Blog

“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 l hear from heaven
and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.
– 2 Chronicles 7:14.

This morning I have looked at this scripture in a new light. It was always my assumption that forgiveness of sins was connected to repentance or confession, and that still remains the case. The scripture above seems to go a little further than that and I shall attempt to connect the revelation that actions lead to results, not just prayer.

The problem with revival today is that most people believe it is born out of fervent prayer and so they continue praying and fasting endlessly without achieving results (Isaiah 1: 58).  In a past article on why transformation is hindered, I talked about how God shows us in Isaiah 26 that our prayers can ‘birth wind’ and not salvation. One of the key purposes of prevailing prayer is to ‘give birth’. In the event of results not being achieved, one has to either persevere until the breakthrough occurs or pause for reflection to understand the hindrances and deal with them, because we cannot call our Lord a liar if His promises are not fulfilled in our eyes. This somewhat radical assertion is birthed in the premise that God WILL HEAL THE LAND. Anything less is not acceptable, and neither should it be.

As a background to the revelation, let’s look at Acts 2:37 – 38. Here we see three things that are required for salvation mentioned by Peter, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture says..” When the people heard this, they were CUT TO THE HEART and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers what shall we do?” Peter replied, ” REPENT and be BAPTISED, EVERY ONE OF YOU, in the name of Jesus Christ for the FORGIVENESS of your sins. And you will receive the GIFT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT...”.

Compare this with 2 Chronicles 7:14. The verses prior to 2 Chronicles show that whenever God was abandoned or ignored by His people he warned them that He would send natural disasters to the land that was supposed to sustain them so as to get their attention. He however says that if they repent and turn from their ways and restore their relationship with Him, He would then restore the land, made sick by the sins of the people. Notice the following requirements in that portion of scripture:

1.Humility
2.Prayer.
3.Seeking His Face
4.Turning from wicked ways.

Item 1 is self evident. This is the biggest hindrance to the journey, and often calamities bring us to this point, which does not always have to be so. Our pride keeps us stuck to our old ways and the self satisfaction that comes from not seeing our true state.
Item 2 involves re-establishing broken lines of communication and expressing our desire to reconnect the lines. Most people usually get to this stage frequently.
Item 3 is where the problem lies. How do you seek God’s face? What does it look like. Can we actually see it? We often skip this portion of the journey when He does not appear to us.
Item 4 is the final stumbling block. Turning from our wicked ways is usually a problem if one has not gone through all the previous steps. If you do not pray enough, you cannot begin to seek God and He then cannot ‘convict you of sin’ to the point of desiring to let go completely. It took a coal of fire to make Isaiah’s lips clean. Only the Holy Spirit can convict the world of sin, and hence the need to seek God’s face. Only the Holy Spirit can empower us to repent, walk in holiness, seek forgiveness and give forgiveness and make restitution, and thus transform us.

The people listening to Peter or John the Baptist when asked to repent did not hesitate as they were cut to the heart and filled with the remorse that only the Holy Spirit’s presence can bring. Often we confess sins but do not act on the issues involved. This produces a constant cycle of repentance that does not bear fruit as the accuser reminds us of the past that we have not resolved. Turning from wicked ways is not just stopping sinful actions alone, but making amends, seeking people we have wronged even years ago, when asked to by the Holy Spirit. This is often hard to do by one’s strength. It also means doing things God asked us to do that we have delayed, some of them seeming very trivial. Thus our prayers are then heard and God’s principles spring into action for our benefit and for the benefit of the land. This is why baptism in Jesus name is important. We must be immersed in His name for the Holy Spirit to come and dwell in us and empower us to shake away sin and be like Him. Whatever symbolism we attach to the baptism of water and fire, we see that these are impossible to remove from the Christian experience and we also cannot afford to miss out on either, as the water impresses on us the need to ‘die’ to sin and be cleansed, and the fire is a constant companion and counsellor on our walk towards restoration, deliverance, healing and thus prosperity.

It is our Heavenly father’s desire to heal, but we often tie His hands by our insistence on doing things our way, and so miss out on Kingdom benefits, including favour, authority and dominion. We are called to take territory, dominate and rule. This is not for our own gain, but to further His reign in a world ruled by principalities and powers. We cannot take back the land without being restored to righteousness. The Scripture says ‘..Then you light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness (or the righteous one) will go before you and the glory of the Lord will be your rearguard..’ (Isaiah 58:8 NIV).
The Lord puts it well in this portion of scripture, by showing that revival is not about fasting and praying, but of visible action as well, to restore righteousness. In this chapter a lot of praying and seeking are noted by God, even repentance, but no turning from the wicked ways.

The promise is clear: ‘..and if you honour it by not GOING YOUR OWN WAY (Our own programs and plans not led by the Spirit but by tradition and experience) and NOT DOING AS YOU PLEASE (Often we do what pleases the crowd in worship and ministry and are afraid to do the unpleasant or uncomfortable) or SPEAKING IDLE WORDS (Prayers, promises and plans that we do not fulfil and later make excuses about), then you will find JOY IN THE LORD (His joy is our strength), and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to FEAST on the inheritance of your father Jacob” (Isaiah 58:13-14 NIV).
Let us continue to pray for a humble heart to be doers of the Word and usher in this great move of God.

John Kagaruki
Wed 4 JAN 2006, 6:00am (repost of an article I wrote 6 years ago)

Of late I must admit that I have been pondering over the importance of worship in my spiritual life. As I look back on my own personal encounters with God and His Presence, I begin to see a common thread that marks those encounters where I truly experienced His tangible presence and where that was accompanied by tangible occurences including healings and demonstrations of the power of God. Having already looked at worship before here are some reminders.

The dictionary definition:

worship |ˈwər sh əp|
noun
the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity : the worship of God | ancestor worship.
• the acts or rites that make up a formal expression of reverence for a deity; a religious ceremony or ceremonies : the church was opened for public worship.
• adoration or devotion comparable to religious homage, shown toward a person or principle : Krushchev threw the worship of Stalin overboard.
• archaic honor given to someone in recognition of their merit.
• [as title ] ( His/Your Worship) chiefly Brit. used in addressing or referring to an important or high-ranking person, esp. a magistrate or mayor : we were soon joined by His Worship the Mayor.
verb ( -shiped , -shiping ; also -shipped, -shipping) [ trans. ]
show reverence and adoration for (a deity); honor with religious rites : the Maya built jungle pyramids to worship their gods.
• treat (someone or something) with the reverence and adoration appropriate to a deity : she adores her sons and they worship her.
• [ intrans. ] take part in a religious ceremony : he went to the cathedral because he chose to worship in a spiritually inspiring building.
DERIVATIVES
worshiper (also worshipper) noun
ORIGIN Old English weorthscipe [worthiness, acknowledgment of worth] (see worth , -ship ).

The important meaning taken from this definition is the acknowledgement and hence display of adoring reverence, and this can also be applied to a feeling of adoration or reverence.

In the book of John, Chapter 4 from verses 21 to 24, Jesus tells a Samaritan woman that the time has come for worshipping the Father in the Spirit and in truth. He essentially tears down a religious ordinance by declaring that God the Father will neither be worshipped as they had thought, on a mountain or in a holy city, but that they will do this ‘in the Spirit and in truth’. Sadly many are still tied down to paying reverence and homage to a place, temple or person representing a diety. In John 16:13 Jesus says: “”But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.”” In all fairness it is good practice to acknowledge the value of those who have shown us the truth and continue to be a positive influence in our lives. The problem begins when we begin to assign undue worth to those people or things that we hold dear. This becomes a form of worship and many of us do this, sometimes unconsciously. In Deuteronomy 5:8,9 Moses reads out the commandment from God in which He decrees that they should not make any image in the form of ANYTHING in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below and should not bow down or worship them.

This brings into dispute several ceremonial practices but I really cannot see any ambiguity in the commandment that leaves a loophole for the use of images, icons or rituals in the worship of God the Father. The essence of true worship then can only be in the experience of an adoring and reverential relationship with and assignment of worth to our father. As jesus explains to the Samaritan woman, God the Father is actively seeking these kinds of worshippers!

This then brings me back to my own personal experiences and that which I found to be the common denominator in all of the times I truly ‘experienced’ His presence. Please be mindful that while experiences can be similar, our Father does not neccessarily give each one of us the same exact experiences or feelings when we come into fellowship with Him. This would be, in my opinion, very unlike Him and would belittle His creative nature. In the vastness of His nature, we cannot apply some kind of formula to our experiences with Him, just as we all experience our natural parents in different manners. As an example, some people break down into tears upon experiencing God’s presence, others become silent, others laugh, others begin to proclaim His goodness and praise. This is very much in line with the Apostle Paul’s account of the different gifts of the Holy Spirit and how he gives these out (I Cor 12:11 All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines.) Considering that our worship of God must include the Holy Spirit, then we cannot discount the possibility of each one of us experiencing worship in a different way. The end result is essentially the same: a heightened awareness of the nature and presence of our Father and an increase in our assignment of value to our relationship with Him. In the same chapter (ICor. 12), in verse 3 Paul says ‘ Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, “”Jesus be cursed,”” and no one can say, “”Jesus is Lord,”” except by the Holy Spirit.’ We can see here that Jesus is called ‘Lord’ and hence assigned value, or worth.

What I found to be common in my experiences was that I was that the more profound ones usually were not of my own making or planning but seemed to come out of a desire to lose my self awareness and worth and to focus on Him. Often I would just have this deep desire to fellowship with Him and the Holy Spirit complied. I must say that I have never had an encounter replicated, but as a child knows his father, I have always known when He was there. Each one of us will therefore have our own experience but some truths will emerge from our encounters.

1. No one encounters our Father and remains the same.
2. Each one of our encounters strengthens our relationship with Him.
3. Each encounter serves His ultimate purpose and bears fruit.
4. None of these encounters leaves us feeling condemned, but we become more determined to love and please Him.
5. Each encounter gives us a clearer revelation of His love and His nature.

Does true worship result in us immediately becoming perfect? I don’t think so, but it keeps us in a place where the Father can speak to us, admonish us, encourage us and transform us. The more we worship Him, the more we get to know Him and the more we get to know Him, the more we worship Him.

This has been my personal experience and I cannot say that I have exhausted all there is to experience or know about worship. Be aware that only the Holy Spirit can enable us to experience true worship and he will not contradict the word of God, so a good start towards true worship is to study the word of God diligently. The next step is to be consistent in our time that we spend seeking God’s face. Many great men of God who acheived great things for Him with the demonstration of His power were known to spend a lot of time in His presence on a daily basis. In Moses’ case he would come back from the mountain with his face glowing! Finally whenever you get the opportunity for corporate worship, be careful not to assign undue value to the songs, the style, the worship leader or even the venue. Let all things fade away, as in the song written by Matt Redman, The Heart of Worship. It’s all about Him, after all.

Be blessed! Believe! Be a worshipper!

Hello all. Thanks for visiting Fire on the Altar. I have decided to upgrade the site and use WordPress as I can use my mobile app to add to the blog easily even when I’m away from my desktop.
I hope you don’t mind as I repopulate the previous blogs from the other CMS database as this may take some time and you may find missing links.
Be blessed!