The house was dark and quiet and it felt like I had just fallen asleep but yet as I rolled over I was wide awake. It was five in the morning. I had been telling God that I wanted to start getting up early to really get some great study time in so now I had a choice.
The alarm wasn’t going to go off for another hour, but God nudged me about my saying I wish I had more time.
I made my coffee and sat down in my chair. Purposely I laid my phone out of reach and turned it face down. Facebook is my kryptonite, and it is a habit I need to break.
As I started to journal I found myself not really praying for family and friends, but for our land.
Many times this year I have either heard or seen this snippet of a prayer, “Oh Lord Heal Our Land.”
Knowing these words in some form or fashion were in the Bible, I grabbed my phone and googled the words “heal our land”. At first it came up with Youtube videos for songs and lyrics, so I advanced my search to add the word “Scripture.”
It took me to 2 Chronicles 7:14
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.
As I read that scripture I was convicted that once again… we want the blessing of the passage and gloss right over the requirements on our part.
God appeared to Solomon (vs 12) and told him that “IF” my people. Unfortunately all our prayers have been “God heal our land.”
I want to look at the “If my people statements.”
If my people will humble themselves
To humble ourselves means to think less of ourselves. As I was studying the passage in Second Chronicles it referenced Leviticus 26:41.
When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, THEN AT LAST their stubborn hearts will be humbled and they will pay for their sins. (NLT)
Have we had stubborn hearts? Have we made everything about grace and not living a holy life?
If my people will pray.
I am not sure about you but I pray. But my prayers sometimes get to be more about my Christmas List than a dangerous prayer like the one we find in Psalms 139
Search me, God and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalms 139:23-24 (NIV)
Are we willing to ask in prayer; God search me. If there is any offensive way in me…. lead me in the way of everlasting?
If my people will seek My face
To seek means that we attempt to find. Do we attempt to find God? Years ago there was a saying from a popular bible study that went something like this, “find where God is and join Him.”
Again I am not sure about you, but if I am being honest, I do more leading and asking God to follow.
In 1st Chronicles 16 verse 11 is states:
Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face ALWAYS. (NIV)
How do we seek His face always? One way I believe is to use the Holy Spirit that dwells in us as believers, in our lives daily. The job of the Holy Spirit is to teach, guide, comfort and intercede. I think we need to get back to asking the Holy Spirit to be our teacher instead of google, the pastor or even our friends.
If my people will turn from their wicked ways….
We live in a fallen world. We have since Adam and Eve. There are many hot topics today and I have seen more hurt especially this year (2020) than I think I have seen in years combined.
Instead of banning together as brothers and sisters in Christ we have allowed satan to find the cracks in our personal foundations and quickly expose them for what they are, living in our wicked ways. And just as satan was planning, we are sprinting into our wicked ways.
In Zechariah 1:4 God is talking and says,
“Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.’ But they would not listen nor pay attention to me, declares the LORD. (NIV)
So what are our evil practices? I am not going to use the clobber verses from Galatians 5, we know those all too well and we use them when it is convenient to shame others. But what I will say is that we need to take a strong look in ourselves and start ridding ourselves of our worldly ways.
There is an old proverb that many think is in scripture somewhere that says, “Don’t be so heavenly minded that you are no earthly good.
When I googled to find the address of that verse, I was met with three verses, and the quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord , because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. (NIV)
Galatians 5:1 which states
that it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (NIV)
And the bomb was Philippians 1:27
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel. (NIV)
Nowhere do I see that we aren’t to be too heavenly minded. What I do see is that we are to stand firm. Conduct ourseves in a manner worthy of the gospel of CHRIST. And give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord.
Before we pray for God to heal our land, I think we need to start looking deep into ourselves and ask if we have bought into the “don’t be so heavenly minded” that now we ARE so earthly minded that we are no heavenly good.
2 Chronicles 7 also referenced back to chapter 6 where it also said that we need to
- Humble ourselves by admitting our sins
- Pray to God, asking for forgiveness
- Seek God continually
- And turn from our sinful behaviors
Remember that true repentance isn’t a mere prayer, telling God you are sorry. It is walking with a changed behavior.
As I was finishing my quiet time, I was convinced that this was not just about asking God to heal this land, but it needed to be how I approach all my “asks” of the Lord.
I need to make sure I am in a right posture to have God hear.