficient. His grace is so

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amazing that He said, I'm not going to treat you on behalf of your sinful nature. God says,

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I know you. I know how I created you. I know the propensity that was in man to do evil. I'm going to treat you

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based upon your destiny. I'm going to treat you based on my son's payment. That's what Father

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God says. He says, I'm going to look at you, and I'm going to accept my son's payment in your place.

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What an amazing, amazing savior. What an amazing faith that we, as Christians, belong to. We respond

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to the grace of God by repenting and believing, by repenting and placing our faith in Jesus Christ,

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acknowledging that we are indeed sinful, that we indeed have broken the law, that we indeed are guilty

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before God. But at the same time, we indeed repent, we indeed trust Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior.

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We put all our faith in Him and we thank Him. We're all together thankful for His great sacrifice.

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Hallelujah. And so all we're doing from that point forward is having a relationship with Him.

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That's all it is. We're simply yielding to the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John chapter 17,

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It's good that I go away because, if I don't, I can't send you the Holy Spirit,

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but I'm going to go away. I'm going to send you the counselor. And when He comes, He's the spirit

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of truth. He's going to lead you, guide you, and direct you in all truth. You can even say that

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The Holy Spirit encourages us to pray because He is not just the spirit of the Lord the spirit of

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wisdom and understanding and counsel might and knowledge and the fear of the Lord, but He's

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also the spirit of grace and supplication. And supplication means prayer. It's a type of prayer.

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And so, on this national day of prayer, I want to encourage you; maybe you've never prayed before,

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Those who are listening, I want to encourage you to pray. Maybe you've prayed a little bit. I want to

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encourage you to pray more. And again, not out of religiosity, but out of relationship. It's

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relational. Why do we talk to people? Why do we converse with those that we have in our life?

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Oftentimes, the people that we converse with the most are people that we love, people who inspire

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us, people who pay some debt for us, perhaps people who are willing to stand in the

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way of trouble, people who are willing to warn us. Do you know that God is the one who authored

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all those things, and He has done every one for us? He loves us. He's taken our sin

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-debt and paid it in full. He warns us. He stops us from going down the path of impending doom if

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we'll listen to him. So this talking with the Lord must come out of a place of relationship,

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because if it comes out of a place of religiosity, it's dry, and many may start off that way.

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We start to learn and grow, and we just do whatever we can at the time.

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But when we get an understanding of that relationship, that God doesn't command us,

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"you must change now!" No, we all broke His law. He understands. He's our high priest. He's been

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tempted in every way that we've been tempted yet without sin. He understands. The Bible says we

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don't have a priest or a high priest who doesn't understand. He understands. He walked this earth.

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He walked surrounded by the temptations that we are surrounded by today. But yet He was without

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sin. So He can help us with our struggles. He can help us in our situations. He can help us to learn,

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to hate sin. He can help us to yield to His Holy Spirit. And as we yield to the Holy Spirit,

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the first thing the Holy Spirit does is make us holy. He makes us holy. His name is the Holy Spirit.

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He also leads us and guides us to all truth. And part of that leading and guiding us to all truth

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is praying. It's prayer. If we are prayerless people, we are powerless people.

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Why? Because God has given us the ability to commune with Him,

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to ask, to seek, to knock. And He is the one who's all-powerful. And as we seek His face and we

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worship Him for who He is and we commune with Him, He's so good that He allows us to move in His power.

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He allows us to move in resurrection power, in the anointing that only comes from Him. Hallelujah.

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And we're just so grateful, aren't we, that we have an opportunity to commune with God,

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that we have an opportunity to talk to Him. His will for us, 1 Thessalonians 5, 16 through 18,

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is to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and always give thanks. When I think about today,

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the national day of prayer, I think about 2 Chronicles chapter 7, verses 14 through 16,

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which says this: if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek

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my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sin,

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and I will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to prayer made in this

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place. For now, I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be there forever,

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and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. Wow. So the Lord told His people, Israel,

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Israel, if you who are called by my name will humble yourself and pray and seek my face and turn

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from your wicked ways, then I hear you from heaven. I will forgive your sin, and I will heal your

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land. Not only that, but the Lord said that my eyes would be open and my ears attentive to the prayers

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made in that place. For I have chosen and sanctified that house, and my name will be there forever,

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will be there forever, and my eyes and my heart will be there perpetually. And as Christians,

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we are grafted into those promises. There is natural Zion, the Jewish people, and spiritual Zion.

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Those who have been grafted in, those who are of the church if we think about it.

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And so God is saying to us today, my people, if you who are called by my name,

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isn't that interesting? Those called out of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ,

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the Greek word ekklesia should be ringing out. If my people called by my name,

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that applies to the church because we are called by His name. We are called out of darkness, and we

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respond to that call. If my people who are called by my name will what? Humble themselves and pray

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God says, church, my church, my beloved, it's time to humble yourself. It's time to stop acting

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like I'm better than this person, or my ministry is greater than this person, or my church is

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bigger than so and so. It doesn't matter. We're all part of the church. If it's Christ Church,

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if it's Jesus Christ's Church that He established, we're all just an assembly of that great body,

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the global body of Christ. We are all just one regiment of that amazing army, the army of God,

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each of us soldiers in those regiments. So we're to humble ourselves. Let's boast in Christ

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and Him alone. Let's do what the apostle Paul said. Let's boast in Christ and Him crucified,

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Him resurrected. We humble ourselves and pray. Prayer is not, let's see if we can get God to

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do what we want Him to do. Prayer is aligning our lives with God's word. It's aligning our life.

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with God's word and saying what He has said in His word.

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God watches over His word to perform it, not ours. Now we can petition, we can ask God things,

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but the most power is found when we pray God's word because, again, God's word goes forth and

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accomplishes what it sets out to. Isaiah 55 says, it never ever, ever returns void. God watches over

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His word to perform it. Even the angels Psalm 103, tells us that the angels give heed

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and move at the direction of God's word, the mighty ones, the mighty angels of God,

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His ministering spirits. So we're to humble ourselves and pray and seek God's face, worship Him

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in spirit and in truth for those of the worshipers that He seeks after. And then turn from our wicked

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ways, repentance. Acts 3:19, that times of refreshing follow times of repenting. So many people want

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to be refreshed. God says, repent. Do you want to be refreshed? Repent. Isaiah 58 explains what

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true fasting is. It has a strong element of repentance. People who are going without food

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And still pointing your finger, you might as well eat. People who are gossiping while they're fasting

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and praying, you're missing the point, you're missing the purpose. Isaiah 58 talks about,

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why are you fasting and praying this way? You shouldn't be doing this. You're still

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stirring up scribe. You're still pointing the finger. That's not the way to fast and pray.

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God says through the prophet Isaiah, this is what you should do. You should set free the captive and

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heal the brokenhearted and bless those. We should be allowing that fasting and praying to

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bring us more and more to be like Christ, getting rid of our flesh. Hallelujah. And then the Lord

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says, then your healing shall spring forth speedily. Things shall break forth in your life like never

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before. You'll be called restorers of the breach. You'll rebuild the ancient waste places just out

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of being humble, just out of praying, seeking God's face, and turning from wicked ways. May this

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National Day of Prayer be a time that would turn us from our wicked ways as a nation. May this be

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a time that we truly seek God's face because he has a promise for us, his people. He said,

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if you do these things, church, Zion, I will hear from heaven. I'm hearing

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your words. If you come to me humble, praying and seeking my face and in repentance, I'm hearing

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your words. I will forgive your sin. And here's the big one. I will heal your land.

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My eyes and ears will open, and I will be attentive to the prayer made in that place where you're praying.

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For I have chosen and sanctified this house. We know that there are many houses that God has

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chosen and sanctified, specifically Zion, okay, in Israel, but also the Bible calls us the temple

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of God as believers. God's garden, God's temple. God said I have chosen and sanctified this house.

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Do you want to be a house chosen and sanctified by the Lord? Then humble yourself and pray and

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seek his face and turn from wickedness. And finally, God says, my eyes, my heart will be there

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perpetually. That means forevermore. I don't know about you, but I want to be a person who when I

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pray, I've got the attention of heaven. God is listening. Why? Not because I or you or anyone

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else is so special, but simply because we follow God's word. We're humbling ourselves. We're praying.

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We're seeking his face. We're turning from our wicked ways. And my prayer for you, my prayer for

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our nation, the United States of America, and I believe our prayer corporately for the corporate

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body of Christ is that we would stop this foolishness of bickering with each other. And

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you know, everyone wants to expose the other person when a lot of the doctrine that

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individuals are preaching, for the most part, is true doctrine. I mean, heresy is one thing.

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We need to call that out and expose it. But I mean, people who are preaching Jesus Christ,

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him crucified, him resurrected, preaching that we're saved by grace alone through faith alone in

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Christ alone for the glory of God alone, preaching Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, preaching that there's

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no way of salvation except through Jesus Christ. I mean, we need to work together like never

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before. The denominations need to get out of their own way. All these individuals who emphasize one

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part of scripture over the other. Listen, isn't it time that we can come together,

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focus on what we need to focus on, focus on the main, the main thing, the main one who is Jesus

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Christ. Remember the apostle Peter, when gathering everyone together in Acts chapter two,

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he's quoting the prophet, Joel; he's saying, this is what you're experiencing now.

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This is what prophet Joel prophesied about, and God was going to pour out his spirit on all flesh

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and sons and daughters were going to prophesy. And he says all these things. He says, there's all these

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wonderful, powerful words that Peter preaches. But then at the end of it, he says something very

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interesting. He emphasizes Jesus of Nazareth. He emphasizes Jesus of Nazareth. And when he

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emphasized Jesus of Nazareth, he's emphasizing Jesus of Nazareth for a reason, because Jesus

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is to be the emphasis for the Christian. Jesus is to be the emphasis for Zion, for those who are

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God's people. Jesus Christ, Yeshua Hamashiach is to be the emphasis. He is the chief cornerstone.

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He is the shore foundation. He is the head of the church. Peter says in Acts chapter two,

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verse 22, men of Israel hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles,

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wonders and signs, which God did through him in your midst. As you also know him being

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delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have

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crucified and put to death, whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death because it was

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not possible that he should be held by it. For David said concerning him, I foresaw the Lord

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always before my face, for he is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced

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and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also arrest and hope for you will not leave my soul

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in Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption. You have made known to me the

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ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak freely

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to you by the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day.

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Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that the fruit of

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his body according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on the throne. He foreseeing

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this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his

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flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses. Therefore being

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exalted the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit,

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he poured out this which you now see and hear. Hallelujah. Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior,

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he is the emphasis, especially on this national day of prayer. I pray this blessed you today,

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Share it with someone. Amen. Have a great day, and we'll see you next time.

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