If My People...

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If My People...

by Ro Lashua

There are some wonderful things happening in the Christian communities. There are awesome outreaches to share the gospel of Jesus with many. However, are we, the Christians who attend church each week, careful to live a righteous life? Jesus wants us to be blameless. He wants us to live according to the word of God. He gives us a scripture in II Chronicles that shows us our need, as people of God, called by His name

Our Savior, Jesus, is coming back soon, well at least, in our lifetime. When He returns, He is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle.

God is seeking those who will listen and those who will HUMBLE themselves, pray, seek His face AND turn from their wicked ways.

Now, if you are a Christian reading this you might be thinking, "Yeah, those people "in the world" need to get to praying and turning from their wicked ways". However, some of you may have recognized where that statement came from.

II Chronicles 7:14. 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.

A few years ago the Lord etched that verse on my heart and I have not been able to get off that focus. I was driving home from bible study at a church I was attending when He gave me that verse and my spirit soared. It was as if I had been given a mission in life.

As the Lord brought that verse to my mind and heart He showed me that HIS PEOPLE NEED this!

IF... that means we have a choice. We have daily choices and we need to make sure each choice in life falls in line with the word of God. Also remember, with every "IF" there comes a "THEN".

...Those who are called by MY NAME.....that would be us...CHRISTIANS. Those who claim Jesus as Lord of their life. Contrary to what some may think, simply believing in God does not make us a Christian. Satan believes in God. He KNOWS God exists. We have to have more than that. We have to know we are a sinner and accept Jesus as our Savior, giving Him rulership over our lives.

...WOULD HUMBLE OURSELVES ... Humble ourselves? If we are totally honest with ourselves we know we have a lack of humility in some aspects of our lives. It says HUMBLE ourselves AND Pray. That is the mental condition, humility, that we need to be in, when we go to God in prayer. The true knowledge and understanding of WHO GOD IS gives us a humble spirit and open heart to His word and instructions.

...AND PRAY... Pray? Of course we pray, right? A few years back I heard a statistic of how much time church goers (Christians?) actually prayed. Let us hope the time has increased since then, because it was some really low amount. It averaged out to something like 5 minutes a day or less. Prayer is not something we should assume EVERYONE IS doing. We need to encourage each other to Pray.

...AND SEEK MY FACE... What does it mean to seek His face? When I talk to my husband I seek his face. I want to see his face. I want to know he is listening to me. When I talk to him and I can see his face, I know the communication is there. Healthy relationships seek to build on the relationship through communication. If we stop talking to those we have a relationship with, our Father, Mother, or mate and never looked at his face our relationship would crumble. It is the same way with our relationship with the Lord. The more we communicate the stronger our relationship.

Also, it seems that some of us have sought after God's HAND and not his FACE. We are praying to Him with the "gimmies". Give me this and give me that, and Lord, WHY haven't you given me this or given me that. That is seeking His hand, more accurately His hand-out. He says we are to seek FIRST the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness and THEN all these THINGS will be added. We have to put HIM FIRST and our relationship with HIM FIRST. Seeking HIM. Seeking HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is done by seeking His face. We receive HIS righteousness by HIS sacrifice, by accepting HIM as Lord, we are covered in HIS righteousness NOT our own. Hallelujah!

...AND TURN FROM YOUR WICKED WAYS... What? Christians have wicked ways? We may not admit it. We may not even realize it. However, the closer we get to HIM the more we see ourselves in HIS light.

We live in a society that is so geared to compromise. "Politically correct" is what it is sometimes labeled. The Lord wants us to rudely go around offending people, however, He does want us to know the difference between sin and a righteous way of life. Choosing a life of sin is a choice that leads to death. Whether it is a life of crime, illicit sex, etc it is rejecting God's Lordship over our lives.

Do Christians have wicked ways? When we compromise on what the Lord has clearly stated in His word, YES, and that is wicked. Perhaps we have compromised just a little bit, and we don't feel too wicked. Sin begins with tiny compromises. Sin will slip into our lives slowly and insidiously.

How about our internet usage? Do we compromise and go to sites, chat rooms or private chats that we know are wrong. Do we convince ourselves by saying something like, "We have to know what the world is viewing so we can reach them"? Or do we say we are there seeking to bring the lost to Christ. Is that an excuse to mingle in the filth of the world? We know our heart. We need to do a reality check. We do need to be the light of the Lord in this dark world. However, we need to use wisdom. If we have been an alcoholic, it would not be wise to go to bars to witness. If we have a weakness for pornography, we need to stay away from certain internet chat rooms. We may need to put parental controls on our computer for ourselves.

...THEN I WILL HEAR FROM HEAVEN.... He promises He WILL hear. He hears the humble. He hears the repentant. He hears the broken and contrite heart. He is faithful. He WILL hear. He can be counted on. If we don't feel like our prayers are being heard we need to take this verse and check out where we are lacking.

Is it that we are not humble?

Is it that we have not prayed in days, maybe weeks?

Is it that we are not seeking HIM? Have we perhaps have been seeking only what we can get FROM Him?

Is it that we have hidden sins that we are trying to "whitewash"?

We must listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit and repent, surrender and seek His face. Seek HIM. He WILL listen.

...AND WILL FORGIVE THEIR SIN... He will FORGIVE us. He is faithful to forgive if we repent. He is ready, willing and able to forgive. We must turn, and seek Him and know that He is GOD and He is our LORD.

There is nothing more refreshing to our soul than being washed in the blood of Jesus. Having our sins washed away by His cleansing blood. It is a spiritual renewing. It is a spiritual concept, so if you understand this, give God the praise. He has revealed this to you by His spirit, His plan for salvation.

...AND WILL HEAL THEIR LAND... He will heal our land. That is not just talking about the physical land but the land we live in, our society. Many of us pray for revival. We pray for the lost, which is good, however, have we humbled ourselves, prayed, sought His face (not His hand) and turned from our wicked ways before we prayed for revival?

We have opportunities to change the world in which we live. We must LIVE this verse. We must become true believers who not only talk the talk but walk the walk. Our Lord is coming back for a church without spot or wrinkle.

"If my people ... then I will heal their land."

Prayer:

Our Father in heaven, we come before you humbled by Your Word. Humbled by Your Love and Grace and Mercy. Thank you Lord for Your Awesome LOVE.

Lord, we ask You to show us how to humble ourselves; how to seek You; how to seek Your face. Lord we want more of YOU in our lives. We ask You Lord to show us our wicked ways. Show us Lord where we have compromised on YOUR standards. Grant us Lord mercy and grace for others but NOT compromising Your ways Oh Lord.

As You show us our wicked ways, Lord fill us up with more of You so we can overcome the power of the enemy and we can walk in victory in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord teach us to pray. Teach us to be Your witnesses. Show us how, and when, and where, You want us to share the Love that You have so freely given to us. Teach us to be a conduit for Your Love Your grace and Your mercy.

In Jesus Name we pray, Amen.

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Ro Lashua is the publisher of www.BelieversBay.Com and a motivational speaker. She exhorts the Christian communities through her messages of forgiveness and mercy. Check out her Public Speaking ministry site at: www.sharingthelight.com