Scripture of the Day: 2 Chronicles 6:26“When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and when they pray toward this place and give praise to your name and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,” When the Heavens Are Shut UpNothing we see happening in the world and in this country today is taking God by surprise. Not the election of unholy people to office. Not the trouble and turmoil and wars and rumors of wars. Not the economy. Not the pestilences. Nothing has taken God by surprise, except that the believers just accept it. The believers have failed God by not taking a righteous stand for HIM in the face of adversity. All of these things have taken a lot of people by surprise. It may generate a lot of resentment. But if you remember this – GOD is the one who sets up kings and the one who removes kings. So none of this surprised Him. And if He is the One truly in charge – then we need to let God work out His plan for whatever reason we now see the unrighteous in charge. It may just be the way God is going to usher in the soon return of Jesus. I believe that…but that discussion is for a different day… Yesterday we read from verse 24 from 2 Chronicles chapter 6. Today, I want to look at verse 6, “When the heavens are shut up and there is not rain because your people have sinned against you…” Let’s stop there for a moment… A lot of the turmoil that is happening right now is because we, the people, the Christians in particular, have turned against God. I’m not saying we have forsaken our relationship with God or anything like that… What I am saying is the Christian base in this country FAILED to stand FOR GOD and WITH GOD in the face of adversity. Instead, we just kind of bowed out of the requirement of taking an inflexible, unwavering stand against the evil in this land. Now, because of that in – it seems as if the “Heavens are shut up and there is no spiritual rain coming forth” – simply because we have failed God and sinned against Him… But there is good news here… “When they pray (the Christian believers)…When they pray towards this place (we don’t have to bow to the east and pray towards Jerusalem – we look Heavenward and pray to God) – when they pray towards HEAVEN (I’ll say), and give Praise to your Name and TURN FROM OUR SIN because you have afflicted them…” There you go…all that you see happening right now in this land is culmination of decades of Christian believers refusing to take a stand for God and the Word of God in this nation. We were afraid of the persecution. Of being labeled. Of being berated. So, we just said, “We don’t like this…but if that is what you want to do – that is up to you…” Now, this nation is in turmoil because GOD allowed this situation to come upon us. But there is hope – IF the Christians will just start to PRAY TO GOD and recognize our responsibility for this mess – and ASK FOR FORGIVENESS of decades of allowing sin to thrive in this nation. IF WE, as a Christian people, will do this – THEN 2 Chronicles 7:14 starts to make a lot of sense. Right? “If your people, called by your name, will humble themselves, pray and seek your face and repent of our sins, THEN you will hear their prayers, forgive their sins and turn again and heal their land.” BUT – if you do not do the first step – God will not be moved at all. We are witnessing that effect right now. Amen. So, Let’s pray that the Holy Spirit will ignite a Holy Fire in this land that, not just brings revival – but a Third Great Awakening. Because that is what is needed right now. Let’s pray… Until next time, this is Pastor Bob Thibodeau reminding you from 1 Thessalonians 5:17 in the Living Bible to “Always Keep on Praying!” Be blessed in all that you do! Please subscribe to this podcast, leave us a quick 5 star review on Apple Podcasts to help us grow and be sure to visit