God Desires Salvation Not Judgment
1 Timothy 2:1-4 – First of all, then, I admonish and urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be offered on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in positions of authority or high responsibility, that [outwardly] we may pass a quiet and undisturbed life [and inwardly] a peaceable one in all godliness and reverence and seriousness in every way. For such [praying] is good and right, and [it is] pleasing and acceptable to God our Savior, Who wishes all men to be saved and [increasingly] to perceive and recognize and discern and know precisely and correctly the [divine] Truth.
Somehow me praying for those in authority will help life be lived in a quiet and undisturbed and peaceable manner, and this is pleasing to God because it will also help in His greatest purpose – that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Jeremiah 29:7 – And seek (inquire for, require, and request) the peace and welfare of the city to which I have caused you to be carried away captive; and pray to the Lord for it, for in the welfare of [the city in which you live] you will have welfare.
God’s great desire for ALL men is not judgment but salvation. This is what He yearns for. Judgment is due in many place and many cases, but He desires for someone with knowledge of His mercy and love to stand in the gap and hold back judgment. He doesn’t desire ANY to perish.
The devil is out these days trying to destroy men before salvation. He’s even got the Christian world working with Him proclaiming judgment rather than standing in the gap to hold back judgment until all are saved that are going to be saved.
God is seeking always for a man to make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Him for a land that deserves judgment so that it doesn’t have to be destroyed, that the ways of the people don’t come upon them.
If God doesn’t have pleasure in the death of the wicked, why do His people rejoice inwardly and secretly in catastrophes calling them God’s judgment?
Most people these days are like the disciples when they wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy those against what they were doing– they don’t know what kind of heart they have – certainly not the heart of God who sent His Son into world to save the world not judge it.
Ezekiel 18:23 – Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked? says the Lord, and not rather that he should turn from his evil way and return [to his God] and live?
Ezekiel 33:11 – Say to them, as I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
Recipe for Revival
2 Chronicles 7:13-14 – If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
If my people will:
- Humble themselves
- Pray
- Seek my face
- Turn from their wicked ways
THEN I will:
- Hear from heaven
- Forgive their sin
- Heal their land.
We must recognize that the material and moral problems of our time are due to spiritual causes. That is why need revival as the solution.
The clear alternatives: judgment or revival. We are at this place in our nation. Let this fact drive us to prayer
The burden of revival can be summed up in one word: prayer. We want the blessing of revival but we are not prepared to assume the burden of revival.
The root of the word “humble” is “to bend the knee”. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Until we know brokenness in prayer, we shall never know blessing in prayer.
We must seek His face in earnest prayer. It is time to seek the Lord. We must avoid the things that divert us from deliberately seeking the face of God in these desperate days in which we life.
Prayer for revival must include turning from our wicked ways. We must strip off the things that hinder us as well as the sin that dogs our feet and focus the attention of our lives on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2-3; Colossians 3:1-3).
When we meet the conditions, when we humble ourselves, pray, seek His face and turn from our wicked ways, God will do His part. He will hear our prayer. He will forgive our sins, and He will heal our land.
God is far more ready to bless than we are to receive. It is His very nature to give and to keep on giving. God’s heart is warm toward man and is waiting and willing to bless us. Jesus came to save the world not condemn it.
Let’s join the heart of God and begin to pray more and more with fervent prayer for revival not judgment, for men to come to know Him, to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
