Home | About | Search | FAQs | Contact

Our Part, God's Part

Over the last few months the Lord has been speaking to me about my walk with Him and what is needed to go further and deepen our relationship and to make more of an impact on those around me. Time and time again He has led me back to the same verse.

The verse is 2 Chronicles 7:14 and says, "If my people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and will heal their land".

When this verse is broken down into parts it gives us a "recipe" or a plan for what God wants us to do to go deeper with Him and increase our impact in our nation.

"If My people who are called by My name…"

In Old Testament times this "My people" referred to the Jewish nation. God had chosen them and set them apart to show His glory and in time bring the Saviour into the world.

Since Christ has come this "My people" now refers to all those who have asked Jesus Christ into their lives. So this verse applies equally to Christians now as it did to the Jewish people of the day.

"…will humble themselves…"

The word humble means to place beneath, to bow before or to know one's place before.

I really enjoy the old movies that were set in the middle ages because the knights who were very skilled and powerful warriors, still knew their place before the king. When returning from a battle they would often be found in the kings presence down on one knee, with their hand on their heart and face bowed towards the ground. This is the heart attitude I believe the Lord wants from us.

"…and pray…"

I think the type of prayer this verse is referring to is not just a few petitions, but "full blown" prayer, like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane or the believers in Acts chapter two before the coming of the Holy Spirit. They both poured out everything to God.

How often do we pray like this? For most of us the answer would be probably never! The result of both of these times of prayer had remarkable results. Could you imagine what would happen if in our own churches if we stopped everything and just prayed for two weeks. Lives would be turned upside down for the glory of God.

"…and seek My face…"

Years ago I had a friend who was legally blind. He had minimal vision, but only enough to see a rough outline of a person. As we got to know each other better, he asked if he could feel my face. This helped him to build a "clay model" in his mind and he was able to picture that when he spoke to me.

This experience taught me that my friend had to be close enough to touch my face and he needed to be close enough to me to ask. Seeking God's face is like that. We need to be where God is, know Him well enough and willing to outstretch our hands to Him.

"…and turn from their wicked ways…"

In Old Testament times the people's wicked ways were they were corrupted by the world around them, they worshipped false gods and they were different on the inside to the outward appearance they portrayed.

If we are honest, things probably haven't changed much! All of us have things in our life that we do, that don't glorify God and there are times we make choices that don't bring us closer to Him.

Two verses have helped me greatly with my wicked ways. The first is Romans 6:11, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies". The "do not let" implies to me that at times I have the choice to fall into sin or not.

The second is James 4:6, "Submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee". If moment by moment, I am walking closely to God and submitted completely to Him, when temptation arises it washes over me like water off a ducks back. It just can't stick!

"…then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sins and will heal their land"

Now for God's part! If we are walking correctly and following the above plan, God says He will hear our prayers, forgive our sins and heal our land. What an awesome promise.

In Old Testament times the healing of the land had two benefits - the healing of the physical land, meaning more rain and plagues of locusts and the like would be gone; and a spiritual healing of the land, proper worship of the Lord God returned and all the blessings that that brings flowed.

Around the world today there are many instances of this renewed passion for the things of God or where revival has taken place. In nearly every case, this has been preceded by the people of God coming together in unity and seeking God prayerfully with an attitude of humility and repentance.

Perhaps it is time for us all to re-consecrate ourselves to God and seek His holy face. I believe as we do, we will see God move mightily and heal our land also.