I Have Seen Your Tears 2 Kings 20:1-6, NIV In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, “Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ ” Hallelujah! I would like to share the grace of God under the title: “I Have Seen Your Tears,” which is based on 2 Kings 20:1-6. Please repeat after me: I have seen your tears, I have seen your tears. One of the greatest blessings that God gives to His beloved children is the privilege to pray. God has bestowed upon all Christians the privilege of prayer. He has qualified us to pray to Him. Prayer is the pathway for God’s blessings. It is the door which leads us to God. Prayer is our spiritual respirator, our fellowship, and communication with God. As Christians we need to approach God through prayer. My grandfather came to South Korea when communists began to occupy North Korea. He built an altar of prayer. He would pray every early morning and gather his family members every evening for a home worship service. He set a fine example of prayer. His life was a life of prayer. My entire family is living under great blessings and grace of God thanks to his life of prayer. I was present when my grandfather’s body was embalmed after he passed away. I was most surprised to see his knees. He had always prayed on bended knees so they were callused like the knees of a camel. My grandfather prayed that much! I still remember how he prayed to God on bended knees. I want you to pray like that. We can overcome all problems, hardships and live victoriously in the Lord more than sufficiently if we pray. King Hezekiah faced death which was a completely hopeless situation; but he was able to experience God’s marvelous miracle through his prayer. I want to share the grace of God by studying his prayer. First, we need to live a life that is acknowledged by God in order for our prayers to be answered. God will pour His marvelous grace upon us when we live a life that is acknowledged by Him. 2 Kings 18:3 says: “He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father David had done.” King Hezekiah lived honestly and faithfully before God and was found right in the eyes of God. What quality of Christian attitude should we have in our lives? We must have faith in the presence of God. Please repeat after me: Faith in the presence of God, faith in the presence of God. When we have faith in the presence of God, we can live our life pleasing God and not leave him. We can please our God by our faith. We will compromise with the sin of the world, commit sins and grieve God when we fail to live in the presence of the Lord. We will not realize that God is watching us, fail to control ourselves, be quick to lose our temper, and yell and fight with others. How could we lose our temper if we were aware that God was watching us? How could we fight with one another? How could we commit sins? We commit sins because we think God is not watching us. We lie because we think God is not watching us. We go astray because we think God is not watching us. Christians, we must live rightly, honestly and faithfully, and hold on to the reality that we are “in the presence of the Lord” throughout our lives. When King Hezekiah was ill at the point of death, he cried before God and prayed, “Lord, remember how I have walked before you faithfully.” And God answered his prayer. We must hold on to the verse “in the presence of the Lord,” in order to live victoriously throughout our lives. We must try to please God all the time. After Hezekiah became the king of Judah, he destroyed all the idols that his father had worshipped. 2 Kings 18:4 says: “He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was called Nehushtan.)” King Ahaz, Hezekiah’s father, was a wicked king. He was second to none in worshipping idols. God detests idol worship. King Ahaz worshiped Baal and Molech and followed the detestable ways of evil by even sacrificing his own son in the fire. He built many shrines to idol worship. He even built an altar according to an idol he had seen in Damascus in the land of his heathen neighbor Assyria. He removed all the sacred items of God from the temple and turned it into a place of idol worship. But King Ahaz’s son Hezekiah was different. Hezekiah knew his father was doing wrong, so as soon as he became king of Judah he removed all the wicked things that his father had built. We should begin discarding the bad habits of our past as soon as we become Christians. “The old has gone, the new has come!” I pray that you will live like new creations in the Lord. We must discard the attitude of sin. We must put an end to our habits of committing sins. We must turn from our old habits of losing our temper, telling lies, and slandering others. We may have thought money could buy anything and spent our lives pursuing it. If we have we must get rid of the idol of money. We may have thought worldly power could give us what we need in life. If we have we must turn around from this attitude. We must discard all our past cravings. If we want to experience God’s grace; we must, like Hezekiah did, destroy all the idols and evil things in our lives. “Heavenly Father, I want to discard all the habits in my life that are not pleasing to You. I want to discard wrong thoughts in my mind and wrong habits in my life. I want to stand rightly before You and live a life pleasing to You. Be with me, Lord.” 2 Kings 18:5 says: “Hezekiah trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.” King Hezekiah served the Lord so wholeheartedly that among all the kings of Judah, either before or after him; there was none like him. 2 Kings 18:6 says: “He held fast to the LORD and did not cease to follow him; he kept the commands the LORD had given Moses.” Above all things Hezekiah lived a life in unity with God. I pray that your thoughts, your words, and your actions will be united with the Lord. Scripture also says that Hezekiah kept the Word of God. I pray that you, as precious children of God, will always meditate on the Word, following the guidance shown in the Word. 2 Kings 18:7-8 speaks about the blessings God bestowed on Hezekiah as he lived in accordance with God’s Word. 2 Kings 18:7-8 says: “And the LORD was with him; he was successful in whatever he undertook. He was successful in whatever he undertook! He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. From watchtower to fortified city, he defeated the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory.” Hezekiah no longer served the king of Assyria. He also defeated Judah’s long time enemy, the Philistines. If we want to receive God’s grace, we must get rid of the attitude of sin which fights to occupy us. We must destroy all bad habits. We must be renewed. God will delight in us when we are transformed. God will abundantly bless us when He acknowledges that we are living rightly before Him. What kind of blessings will we receive when we keep the Word of God? Deuteronomy 28:13-14 says: “The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.” God will bless us abundantly when He acknowledges us. Mr. Young J. Paik wrote a book entitled “No Money No English.” Its sub-title was “I conquered with honesty and faithfulness.” Mr Paik is currently the President of the American Company Paco Steel. He was born in North Korea and came to South Korea alone. He then followed the ‘American Dream’ and went to America alone. This is why he called his book No Money No English. He did not have any money. He could not speak any English. He began his life in America with doing chores in restaurants. He did his best and worked diligently in whatever job he had. God blessed Mr. Paik because he worked faithfully, honestly, and diligently. Mr. Paik moved to South Korea from North Korea, and then to the United States, armed with nothing but faith in God. He always prayed to God and God blessed him. Do you know how much God blessed him and Paco Steel, his company? Paco Steel ranked No. 1 in lightweight steel-frame industry in America, providing 60% of steel-frames in the United States. Their annual sales generally total 200 million Am. dollars. Do not look so surprised! Mr. Paik went to America with empty hands but has achieved a great deal because God has been with him. God acknowledged him. Hallelujah! He was awarded the Eleventh Korean Compatriot Award by KBS in 2003. Wherever Mr. Paik goes, he shares his testimony of God’s continual presence and abundant blessings. God blesses those who are honest, faithful, and diligent. God will also take care of our lives through to our end when He acknowledges us. Therefore as Christians, live faithfully and rightly before God. I want you to beautify this world with your life. Never compromise with sin. Give God pleasure by standing faithfully and righteously. This is my earnest prayer for you in the name of the Lord. Trouble comes even to people like Hezekiah who lived honestly and rightly in the eyes of the Lord. He was struck by an illness and was at the point of death. What should we do in times of suffering? Second, we must cry out to the Lord in times of suffering. The Lord will hear our cries and answer our prayers when we cry out to Him in times of our suffering. Hezekiah’s illness brought him to a point of death. 2 Kings 20:1 says: “In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, ‘This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.’ ” Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Since you are going to dies soon, put your house in order and be ready.” Generally any person at point of death would be in deep despair. However the Bible says that Hezekiah prayed wholeheartedly and cried out to God when he heard this news from Isaiah. 2 Kings 20:2-3 says: “Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, ‘Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.” Hezekiah turning his face to the wall is significant in that in turning his face to the wall, he turned his face from the world and towards God. He focused on God and prayed, “Lord, have mercy on me. Remember that I have lived faithfully and let me live.” God heard Hezekiah’s prayers when he cried and wept bitterly before the Lord. Hezekiah was the king. He could have ordered, “Bring all the good doctors. Bring all the good medicines.” However, he did not do this. God told Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah that he would soon die. He believed the prophet of God, cried and wept bitterly before God to prolong his life. God will listen to our prayers and perform miracles for us as well, when we pray and pray and pray. Rev. Won-Chul Kim, who is the president of Osanri Prayer Mountain, came to my office and said, “Pastor, many terminal cancer patients come to Prayer Mountain. They come to the prayer mountain to pray to God when they hear that their doctor can no longer do anything for them; and two out of ten get healed.” Hallelujah! Let us give glory to God. God prolongs the life of those who have to do a little more work on earth for the Lord; and God calls to heaven those who have done enough, saying, “It is enough. I will completely heal you in heaven.” It is very important to do our best until our last moment no matter what kind of calling we receive from God. God will bless us and answer our prayers when we do our best. God will perform miracles when we cry out to Him. We must focus on God and cry out to Him when we pray. We proclaim that we do not depend on the world when we do this. God will perform miracles when we pray and focus on Him. God will answer prayers that are bathed in tears. Jesus offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to God in Gethsemane, the night before He was crucified. Hebrews 5:7 says: “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.” Scripture says that Jesus offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears. The problem lies in the fact that we do not pray to God; and when we do, our prayers are few. This is why our prayers are not answered. Prayers with loud cries and tears have long gone from our presence. There are no more tears. God will answer our prayers when we pray with tears before the Lord. God’s grace will come upon us. St. Augustine, a saint in the medieval age, lived a prodigal life as a youth. He left home when he was 17, and his mother Monica, prayed for 20 years before Augustine came back home. It was not easy for prayer with tears to petition God’s throne for 20 years. At the age of 36, Augustine came back home with his son one Easter Sunday. He was baptized and became a servant of the Lord. He became one of the greatest theologians and pastors of the medieval age. The tearful prayer of his mother changed the destiny of Augustine. Your prayer will change the destiny of your children. A miracle will take place when we pray with tears and loud cries every day. God will position your children into their destiny and pour His grace upon them when you pray every day with tears. God will change and bring His blessings into your home when you pray for it with tears. God will hear our prayer, will uphold, and bestow His marvelous grace and blessings upon Korea when we pray for our country with tears. If we do not pray we cannot expect any miracle from God. What kind of problem do you have? Without praying, we try to solve problems with our own power. Problems cannot be resolved this way. They will instead become more and more complex and difficult to solve. Why do you think contemporary Christians fail to give glory to God? It is because they try to lead their Christian life without praying to God. Sadly there are so many Christians who do not pray excepting three times a day at mealtimes. I am sure that I am not speaking of you but those Christians are out there somewhere. When they skip a meal they also skip a prayer. God cannot work powerfully for them because they do not pray. They will commit sins, becoming unrighteous and debauched, and ultimately fall away from God’s grace. We need to pray. God’s miracles will take place when we pray over and over again. God’s grace will be upon us. God will hear our prayers and answer them. In 1980 Cheryl Prewitt won the Miss America title at the 52nd Miss America beauty contest. At the age of 11, both Cheryl and her father were in an automobile accident. Her left leg was crushed and had to receive one hundred stitches. Many operations did not bring complete healing to her leg which eventually, with time, did heal; but atrophied, and no longer grew. Her left leg was significantly shorter than her healthy right leg. She could not walk without limping. Cheryl was however a lady with fervent faith. She would always come before God and ask for His help. On October 21, 1974, six years after her accident; Cheryl attended a revival meeting at Jackson, Mississippi where she felt a strong inspiration of the Holy Spirit. She prayed with tears, “Heavenly Father, Who raises the dead, heal my leg. Heal my leg so that I could live a normal life. Help me, Lord.” She suddenly felt a hot fever sweeping over her whole body and instantaneously saw her shortened left leg grow two inches. Cheryl began to walk without limping because of a miracle from God. She later won the Miss America title; and gave her testimony of God’s goodness in front of many people. She said once on a TV interview, “Who else other than Jesus Christ could have healed me?” Cheryl became a witness of the gospel as she told her miracle story to people all over the world. Miracles are taking place even today. The same grace of God is upon us. Psalm 118:5 says: “In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.” We need to cry out to the Lord in prayer. God will perform His miracles when we fervently pray and pray. Matthew 7:8 says: “For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.” Miracles will come to us when we seek God fervently in our prayers. God’s blessings will come. American churches spiritually woke up after the 9/11 terror attack. Christians began to gather in churches to cry out to the Lord. They came realizing that they had been content to dwell under the blessings of God without praying to Him. American churches came to repentance. God heard the prayer of His American people, brought recovery and blessed them again. We too became spiritually alert when the Chun-An Warship was attacked. We began to pray to God harder than before. We were awakened by this tragedy. We must pray. God will keep us, protect us, and pour His grace upon us only when we pray. When we pray, suffering will turn into blessing and sorrow will turn into joy. God will perform miracles. Romans 5:3-4 says: “Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” Jeremiah 33:3 says: “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” I pray that in times of problems or hardships, as Hezekiah prayed when he was at the point of death; you too will fervently, with tears, pray to God. I urge you to pray over and over again in the name of the Lord. The Lord answers our prayers when we pray to Him. Third, I want to speak about God who answers our prayer. God answered Hezekiah immediately after he fervently prayed with cries and tears. 2 Kings 20:5-6 says: “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.’ ” Hallelujah! Isaiah was leaving the palace court after he told Hezekiah he was going to soon die. Hezekiah immediately bowed down before God and prayed with loud cries and tears while Isaiah was on his way out. Isaiah heard the Word of God before leaving the middle court and came back to the king. What a quick answer! Hallelujah! I pray that you will become a warrior of prayer like Hezekiah was. I pray that you will receive the answer and blessing from God immediately after bowing down to God in prayer. You need to pray for yourselves, your children, your homes, your work places, your businesses, our nation, and our country. The Lord says, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.” I pray that you will hear God’s acknowledgement of your prayer. Then when you pray as well; the Lord will say to you, “I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.” God prolonged the life of King Hezekiah. How many more years did Hezekiah live? God prolonged his life by 15 years. Hallelujah! God made the shadow of the sun to go back ten steps as a sign of God’s healing. Hezekiah was healed and lived 15 more years. We will receive immediate miracle and blessing from God when we bow down before God in prayer. Missionary Chi-Wan Han at Ekklesia Full Gospel Church has been a missionary in Indonesia for 21 years. He started a church in a Muslim area where no other Koreans were living. He has been ministering to Indonesians from Muslim backgrounds. God has blessed his missionary work so much that he built a church, elementary school, middle school, high school, and a seminary. What is the secret of missionary Han‘s successful missionary work? It is prayer. Missionary Han and his seminary students start every day with prayers. He comes to church early in the morning and with his students prays for three hours. God has blessed his missionary work because of their fervent prayer. Two weeks ago I went to visit his work in Indonesia. His church has grown splendidly. People are filled with the Holy Spirit. The schools are running smoothly. They have built big buildings on the land which used to be only a wasteland. They have more than 1,000 members in their church. Hallelujah! Many of their seminary graduates are sent to Southeast Asian regions as missionaries. I witnessed God’s great work in their midst. Miracles will come when we pray on bended knees. God’s grace will be upon us. I want you to pray over and over again until God answers your prayers. I pray that you will march forward, following and holding on to the Word of the Lord. God gave His word of promise to Jacob on his journey through the desert. Genesis 28:15 says: “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” “I will not leave you.” God promised Jacob that He would not leave him until He had done what He had promised him. Isaiah 41:10 says: “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” The Lord is with us. Even now He is performing marvelous miracles in our lives. Our prayer brings miracles to us. Prayer brings wonderful grace and blessings of God to us. Even Jesus, the Son of God, lived a life full of prayer while He was on earth in the flesh. This is another reason why we should pray. Exodus 22:23 says: “If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry.” Exodus 22:27 says: “…When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.” Hallelujah! On July 3, 2010, the Chosun Daily News carried a long two-page article as the cover story of their Saturday section. The article was about Mr. Tae-Keun Han, who used to be a choir conductor of our church. Mr. Han composed the very popular song entitled A Stooping Old Lady. He was a music teacher at Shin-Il High School, and conducted a choir at our church on Sundays. One day he found blood in his urine. He made an appointment with Dr. Yound-Duk Choi, a former student, who became a doctor and worked at Severance Hospital. He found cancer in Mr. Han’s bladder. A laparotomy was performed to remove the cancer from his bladder but it was discovered that the cancer covered most of his internal organs. They were unable to operate on him so they closed Mr. Han’s body up. Dr. Choi said, “Teacher, I am sorry. There is nothing I can do even though I want to help you. An operation is impossible.” These words were like a death sentence that was pronounced on Mr. Han. Mr. Han prayed to God, saying, “God, I have some more work to do. Give me another six months.” Mr. Han was writing hymns based on Scripture verses. His Bible Verse Hymn Book presented hymns of Bible verses. By singing his hymns in order, one would sing the key verses of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. He prayed to God with all his heart. Mr. Han continued to write his hymns. He has had three operations and numerous sessions of chemotherapy but ten years after hearing the pronouncement of death over his life; he continues to live under God’s grace. Hallelujah! Mr. Han was seriously ill to the point of death. However, God had mercy on him and prolonged his life. Mr. Han has published a hymn book with 300 hymns composed of Scripture verses. This is the Bible Verse Hymn Book. He did not have money to publish this hymn book. Somebody asked his permission to use his copyrighted song A Stooping Old Lady. He gave his permission and received about 6,000 dollars which he used to publish his hymn book. Hallelujah! Let us give glory to God. Thereafter Mr. Han published another book called Healing through Praises. He says that God answered his prayers when he prayed. I was very impressed with his story because the Chosun Daily News is a secular, national daily newspaper, and it carried a testimony about God’s healing. God answers our prayers. He will answer your prayer when you cry out to the Lord, no matter what kind of problems or trouble you may be in. Miracles will be yours. Blessings will be yours. Do not seek help from people when you encounter problems, are in trouble, or in despair. Do not run around aimlessly trying to solve your problems yourself. Instead, turn your back from the world, bow down before God, and pray to Him with cries and tears. Weep bitterly before the Lord. God will then bestow His miracles, blessings and grace upon you. “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” I pray that all of you will become God’s children of pray, and in the name of the Lord live in His miracles. It is my earnest prayer for you. Let us pray. We give thanks to you our Father of infinite love, grace, and mercy. We thank you for the message about Hezekiah. He prayed with cries and tears at the point of death. We thank You for answering his prayer and prolonging his life by 15 years. Make us into your precious servants so that we will experience Your miracles by praying with cries and tears in times of problems, sorrow, and hopelessness. I pray in the Name of Jesus, giving thanks to You. Amen. 1