I am sick of hearing people quote II Chronicles 7:14 and say "We need to pray for our nation. If we do, then God will not forsake us." I'm not kidding. I'm sick of it! Why? Because praying isn't the whole story.
II Chronicles 7:14 says, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
Now don't get me wrong. The prayer of a righteous man avails much (James 5:16b). But prayer, it seems, isn't the only thing in the picture.
"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves " There's one (a hard one, I might add) "... pray " There we go, two - prayer is in the picture "... seek my face Three "... and turn from their wicked ways " Four, and boy is it a crunch! " then I will hear from heaven...forgive...heal..."
So while we are all nobly calling for people to 'pray for the nation,' are we actually doing anything else? Are we humbling ourselves before God, seeking his face, and turning from the way of the world? Or do we dutifully attend church Sunday and Wednesday and then kneel down by our bedside each night and pray that the nation might be healed, all the while ignoring the fact that we are the tools of God to bring about the very thing that we're praying for?
God rarely spoke in claps of thunder and bolts of lightning. When he did, most people panicked. So he spoke and acted through ordinary men and women who were willing to be the instruments of God. Nowadays, however, it seems that many stand back and say, "Okay, God, do your stuff. We believe that through your awesome power ----- can be done!" We forget that we are like magnifying glasses: placed in direct sun (or Son, if you'd prefer), focused, and used to start a fire that can quickly become unstoppable.
If we want our nation to be healed, we must pray like few have every prayed in all the history of praying. But we cannot let it end there. There will be no healing until we stop giving God the haughty eye, telling him that this or that is more important to us than he is. Things won't straighten out until we, as a nation, clean up our lives and seek the face of God.
I am as guilty as the next person at only leaving it at prayer. This is a challenge, as much or more to myself than to you. Are we playing church, or are we the Church - a living, active, powerful organism infused with a passion for the God of the universe?

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