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“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.”
- 2 Chronicles 7:14
Let’s break this one down, because most of us want
to hear from God and want His blessing in our life, but all too often we are
not realizing the healing and forgiveness that He has made available to us.
My people – are you one of God’s “peeps”? Do you find yourself looking to Him for advice, following His call on your life and pursuing Him? Or are you, like most of us, simply going through the motions on Sunday mornings and occasionally on Wednesday nights? What does it mean to be one of God’s people? This becomes your identity, your legacy and with pride you tell the world – “I am a Christian, and follow the One and only God Almighty.” Do your co-workers, schoolmates, friends and/or family even know, or is it a secret between you and God?
called by My name – You had no control over being born, but you have every opportunity to decide where you are going with this life. You have the choice to follow God’s calling in life or to ignore it and pursue your own path. Each of us are called by God to follow Him and dwell within His plan for our life. How different is this world if even 10% of us decided to actually follow Him, and abide by His guidelines and direction in our life?
humble themselves, pray and seek My face – Get out of the way. Seriously, you need to put your own pride, ego and desires to the side, and openly seek God’s desire for your life. We all want that mountaintop experience with God, where we clearly hear Him and understand where He is calling us. One friend of mine said, “If He’d only write it down in plain English, I’d give up everything and follow His plan.” The thing is – He did. It’s called the Holy Bible. The problem is we don’t take it literally and get out of the way of executing the plan laid out between the covers. God’s desire is for you to decrease so that He might increase. As long as you are holding onto your plans for life the less you are going to have that face to face experience you so strongly desire.
turn from their wicked ways – this can’t refer to me though, right? I am not wicked. It all depends on your definition of wicked vs His definition of wicked; and in the end who’s definition is going to matter? Christ was provided as the single sacrifice to overcome all sin and provide salvation to those who accept Him as Savior and Lord. This doesn’t give you free reign to continue in the lifestyle of wickedness though, knowing that His grace will forgive your unrighteousness. There is a word in the Bible – repent - which means to turn the other way and not return. You and I need to take this to heart. When we are pursuing Christ, we are pursuing that which brings Him glory and honor and expands His Kingdom. By continuing in our sinful, wicked lives we are clearly stating to Christ and the world, that I am more interested in my own pleasure, my own lust and desire than in living for Him. That is a denial of Christ’s salvation in and of itself. Do not overlook this important aspect of creating a relationship with God.
then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land – the rewards follow obedience. God is all around us, waiting patiently for us to turn to Him and partake in His glory and righteousness. He wants to heal us and our land from iniquity and the lustful pride, foolish desires and unrighteousness that keeps us from salvation. He wants to pour out His plan upon us, so that we might fulfill our purpose in this life. Often times though, we get in the way of receiving His word, His purpose and His grace. We struggle with the first part of this scripture verse and jump right to the good part that tells us God will heal and forgive. It’s not that simple folks – you have to get your junk out of the way, and then His blessings will overwhelm you.
My people – are you one of God’s “peeps”? Do you find yourself looking to Him for advice, following His call on your life and pursuing Him? Or are you, like most of us, simply going through the motions on Sunday mornings and occasionally on Wednesday nights? What does it mean to be one of God’s people? This becomes your identity, your legacy and with pride you tell the world – “I am a Christian, and follow the One and only God Almighty.” Do your co-workers, schoolmates, friends and/or family even know, or is it a secret between you and God?
called by My name – You had no control over being born, but you have every opportunity to decide where you are going with this life. You have the choice to follow God’s calling in life or to ignore it and pursue your own path. Each of us are called by God to follow Him and dwell within His plan for our life. How different is this world if even 10% of us decided to actually follow Him, and abide by His guidelines and direction in our life?
humble themselves, pray and seek My face – Get out of the way. Seriously, you need to put your own pride, ego and desires to the side, and openly seek God’s desire for your life. We all want that mountaintop experience with God, where we clearly hear Him and understand where He is calling us. One friend of mine said, “If He’d only write it down in plain English, I’d give up everything and follow His plan.” The thing is – He did. It’s called the Holy Bible. The problem is we don’t take it literally and get out of the way of executing the plan laid out between the covers. God’s desire is for you to decrease so that He might increase. As long as you are holding onto your plans for life the less you are going to have that face to face experience you so strongly desire.
turn from their wicked ways – this can’t refer to me though, right? I am not wicked. It all depends on your definition of wicked vs His definition of wicked; and in the end who’s definition is going to matter? Christ was provided as the single sacrifice to overcome all sin and provide salvation to those who accept Him as Savior and Lord. This doesn’t give you free reign to continue in the lifestyle of wickedness though, knowing that His grace will forgive your unrighteousness. There is a word in the Bible – repent - which means to turn the other way and not return. You and I need to take this to heart. When we are pursuing Christ, we are pursuing that which brings Him glory and honor and expands His Kingdom. By continuing in our sinful, wicked lives we are clearly stating to Christ and the world, that I am more interested in my own pleasure, my own lust and desire than in living for Him. That is a denial of Christ’s salvation in and of itself. Do not overlook this important aspect of creating a relationship with God.
then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land – the rewards follow obedience. God is all around us, waiting patiently for us to turn to Him and partake in His glory and righteousness. He wants to heal us and our land from iniquity and the lustful pride, foolish desires and unrighteousness that keeps us from salvation. He wants to pour out His plan upon us, so that we might fulfill our purpose in this life. Often times though, we get in the way of receiving His word, His purpose and His grace. We struggle with the first part of this scripture verse and jump right to the good part that tells us God will heal and forgive. It’s not that simple folks – you have to get your junk out of the way, and then His blessings will overwhelm you.
PRAYER:
Heavenly Father,
Let Your word fall true upon our ears today. Let our hearts and minds be convicted by the Holy Spirit to empty ourselves of our desires so that we might pursue Yours. Forgive us for our transgressions, our lustful thoughts and our wickedness. Help us to overcome the prideful, selfish desires of this world and humble ourselves to hear from You. We need to hear from You, Lord, so that we may enter into Your glory once again. We ask these things in the name of Your sweet and glorious Son, Jesus Christ. Amen
© Sondove Enterprises, 2013
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