My People

2 Chronicles 7:14. 

This is one of my favorite verses from the Old Testament.  It describes not only the way to Salvation but also the way to bring our country back from the current road it’s on.

 

It reads: 
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 

 

We are, despite what some of our leaders think, still a Christian nation.  We were founded on the principles and teachings of God and will continue to be as long as there are folks here that will do as today’s scripture says. 

 

There are 4 things that we must do before God will listen to mankind.  We are promised that He will hear our pleas and heal our land if we become humble, pray, seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways.  But what do these things mean? Humility is weakness right? Isn’t prayer and seeking His face the same thing? How can we turn from our wicked ways when we are surrounded by wickedness?

 

The scripture says to humble themselves: This is not an invitation to be weak or timid. It is a frame of mind, recognizing that God is in control of every thing and that without the power and love of Christ we could do nothing. Being humble is the first step to forgiveness because unless we realize that we need help, we would never do the rest of what the passage says and we would never submit to the authority of Christ.

 

Next it says Pray: Prayer is our most powerful weapon against the evils of this world.  It is the act of talking with God to seek his desires for your life.  It is also where we can gain the strength to finish the tasks that He has laid out for our lives. And get a measure of comfort for the hurts we must endure. Without prayer I dare say most of us would not be here today. I know in my own life, there have been many people faithfully lifting my name up to God.

 

Then is says to Seek His Face: This is prayer and study of the bible in action. We are to study the word of God, talk about what it means in our lives and apply it the best way we can. I have seen several people read the same scripture and get different things out of it. That doesn’t mean that one was right and the others were wrong, it just means that each of those people were at a different place in their life and were looking at it differently.  For example, I think of today’s scripture when the tanks are getting low and the grass in the pasture is dying and we pray for rain, or like I said at the beginning today about our leaders.  Both fit, our land needs to be healed but in very different ways.  However, the remedy is the same, by seeking God we can make a difference in the world around us. It is crucial to seek God if you want to have a personal relationship with Him.

  

Finally the scripture says to Turn from their wicked ways: This is what the term repent means, to literally turn away from sin and change the direction of our life. Yes, we are surrounded by wickedness, and it may seem that turning one way is no different then turning another, but God offers us a way to live our life that is pleasing to Him.

 

Romans 10:9-10 says that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him for the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.  

 

This is repentance.  This is how you can turn away from wickedness when you are surrounded by it. We can not look to worldly solutions for spiritual problems.  God has a plan for us.  He wants to be a part of our lives and most of all He wants to restore that relationship He had with mankind that was lost in Eden when sin entered the world.

 

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