Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19 NASB
In my last blog, I discussed that when we see pestilence in the land, we are told what we are to do by God. In 2 Chronicles 7:14 God asks us to do the following:
HUMBLE OURSELVES
As Christians we should not think so highly of ourselves. We should not look down on others and think we are better than they are. We must remember the only thing that saved us is Jesus Christ. Our salvation has nothing to do with any work we did. We have been adopted as God’s children because we have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are able to walk in holiness because of the Holy Spirit. Salvation is a gift.
We should not put all the blame on the wicked. We must be willing to have our own hearts examined by God to see if there is any wicked way in us, confess our sins, and received God’s forgiveness. We must be willing to own up to our own sin and stop pointing the finger at others.
PRAY
We don’t pray the way we should. We don’t pray corporately and we don’t pray for our nation. We may throw a prayer up every now and then but we are not strategic in our prayers. I remember years ago there was an event where men went to Washington DC, repented of their sins, prayed and asked God to help them be better fathers, husbands, sons and men of God. Today when we see tragedy in our land we look to blame someone or something else. Now we are beginning to accept these events as a way of life. We are supposed to pray effective prayers and effective prayers involve us opening our hearts and minds to God’s will and purpose and being ready to obey His word. Often time we use “thoughts and prayers” as an excuse not to really seek the face of God in prayer.
SEEK GOD’S FACE
It takes time to seek God’s face. In order to come before God we have to deal with our own hearts. This is not an easy thing to do. It takes humility and prayer. We can’t seek God’s face with a spirit of pride or entitlement. If our land is suffering we are seeking Him to help us and we have to be in a posture of humility and trust. We don’t seek God’s face to just see if we like His plan, but we seek Him so that we will obey Him. God knows our heart so if we are to truly seek Him then our heart must be right with God.
REPENT (Turn from Our Wicked Ways)
We are told to turn from our wicked ways. This is the most profound request in 2 Chronicles 7:14. We are God’s people and He is asking us to turn from our wicked ways. Notice God did not say to confess our sins. He is telling us to turn away from wickedness. This is what repentance entails. Repentance is not a feeling of that we are sorry for what we did. Repentance is a willingness to turn away from the thing that separates us from God. In this case God is asking us to turn away from wickedness and to turn to Him. We surrender our will and agree to follow His will for our lives. All Christians have given their life to Christ and called upon His name for salvation. Not all Christians have surrendered their will for God’s will. Many of us still want to live in both the world and be accepted into God’s kingdom. We cannot serve two masters and to serve God may cause us to lose favor with men. God promised in Isaiah 1:19 that if we are willing and obedient we will have the best of the land. So we must turn our will toward Holiness and obey God’s word pertaining to our nation. The ultimate commission we have been given is to love and to share the good news of the gospel. If we do this we will see things change in our nation. First we must repent of our own hatred, fear, the lies we tell and believe.
By meeting these conditions God has promised to heal our land. We do not fight against people but we fight against the principalities of this world. People are not our enemy, Satan is the enemy. We must surrender ourselves to God’s hands to see our land healed. We have to be the ones to cry out to God and repent of our wicked ways. Then God will be attentive to our prayers made to Him.
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. Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. 2 Chronicles 7:14-15 NASB
Reflections 