Skip to main content

Can there be a new Pentecost?

2 Chronicles 7:12-22

The gathering together of God’s people - “I ... have chosen this place for Myself” (2 Chronicles 7:12). Note also 2 Chronicles 7:15-16 - “... this place... this temple.”
The key verse is 2 Chronicles 7:14. Taking this verse together with Acts 1:12-14, we may say, ‘This is the kind of prayer that leads to Pentecost.’
What we have here is humility, prayer, longing for God and repentance.
When we say, “Pray”, we must ask, ‘How are we to pray?’
 * We are to pray with humility. Remember the parable of the Pharisee and the publican (Luke 18:9-14).
 * We are to pray with longing for God. Prayer is more than just words. There is to be intensity and persistence. The parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8): She kept on praying until she received an answer. We are to “cry out to God day and night” (Luke 18:7).
 * We are to pray with repentance. Our words are to be backed up by our life.
  When God hears this kind of prayer, arising from our hearts and lives as well as our lips, He says, “I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.”
  Can there be a new Pentecost? Will we commit ourselves to pray, like the first apostles prayed?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Lord, we worship You in the place of worship ...

Psalm 48:1-14 Lord, we worship You in the place of worship – “Within Your Temple, we meditate on Your unfailing love.” Help us to go out from there, and play our part in seeing that Your praise “reaches to the ends of the earth” (Psalm 48:: 9-11). How will other people know of Your love, if we don’t tell them? How will they find their way to Your House, if we don’t invite them? When we share Your Word with others, help us to remember Your promise: “My Word … will not return to Me empty, but will … achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11).

When, Lord, Your Word is preached to us, help us to listen for the voice of Jesus Christ, the true and living Word of God.

2 Chronicles 34:14-35:19  We read, Lord, about the reign of King Josiah. There was spiritual revival (2 Chronicles 34:33). Where did this spiritual revival come from? - It came from You. It came from the rediscovery of Your Word. Where was Your Word found? - It was found "in the House of the Lord" (2 Chronicles 34:15). Beyond the written Word, there is Jesus Christ, the living Word of God. When Your Word is preached to us, help us to listen for the voice of Jesus Christ, the true and living Word of God. Open up our hearts to Your Word. Open up our hearts to Your Spirit. Let "rivers of living water" flow out from our hearts to others (John 7:37-39).

The Lamb Of God

As the story of Christ’s becoming one of us - His birth - moves on towards the story of His dying in our place - His crucifixion, the story of His baptism is a significant step forward. Jesus identifies with us. He stands in the place of the sinner. John the Baptist said to Jesus, “I need to be baptized by You. Why are You coming to me?” (Matthew 3:14). Jesus was doing everything that God required of Him - everything that needed to be done for sinners to be saved. The chief focus is on His death for us - “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). We do, however, need to look back from His crucifixion to His birth and His baptism. In His birth, we see the sovereign purpose of God. In His baptism, we see the definite choice made by Jesus. In salvation, there is the work of God, and there is our response. God reveals Himself to us through His Son: “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17). We respond to God’s revelation an...