Weekly Devotional: October 7, 2026
DEVOTIONAL
By Rick Raymer, Major
Territorial Pastor to Former Officers/Spiritual Life Development Resource Officer
GOD’S WORD
II Chronicles 7
DEVOTIONAL
“Prayer Should Not Be An Option - Part II”
I HEARD YOUR PRAYERS:
I LOVE II Chronicles, beautifully nestled between I Chronicles and Ezra, and particularly II Chronicles 7:14. It reads, “Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.” Earlier in the verses above, it says that the Spirit of God appeared and began speaking to Solomon. “I heard your prayer in your Temple, and I have chosen to set it apart as holy. This Temple will be the place where My name will be honored forever because it has a precious place in My heart.”
Today, because of what Jesus did upon the cross, Paul was able to say in
his letter to the Corinthians:
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
(1 Corinthians 3:16 (NKJV)
The Holy Spirit no longer dwells in buildings, in brick and mortar, but rather in flesh and blood, because He dwells in those who have repented of their sins and said yes to following Jesus!
Let’s focus our attention back on the Old Testament in II Chronicles 7:14.
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
In this verse, there are several areas that we must pay attention to and do if we will ever hear from Heaven, have our sins forgiven, and our land restored:
HUMBLE THEMSELVES:
What God wants you and me to do is simply to acknowledge our dependence on Him by submitting ourselves to God’s will with a sitting-up-straight, kind of humility, you know – with a good kind of posture.
You and I must recognize our own weaknesses and acknowledge God’s amazing power and authority. We must put His will over and above the things we want to do and live out what He wants and desires for our lives.
This judgment of God was meant to bring Israel to its knees in true repentance. What about us? Are we willing to humble ourselves by seeking true repentance? When God’s people humble themselves, God’s ears are attentive. It’s as if God leans over us as we whisper in His ear.
There is a great story about a teacup that says:
A man once admired a beautiful teacup and asked how it became so lovely. The teacup replied:
"It wasn't always this way. I was just a lump of clay. The potter pressed and shaped me, and it hurt. Then he put me in the fire, and it was hot. Later he painted me and put me back in the fire again. I wanted to quit, but the potter knew what he was doing. Finally, he placed me on the shelf and handed me a mirror. That's when I saw what I had become."
Humility is like that. We often want comfort, recognition, and control, but God shapes us through circumstances that teach us dependence on Him. A humble person does not think less of themselves; they simply think of themselves less and trust the Potter's hands more than their own.
"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up." (James 4:10)
Do you come before God in humility? I pray so. But we also must -
PRAY AND SEEK HIS FACE:
I linked these two statements together because they follow each other as we grow in our walk with the Lord. When many people come before God in prayer, more often than not, or dare I say, you communicate with God through shallow words or by memorizing this or that prayer rhyme. It’s like when we were kids, we prayed prayers like, “Now I lay me down to sleep (just words) I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I die before I wake, (just words) I pray the Lord my soul to take.” That was how we communicated with the Lord as kids.
As we got older in the Lord, we prayed a bit differently: we requested this and that, thanked God for what He has done and is doing, and praised Him for who He is. But then something changed as we grew more and more in the Lord. We went from simple, childlike prayers asking God for this and for that to seeking God’s face and falling in love with Him even more. We went deeper! We were, and are, more intentional, and our desire is to know God more intimately. We are no longer just asking for this or that; we are seeking and growing in our personal relationship with God through our communication with our Redeemer and Lord.
Seeking God’s face becomes a longing in our hearts to be closer to God, to the point of saying, "Unless your presence goes with me throughout this day, I will not move.” In other words, the trip is canceled. I feel like Moses had a hearing problem because God had just told Him that His presence would go before him! (Exodus 33:16) Exodus 33:16-18)
When we pray, it’s generally like this: “God, please help me pay my light bill, find a new job, or pass this test.” But when we seek God’s face, our prayers are more like this: “Lord, You are worthy of my praise, and I lift You up this day and honor You because of who You are! I want to know You more deeply. I want to experience Your very presence in my life. I want to love You more today than I did yesterday. Lord, I want to serve You by loving and serving the people You place in my path each day. Thank You for knowing every detail of my life and caring about the things that weigh on my heart. You know my concerns about my finances, my light bill, my job, and the test I will be taking tomorrow. I place each of these in Your loving hands, trusting that You will provide, guide, and give me peace. Help me to walk in faith and depend on You for all that I need. I ask this in the name of Jesus, my Lord and Savior. Amen.”
Where are you in your walk with the Lord today? A question we all should answer. “Like newborn babies, you and I must crave pure spiritual milk so that we will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment!” (1 Peter 2:2 NLT)
When God’s people pray and seek His face, something is about to change not only in our lives personally but in the lives of others. I believe that through our prayers, God is about to pour out blessings as we have never seen in our Army world. But there is something else that needs to happen: you and I must:
TURN FROM OUR WICKED WAYS:
What God means here is that you and I must completely change our behavior, make an about-face, and turn away from the sinful nature that Adam and Eve brought into our world. We need to turn our actions away from sin and immorality. (Genesis 3) Paul said in Galatians 5:19-21 -
“When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”
When God’s People Pray – Things Change:
Stop for a moment and pay attention; look at our world. You won’t have to look long before you see the wickedness that is displayed on every corner, from politics to the
very church Christ gave His life to redeem.
Am I wrong? – Mankind most assuredly needs to turn from our wicked ways. If we do, God says to you and me, “I’ll be there ready for you: I’ll listen from heaven, bend my ear towards you, and forgive your sins, and restore the very land you walk upon.”
I don’t know about you, but that makes sense to me, and I respond with a repentant heart! How about you?
I hope you have or will join the growing movement of prayer taking place throughout our Southern Territory. Across our communities, God’s people are humbling themselves before the Lord, seeking His presence, wisdom, and power for God’s people, our families, our nation, as well as next year's Centennial Celebration. When God’s Army falls to its knees in prayer, heaven responds. Together, let us pray with expectation, believing that God hears, answers, and works through His praying people.
Pause with me and read slowly, in an attitude of prayer over the verse below, and then do what the Spirit says to you:
Then if my people who are called by my name
will humble themselves and pray and seek my face
and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and
will forgive their sins and restore their land.
AMEN, AMEN, AND AMEN!
II Chronicles 7:14 (NLT)