The Whatever Prayer

When Solomon dedicated the temple, he went all out. Second Chronicles 6:1-2: Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands, for Solomon had made a bronze platform five cubits long, five cubits wide, and three cubits high, and set it in the mist of the court; and he stood on it, knelt down on his knees before all the assembly of Israel, and spread out his hands toward heaven…

Using 18” for a cubit, that was a bronze podium: 90” by 90” by 54”. That is big! When Solomon finished his prayer the glory of the LORD filled the temple, Chapter 7, verse 1. That is a big deal! 

Then Solomon’s feast of dedication began. The celebration lasted 15 days and included the sacrifice of 2,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep. If the rules of sacrifices from the Torah were followed. There was plenty to eat for all who attended the dedication of the temple. But this is why the temple was built. A place for God’s people to gather and worship their Lord! Still true today.

Which brings us back to Solomon’s prayer of dedication recorded in Chapter 6. Verses 28-31: When there is famine in the land, pestilence or blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers; when their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone, or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands to this temple:then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and give to everyone according to all his ways, whose heart You know (for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men), that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers. This was Solomon’s “whatever prayer”

 This is how we are to pray. That whatever supplication is made by anyone…ask and God will hear. 

Ask for relief for whatever burden; whatever grief, and ask for forgiveness. When you pray, remember Solomon’s prayer that they may fear You and walk in Your ways…