If…Then - It Starts With You

2 Chronicles 7:14-16 (NIV) —

‘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 I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.’

 Names are very important. They are a part of our identity, and they carry deep personal and cultural meaning and give us a sense of our place in the world and what communities we belong to. My full first name is Ngaatendwe which means ‘Thanks be to God’. It gives me a sense of who I am and where I belong. There is another name that I go by that carries deep meaning, gives me identity and tells me what community I belong to, and that name is ‘A child of God’

 We might read 2 Chronicles 7:14 and skip over those first few words: ‘If my people, who are called by My name’. We first need to stop and recognise ourselves as children of God (1 John 3:1), loved (1 John 4:10), forgiven, his own chosen people. I would encourage you to spend some time seeking out those verses in the Bible that tell us of our Identity in Christ because the more secure we are in our identity, the more we can press into prayer.

 When we recognise who we are, the rest of verse 14 should follow. We are called to humble ourselves, pray, seek the Lord’s face, and repent.  As a community, if we walk in the confidence of being children of God, we are then given a beautiful promise, ‘Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place …. My eyes and my heart will always be there’.  God is listening and he is ready to speak to us. His heart and eyes will always be here, with us and on us.

 Prayer - Father, I belong to you. Help me to be aware of this truth today in everything I do.