Prayer and Unity

14 if my people who are called by my name 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. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place.

When Sokha and I first started hanging out. I remember in one of our outings that I asked what she wanted to do with herself in 5 years. Rather than answer the question like other girls that I had met with a job, career, travelling etc. She answered by saying she wanted a good husband and kids that would listen to her. This surprised me and I jokingly said, that I’m the man for the job. She laughed and said, “you’re not my type”. Well at least she got one of those things…a good husband.

Sokha sensed we were getting serious, she decided to tell me something that was going to trouble me badly. She revealed to me she was told she wouldn’t be able to have children. This upset me but I was already at a point where God and my family and affirmed that Sokha was my real deal. After we married, we had accepted our fate.

However, Sokha became pregnant, and we were surprised. As first time parents, we were also nervous. When we had our first ultrasound checkup, everything checked out fine. So when it came to the second checkup Sokha assured me she’d be alright by herself and encouraged me to go to work rather than take the day off so I did. But it was after lunch I got a phone call and Sokha just cried and asked if I could come to her.

When we got home she was able to explain to me that the results showed that our child had issues with his heart, his kidneys, and various other issues and what broke the camel’s back was when she offered the option to terminate. That’s when Sokha broke. I was upset to hear the news and I was encouraged that Sokha told the doctor that wasn’t an option.

So we prayed. We brought our issues to the our family, and the prayers went consistent, and our family would pray that God would fix these issues. We brought our concerns to the church prayer meeting. And every Wednesday night Sokha and I were prayed for. The church prayed the same as my family, and prayed for peace in our home. Every day and every night, Sokha and I were anxious about our child. But at the same time, we prayed and we knew we were being prayed for. In fact there were two older women from the church that were like Sokha’s church mum’s. And to this day I haven’t forgotten the promise she claimed for Sokha (because Sokha would claim it in our prayers) ,

I was making enquiries by calling professionals and reading books about how to care for the type of child the doctors were anticipating. I started to find communities around that Sokha and I would join when baby was born. But. one evening as I was in prayer, Sokha was sleeping, I rested my hand on the bump on her tummy and during prayer, I felt this assurance, it wasn’t a voice but I was assured that God would take care of Sokha and me, that I didn’t have to worry, He would provide and give everything that Sokha and I needed to bring up this child. I was overwhelmed with peace and the realisation that God was with us the whole time. The next morning I told Sokha and shared my excitement, she was happy that I had this assurance, but she wasn’t on the same wave length.

The next week, Sokha woke me up in the middle of the night, she was crying. She smiled, and said to me David, I feel that peace that surpasses all understanding. We celebrated and praised God. We shared with our family and our church family and they celebrated with us. When Uriah was born, my family and my church were ready. Uriah was born without any of the issues the doctors had prescribed.

BUT the point of my story is of God’s reassurance during the time of prayer. The need for the community to pray together, so we can see the work of God together and celebrate together. It’s not the outcome or the result where God answered the prayer, it was in the midst of the storm where God said, “I am with you always” it was in the darkness that he said, “My word is a light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet.” We often pray to God as if He is some time of vending machine but God desires that we know and understand that He is our God, our King and the one who rescued us from a life of being a slave to sin. So that we respond in gratitude and to trust Him in everything we are and do.

The Background to ,

King Solomon had just constructed and built the temple and dedicated it through numerous celebratory ceremonies. And in our theme text. God responds. We see four things God outlines.

1. If my people who are called by my name humble themselves.

2. If they pray.

3. Seek my face

4. Turn from their wicked ways.

Humbling Oneself

God reminds his people where their name “Israel” comes from. In God changes the name of Jacob which means to be crooked or to deceive to Israel, which has huge implications but for the sake of keeping it simple it means “to struggle with God” and “Triumphant with God”. God wishes to remind Israel that for their name’s sakes, wrestle with Him like their founding forefather did. Glenorchy Church, may the our God remind you this morning. We are children of the covenant promise to Abraham, and Jacob and thus, the counsel comes again to us this morning.

Jacob was indeed humbled by his hip being put out of place. And so we, when we come to the place of worship, when we follow the traditional stance of kneeling, bowing and uttering the words “Our Father”. We are making the admission that God is King and we are his servants. We prepare ourselves to wrestle but we already acknowledge that is not my will but God’s will that will be done.

What’s the opposite of humbleness?

Pride is a what Got the devil in trouble in the first instance.

We need to be humble. All of us have fallen short, but not God. All of us have faults and broken bits that need fixing and healing. But God, God is perfect. And thus we as a community need to encourage and exhort one another to stay the course and struggle with God because God’s people is triumphant!.

Praying

is interesting. The disciples had seen prayers all their life but when Jesus prayed, it was different. We’re reminded in the book Steps to Christ that if Jesus needed to pray every day and spent hours in prayer with the Father so much, how much more do we need to do it? Perhaps it was in those times that the disciples realised that they had a different idea to prayer.

The disciples understand, that they need to be taught, and so perhaps we need to be taught as well. My parents taught my brother and me to pray. We were taught to show gratitude first, pray for forgiveness and then ask God for what we wanted or needed.

The ABC’s are Ask, Believe and Claim. Ask what it is your want or need from God, Believe that God’s will, will happen, and Claim the promise from the Bible.

Talk about training with Mentor

Read up to verse 8 and remind of the wrestling.

Seeking His Face

Eerdmans Bible Dictionary FACE

FACE. Literally, the front part of the head of a human being (Heb. ˒ap̱ “nose”; pānîm, a plural form; Gk. prósōpon), animal, or angel; it is used figuratively in such expressions as the “face of the waters” (Gen. 1:2) and the “face [Heb. ˓ayin “eye”] of the land” (Exod. 10:5).

To the biblical writers, the human face represents the entire person; according to Job 42:9 the Lord accepted “Job’s face,” i.e., Job himself (so KJV, JB; RSV, NIV “Job’s prayer”). Often the face, the most individually identifiable part of the human body, reflects a range of emotions. The psalmist confesses that shame had “covered [his] face” (Ps. 44:15); in describing his grief, Job observes that his “face is red with weeping” (Job 16:16). Elsewhere, joy from a “glad heart” results in “a cheerful countenance” (Prov. 15:13).

The faithful are urged to seek God’s face (Ps. 27:8), meaning his favor (see Gen. 33:10), which God might grant (Num. 6:25) or deny by “hiding his face” in anger (Isa. 54:8; cf. Ps. 27:9; see also Lev. 20:3, “set my face against”). In biblical usage the face of God (Heb. pānîm) is often idiomatic for the presence of the deity (cf. Gen. 4:16). Thinking anthropomorphically, the peoples of the ancient Near East identified the face of a deity with his “glory,” a powerful aura surrounding the deity (cf. Akk. melammu). Accordingly, the Israelites were forbidden to look directly upon the divine face lest they be overwhelmed by God’s might (cf. the anthropomorphic terms of the instructions preparing Moses for the divine theophany at Exod. 33:20–23). But according to the apostle Paul, in the end time believers will be permitted to see God “face to face” (1 Cor. 13:12), thereby attaining direct and complete knowledge (cf. Gen. 32:30; Exod. 33:11). Meanwhile, they are assured that they can approach God through the face, or person, of Christ (2 Cor. 4:6).

Repentance

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The first time Israel apostatised the temple was destroyed. Unfortunately we can look in hindsight and see that it happens again after this dedication. The Temple now is no longer seen in our physical presence but the Bible tells us to pray to and to look up to our high priest in the temple in heaven. , tell us to come boldly before the throne of God. And says to confess our sins and he is faithful and just. But when we do this, trust in the power of God that he will overcome our habits and condition that we’ve grown up. God has the power to transform us

I want to finish on this text and this story. The Disciples were in one accord.

Uriah being sick in college and Apii getting us food.

Show the prayer book and ask don’t you think its time we came together again in the midst of the week to pray together?

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