2 Chronicles 7:14 – “and 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.”  NASB

Today, May 7, 2020, is America’s designated National Day of Prayer.  I love having a National Day of Prayer.  It is a good thing that we, as a people, focus on the only true source of our deliverance and help, God.  Sadly, I am convinced that too frequently this is nothing more than a formal exercise with no genuine change of heart and therefore no real result.  It can become just another thing that we do and that is not productive.

This directive in 2 Chronicles has some implications that my heart is drawn to and I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit over.  It says that if “God’s People”, Christians will do several things including prayer, God will hear us.  It is needful that we do more than offer up token prayers to God and expect some miraculous act on His part.  The directives are clear but are our obedience to those directives acted upon?

He says, that we are to ‘humble ourselves.’  It is one thing to be humbled or brought low but quite another to humble ourselves.  That requires personal introspection and acknowledgment of our condition.  In this case, we are speaking of coming before God and acknowledging our situation, our plight, our need, and our condition.  We have sinned and come short of His Glory and we need His help and deliverance.  We are unable to do it ourselves and we need Him.  That is step one in the fulfillment of this passage, humbling ourselves.

Then He says, we are to ‘pray.’  Prayer is a misunderstood subject but, in this context, He quantifies and clarifies it.  We are to engage in ‘seeking the Face of God’ or as Jesus directed in Matthew 6, we Hallow His Name and ask for His Kingdom to Come and His Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Later in that chapter, we read that we are to ‘seek Him first’ or before and above anything.  Do we do that?  Is He Number One in our lives?  Before we argue, that He is, I suggest that we consider what we pursue and invest our time, money, attention, and cherish.  What occupies your time and thoughts?  Where the treasure is that is where the heart is focused.  Therefore, if we want God to Heal our Land, we must do what is required.

We cannot earn God’s favor, but He places some “if-then” conditions on His blessings and in this case, the directives are personal humility, prayer, and seeking His face.  Then comes the next step in the process, ‘turn from their wicked ways.’  Wicked ways?  Yes, in America we have allowed abortion to take the lives of over 61 million unborn babies.  That is wicked.  We have allowed same-sex marriages and God calls the practices of that lifestyle an abomination.  We have allowed hate to flourish, envy to steal our joy, and developed a mentality that the end justifies the means.  That is wicked.  We are to turn from wickedness and as the Bible warns, ‘shun the very appearance of evil.’

Laws will not fix the problem.  We do not need more laws to regulate and achieve morality or godliness we need a change of heart.  I do not pray for God to change the laws but the hearts.  I do not pray for God to correct others without asking Him to correct me.  I have and will continue to confess my guilt in allowing this wickedness to prevail and have any place in my heart.  My heart is to turn from wickedness and become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  I want to come out from among them and be separate.  I want to be like Jesus and both manifest and represent Him to the world.

Then, the promise is “Healing of the Land.”  Therefore, today I am praying on National Prayer Day as I do each day.  I am praying for forgiveness and asking God to help me humble myself, turn from wickedness, forgive my sins and the sins of my nation, and heal our land.

I am praying for the President that God will protect him and give him godly wisdom and enable him to hear the right voices with the right counsel.  I am praying for a change of attitude in the nation that we will not just seek new laws but return to moral rightness, biblical holiness, and constitutional observance of rights, privileges, and liberties.  I am praying for America to return to the Lord, seek His face, turn from wickedness, recognize that we cannot do it ourselves we need Him.  I am asking for renewal and forgiveness.  I am asking for a second chance for America.

I cannot tell you what to pray or how to pray, but I ask you to carefully evaluate your life in the view of the directive of 2 Chronicles 7:14 and pray accordingly.  I ask that we all pray for America and the world to be open to the Word and Spirit of God.

God bless you and God bless America!