Author: TimMaynard

The challenge in the prayer of 2 Chronicles 7:14 ends with a challenge for change. We can pray all we want but if the end result does not produce the necessary change that God requires then we are just reciting “vain repetition.”

When was the last time you prayed with an expectancy that God would produce a change; making you a better husband or wife, a wiser parent or more obedient child (yes students, I am addressing you too!), a better leader or supervisor of people? When did you pray, “Speak Lord, for your servant hears?”

We pray wanting God to hear our prayer, but not just to nod in assent to what we are saying. We pray asking God to do something that we are asking, to give something that we need, to provide something that we lack.

In short, when we pray fervently, seriously, we pray with an expectation that SOMETHING WILL BE DONE. But do we pray with the same understanding that God expects change from us?

We are to make choices. “If My people….will turn from their evil ways.” (HCSB). This is about choosing the direction and trajectory of your life and hoping that it is in accordance with God’s plan, will and purpose for our lives. Jack Hayford once told a gathered group of pastors that change is choice and choosing to do what WE want or what GOD wants.

Sometimes choosing means saying YES to something good by saying NO to something bad. We must “choose against ourselves.” Our flesh wants to sleep in. God calls us to meet early with Him. Our flesh wants to eat the wrong stuff. Our diet says, “eat healthy.” We will watch this summer as the world’s top athletes meet in Rio for the Olympics. Their skill, their physique all tell us that morning after morning, day after day, meal after meal, they have said NO to the wrong things and that they rise early to gain a prize that is, at best, temporary.

To “turn from our wicked ways” produces a result that is eternal. When God sees genuine change in the hearts of His people He pours out the blessings we most need: being heard from heaven… having our sins forgiven… healing for ourselves and our land.

To continue in the wrong direction brings disaster. At some point, the road that you may think is the right one will lead to death. It comes to a tragic end.

Something like that is happening in our land. People have chosen “against God” and “for themselves” for far too long. The road will end soon.

When it does, will you be on the right one?

FOR MEDITATION: 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 will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sins and heal their land.     2 Chronicles 7:14

FOR REFLECTION: Are you on the road going in the direction that God sees as best? What must you do to turn back to the right road?

This week we have been reviewing the prayer of Solomon in 2 Chronicles 7, at the dedication of the magnificent temple he had led the people of Israel to rebuild. This happened at a time of great prosperity, unparalleled unity and unprecedented outpouring of God’s blessings on His chosen people.

We realize that it was not Solomon who brought this period about. He was riding on the shoulders of the Shepherd-King of Israel, his father, David. And it was because of God’s promises to David that the people of Israel were blessed and that this event could come to pass.

Solomon, tragically, was a leader who began well but who did not finish well. He started with an attitude of humility, a reverence for the one true and living God but finished a broken, doubting and sad individual and poor leader for the kingdom. This is a story far too common in the biographies of leaders both of our national life and of other areas of influence.

He started as a man who humbly sought God’s will… and God’s face. He did so with an undivided heart. He asked God for wisdom and God gave him not only wisdom but so abundantly that he became the wisest king the Israelites had ever known. But yet he ended foolishly. And it was for one reason and only one.

He stopped seeking God’s face.

Solomon was a knowledgeable, educated man. He turned the best of his thoughts, the fruit of his education to learning about the God he served. He sought God’s face, we can imagine, in prayer and meditation. He read his father’s writings and sang the songs David wrote.

But somewhere along the way his own reflection in the mirror became more attractive to him than God’s face. He began to seek after the pleasures of his flesh and the worldly offerings of his kingdom. He started to believe his own press clippings and lived an isolated, insulated life in the palace.

And he stopped seeking God’s face.

This is where the wheels fall off the wagon for many of us. Something becomes more attractive, more alluring, more captivating to us than knowing the Lord. And as we seek those things we forsake the One who can truly satisfy us.

We have stopped seeking the face of God when we begin seeking satisfaction through ways that are in conflict with God’s standards and God’s character. We have stopped seeking the face of God when we are more concerned in our prayer life with getting something from God than from simply being satisfied WITH God.

God called His people back to Himself by saying, “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 will I hear from Heaven….”

Today, are you seeking the FACE of God or His hand? Do you really want to know God or are you looking for a divine handout? The people most satisfied with God are those who seek His face, His favor, His presence… above any other.

What do you seek?

FOR MEMORIZATION: If you forsake the Lord, He will forsake you.      2 Chronicles 15:2b

FOR REFLECTION: My granddaughter McCail is just over a week old as of this writing. Last week I held her for a few moments when she was awake and as she stretched and I looked into her eyes for one of the first of what I hope are a million times, she reached up her hand and touched my face. Translated: She touched my face. It was new to her. She touched it once, and then again. She sought my face. I would have given her anything in that moment had she asked me. It is that seeking that pleases the Father. Touch His face. Seek Him. And you will find what you need.

When asked what is the most indispensable characteristic of a leader that people want to follow, humility will inevitably rise to the top of the list. The most loved iconic leaders in American politics and in business were known for a humility of personality and character that made them winsome, approachable, and pleasant to be around.

Some of the greatest leaders of our nation were humble presidents who were not afraid to admit they did not have the answers and who would move quickly to prayer. I think what attracts God’s attention most to a person, a church or a nation is the willingness of people to be humble.

When God calls His people, those “called by My Name,” to prayer He adds a prescriptive phrase first: “If My people……humble themselves and pray…” If we are truly His people, called by His Name, it is not hard for us to express that relationship with the humble response of prayer.

In yesterday’s blog I made the assertion that prayer does not show doubt as some have claimed but it does show DEPENDENCE. We pray because we are dependent upon God to shine His Face toward us; to send His Spirit upon us; to give us heavenly wisdom to guide our lives and our nation toward safe harbor.

But we will not humble ourselves. Our spirit of independence makes us self-reliant, even if we have to destroy our lives and our others to prove that we are “Master of our own fate and Captain of our own souls.” (From Invictis)

The Bible says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God and He will life you up.” There is something consistent about this characteristic of leadership that transcends even time and cultural expressions. Moses was “the most humble man who ever lived” says the Bible’s testimony. Jesus refused to wear any title gladly but “servant.” A wise leader and an obedient follower of Christ was always self-select humility.

A leader is, above all else, humble. And it is the prayer that is offered in a spirit of humility that God will be pleased to hear.

FOR MEDITATION:   Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up.   James 4:10

FOR REFLECTION: Can you ruthlessly abandon self-reliance in your life? Is there a spirit of independence that characterizes you that pushes you further from God?

FOR REFLECTION:  In your own life, have you met the conditions God has set forth to bless you and the family, the city, and the nations around you?

Amen

The final essential item in a leader’s backpack ties together the things we have covered in this week’s blog.  The leader must have a clear objective.  This objective is fleshed out by a plan to accomplish the objective.  An objective is different, I believe, from an agenda.  Some leaders exercise authority or use their position to accomplish an agenda.  An agenda, as I am using it here, is not to be confused with an itemized order of business for a meeting.  An agenda is a personally and sometimes personality-driven goal that will serve the leader’s need for power, for control, for revenge, for selfish ends.  When agenda is used in this context, it is seldom used with a positive tone.  An agenda can be devastating in the hands of an out-of-control leader, who is not under the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

But an objective has a more selfless, magnanimous outcome.  Nehemiah had an objective.  He saw a need; the people of his beloved homeland living without security, without comfort, and without protection against the enemies and natural forces around them.  His objective was driven by compassion for the languishing Jews who had returned already to Jerusalem under a governor named Zerubbabel.

It was Nehemiah’s objective to meet a need.  Not to gain notoriety for himself.  Not to become influential as a figure of history or a contemporary leader.  Nehemiah’s objective was to rebuild a wall to complete a promise God had made to His people many years before.  But his heart was pure; there was no personal agenda driving this project.  In fact, it would bring Nehemiah nothing but heartbreak, disappointment, and sleepless nights to offer his shoulder to this task.  He would lead, but he would lead in the attitude of a servant who would not seek his own advantage in this situation.  In fact, several times in the Book of Nehemiah, he journaled how he would not take food, wine, or any payment for the job he was doing.  He was empty of any personal agenda in this work.

As he laid his case before King Artaxerxes, it was with a pure heart.  I believe the king saw that transparency in his cupbearer.  It is essential, but difficult to live life without an agenda.  It is tremendously difficult to lead people without one, and it takes constant self-scrutiny to lead from a posture of humility and servanthood, with a desire only to see God glorified and not yourself.  Yet the finest leaders we have known in business, politics, or the church arenas are people who can embrace an objective but reject an agenda.

And serve the Lord before they themselves.

FOR MEMORIZATION:  And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” (Nehemiah 2:5)

FOR REFLECTION: A Prayer for today:   “Lord, help me to be a servant in my leadership and not a person with an agenda to serve myself.  And make it clear to those I lead in my office, classroom, squadron, or workplace that my heart is transparent before You as I lead them.  Use me to rebuild, to clarify, to show compassion, and to wash the feet of those in need, and lead from that posture of humility and not self-aggrandizement.  As Jesus led, so may I lead.  Amen.”

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