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 I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)
I don’t know of any other time in history when our land has needed such deep healing in so many different ways. We need healing of minds and bodies. We need healing in the form of truth, leadership, unity, and peace.
God’s word promises healing of the land if God’s people will do four things:
First, we must become humble. If we are teachable, willing to listen and learn, and we have hearts that are fertile soil ready to receive seeds of faith and life planted by God’s word, God can use us to make a positive difference in the world around us.
Second, we must pray. We must give God our fears and worries, our plans, our need to be right, and ask God to place inspiration, peace, wisdom, compassion, and a sense of God’s justice and mercy. Most importantly, we need to believe that God will calm, inspire, and direct us as we have asked.
Third, once we have opened our hearts and made our requests to God, trusting in God to answer, we must seek God’s face.
It seems most natural to look for God’s hand to do something, to give something, or to listen for God’s voice to say something, to offer a blessing of our plans and activities.
Less natural, but every bit as important, is our ability to seek God’s face. Get to know God and watch for God to simply be present. Look at people around you through God’s eyes. Hear them with God’s ears and heart. Be God’s hands, and let God’s voice speak through you. Strive to understand what activities God blesses,and participate in those activities.
And finally, God’s people must turn from our wicked ways. We must repent, which means turning our hearts, our minds, and our actions around. That doesn’t mean we look back and kick ourselves for the past. It doesn’t mean we blame others for our problems or accept blame for things we didn’t do. It means we commit to put any ugliness of the past behind us, committing to follow Jesus into the future.
God of grace, we claim the promise from your word and ask that you touch our hearts, our relationships, our land with your healing. Amen
Pastor Brenda