God has changed me this month

Many of you know that for this month I am praying through 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 will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land" twice each day at 7:14 in the morning and 7:14 in the evening.  I called this the 7:14 challenge- it is a challenge to pray for my country, my community, and my church.

I started off this challenge focusing on the end of the verse- that God will heal our land.  I look around at divorce, school shootings, disrespect of elders, breakdown of the family, churches bogged down in division and drama, churches not serious about accomplishing the Great Commission, corruption/incompetence in government, etc, and I see a country that needs healing. Badly.

But as I have prayed through this verse this week, my focus has shifted to the FRONT part of the verse.  Before God can forgive our sin and heal this land, there are things He requires His people to do.  

Humble yourself.

Pray.

Seek His face.

Turn from your wicked ways.

I realized with sadness that this is not something that many people are inclined to do.  I'm a pastor, and calling even CHURCH PEOPLE to do these four things is tough.  America is not a country that is known for being humble.  We are not a country who prides ourselves in turning from our wicked ways; in fact, the current cultural climate tells us that there ARE no wicked ways.  There is only what is right for you and what is right for me.  The worst thing that an American can do is to tell someone that what they are doing is wrong.  You can do just about anything else, but if you try telling someone that their actions are sinful or wrong, you've just become a (fill in the blank with appropriate politically expedient insult- bigot, jerk, judge, Bible thumper).

So I found myself wanting to give up.  There would be no forgiveness of sin for this country and no healing of this land because we were unwilling to do what it would take for that to happen.  That's when I realized that only God can cause people to humble themselves.  Only God can call people to turn from their wicked ways.  Only God can call people to pray and seek His face. 

So, I stopped praying that God would heal this land.  

Instead, I started praying that God, through His Holy Spirit, would call people to repent.

I started praying that God would call people to humble themselves.

I started praying that God would call people to pray and seek His face.

I realized that I cannot ask God to heal a land that does not want healing.  I cannot ask God to forgive the sin of a prideful nation ("God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble"- James 4:6).  

What I realized was that there was no point in God healing this land if the things that make us sick are still here.  Our wicked ways and our pride, along with a lack of prayer and seeking God, have gotten us where we are.  Only when those things are gone from us, our churches, our families, our communities, and our nation will God be able to heal this land.  

In practical terms, only when our wicked ways and pride are gone from our communities will we see God's healing in the form of a reduced divorce rate.  Only when those things are gone will we see God's healing in the form of the eradication of drug addiction.  Only when those things are gone will we see God's healing in the form of the disappearance of school violence.  Those are things that leave a community when the people turn from their wicked ways, humble themselves, seek God's face and pray.  

So, I call you to join me in prayer that God will simply call us to give up the things that are destroying us.  Only then will He forgive our sin and heal our land.