A Heavenly Prescription
A Heavenly Prescription
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 (12-16)
My brothers and sisters in Christ I know what I am about to say may not be popular and it may not make you shout but none the less it is true. From time to time there will be storms in your life! I know you may be saved, sanctified and filled with the Holy Ghost but neither you nor I carry a card that says we are exempt from trails, struggles and ailments of life. Many a preacher will have you believe because you are saved and living right no harm should ever come upon you. And if it does you’re not doing something right! But the Bible says that rain falleth on the just and unjust just the same. Trouble comes to the black the white the rich the poor the short the tall the big the small the pretty the ugly the American the Asian the Jew and the Gentile! But the good news is all that you go through is divine! Every storm and struggle you encounter is either God sent or God allowed and has a purpose for your season. As I stand before you today some of you are dealing with some issues of your own. I am a firm believer that it is time that we in the church stop ignoring some issues we all deal with on some level or another. I am tired of those Christians who say that don’t get sick, I just tell influenza to back off in the name of Jesus. Well do me a favor, don’t come over to my house until you no longer need to speak against that thing as you sneeze and cough because me and my family dwell in some fragile, flawed, imperfect human bodies.
It’s not just the physical we struggle with but it is also the mental, social, psychological and the spiritual. Somebody has to say it so it might as well be me. There are some folk struggling from:
Paranoia schizophrenic Post traumatic stress syndrome
Depression Cancer
Anti social behavior Doubt
Low self esteem Too high of self esteem
Control issues Fear
Abuse Prayerlessness
Unfaithfulness Peer pressure
Adult pressure
and everything else under the sun. By denying the simple truth that you struggle and hurt you are robbing yourself of the power of God in your life. It is in your biggest mess that God will manifest. There is nothing on or under the earth that Heaven can not cure. That’s why I told Mosses I am that I am. Know one name can define all that I can do. There is no situation you will ever find yourself in that Jesus can not take you out of!
So when all your earthly options have run out go to the true Doctor! He has a prescription for you.
Any pharmacist or doctor will tell you that all forms of medicine are composed of several different ingredients. By putting together the right mixture of ingredients you end up with a particular prescription. On most medicine bottles you will find on the label a list of active ingredients and inactive ingredients. Although active may be more visible than the inactive without the inactive the active would not function completely or as prescribed! Your Heavenly Father has a prescription for you today. Let he who has an ear come to receive it.
I. The context of the text
a. Just after the opening of Solomon’s temple
i. This was a worship service like no other recorded in the Bible
1. Sacrificed animals by the thousands
2. The priest were singing and playing music
3. It says they sang as if with one voice- they were on one accord
4. When the presence of God fell and smoke filled the temple the priest c/n keep ministering
5. The feast and dedications service lasted several weeks
b. God waited until worship had transpired before He acted
i. Every good doctor must examine the patient before writing a prescription
ii. Worship is God’s MRI that allows Him to analyze the problem
1. So he can diagnose the problem not the symptom
a. We often want to fix what hurts not what is causing it
iii. You are more receptive to treatment after a proper examination
1. You w/n trust a doctor that just looked at you and handed you piece of paper and say pay on your way out you would not listen.
2. But when the doctor says:
a. Stand up
b. Lift your hands
c. Open your mouth
d. Bend your knees
iv. Its hard worshipping when you are hurting. But worship:
1. not for what He has done
2. not for who He is
3. But because you know who you belong to; you are a child of the most high and you ought to act like.
II. The name on the Rx “My people who are called by my name”
a. Just like Jacob we needed a name change
i. Some of the dirt we have done the old name signifies to much evil to go by it. So much slipping and dipping you could pick up where you left off
ii. A new name with God in it
1. When you gave your life to Christ you were renamed “Child of God”
III. Inactive ingredient #1 Humble yourself
a. Admitting you don’t have it all together; it is in weakness that His power is perfected (2Cor 12:9)
i. We dress up for church to fool onlookers
ii. But inside we aint nothing but a dressed up mess
b. Admitting when you are wrong
c. Admitting you need the Lord; try this; approach God as if
i. He is smarter than you
ii. As if Wiser than you
iii. As if More Holy than you
iv. As if More sovereign than you
v. As if More powerful than you
vi. As if He could function without you
d. God does not need your help nor your vote to do anything
e. He is God no matter how you feel today or tomorrow
f. To be humble is to function with full knowledge everything that you do is a privilege because of His grace and mercy and a sacrifice someone else made
IV. Active ingredient #1 Pray
a. Famous theologian Smith Wigglesworth once said “I never pray for more than 15 minutes but I never go more than 15 minutes w/o praying”
i. Its not how long its how sincere
ii. Persistent prayer is Biblical- Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16)
iii. IAW PUSH
1. Problems at work PUSH
2. Problems at home PUSH
3. Pray Until Something happens
V. Active ingredient #2 Repent and change “turn from there wicked ways”
a. Israel were a fickle ever changing people
b. One minute they loved and served God, the next they did not
i. This continued over and over again
ii. Much like us
c. In the Old Testament when there was worship something had to die
i. Salvation and deliverance do not arrive at the same time
d. Each time you approach God something’s got to go
i. You must do away with some things you use to put up with
1. Some attitudes
2. Habits
3. People
ii. What you use to pray for now you pray against
VI. Inactive ingredient #2 Seek My Face
a. The end result of your prayer should be to experience the presence of God
b. Yes we pray for blessings, peace joy and healing
c. But you should have an attitude of no matter what I pray I want to see God! Because if you receive anything w/o His presence you won’t know how to appreciate it
d. And you will not give God the glory for it
VII. If you humble and pray, change your ways and seek God He promises to
VIII. Hear from Heaven; confused me
a. God’s reassurance that the answer to your prayer is divine
b. God answers all prayers in one of three ways
i. Yes
ii. No
iii. Not Yet- Keishon reaching for a snack while I’m pulling him out the car. He was really prolonging the process
1. Communication problem; different level
2. What I am holding is for him and only him
3. Because of my perspective I saw and knew more than him
a. It may not be what you want but where you are at- SHIFT
i. Position
ii. disposition
IX. Forgive their sin
a. When you were saved God forgave your past and future sins
b. Salvation was the beginning not the end
c. Stuff without forgiveness can be unfulfilling and destructive.
d. This is why you see and hear stories about rich people doing crazy stuff. Because they are walking around w/o the knowledge of God’s grace! They know not Christ in the pardoning of their sins.
X. Heal the land
a. “Not only will I forgive you but I will fix you”
b. He had to fix my mind so I wouldn’t want to do the things I use to do.
i. Go places I use to go
ii. Hang out with people I use to hang out with
c. It says heal the land because this is bigger than you and I
d. If you are my neighbor and God promises to heal the land my success is linked to your success. So if I want to make I have to pray for you and you have to pray for me!